Trainers

Lene Topp, Head of EU Affairs, Ramboll Management Consulting in Brussels.

Lene was named “Guru of EU Grants” by the Magazine “Science” (Source: “Science” April 15, 2005)

Lene is a sought-after trainer and speaker on subjects like EU Funding, EU Project Management and EU project development. During her more than 10 years of experience with European projects she has successfully assisted NGOs, regions, interest organizations, universities, private companies and trade associations from EU27 in obtaining EU funding.

Lene is dealing with EU projects on a daily basis either in her capacity as a trainer, project manager or evaluator of EU funds, projects and programmes. Based on this experience, Lene has in-depth understanding of the workings of the EU institutions, including both written and un-written rules. Lene has also spend 2 years in Silicon Valley studying the region’s experiences with entrepreneurship, innovation as well as other business issues, and she can through this bring a transatlantic perspective into your European projects. 

She is fluent in English, French, Danish, and Swedish.

Xavier Le Den, senior consultant 

Xavier is regularly called upon by the European Commission as an independent expert for the evaluation and selection of projects to fund under calls for proposals from DG Enterprise and DG Research. His experience as an evaluator of project ideas submitted for EU funding, has given Xavier a second-to-none insight into the critical aspects and must-have qualifications to obtain EU funding for your project. Xavier is a specialist in European policies, programmes and projects both with regard to content as well as to functioning, and has working experiences from many different EU institutions.

At national level, Xavier supports French and Belgian local authorities in managing EU Structural funds. For example, the Walloon region (Belgium) assigned him to support and monitor the evaluation and selection of projects to receive funding from the European Structural Funds 2007-2013. He is currently also coordinating the application to the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) for co-financing of a major project (over EUR 50 million of eligible costs) in public transport in Maubeuge (France).

Prior to joining Ramboll Management, Xavier worked for the Paris Chamber of Commerce’s Euro Info Centre, the Economic section of the French embassy in Cyprus, and DG Enterprise and Industry of the European Commission.
 
Xavier is fluent in French and English.

Eugénie de Naurois, consultant

Eugénie de Naurois is a Franco-British bi-lingual national with experience from both the public and private sector. She is currently assistant Project Manager on a large and complex EU project financed by 7th Framework Programme of DG Research. To this end, she has hands-on experience with what it takes to successfully manage a project under the 7th Framework Programme

In the past years, Eugénie has acquired experience in the EU regulatory field both from a consultant’s and a legal standpoint. She joined a Brussels-based consultancy to provide legal advice and monitor EU regulatory developments in food law. Her prior London experiences in the private sector gave her an overview of the financial, environmental, energy and health industries. Her experience as a trainee in the European Commission, DG Health and Consumer Protection, led her to research and draft legal documents in the field of Consumer Law and work on consultation procedures. This provided her with the tools to work within and with a complex public administration.

Eugénie is fluent in English and French, and has a good command of Spanish.