Tamsin Rose is a facilitator, speaker and trainer interested in sparking new ideas to address big societal challenges. With three decades of experience in communication, advocacy and network building, her clients range from small non-profits to international institutions and everything in between. She led a European platform of public health NGOs, managed an EU programme to twin cities in the west and east of Europe and now connects citizen experience to the Brussels policy bubble.

Sophia Eriksson Waterschoot is Director for Youth, Education and Erasmus+ at the European Commission's Directorate General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture. She oversees European cooperation on higher education, schools and youth policy, including Europe's flagship programmes, Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps. She has previously held various positions within the European Commission in the field of strategy and investment in education, labour market policy, European Semester and European cohesion funds. In addition, she studied economics, business, political science and EU affairs in Sweden, France and Belgium, including an Erasmus student exchange.

Manuela Geleng works for the European Commission, where she is currently the Director for Jobs and Skills in the Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion. She is responsible for Future of Work Work-related activities, Youth Employment, the implementation of the Skills Agenda and Vocational Education and Training policies. She holds an MSc in Financial Economics from the University of London and a Master's in Public Administration and Management from the Solvay Business School (Brussels). She completed her postgraduate studies at the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna. 

 

Clare Stark has 20 years of experience in international relations and strategic planning. As UN Coordination Officer in the Priority Africa and External Relations Sector at UNESCO, she is responsible for enhancing UN system-wide coordination on emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, biotechnology and neurotechnology and developing strategic partnerships with UN entities and the private and public sectors.  She co-chairs the High-Level Committee on Programmes Interagency Group on AI, bringing together 40 UN entities to strengthen the ethical development and deployment of AI to support the achievement of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. Find out more

Ann Branch has been working for the European Institutions in Brussels for over 20 years on various policies and funding programmes. She works in the Department for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion and heads the unit leading the work on the EU Skills Agenda & 2023 European Year of Skills. Previous work included social & inclusive entrepreneurship, social economy, the cultural and creative sectors, education for innovation, European social dialogue and industrial relations, and the EU's Culture, Creative Europe, Erasmus+, and Employment and Social Innovation funding programmes. Find out more

El Iza Mohamedou is the Head of the OECD Centre for Skills, which supports countries to achieve better economic and social outcomes by taking a whole-of-government approach and engaging with stakeholders to develop and implement better skills policies. She has more than 25 years of international experience working in the field, at headquarters with various international organizations, and in the private sector. El Iza holds a PhD in Economics, MBA in International Business and a BA in Economics. Find out more

Pascal Heß is a member of the scientific staff at the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) and a final year PhD candidate at the Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA) at Maastricht University. His research interest mainly lies in the link between education and labour market outcomes with a focus on policy evaluations, school-to-work transitions, and adult education. Pascal has published several scientific and policy papers on further training and technological change. Find out more

Ljubica Nedelkoska is a social scientist with a background in economics (PhD) and public administration (MA). She studies the impact of technology on the labour market, skills, migration and diasporas. Ljubica is interested in development, labour economics, policy and economic sociology. She is currently a research scientist at the Complexity Science Hub in Vienna, a visiting professor at the Central European University in Vienna, and a senior research fellow at the Growth Lab at Harvard University. Find out more 

Fabio Nascimbeni works as Human Capital Development Expert at the European Training Foundation (ETF), an agency of the European Union providing policy support to EU neighbouring countries for the reform of education, training and employment systems, where he mainly focuses on digitalisation and learning innovation. He is a Senior Fellow of the European Distance and eLearning Network (EDEN) and a Fellow of the CEST Centre of the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and of the Nexa Centre of the Politecnico di Torino in Italy. Fabio has been active in the field of learning innovation and digital education for 25 years, collaborating with different universities and with international institutions such as the European Commission, the ILO and UNICEF. He has designed and coordinated more than 50 research and innovation projects across Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, the South Mediterranean and South East Asia. His main research interests are open education, learning innovation, digital literacy, digital inclusion. Find out more

Marko Banković is an Assistant Director in the Foundation Tempus from Belgrade, Republic of Serbia. He has been very active in the field of career guidance since 2007 when he established one of the first university career services in the country. From 2013 he has been involved in numerous capacity-building initiatives in career guidance by coordinating the national centre of the Euroguidance network, as well as being the national expert in the CareersNet network, member of Europass Advisory Group and national policy development working groups. Find out more

Ola Issa is the Country Director of DVV International in Palestine since 2017. She has been working for over 15 years as an adult educator. She holds a master's degree in pedagogy, instruction and curriculum design, and her professional experience includes training and mentorship of teachers, adult educators, women, youth, community leaders. Find out more

Zoltán is one of the initiators of the Hungarian Association for Lifelong Learning and had a decisive role in developing the Network of Open Learning Centres in Hungary. He co-founded Progress Development Co., which also functions as a knowledge centre for basic skills teaching & learning. Progress accommodates the EBSN Secretariat in Budapest. Zoltán was a member of the EBSN Executive Committee between 2011-17 and the Head of the EBSN Secretariat between 2017-23, and he has served as Secretary-General since May 2023. Find out more

Over the past ten years, Györgyi has been a senior advisor at EBSN’s acting secretariat, Progress Development Co. She participates in basic skill development projects for low-skilled adults, such as the Skills Guarantee, an upskilling initiative implemented within the Network of Open Learning Centres in Hungary or adapting the Swiss GO Model for workplace basic skill development. Most recently, she contributed to EBSN’s PDSeries in MOOC development and online facilitation. Find out more

 

Gert Biesta is Professor of Public Education at Maynooth University, Ireland, and Professor of Educational Theory and Pedagogy at the University of Edinburgh, UK. He is a member of the Education Council of the Netherlands, the advisory body for the Dutch government and parliament. Gert’s research focuses on teaching, teacher education, citizenship education, arts education, religious education, and education policy. Recent books include: World-Centred Education (Routledge 2021); The new publicness of education. Democratic possibilities after the critique of neo-liberalism (Routledge 2023). Find out more

Simona Petkova is a policy officer for Digital Education in DG EAC. She works on the implementation of different initiatives of the Digital Education Action Plan, such as the guidelines for teachers on promoting digital literacy and tackling disinformation and the Digital Education Hackathon.  Simona is responsible for the effective cooperation with the European EdTech sector and promoting digital education in the Western Balkans. Previously, Simona worked on initiatives bridging the gender digital divide. She holds an MSc from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a BSc (Hons) from City University of London. Find out more

Giovanni Zagni, PhD, is a journalist based in Milan, Italy, and the director of the fact-checking projects Pagella Politica and Facta.news. Giovanni is a member of the executive board of the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO) as well as the MSI-INF Committee of Experts on the Integrity of Online Information established in 2022 by the Council of Europe. He took part as an expert in the Monitoring Unit on Disinformation around Covid-19 established by the Italian government in 2020. Find out more

Edith Hammer is a Programme Specialist at the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL), based in Hamburg, Germany. Within the “Skills throughout Life” Programme, she has been leading policy research and capacity-building activities in lifelong learning at national and local levels. She has been coordinating the thematic clusters on Education for Sustainable Development and Citizenship Education within the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities. She holds a doctorate in Media and Communication from the University of Vienna. Find out more

Alice Stollmeyer is the Founder & Executive Director of Defend Democracy, a nonpartisan NGO defending democracy from foreign, domestic and technological threats. Alice has a background in social studies of science, technology and society. A former digital strategist, she now works on democracy, technology, geopolitics and hybrid threats. Alice has lived and worked in Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels, the heart of the European Union. Find out more

Pascale Mompoint-Gaillard is a social psychologist, facilitator, and researcher interested in community leadership, collective intelligence and education for democracy and social justice. She has been involved for 30 years in adult education and for the past 15 years, specifically in teacher education for democracy and 21st-century skills and pedagogy.  She was the pedagogical advisor for the Council of Europe Pestalozzi Programme for Education Professionals. Today, she is a researcher and evaluator of the EU Commission and the Joint Research Center, focusing on systemic transformation in education, eLearning and the development of professional learning communities. In 2015, she co-founded the NGO Learn to Change, Change to Learn, which gathers educators committed to improving education systems and produces resources for practitioners aiming for a more humane and just society where all can reach their full potential. Find out more

Alain Gaillard recently left a senior management position, ending a 35-year career in the industry. He has since been dedicated to raising awareness of climate change, accelerating climate action and facilitating democratic social transformation. He is a certified facilitator for the Climate Fresk and other climate-related serious games. Alain is the CEO of TippingPoints and has been an active member of Learn to Change since 2017. Find out more

Gina Ebner has had a transformative impact as the Secretary General of the European Association for the Education of Adults (EAEA). With a clear emphasis on bringing the empowerment and joy of learning to adults throughout Europe, she has continuously pushed for systemic change while maintaining that adult education is a right and a vital part of overall social justice. Since being appointed in 2007, she has worked closely with the EAEA Board and forged robust and effective relations with the European Union (EU) Commission. She was elected to chair the Lifelong Learning Platform of the EU, representing a wide coalition of transnational bodies across the post-compulsory education sector. Find out more

 

Bolormaa Tumurchudur-Klok is a Technical Specialist at the Employment Policy, Job Creation and Livelihoods Department (Skills and Employability Branch) of the International Labour Office in Geneva. She is a co-team member of the work area Skills Strategies for Future Labour Markets, focusing on anticipating skills needed for the Future of Work, skills for trade and economic diversification, skills for environmental sustainability and climate action, and skills for technological change and digitalisation. Her main work focuses on policy advice, research, tools and technical assistance to ILO constituents in the field of skills needs anticipation and matching as part of national and sectoral policies and strategies. She also leads the work on Skills for Trade and Economic Diversification (STED) programme that comprises country and sector-level research and capacity-building activities concerning the nexus between skills, trade and employment. Prior to the ILO, she was an Economic Affairs Officer at the Trade Analysis Branch of the UNCTAD from 2007 to 2012. She received a doctoral degree in economics from the University of Lausanne (HEC) in 2007, and a master’s degree in international economics from the Graduate Institute of Geneva (HEI) in 1999. Find out more

Malgorzata Kozak is a policy officer in the unit responsible for schools and multilingualism in the Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture of the European Commission. She works on the development and monitoring of European Union policies in the area of adult education, with a particular focus on the implementation of the Erasmus+ programme. Find out more

Grethe Haugøy has 30 years of experience with lifelong learning in Norway, Europe, and the USA. She has been a teacher and principal in public adult education, as well as a senior advisor for Vox (Norway’s agency for lifelong learning). As a deputy director at the Directorate for Integration and Diversity, she was responsible for qualifying refugees for work and education in Norway. Grethe has worked for 10 years in international engagements including positions at Cedefop, the EEA and Norway Grants. Find out more

Wim Ipers graduated as a translator and interpreter. Since 1998, he has been working as a teacher in adult basic education for Ligo Brusselleer. He is also an award-winning self-made playwright and theatre director, specialising in setting up hyperdiverse grassroots level co-creative theatre productions. In both an education and cultural context, Wim has acquired 25 years of expertise working in prisons and with people in prisons. Find out more

Ten years ago, I started providing non-formal education in culture. My work within the Institute Burja focuses on members of various vulnerable groups, especially immigrants from the nations of the former Yugoslavia living in Slovenia. I enjoy peace, tolerance, cultural content and intercultural dialogue. The implementation of our educational activities fulfils all of this. Find out more

Syrine Rekhis is a freelance civic education, human rights and advocacy educator. In the past 10 years she has delivered more than 3000 hours of training and workshops with SALTO, UNESCO, Goethe Institute, CAP Munich, New Tactics in Human Rights, AEGEE Europe and others. Active in civil society in the fields of human rights and democracy since 2011, Syrine co-founded and led a human rights youth-led association, Inno-PEACE. She is currently the President of VOICIFY-European Forum for Youth with Lived Migration Experiences that advocates for inclusion and political participation. Passionate about research, she digs into health, neuroscience and cognition. Find out more

Zara is an educator and expert in the field of non-formal education. With a background in youth work and policy, she has been involved in supporting the development of non-formal education and youth policy in Armenia, post-Soviet countries and wider Europe. She has authored educational activities, games, manuals, online courses for educators on learning, training trainers, participation, youth policy, youth work, community development projects, transversal skills, and social entrepreneurship. She is president of the Innovative Educational Solutions’ Laboratory NGO. Find out more

Aleksandra Kozyra graduated in Applied Linguistics from the University of Warsaw. She is a qualified teacher who spent a few years working as a language trainer in Poland, teaching different target groups, especially young migrants and intergenerational groups. She has several years of experience in membership capacity building and event management of conferences with 100+ participants, online and face-to-face events, seminars and training courses, and expert working groups. Find out more

Christin Cieslak is head of Programmes and Stakeholder Engagement at EAEA, gerontology and Adult Education/Lifelong learning graduate from Germany, with deep knowledge and working experience in transnational cooperation on a European level. She has worked for four national Agencies, assessed LLLP and E+ applications for over ten years, and was the EPALE CSS project manager. Find out more