Marc Durando

Executive Director - European Schoolnet

Marc Durando, Executive Director of EUN, has over 35 years' experience in the field of education and training, both at European and national level. He has worked in the education and training area since 1983, where, after five years in the field of continuing education for enterprises, he developed specific expertise on European cooperation in the field of education and training. Since September 2006, Marc Durando joined the European Schoolnet network as Executive Director of EUN. 

Evarist Barolo

Minister for Education and Employment - Malta

Evarist Bartolo was born on 14 October 1952 in Mellieha and has three brothers and three sisters. His father worked as a primary school teacher. He is married to Gillian and they have two children, Katrin and Louisa. In 1975 Bartolo graduated from the University of Malta with a B.A. (Hons) degree in English Literature and continued his studies in journalism at Stanford University. He also read for a Master's in Education at the University of Cardiff. Bartolo has taught at every level of the education system from kindergarten to university. He spent three years teaching at De La Salle College as well as working with the national broadcasting station and editor of numerous media organisations. A member of parliament since 1992, he worked mostly in Education, European affairs and Tourism as well as serving as Minister of Education and National Culture under a Labour government between 1996 and 1998. Evarist Bartolo took office as the Minister for Education and Employment on 13 March 2013.

Dr Ian Borg

Minister for transport - Malta

Dr Ian Borg was appointed Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Capital Projects in June 2017. His current role encompasses a wide portfolio ranging from major infrastructural projects, to the construction and maintenance of the country's infrastructure, the transport scenario, and planning and property. In the year and a half since his appointment, the Minister has overseen projects on the main arteries and junctions all around the island, projects in the maritime and aviation sectors as well as initiatives that aim to start creating a culture shift moving from the use of the personal vehicle to the use of alternative means of transport. During the previous legislature, Dr Ian Borg also served as Parliamentary Secretary for the EU Presidency 2017 and EU Funds. His political career started in 2005 with his election as Mayor of his hometown Dingli, which was reaffirmed in 2008 and 2012. Dr Borg graduated as a Doctor of Laws from the University of Malta in 2012, after successfully reading a Doctoral degree in Laws, a Diploma in Public Notarial Practice and a Bachelor's Degree in Law.

Philippe Martin

Acting Head of Academic R&I Unit - Directorate B - Open Innovation and Open Science, DG Research and Innovation - European Commission

Philippe Martin puts his creativity at the service of society and the environment. Phil currently heads the "Academic Research and Innovation" Unit in the Open Science and Open Innovation Directorate of the Research and Innovation Directorate General of the European Commission. His achievements span finance, technical, non-technical, and social innovation, the risk assessment of emerging technologies, and climate science. In particular, he created new financial instruments for research and innovation, for ecoinnovation and for social innovation. He co-authored the EU Action Plan on nanotechnologies. He facilitated the identification of EU GHG emission reductions for the Kyoto negotiations, explained fast climate/vegetation feedbacks, predicted changes in malaria receptivity with climate change, co-authored the first report on climate change and US water resources, and contributed to the IPCC from its creation. He supported the drafting of the Lisbon Declaration on Social Innovation. Phil earned an MBA from ESSEC in Paris in Decision and Negotiation Analysis, a DEA in Energy Economics and Geopolitics from the University of Paris and the French Nuclear Commission and, as a Fulbright Scholar, an MS and a PhD in Energy and Resources from the University of California at Berkeley. He wrote his PhD thesis in environmental physics and climatology on vegetation/atmosphere interactions at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, CO, USA.

Joseph Bugeja

CEO of Transport Malta

Since June 2018 he is the Chairman and CEO of Transport Malta. Joseph Bugeja is a fellow member of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport with over 40 years of experience in the maritime sector. He has served 32 at Sea Malta Co. Ltd wherein he held the post of General Manager.  During the past twelve years, he has served as General Manager for MMOS- Malta Motorways of the Sea Ltd (Grimaldi Group), General Manger for Sullivan Maritime Limited and as CEO & Board Member of the Malta Maritime Forum.

Anja Monrad

Chair of the Governing Board of the Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition, Senior Vice President & General Manager - Dell (Video message)

Ms. Anja Monrad serves as General Manager of Dell Central & Eastern Europe. She is Senior Vice President of Dell Central and Eastern Europe and the chair of the Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition Governing Board. The Governing Board provides strategic leadership and gives high-level advice to improve the functioning and the impact of the Coalition as well as monitoring its overall progress.

Alexa Joyce

Director, Education System Leaders - Microsoft corporation

Alexa leads the global strategy at Microsoft for engaging and support education system leaders as they transform their school systems. She was formerly EMEA Director of Policy, Teaching and Learning, focusing on supporting national device deployments across the region. Prior to Microsoft, she was Senior Business Development Manager at European Schoolnet. At Schoolnet, she engaged 60 million people across Europe through awareness raising campaigns on digital skills. Previously, she worked at UNESCO Bangkok, coordinating the pilot Southeast Asian Schoolnet and equipping Ministries of Education and schools with ICT infrastructure. Alexa was Executive Advisor to the Hewlett Packard STEM+ Catalyst global program for education and an executive committee member of the European Centre for Women and Technology and the European e-Skills Association. She has a Masters in Biological Sciences from the University of Oxford, an MBA from Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, Belgium, and a Post Graduate Certificate in Education Technology from the Institute of Education, University College London (UCL).

Yves Beernaert

Former member of the DG Research Science Education Expert Group, Senior Education Consultant -  Educonsult

After 18 years as a language teacher, a teacher trainer and an inspector in the Congo and Belgium, Yves worked for 12 years in several technical assistance offices of the European Commission and European organisations dealing with school and teacher education EU programmes. He was for five years the rapporteur of the Cluster Maths, Science and Technology (STEM) of DG EAC. For DG EAC he has published several country reports on STEM policies and has developed a STEM compendium. In 2015, he was one of the experts that drafted the DG R&I Science report "Science education for responsible citizenship". For 2 years he worked for the Bulgarian Ministry of education on upgrading VET education.

Stephan Griebel

Business Development and Alliances Europe - Texas Instruments

Stephan Griebel has worked at Texas Instruments since 1997. Currently he is responsible for business development and alliance for Texas instruments' Educational Technology solutions. This involves the development of the educator network T3 – Teachers Teaching with Technology, collaboration with textbook publishers and other suppliers of educational content, and last but not least the support of pilot sites in the field of math, science and STEM education in close cooperation with Ministries of Education including didactical research. Before joining Texas Instruments he worked as teacher for mathematics and physics in Gymnasium in Bavaria, Germany. Stephan is member of the board of Initiative D21, leading there the education workgroup since 2010.

Dr Anne-Gret Iturriaga Abarzua

Head of Communications - INEOS Manufacturing Deutschland GmbH

Dr Anne-Gret Iturriaga Abarzua is the Head of Communications for INEOS in Cologne. Next to her communication and anthropology studies in Vienna, she worked as a freelance journalist for Austrian and German media as well as for PR and marketing agencies. As consultant in a PR agency in Vienna she helped clients of the plastics and wood industry shaping their reputation. Before arriving to INEOS in Cologne, she was the Communications Manager for EVC (now INOVYN) in Germany. Anne-Gret won several international awards for communications and public relations. She is an IPRA Board member and active in two EPCA councils. Anne-Gret lives in Germany with her family, enjoys an active lifestyle and Austrian cuisine.

Jeannette Axisa

Chief Officer Strategy and Corporate Services - Transport Malta

Jeannette Axisa has made her mission to market various industrial/technical careers to students in various educational institutions starting from 12 years of age and promote active partnerships in all types of government and private traineeship schemes as an agile response to an ever-changing cultural and societal strata and to make education a force for development and training to build organisational capabilities in a sustainable manner.

Ana Albalat

Deputy Director General of Research and Digital Culture - Generalitat de Catalunya

She is the Deputy Director General of Research and Digital Culture of the education ministry of Catalunya. In 2017-2018 she coordinated the STEAMcat innovation pedagogical program. Before that, she worked 10 years as a high school professor of technology. She holds a master's degree on education and ICT (e-learning), a postgraduate in direction of educational centers and a postgraduate in gender equality policies in the public administration.

Ana Isabel Montenegro-Garcia

Chemical Engineer - Repsol, Chair - Young EPCA Think Tank

Ana Montenegro is a Spanish Chemical Engineer actually working in Repsol Chemical business leading all cross-cutting projects that ensure the innovation and continuous improvement. She has an experience of 20 years in chemistry having passed through different positions within Repsol: technical assistance and development of polyolefins manager, product manager in pipes, cables, Auto,
Polypropylene, EVA and EBA, etc. In addition, she has been the president of the Spanish Committee of Plastics for Agriculture in Spain (CEPLA) and vice president of the international committee (CIPA). Currently, she is Chair of the Young EPCA Think Tank (YETT) as a professional committed to the evangelization of chemistry in society.

Vladimíra Pavlicová

Consultant, Centre for International Cooperation in Education (DZS) - Ministry of Education in the Czech Republic

Vladimíra holds a master's degree in teaching maths and geography as well as a master's degree from the Faculty of International Relations. Since 2014 she works at DZS as a consultant for eTwinning and European Schoolnet. She coordinates activities to support especially STEM education, she was a national coordinator of the MENTEP project. She is a member of Interactive Classroom WG and Ministry of Education STEM WG.

Olga Svyrydenko

Teacher Engagement Manager, Microsoft HQ in Central and Eastern Europe - Microsoft corporation

In her current role, Olga works across 33 countries in Central and Eastern Europe Area to support implementation of Microsoft's programs aiming to empower every student and teacher to achieve more. Most notable, Microsoft Education Transformation Framework, Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert, Microsoft Showcase School, Microsoft Imagine Academy, Microsoft Educator Community and numerous national and Area initiatives where pedagogy enhanced by technology leads to greater academic outcomes and getting students future-ready. Olga is thrilled to be leading Microsoft's educator development programs as well as working to create a rich portfolio of online and face to face professional development offerings for educators and school systems. Before joining Microsoft, Olga spent 10 years driving education and citizenship programs in Ukraine and Caucasus part of public diplomacy programs under US Department of State and later US Agency for International Development. In all roles Olga worked with policy-makers, as well as grass-roots initiatives to drive social and digital transformation projects.

Gareth Cullen

Talent Acquisition Manager for Ireland - DELL

Gareth has worked at Dell since 2006 and has held a number of roles since joining. In 2011 Gareth became the Talent Acquisition Manager for Ireland. Dell employs 6,000 people in Ireland. Gareth leads a team of 18 team members across the three Irish sites; Cork, Dublin and Limerick. Gareth's team own the attraction and selection strategy resulting in 1,200 hires last year alone. The TA Ireland Team also get involved in driving key programmes including Diversity & Inclusion and University Relations. Dell Ireland have been awarded Best Employer in Ireland the last two consecutive years. Gareth is also the Founder of the Talent Ireland Forum to connect likeminded companies. The objective of the forum is to drive improvement and promote Ireland as a location of choice for talent.

Elisa Martin Garijo

Chief Technology Officer - IBM Spain corporation

Elisa Martin Garijo is Chief Technology Officer for IBM Spain, Portugal, Greece and Israel, a Distinguished Engineer, and a member emeritus of the IBM Academy of Technology. In her CTO role, Elisa leads technology and innovation in the country with the main objective of stimulating smart and cognitive solutions in Spanish companies and institutions using technology and innovation as drivers. In this role her responsibility is to transmit innovative experiences and technology to enterprises and society as well as bringing value by connecting clients with IBM Research.
As a member of IBM's Academy of Technology Leadership team, Elisa participates in investigative studies on international and national levels. She holds two patents and several written collaborations / studies about technical products and processes. As an executive, she is responsible for maintaining excellence and vitality in the technical community of SPGI market supporting the second IBM value, "Innovation that Matters", for clients and society.
With a Mathematics degree from the Complutense University of Madrid, Elisa's experience extends over 35 years in the industry and technology sectors.

Dr Agueda Gras

Scientix Project Manager, Science Programme Manager - European Schoolnet

Dr Agueda Gras-Velazquez (Astrophysicist / Management) is the Science Programme Manager of European Schoolnet (EUN). As Head of the Science Education Department at EUN, she is in charge of overseeing and coordinating all the Maths and Science projects in which EUN is involved. Additionally, she is in charge of the day-to-day management of "Scientix" (the community for science education in Europe, http://scientix.eu), coordinates EUN's Ministries of Education STEM representatives Working Group and from January 2017, she manages the European Schoolnet Academy. In her over 10 years at EUN, Agueda has been involved in over 35 European Commission funded projects and 13 private funded ones; and sits in the advisory board of a number of projects. Prior to joining EUN in May 2008, she worked as an independent eLearning Professional, as Tutor, Content designer, IT manager, Administrator, Project Manager and Consultant for international projects. She has co-authored several papers in the area of Science Education Research and has a PhD in Astrophysics from Trinity College Dublin, which she carried out at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies in Ireland.

Miguel Silvestre

Executive Director - Óbidos Technological Park

Miguel Silvestre currently serves as Executive Director of OBITEC, where he is responsible for managing the Óbidos Technology Park and he also work as a consultant in innovative development policies. In the past we was the coordinator of the participation of the Municipality of Óbidos in the URBACT program in networks such as Creative Spin III, led by the City of Birmingham, and Creative Clusters in Low Density Areas", part of the European URBACT II program, in which was Óbidos the Lead Partner. He was coordinator of the local strategy Creative Óbidos, namely REC - Creative Spaces Network, which aims to change the commercial dynamics of Óbidos promoting a more creative and differentiated approach by the artist. He has authored several strategic documents, such as the Local Action Plan entitled Óbidos Creative Footprint - The next big step will be made of many of small steps; and also Creative Óbidos: Future History. He has been invited to speak at different national and international forums on creativity (Brazil, Brussels, Vienna, Austria, Denmark, England, etc.) and the economy. Silvestre was previously Deputy Mayor of Óbidos and had as one of his missions the implementation of Óbidos Creative strategy. Miguel Silvestre also took over the coordination of the Network for Research, Innovation and Knowledge of Óbidos, which featured 19 research projects from Universities and Portuguese Academic researchers. This project is in its final phase of implementation.

Dr Marko Krstić

Acting director of the Center for the Promotion of Science - Belgrade, Serbia

Marko Krstić received his BS, MS, and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in 2007, 2009, and 2016, respectively, at the University of Belgrade. He is currently Assistant Professor at the School of Electrical Engineering. He co-authored more than 20 scientific papers published in international peer-review journals and received several national recognitions. He is a Co-Chair of the Organizing Committee of the VII International School and Conference on Photonics: PHOTONICA 2019, to be held in Belgrade in 2019. Since June 2018, he serves as the Acting Director of the Center for the Promotion of Science, a government institution competent for the promotion and the popularization of science, which is currently active in two European projects with scope on STEM: Scientix and STEM School Label.

Sid Mysore

STEM – ICT – Digital4Education, SCRIPT (Department of Coordination of Educational and Technological Research and Innovations) - Ministry of Education in Luxembourg

From a Mathematics and Computer Science background, Sid Mysore specialized in financial mathematics and statistical engineering before choosing a career in teaching in a pilot secondary school with a focus on participative and collaborative learning. Currently, he coordinates projects in the domains of Digital Education and STEM Education for the Department for the Coordination of Research and Pedagogical and Technological Innovation of the Luxembourg Ministry of Education, Childhood and Youth.

Mario Cardona

Head of Technical College - Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology

Mario Cardona graduated with a B.Ed. (Hon.) in History and Early and Middle Years from the University of Malta. He subsequently focused on adult education and training, and community development, with a Laurea from Roma Tre University, an M.Ed. from the University of Malta and a PhD from the University of Edinburgh. He has an academic and professional interest in adult education and training, community education and development, co-operatives, VET, visual and performing arts, and issues related to education and social justice. He participates in European policy fora and has published books and papers related to his area of expertise. He carries out voluntary work in a rural co-operative at Manikata and in a community-based music school at Qormi.

Dr Agueda Gras

Scientix Project Manager, Science Programme Manager - European Schoolnet

Moderator:

Anastasiya Boiko

Christel Op de Beeck

Policy Officer at the Flemish Government, Department of Education and Training, Horizontal Policy Division - Ministry of Education in Belgium (Flanders)

Mainly in charge of STEM and the preparatory work for the new attainment goals, which will be implemented as from Sep.1, 2019, and which will -for the first time- contain STEM-goals. In charge of international development policy in South-Africa between 1999 and mid-2013. The way STEM is approached in Flanders holds many aspects of the systemic project management approach. As such, STEM is not "a Project" or a multitude of projects, but a systemic, long term Programme.

Mar Camacho

Director General of Innovation, Research and Digital Culture - Generalitat de Catalunya

M.del Mar Camacho, Director General of Innovation, Research and Digital Culture PhD. Lecturer on Educational Technology at the Faculty of Education of the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Catalonia). She taught in graduate and postgraduate programs related to Educational Technology, with particular emphasis on Mobile Learning and emergent technologies. Co-author of the first monography on Mobile Learning in Spain, Portugal and Latin America, she has been leading a nation-wide research on the use of tablets in schools and their impact on learning. Other international collaborations on this field include institutions such as UNESCO and the International Telecommunications Union (United Nations). She has given keynotes to international audiences and is author of more than 60 scholarly articles. Appointed Director General of Primary and Childhood Education at the Catalan Ministry of Education in July 2018 and Director General of Innovation, Research and Digital Culture in December 2018.

Danny Gooris

Senior Managers - Oracle Academy EMEA

Danny joined Oracle in January 2013 with more than 15 years of experience managing vendor-led technology education programs. He was formerly the EMEA program leader at Learning@Cisco. He has worked with Ministries of Education around the world from Russia to Africa. Danny's global experience contributes to his passion for ensuring that young people develop the skills to become the leaders and entrepreneurs of the future. Danny looks after the Oracle Academy EMEA, as Senior Manager, is responsible for strategic initiatives & private-public partnerships, works closely with the European Union Digital Skills & Jobs Coalition, and is board member of the European e-Skills Association, and is involved the ICT Foundation Body of Knowledge, and member of Educational Private Sector Advisory Council for the World Bank.

Francesca Falco

CSR Manager for Europe - Samsung

Francesca Falco is Samsung Electronics' CSR Manager for Europe. Prior to joining Samsung, Francesca was Project Manager at DIGITALEUROPE, where she managed, among the others, the eSkills for Jobs 2015-16 Awareness Raising Campaign and the Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition on behalf of the European Commission. Francesca's main areas of interest are digital skills, STEM, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Carlos Ribeiro

Head of Agrupamento de Escolas Marinhas do Sal - Portugal

Teacher of mathematics and natural sciences for 30 years with extensive experience in European Projects, namely in Comenius, Erasmus, Ingenious and Scientix (ambassador). Currently Director of the school Marinhas do Sal, Rio Maior - two years. School with a strong relationship with local companies, to develop activities with students and as sponsors of the school projects.

Moderator:

Evita Tasiopoulou

Stefaan Hermans

Director for Policy Strategy and Evaluation, DG EAC - European Commission

Stefaan HERMANS is Director of Policy Strategy and Evaluation in the Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture at the European Commission. Before joining DG RTD in 2008 as Head of the 'Universities and Researchers' Unit, he was Secretary of the European Employment Committee following several other functions in DG Employment, Social Affairs, Industrial Relations and Equal Opportunities. He also worked as project officer in Education and Training at the European Commission.

Gaetano Bugeja

Director for Learning and Assessment Programmes Department for Curriculum, Lifelong Learning and Employability - Ministry for Education and Employment, Malta

Director Learning and Assessment Programmes Directorate within the Ministry for Education and Employment (Malta).  I have started my career as a teacher of Physics and Chemistry. I have also taught ICT for some years and always sought ways to link science and ICT in the classroom. I have actively participated in a number of EU funded projects, attended several seminars and visited a number of schools in different countries. Today I am responsible for the teaching, learning and assessment of the curriculum in both primary and secondary. The link between education and industry has been promoted in recent years in Malta through STEM subjects and through the vocational subjects.

Karsten Simons

Regional Manager Corporate Affairs Europe, CIS, Russia & Israel - Cisco

Head of the Corporate Affairs for Europe, Russia, CIS and Israel at Cisco Systems, Karsten is responsible for implementing Corporate Social Responsibility activities with a focus on digital entrepreneurship, digital literacy and ICT training across Europe. The Cisco Networking Academy, its flagship program, equips more than 270,000 students and job seekers per year with the digital skills required to succeed in today's connected economy. Karsten joined the Cisco team in 2010 as Business Development Manager in EMEAR education, where he was responsible for driving partnership engagements with the National Research and Education Networks. Previous to that he had worked for more than 10 years in the German public sector, particularly as the Marketing and Product Management Lead at bol Behörden Online GmbH – a daughter company of British Telecom – and also as a Marketing Lead for Public Sector at Microsoft Corporation, where he was responsible for the Government and Education programs. He also holds a master's degree in computer science.

Yves Beernaert

Former member of the DG Research Science Education Expert Group, Senior education consultant - Educonsult

After 18 years as a language teacher, a teacher trainer and an inspector in the Congo and Belgium, Yves worked for 12 years in several technical assistance offices of the European Commission and European organisations dealing with school and teacher education EU programmes. He was for five years the rapporteur of the Cluster Maths, Science and Technology (STEM) of DG EAC. For DG EAC he has published several country reports on STEM policies and has developed a STEM compendium. In 2015, he was one of the experts that drafted the DG R&I Science report "Science education for responsible citizenship". For 2 years he worked for the Bulgarian Ministry of education on upgrading VET education.

Albert Forn

Director mSchools- GSMA

Albert Forn leads the mSchools Program at GSMA, a public-private partnership that empowers teachers to integrate mobile technologies into the classroom, opening up new ways of teaching and learning that improve learner engagement, achievement and employability. To date, over 180.000 students and 3.700 teachers are part of the mSchools community.

Stefaan Hermans

Director for Policy Strategy and Evaluation, DG EAC - European Commission

Stefaan HERMANS is Director of Policy Strategy and Evaluation in the Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture at the European Commission. Before joining DG RTD in 2008 as Head of the 'Universities and Researchers' Unit, he was Secretary of the European Employment Committee following several other functions in DG Employment, Social Affairs, Industrial Relations and Equal Opportunities. He also worked as project officer in Education and Training at the European Commission.

Marc Durando
Executive Director - European Schoolnet

Marc Durando, Executive Director of EUN, has over 35 years' experience in the field of education and training, both at European and national level. He has worked in the education and training area since 1983, where, after five years in the field of continuing education for enterprises, he developed specific expertise on European cooperation in the field of education and training. Since September 2006, Marc Durando joined the European Schoolnet network as Executive Director of EUN.