CONFERENCE MODERATOR 

Ambassador Hatem Atallah (Tunisia)

Coming from a rich diplomatic background that encompassed over 35 years, Ambassador Atallah was the Tunisian Ambassador in several countries including the US, the UK, South Africa and Ethiopia, He was also the Permanent Representative of Tunisia to the Organization of American States, the African Union, the Economic Commission for Africa, UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme), UN-Habitat, and the International Maritime Organization. He was appointed the Diplomatic Advisor to the Head of the Tunisian Government until February 2015. Ambassador Atallah participated in numerous summits, ministerial meetings and high level conferences of the African Union, the United Nations and the Union for the Mediterranean.

From March 2015 to December 2017 he served as Executive Director of the Anna Lindh Foundation for Dialogue between Cultures in the Euro-Mediterranean Region. Ambassador Atallah serves as Vice Président of the Euro-Med University (EMUNI) in Slovenia and member of the Senate. He also serves on the Board of Governors of the Gorée Institute in Sénégal and is a founding member of « AVASP » (Institute for Strategic Analysis and Prospective Studies – Tunis).

OFFICIALS and EXPERTS 

Eili Lepik, Deputy Strategy Director of Strategy Unit, of Estonian State Chancellery (Estonia)

Eili Lepik works as deputy strategy director at the Government Office of Estonia. Her main responsibility now is to lead the preparation process of the countries long term strategy “Estonia 2035”. Eili is also working with global sustainable development goals and Agenda 2030 coordination at the central government level. She has lead several sustainable development related projects, e.g. reform of Estonian Sustainable Development Commission, renewal of Estonian sustainable development indicators and compiling the Estonian review on implementation of 2030 Agenda.

Christer Haglund, Director of Nordic Council of Ministers’ Office in Estonia

Christer Haglund is the Director of the Nordic Council of Ministers´ Office in Estonia. Before becoming the head of the Nordic Council, he spent 14 years in the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in which he rose up over the years to become director of public relations – a role in which, among other things, he was Head of Media during Finland’s first presidency of the Council of the European Union.

In 2000, Haglund joined Finnair and went on to become Senior Vice President, corporate communications and a member of the management board of the airline. From autumn 2011 he served as the CEO of the Finnish Fair Corporation.

Jane Õispuu Head of Political Team at the European Commission Representation in Estonia

Jane Õispuu is the Head of Political Team at the European Commission Representation in Tallinn. Main focus of her work lies on Commission’s priorities as defined by President Ursula von der Leyen for 2019-2024, notably climate change, energy, and migration. In her previous positions at the Commission, she was in charge of inter-institutional relations in the domain of EU external policies, briefings for President Juncker and multiannual financial framework. Jane Õispuu holds a PhD in political science from the University of Tübingen, Germany.

Mr. Miguel Silva, North-South Centre of  Council of Europe

Miguel Silva Graduated in International Relations (Diplôme de Recherche et Etudes Internationales, INALCO-Sorbonne University, Paris), and coordinates the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe Global Education programme since 1999. He participated in the drafting of the NSC Global Education Guidelines and in the content development of the NSC eLearning and training of trainers scheme as well as in the drafting of the GE recommendation adopted by the CoE committee of Ministers in 2011. He coordinates the monitoring process of the GE Congress strategic recommendations (Zagreb 2015) through the realisation of regional seminars in Balkan, Baltic, Visegrad and South-East Europe and Mediterranean countries. He coordinates the Global Education Week, an annual awareness raising event with the support of the GEW network. He participated in coordinated projects with sister organisations/networks (Anna Lindh Foundation; British Council; CONCORD-DARE Forum; European Development Education Multistakeholder group; UNESCO) in the field of global education and global citizenship education. His previous experiences led him from newsletter editor; lecturer; communication officer and project coordination related with international relations and regional development.

Claire Inder, Legal Officer, Division of International Protection, United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and UN Common Agenda Team, Executive Office of the Secretary-General

Claire is a Legal Officer with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and a doctoral candidate at the University of Geneva. Her doctoral research focuses on the legal relevance of burden sharing within the international refugee protection regime, and is being supervised by Professor Guy S Goodwin-Gill and Professor Laurence Boisson de Chazournes. Claire has a LLM in international law from the New York University School of Law (Hauser Global Scholar), and a BA/LLB from the University of New South Wales (University Medal in Law). She also studied at Harvard University, on the Harvard Travel Scholarship, and Aix-Marseille University in France.

Rich Wilson Global Assembly Team (UK)

Rich is a democratic renewal specialist. With 18 years hand-on experience designing and delivering participation processes, policy development and setting up and running new organisations. In 2004 Rich founded the charity Involve, which under his leadership became a leading centre for public participation research, innovation and policy-making. He has been an adviser for the OECD, WHO, UNDP, EU and many national and local governments. He has written over 100 policy reports, been a regular contributor to the Guardian, wrote the Anti Hero book, is a trustee of the Local Trust, a Clore Social Fellow and a co-director of the social impact lab OSCA. Rich has designed, delivered or commissioned well over 100 deliberative processes. From small community workshops to large national and international processes involving thousands of citizens. For institutions such as the UNFCCC, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (UK) and the Californian State. He has recently helped set-up two new ventures: Good Help on behalf of Nesta, the National Lottery and the Department of Culture Media and Sport (UK); the Funders Initiative for Civil Society supported by Open Society Foundation, Oak and Ford. He is a co-founder of the Global Citizens’ Assembly.

Works as deputy chief at State Chancellery’ Bureau for reintegration politics. His main responsibility is to lead the effective management for analyses and planification of the country long term strategy to solve transndniestrian conflict. In 2017-2020 Nikolay worked as senior consultant in the President Office of the Republic of Moldova. In 2019, he defended his doctoral dissertation (Doctor habilitat) on the topic of civil society in the Republic of Moldova. He is the author of 5 books and more than 50 scientific articles published in 7 countries.

Dr. Mahmoud Ezzat, Head of Center for Strategic Studies Working Group – Bibliotheca Alexandrina/LAS

He is Head of Center for Strategic Studies Working Group at Bibliotheca Alexandrina. He got his PhD in political science in 2017 from the Institute of Asian Studies and Researches in Egypt. In addition, his Master’s degree in political science in 2013 from the faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University. And Bachelor’s degree in political science, Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University, in 2005. He is an Egyptian researcher and writer in the political, historical and cultural, media fields. His contributions have been published in several magazines and periodicals in Egypt, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and Europe. He has been awarded the Egyptian state incentive award in social science “Media and Press branch” 2013, the international organization of African and Asian writers annual prize 2009 and Al- Kindy prize (Best website in the Arab world), Syria 2009. He’s responsible for the cultural exchange file at Central Projects and services sector and promoting the cultural cooperation between Bibliotheca Alexandrina and foreign organizations, institutions, and NGOs “Locally, regionally and internationally” Also was responsible for the Memory of Modern Egypt website, and for several documentation websites. Moreover, extremism confrontation program at Bibliotheca Alexandrina. He’s the main member of “Education without borders” project. He has been named as a general coordinator of the International Football Tournament for Media and Journalists.

Aleksandr Dubowy, Senior Fellow at Welt Trends-Institut für Internationale Politik; General Secretary of the Society for Eurasian Studies, Vienna

Dr. Alexander Dubowy has more than ten years of successful experience in research and consulting in political relations and security matters. He works in an interdisciplinary manner on international security policy and is the author of strategic studies, regional studies and analyses of international relations with a focus on Eastern Europe, Russia and the CIS area. Furthermore, Dubowy is engaged in political consulting, policy analysis, stakeholder networking, using trend, actor and stakeholder analyses and strategic scenario development as a basis. Born in Semipalatinsk (in today’s Kazakhstan), Dubowy grew up in Estonia and Austria. The Doctor of Jurisprudence studied law, economics and political science in Vienna and Moscow. In addition to many years of research and teaching activities at national and international research and educational institutions such as Moscow State Lomonossov University, Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO University), the University of Vienna, the Vienna National Defence Academy and the Theresian Military Academy, he established research foci on Eastern Europe, Russia and the CIS area at the University of Vienna and at a cooperation institute of the Austrian Ministry of Defence.

David Woollcombe, President of Peace Child International (UK)

David Woollcombe is an author, playwright, film-maker and acknowledged expert on the field of youth participation in governance. He wrote and directed numerous performances of Peace Child across Europe, North America, the former Soviet Union and Central America. His academic publications include, “The Role of Children in Governance” and “Youth-led Development – Harnessing the energy of youth to make poverty history.” A founder and currently the President of Peace child international, he has worked as a consultant for UNDP, UNICEF, UNESCO and has published several publications for PCI and is the international director of World Youth Congress series. David led Peace Child International for 35 years as CEO, directing over 60 major productions and projects around the world. As President, and now as Chairman of the Board, he is intent to use his global contacts to ensure that the organisation moves to a new generation of leadership, equally committed to the central role that young people can play in our world.

Marthe Haugland, Senior Innovation Adviser by Nordic Innovation (Norway)

Marthe combines her international experience with her knowledge of business development and innovation to promote Nordic cooperation within the circular economy.

She belives Nordic cooperation can drive the systemic change and give Nordic companies a competitive edge going forward.

TAKAHASHI Yasuo, Executive Director, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (Japan)

Madis Tilga, Advisor to Nordic Council office in Estonia

Madis Tilga is working as adviser for green transition and circular economy in the Nordic Council of Minister´office in Estonia. His main task is to facilitate the green transition in the Nordic-Baltic region and work towards common understanding on how this transition could happen and that the countries in the region follow similar pace.

In practice this means coordinating joint research ventures, arranging round tables, seminars for better co-operation, also business outreach and capacity building among civil servants and NGOs. Madis Tilga acts also as facilitator of discussions, leads projects and writes opinion pieces.

Ambassador MORIKAWA Toru (Japan)

Ambassador joined the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) as its 8th Executive Director in August 2020. ASEF’s leadership alternates between Asia and Europe every four years.
Ambassador MORIKAWA is a seasoned career diplomat bringing decades of experience and expertise to ASEF. His previous postings include serving as Minister, Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Japan in Iran; and Minister-Counsellor, Embassy of Japan in France where he was in charge of various cultural exchange initiatives. He has also worked in the areas of Media and Regional Economic Cooperation and has experience in cultivating and enhancing partnerships for projects with different organisations including the private sector. Ambassador MORIKAWA received his Bachelor’s Degree in Law from the University of Tokyo. He is fluent in Japanese, French, and English. He is married with two children. Ambassador MORIKAWA Toru (Japan) joined the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) as its 8th Executive Director in August 2020. ASEF’s leadership alternates between Asia and Europe every four years. Ambassador MORIKAWA is a seasoned career diplomat bringing decades of experience and expertise to ASEF. His previous postings include serving as Minister, Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Japan in Iran; and Minister-Counsellor, Embassy of Japan in France where he was in charge of various cultural exchange initiatives. He has also worked in the areas of Media and Regional Economic Cooperation and has experience in cultivating and enhancing partnerships for projects with different organisations including the private sector.

Marina Kaljurand, Member of European Parliament, the Chair of the Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace

Prof. Robert Krimmer holds the ERA-Chair Full Professorship of e-Governance within Skytte Institute at University of Tartu in Estonia. Robert’s research is focused on digital transformation, cross-border e-services, electronic participation and democracy, as well as e-voting, and all issues further developing a digital society. Between 2015 and 2020 he was an Associate Editor for participation issues of the leading journal Government Information Quarterly. He is a member of the editorial board of the journals Government Information Quarterly, Information Polity, Policy Studies, Halduskultuur, and of the Programme committees of the leading conferences on digital government, HICSS, dg.o, EGOV/CEDEM/EPART, ICEGOV. He has been the general chair of the annual E-Vote-ID Conference series since 2016. Before he founded and ran the biannual EVOTE conference from 2004 to 2014.

Mrs. Susanne Kallanvaara, Teacher at Burgårdens Gymnasium  (Sweden)

She has graduated as upper secondary teacher at Göteborg University in Sweden in 1984 and has a vast experience of teaching all levels of Swedish for immigrants up to university level. Currently employed at Burgårdens Gymnasium in Göteborg. Has been active in the Swedish Anna Lindh network from the very start and has taken part in more than ten international projects within the European Life-Long Learning programme. The previous project at Burgårdens Gymnasium  and  Munkebäcksgymnasiet ”Different Faces of Europe” was awarded both a national and a European quality label in the etwinning portal. Another on-going Erasmus+ project at the same school is ”Fundamental Rights in European Education (F.R.E.E.). It deals with open and innovative education, training and youth work embedded in the digital era.

Andrius Bečys, CEO of GoalHUB.net (Lithuania)

Mr Becys is an NGO financing and management expert with years of experience coordinating national and international CSO networks, predominantly between African, Asian and European countries. In the last couple of years, he focuses on the development of GoalHUB – the platform that is creating reliable, transparent and instant networks for crisis relief. In 2017 Platform was nominated as one of the winners in World Government Summit (Dubai) and described „as one of the most promising initiatives to help implement UN SDGs”.

Jean Kostrzewski, London University (France/Poland)

Jean Kostrzewski’s (French/Polish) academic background is a Masters in International Studies and Diplomacy at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. He specializes in the understanding of the various impediments to global peace by focusing on the study of International Security or Risk and Policy analysis. His main field of expertise is the examination of the greatest drivers of conflict such as international political competition, economics, identity or lack of peaceful intercultural dialogue. As a member of the operations team of the SCRAP (Strategic Concept for the Removal of Arms and Proliferation) project, he has experience working with governmental and non-governmental stakeholders and advocates for the reframing of the debate concerning the strong correlation between peacebuilding operations and global disarmament. Furthermore, he actively participates in the campaigns and various projects of esteemed NGOs and charities such as UNICEF UK or DebateMate, defending the rights of the child and promoting social mobility.

Michael G. Kavuklis,President of the House of Europe in Rhodes, Head of the Organizing Committee of Rhodes Model Regional Co-operation (Greece)

Michael G. Kavuklis is a Political Scientist / International Relations (MA) and owner of the marketing agency mgk.advertising, from Rhodes, Greece. He has a long experience and involvement in project as youth and for youth. He currently serves as the President of the House of Europe in Rhodes, Project Manager in International Projects of the House of Europe in Rhodes, Founder and Head of the Organizing Committee of the Rhodes Model Regional Co-operation International Youth Leadership Program, Founder and Head of the Organizing Committee of the Europe, Entrepreneurship & Sustainable Development Forum – EESD Forum Rhodes, Board Member of the European Network for Education and Training e.V. – EUNET and the Focal Point of the Greek Network of the Anna Lindh Foundation for Aegean and Crete.

Anneli Ohvril, CEO of Let’s Do It World / World Cleanup Day

Anneli Ohvril is an expert in social change management and circular economy, speaker, trainer, initiator of numerous social movements in Estonia ang globally.

Anneli Ohvril is the founder and CEO of Let’s Do It World, the international environmental organization that engages leaders and organizations around the globe. The biggest project World Cleanup Day engaged more than 50 million people from 180 countries to one-day cleanup action during the last three years.

Kädi Ristkok, Head of Climate Department, Estonian Ministry of Environment

As the Head of Climate Department at the Estonian Ministry of Environment, Kädi Ristkok is responsible of the team developing and implementing climate change mitigation and adaptation policies in collaboration with other Estonian public entities. She oversees Estonian participation in international climate coordination and negociations, notably at the EU, UN and OECD.

After undergraduate and graduate studies at Sciences Po Paris, Kädi started her career in France as a management consultant for the public sector, supporting different public entities in their major transformations. She continued her career in strategy consulting, supporting some of the world’s biggest energy groups and investment firms in their green transition. Before joining the Estoninan Ministry of Envrionment, she spent a year building the world’s first green labour union, Printemps Econologiaue, that now supports French employees from all economic sectors in their quest of turning their companies sustainable from the inside. She also actively participates in climate education of the youth and the general public by organizing Climate Collage games that explain the causes and consequences of climate change.

Grazyna Pulawska, Associate Director, Asia-Europe Foundation (Singapore)

Grazyna Pulawska joined ASEF in February 2010. She is responsible for the Asia-Europe Environment Forum programme, which aims to strengthen co-operation between Asian and European stakeholders in the field of environmental and sustainable development. Grazyna worked for the Ministry of Economy in Poland, working in the field of regional development. She has also been active in the NGO sector, mainly with the Service Civil International network in Belgium and the Development Wheel, a Bangladesh-based NGO specialising in supporting local entrepreneurship and fair trade. She received her Master’s degree in International Relations through a joint programme between the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris and the Warsaw School of Economics.

Vinod Tailor, Deputy Lord Lieutenant (UK)

David Wardrop, Chair of the Westminster United Nations Association (UK)

David Wardrop has worked with UNA-UK, UNESCO and UN processes for many years. He chairs the Westminster United Nations Association which organises several annual programmes supportive of the UN. He was a member of the Management Team of the online UN75 Festival hosted by UNA-LASER, UNA-UK and Peace Child Intl. in October 2021. He coordinates international support for the UN’s ongoing inquiry into the death of former UN S-G Dag Hammarskjold and until recently he chaired the International Friends of the Alexandria Library.

Susan Nakyung Lee, Global Assembly Team (South Korea)

Susan is a student and democracy practitioner from Seoul, South Korea. In 2016 and 2017 she worked at We All Govern Lab, a Seoul-based democracy start-up where she translated and conducted research on civic participation and democratic innovation. Since then, she has been working in global deliberative governance with a focus on iterative pilot testing and youth activation. She is a member of Deliberativa, at which she co-founded the World Citizens’ Assembly initiative, and is part of the core delivery team at Global Assembly. Susan has published works such as “The Challenge of Global Deliberative Democracy” and spoke in a video explaining the Global Assembly for COP26 for the COP26 Climate Ambition Summit 2020. She is currently finishing her studies in Political Science and Religion at Amherst College.

and many other representives…