Dr Funda Atun is an urban planner (BSc, MSc and PhD Cum Laude) and a sociologist (BA). She has a proven track record in the field of societal resilience, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. She is the IDRiM Women in Science and Practice community chair and a part of a large international network involved as an invited expert, a member of international scientific advisory boards, a project proposal reviewer, and attending conferences as a presenter invited young researcher and keynote speaker. She was one of the Habitat III Invited Experts for the Regional Report on Housing and Urban Development for the UNECE region. She was the Founder and Head of "the Others and Disasters" NGO, established in Italy in 2016. She has served on international scientific advisory boards in various conferences on disaster risk, climate change and resilient cities.