Speakers 2021

Eduardas Borisovas

Ambassador of Lithuania in Poland

Ambassador of the Republic of Lithuania to the Republic of Poland (since November 2018). After graduating from the Faculty of Journalism of Vilnius University in 1989, he worked in the media department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Lithuanian SSR. Since 1990 he has been connected with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of independent Lithuania. For several months in 1991 he worked in the temporary Lithuanian mission in Warsaw. He also worked in diplomatic missions in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, in the Consulate General in St. Petersburg and in the Permanent Representative to the UN Office in Geneva. In recent years, he served as Deputy Director General of the Council of the Baltic Sea States in Stockholm (2009-2015) and Director of the Department of Latin America, Africa, Asia and Oceania at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2015-2018).

Ihor Baranetskyi

Counselor, Head of Economic Section Embassy of Ukraine to the Republic of Poland

Paweł Kowal, D.Sc.

Member of the Sejm, Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw

A political scientist, historian and journalist. He is a professor at the Institute for Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Centre for East European Studies at Warsaw University, and works at the European Collegium in Natolin. He heads the Academic Council of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Kiev. Co-founder of the Warsaw Uprising Museum. Member of the Seimas of the Republic of Poland (2005-2009, 2019-), 2006-2007, State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, responsible for Eastern policy, in 2009-2014 Member of the European Parliament and Chairman of the delegation to Ukraine-EU Parliamentary Cooperation Committee. In 2012 he founded the Energy for Europe Foundation. He conducts research and publishes materials on the topics of transformation in Central Europe and the USSR, as well as on Eastern politics. He gave guest lectures in Ukraine, USA, Canada and China. Columnist for Rzeczpospolita and Dziennik Polski.

Marcin Przydacz

Undersecretary of State for Security, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Republic of Poland

Undersecretary of State for Security, the Americas, Asia and Eastern Policy. Graduate of the Faculty of Law and Administration of the Jagiel-lonian University. He also studied international relations and philosophy at the Jagiellonian University. A scholarship holder of Sapienza University in Rome, the University of Mesina, and the "Kyiv-Mohyla Academy" National University in Kyiv. He also graduated from the Italian and European Law School at the University of Warsaw. He completed advocate training at the Krakow District Bar Council, and passed the bar exam in 2015. Between 2010 and 2014, he col-laborated with the Jagiellonian Club as an international relations analyst. At the same time, he was involved with the Republic Foundation Centre of Analysis. From 2012 to 2015, he was a lecturer at the Pontifical University of John Paul II in Krakow, and from 2013 to 2015, he was president of the board of the Politics and Diplomacy Foundation think-tank. Between 2015 and 2019, he served as deputy director of the Foreign Affairs Office at the Chancellery of the Polish President.

Monika Pec-Święcicka

Municipal Landscape Architect, Deputy Head of the Wrocław Municipal Greenspace Authority

Katarzyna Przyjemska-Grzesik

Head of the project “Cracow in Green”, Greenspace Authority

Zurab Nasaraia

Head of the Guria Region Sustainable Development Association

Governor of Guria until March 2021. In June 2021, he defended his Ph.D. thesis entitled "European experiences of sustainable region development and its implementation in Georgia". Background: projects implemented in cooperation with the European Union, including strategic plans for tourism and regional development, especially in Guria. Former Chairman of the supervisory board of Poti shipyard; Head of the self-government administration of the city of Poti; Member of Parliament serving on the Committee on Tax Revenue, Finance & Budget; CEO of “Georgian Railways” and “Property Management”. Chairman of the Georgian Railways Trade Union.

Maria Borysova

Project manager, NGO “Misto-sad”

She received a bachelor's and master's degree in "Cultural Studies". She applies the acquired knowledge as well as the ability to research, analyze, manage the process and build relationships in cultural and artistic projects that co-create urban space, research and public space projects. In particular, in the project "Art in the School Garden" Maria had been mentoring and coordinating creation of 5 exhibitions in schoolyards with teams of students in small Ukrainian cities. Maria will share the experience of this and other Garden-city NGO projects in her presentation at the congress. From personal practice, Maria is also involved in the creation of audio walks, which are immersive performances in the urban space.

Borys Martela

Urban Policy Observatory at the Institute of Urban and Regional Development in Krakow

Specialist in civic participation issues. Collaborated with various non-governmental organizations and local-governments in the implementation of projects that engage residents in decision-making processes. For nearly three years, he worked in the local government of Gdynia where he dealt with public consultations and participatory budgeting. Currently, he lives in Kraków and is associated with the Urban Policy Observatory at the Institute of Urban and Regional Development. Focuses on analysing public consultations rather than on conducting them.

Lisa Klingwall

Community Strategic Planner, Uppsala City Hall, Sweden

She hold a master in Landscape architecture from Greenwich university, London ,United Kingdom. She has lead the developed of the method Integrated child impact assessment, a method that brings light to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in connection with community planning. Integrated child impact assessment is now being used in the municipality of Stockholm.In Uppsala the method has evolved to include many of the goals of Agenda 2030 and is currently being used in one of the biggest new developments on northern Europe. She is one of the cowriter of The city at eye level for Kids published in 2019 and is a board member of Architecture and the children's council in Sweden.

Mara Mintzer

Executive Head of Growing Up Boulder

GUB ensures that young people have a voice in decisions which affect them, and it has deeply engaged more than 6,500 local children and youth on 100+ projects since 2009. Ms. Mintzer presents and writes internationally on the topic of engaging young people in community planning and child-friendly cities. Her talk, “How Kids Can Help Design Cities,” was featured on the homepage of TED.com and has received almost 2.4 million cumulative views and been translated into 21 languages. She co-authored the book, Placemaking with Children and Youth: Participatory Practices for Planning Sustainable Communities, with lead authors Victoria Derr and Louise Chawla, and the text is regularly used by academics and practitioners worldwide. Prior to GUB, Ms. Mintzer was director of a community school, where she oversaw child and family support services on a underresourced school campus. She has designed and implemented programs for socioeconomically disadvantaged families and neighborhoods in New York and California. Ms. Mintzer received her B.A. in Psychology from Brown University and her M.A. in Organizational Psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University. She loves to practice her French and Spanish skills fearlessly.

Bettina Schwarzmayr

‘Werkstadt Junges Wien’ project manager, project implemented at the Youth Department of the City of Vienna

As a young person, she was already active as a volunteer in youth organizations at local, national and international level, and completed her studies in cultural and social anthropology at the University of Vienna.

Anna Łazar

Member of the editorial board of “Nowa Europa Wschodnia”

curator: Free places at the Four Cultures Festival (2021), I don't know who told me this story (2021) and Women's Table (2020) at museum of Zofia and Wacław Nałkowski, lecturer at Gender Studies at the Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences (2020), at Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences (2019-2021), translator ( the book "Why There Are Great Women Artists in Ukrainian Art"), she worked in the field of public diplomacy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as vice-director and acting director at Polish Institutes in Kiev (2008-2014) and Saint-Petersburg (2015-2018), member of the Polish section of AICA.

Andriej Moskwin

Head of the Laboratory for Drama and Theater Studies in Central and Eastern Europe, University of Warsaw

slavist, culturologist, translator, theater and literary critic, playwright. Habilitated Doctor, Adjunct at the Department of Belarusian Studies at the Faculty of Applied Linguistics, University of Warsaw. Deals with the history of East Slavic theater, including the Belarusian theater, and Slavic drama. Editor-in-chief of the scientific journal Theater Studies of Central and Eastern Europe since 2020. Graduate of Polish Philology, Department of Slavic Philology, Faculty of Philology, Lomonosov State University of Moscow (1986). He lectured at the universities of Krasnoyarsk and St. Petersburg (Russia), Pilsen (Czech Republic), Bergamo (Italy) and Belgrade (Serbia). He defended his Ph.D. thesis at the Institute of Polish Culture, Faculty of Polish Studies, University of Warsaw. He got Habilitated Doctor degree at the Faculty of Applied Linguistics at the University of Warsaw. Author of monographs: Stanisław Przybyszewski in Russian culture of the late 19th – early 20th centuries, Warsaw 2007; Belarusian Theater: 1920-1930. Revival and annihilation, Warsaw 2013; Belarusian theater of the 1920s-1930s: the memory taken away, Minsk 2016; Bratislava: a city at the crossroads of cultures = Bratislava: mesto na križovatke kultúr, Warsaw 2016; Belarusian émigré periodicals: „Pahonia”, „Sakavik”, „Napierad!” Warsaw 2018; Contemporary Drama and Theater in the Face of War, Violence and Refugees, Volume 2, Warsaw 2018; Belarussian literature defiant pedigrees Białystok 2019. Eight anthologies of contemporary Russian drama, seven anthologies of Belarusian, two Slovenian and one Ukrainian, Slovak and Armenian, have been published under the editorship of A. Moskwin.

Edyta Gargaś

Manager of Unicorn Hub incubation

Over 15 years of experience in applying, implementing and accounting for projects co-financed from external funds in the area of education, HR and enterprise development. She has supported startup incubation programme implementation for over the last 5 years; has defined an action plan for developing a profitable business model and market validation of innovative products and services. She works using the Design Sprint, Lean Startup and Customer Development methods.

Anna Daszuta-Zalewska

Head of the Białystok Science and Technology Park

A graduate of the TOP 500 Innovators program at Stanford University; member of the Stanford Club of Poland and the TOP 500 Innovators Alumni Association. She has several years of experience in generating and managing projects for the entrepreneurship development and higher education, co-financed from EU aid funds. For many years, she cooperated with the Ministry of Science and Higher Education and The National Centre for Research and Development as an expert assessing applications for project co-financing under national operational programmes (POKL, POWER). She was the analyst of projects under the SMI Instrument in Horizon 2020. Honorary Ambassador of the Białystok University of Technology. Area of professional interest: supporting the development of innovative entrepreneurship, design thinking, EU regional policy.

Kamila Kucharczyk-Biernacka

Head of the Poland TMF Operations, Phlexglobal

A graduate of Lublin universities in the fields of Psychology with a specialization in Management and Organization, postgraduate studies in Human Resource Management, MBA and Executive Education, program - Global Future Leadership at the French INSEAD. Mentor of the Business Leaders Foundation. For many years she has been involved in companies connected with the call center industry and the insurance industry. For 4 years he has been managing the Polish branch of Phlexglobal and the operations departments in the USA and UK.

Evelina Komarnytska

Project Manager in Ukrainian Startup Fund

Marc Sanderson

Head of the International Economic Development Department at the City of Malaga, Spain

Marc Sanderson is Malaga, Spain´s first Director of International Economic Development. Since he joined the City of Malaga in 2009, his primary responsibilities are to attract direct foreign investments, to assist local businesses with their internationalization, to expand relationships with foreign universities and to support the overall economic development in the area. Marc coordinates international projects, conferences, visits and trade missions while at the same time defining the international components of the city´s strategic plan including promoting the innovative ecosystem, Malaga Valley, and the international Smart City pilot projects. Before working in Malaga, Mr. Sanderson was the Chief of Staff to the United States Ambassador to the Kingdom of Spain and the Principality of Andorra at the U.S. Embassy in Madrid, Spain. He also worked for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in Washington D.C. from 2002 to 2005. Marc began his professional career in Dallas with Deloitte Consulting, a Global Management and Technology Consulting Firm. Mr. Sanderson holds a Bachelor of Science in Management Science and a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.

Andrei Pogorelov

Ewelina Iwanek

President of the Board, Polish Foundation of the Opportunities Industrialization Centers OIC

Andrzej Andrysiak

Publisher of “Gazeta Radomszczańska”

Former secretary of the editorial office and editor-in-chief of the weekly Kulisy; editorial secretary, deputy editor- in -chief and editor-in-chief of the Życie Warszawy; editorial secretary, deputy editor- in- chief at Dziennik Gazeta Prawna and publisher of DGP Magazine. In the last four years, he was nominated ten times and awarded five times in the SGL Local Press competition. Twice nominated in the Grand Press competition in the journalism category. In 2020, a member of the Grand Press jury.

Marta Ringart-Orłowska

Publisher, member of the Board of publishers of the Local Media Association

She has been connected with the media for 20 years. Publisher of the independent weekly Kurier Gmin and the website www.kurergmin.pl. The newspaper has been continuously published for 32 years. Member of the Board of Publishers of the Local Newspapers Association. For many years she has been involved in social projects, including helping Poles in the East, in countries fighting for freedom of speech. She is the co-author of the books The Dark Secrets of the Abbey and Lubiej. Monastery of Dark Secrets. Graduate of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Wroclaw with a degree in Political Science. She also completed her postgraduate studies at the Faculty of Journalism and Business Unit Management and at the Faculty of Law and Economics at the University of Wroclaw.

Lilia Curchi

Natura magazine and Ecopresa.md portal

Ms. Curchi has been covering environmental issues since 2004, both in written press and video and audio media, and is widely known as a journalist specialized in environmental issues.
Since 2015 is instructor at the School of Advanced Journalism in Chisinau, proving the course on „Environmental Journalism”.
Also, she is a communication expert at the Covenant of Mayors-Est project, addressing the issue of energy efficiency and renewable energies, promoting their connection with the environment.
Manager of the unique event dedicated to nature protection and environmental community – World Environmental Day Festival in Moldova, since 2016.
Graduate of the Faculty of Journalism and Communication Sciences, State University of Moldova (2003), master student in sociology (2005) and international relations (2015).

Iryna Morhun

Journalist of “Суспільне Тернопіль” (Suspilne Ternopil) media

Zoriana Byndas

Producer of the National Public Television and Radio Company of Ukraine

Worked as a broadcast and news host, music editor, Programme Director and editor-in-chief of "Uh-radio", Ternopil radio station in 2014-2016. She published her articles in local and national media. While working for the radio station, she launched an on-line newspaper. Worked as a media coach in the international media educational project "New Media" where she conducted about five hundred workshops and the same number for other projects. At the end of 2016, she started working in "Suspilne. Novyny” (Суспільне. Новини). First as the main news editor and later, after winning the competition, she became the producer of the "Suspilne. Novyny ” in Ternopil. She has been working there to this present day.

Piotr Marecki

Assistant professor at the Institute of Culture and head of the “UBU lab” at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow

Cultural expert, publisher, writer, author of digital works. Runs the Ha!art Publishing House (ha.art.pl). Assistant Professor in the Institute of Culture at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. He did a postdoc at Massachussets Institute of Technology (2013-14) and was also visiting professor in the Media Archeology Lab at the University of Colorado, University of Rochester, University of Bergen and Smolny College in Saint Petersburg. Together with foreign authors, published a volume of generative literature "2X6" (2016). Author of "Poems for a Hundred Dollars" (2017) written by Amazon Mechanical Turks and the conceptual "Heating Season" (2018), a literary bot "Cenzobot" (2019) as well as a controversial “Polska przydrożna” ("Roadside Poland" 2020). Head of creative computing lab “‘UBU lab” at the Jagiellonian University. Lives in Krakow, Poland.

Marjana Sawka

Poet, co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Stary Lion Publishing House “The Old Lion Publishing House”

She is the author of 9 books of poetry for adults and 9 books for children, as well as more than 30 songs and several performances for the Maryanychi Trio, in which she is a composer and vocalist. Member of the Ukrainian PEN Club. UNDP Tolerance Ambassador to Ukraine. Host of her show "Maryanychi for the night" on the trio's Youtube channel. Initiator and compiler of several literary anthologies, moderator of numerous cultural events, social activist.

Birute Marcinkieviciute-Mar

Actress, theater director and writer, artistic director of SOLO THEATRAS in Vilnius

One of the most well-known actresses of solo theatre performers in Europe and worldwide. During 1988-1993 she studied at the St. Petersburg’s Institute of Theatre, Music and Film (Russia), and obtained higher education diplomas in theatre and film acting and directing. During 1997-1998 she studied Japanese Noh Theatre singing and dancing at Kita Noh School and traditional Nihon Buyo dance in Tokyo, Japan. Since 1994 Birutė has been an actress of the Lithuanian National Drama Theatre troupe, she has also created independent theatre and dance projects. In 2018, she founded the SOLO TEATRAS (SOLO THEATRE) in Vilnius, Lithuania, and began her work as an Artistic Director. Among other creative fields, literature has also played an essential role: Birutė Mar has published 10 books (poetry, essays, prose for children). She creates dramaturgy for brand new performances, writes plays, librettos for operas. In 2019 she founded Kurybos studija SOLO (Creative studio SOLO) – one of it's important activities is the children books publishing. Birutė is member of the Lithuanian Writers Union (since 2000), member of the Lithuanian Contemporary Dance Association, member of the Lithuanian Theatre Directors Association and Lithuanian Actors Guild. She is recognised as a professional artist by the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture. In 2020, Birute Mar received the Lithuanian Government’s Prize for Culture and Art.

Yevgenia Pasternak

Writer of prose books for young people and teenagers

Russian-language writer living in Minsk, Belarus. A physicist by education, she became famous thanks to a series of tutorials entitled "Computer for Women". Together with co-author Andrei Zhvaleuski, she published over twenty prose books for young people and teenagers, which were awarded and appreciated in Belarus and abroad. Winner of many prestigious literary awards. Based on the works of Yauheniya Pasternak and Andrei Zhvaleuski, a film and theater performances were made.

Andriej Żwalewski

Writer, screenwriter and playwright

A physicist by profession. After graduation, he worked as a researcher, designed specimens of securities, and worked in a publishing house. Fame brought the author his first book published in 2002, entitled "Porry Hatter” written together with Igor Myt’ko. With co-author Yauheniya Pasternak he published a series of ironic novels for women titled "M + Z" and several dozen books for teenagers and young adults. Winner of numerous literary awards. In the "Brand of the Year - 2012" competition, he won the title of Person-Brand - 2012 in the "Culture" nomination.

Paweł Typiak

Presenter, journalist of “Radio Free”

I have been working on radio and television for 17 years. You can hear me every day on Radio Freee from 10.00 am, but I also appear in commercials as a voiceover. The best known from the largest broadcast in Poland about games "Gramy na Maxa". I run concerts and various events as an announcer. Author of the summer hit "PrzeWszystko", songwriter and ... the father of two wonderful daughters Poly and Nina 🙂 “Microphone ninja” and creative bouncer.

Kacper Ziatkowski

Senior Analyst at Sollers Consulting

A graduate of the Lublin University of Technology in the fields of Management of the first degree, Financial Management of the second degree and Finance and Accounting Management of the first degree academic studies. For three years he was involved in Lublin University of Technology Student Government. For two of these three years being the chairman of the Student Government of the Faculty of Management. Member of the Senate of Lublin University of Technology and co-organizer of Juwenalia. Since 2018, business analyst at Sollers Consulting. Former involved in technology development in the R&D department, where he developed his own ideas. Currently, senior analyst experienced in software implementation and consulting services for representatives of the insurance industry in Great Britain, the United States and Italy. The main areas of expertise are the use of multi-currency in Loss Management, integration with London Market (Lloyd’s) and work management at certain stages of the project.

Valerii Romanov

Country Manager Bolt Rentals in Poland

One of the first members of the Bolt platform team in Poland. He participated in Polish branch formation and the application launch in our country in 2016. Application transport, i.e. the first Bolt service in Poland, is available to residents of 9 Polish cities, including Kraków, Wrocław and the Tri-City, also thanks to his work (other services – food deliveries - Bolt Food and city scooter rentals - Bolt Rentals launched in Spring 202). Since February 2020, he has been running a team dealing with electric scooters - Bolt Rentals in Poland, and in October he was appointed Country Manager of Bolt Rentals in Poland. He is responsible for the strategy and participates in talks with cities, thanks to his cooperation with the Polish and Estonian Bolt Rentals team, scooters have already found their way to 24 Polish cities.

Gosia Kornijów

Creative director at Eagle8

Eagle8 provides best-in-class branding and web design for vision-driven businesses. It’s a bit unconventional: it’s a horizontally managed creative collective, not an agency. It strives to be human, not corporate. It follows vision and purpose, not capital. It’s powered by talent, diversity and curiosity. It’s built in between Lublin and Lisbon (Lusbin as we call it) in the middle of the pandemic, and works internationally. It turns emotion into data and data into emotion. Yes, we’re quirky, and we stick to that through the journey.

Rommel Gracias

Eagle8

Prof. dr hab. Jerzy Hausner

Chairman of the Open Eyes Economy Summit Program Council, GAP Foundation

Professor of Economic Sciences, former deputy prime minister responsible for economic issues and minister of economy, labour and social policy, member of the Monetary Policy Council (2010-2016), member of the High Level Industrial Roundtable „Industry 2030”.

Paweł Potoroczyn

Founding member of Applied Culture Association; diplomat, author, good citizen

Diplomat, author, publisher, music and film producer. In 2008-2016, he was the director of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute. In 2016-2018, director general in SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities. Graduated from Institute of Philosophy at University of Warsaw and Harvard Seminar for Presidential Leadership. A professional in cultural industries and a pathological optimist. Expert in communication, brand philosophy and knowledge management. Lecturer at the Warsaw School of Economics and Collegium Civitas. Founding member of Lincoln Center Global Exchange (New York City) and the Society for Applied Culture (Warsaw), the Open Eyes Economy Summit Program Council, the Kościuszko Foundation Council, former member of the Board of Trustees of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow and of the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź. Member of the Edinburgh Culture Summit. Juror member at the European Festival Association Award. A diplomat continuously for nearly fifteen years in key posts in the US (Los Angeles, New York) and in the UK (London). Publications in: Tygodnik Powszechny, Russkaya Mysl (Paris), DGA Magazine (Los Angeles), Playboy, Brief, Krasnogruda, Rzeczpospolita, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Forbes columnist. Author of the novel "Human Thing" (nomination for NIKE, nomination for the Gdynia Literary Award, book of the year according to the Books magazine). Recently he published an Interview with Anne Applebaum, "Polish Mother". Commentator of EKG magazine in Tok Fm and TVN24 Speaker TEDx Warsaw 2016 Member of the Fencing Section of CWKS Legia Warsaw since 1972. New Yorker subscriber since 1989.

Przemysław Czapliński

Historian of 20th and 21st century literature, essayist, translator, literary critic

Co-founder of the Department of Anthropology of Literature (Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań); director of the Center for Open Humanities; correspondent member of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Recently he published: Polska do wymiany (Poland to be replaced, 2009), Resztki nowoczesności (Remnants of modernity, 2011), Poruszona mapa (Disturbed map, 2016), Literatura i jej natury. Przewodnik ekokrytyczny dla nauczycieli i uczniów szkół średnich (Literature and its natures. An ecocritical guide for high school teachers and students, co-authors: Joanna B. Bednarek, Dawid Gostyński, 2017); Moc truchleje. Wielogłos o polskim katolicyzmie (The Power is weakening. Many voices about Polish Catholicism, 2018); O jeden las za daleko. Demokracja, kapitalizm i nieposłuszeństwo ekologiczne w Polsce (One forest too far. Democracy, capitalism and ecological disobedience in Poland, co-editors: Joanna B. Bednarek, Dawid Gostyński, 2019), Tożsamość po pogromie. Świadectwa i interpretacje Marca ’68 (Identity after the pogrom. Testimonies and interpretations of March '68 (co-author: Alina Molisak, Warsaw 2019), Znaki katastrofy, spacje ocalenia. O twórczości W.G. Sebalda (Signs of a catastrophe, spaces of salvation. About the work of W.G. Sebald (co-author: Katarzyna Kończal, Warsaw 2020). Subject of research: literature (Polish) and society.

Mateusz Małyska

Sempre a Frente Foundation, Chairman of the Board

Foundation For several years he has been involved in building relations between govermental and non-governmental organizations. Co-founder and long-term president of the Semper a Frente Foundation. Initiator and coordinator of the process of applying Lublin for the title of the European Capital of Youth 2023. In 2011-2017, regional consultant in the Erasmus + and Youth in Action programs. He also collaborated with the Economic Forum in Krynica, the Economic Forum of Young Leaders, Coca-Cola HBC, Facebook and the United States Embassy in Warsaw. A graduate of School for Leaders PAFF, two-time US Department of State scholar, a mentor in the US State Department FLEX alumni program. Certified trainer (ACI). Professionally associated with the Semper a Frente Foundation and the SGH Warsaw School of Economics.

Greta Statkutė-Meškauskienė

“Klaipeda-EYC2021″ project manager

Head of the European Youth Capital 2021 project, experienced in international project management, international and national law and business development. "The European youth capital title has become a great opportunity to reveal the potential of Klaipėda's youth: by creating and acting for the benefit of themselves and the city, we are becoming more friendly, open and cooperative city. The city's youth caused a wind of change not only to the port city of Klaipeda, but also in Lithuania as a whole. We have generated more momentum in the development of youth policy than we could have done in many years without it."

Mariia Pihura

Manager of fundraising in the network of youth centers “TVORY!”

Co-coordinator of the application process of Lviv for the title of the European Youth Capital 2024

Daryna Kuchar

PR manager of the network of the youth centers “TVORY!”

Piotr Celiński

Professor at the Media Theory Department of Maria Curie-Skłodowska University

Media expert, digital media researcher. Author and editor of: “Interfaces. Digital technologies in communication/Interfejsy. Cyfrowe technologie w komunikowaniu” (Wrocław 2010), “Cultural codes of digital technologies/Kulturowe kody technologii cyfrowych” (Lublin 2011), “Mindware. Dialogue Technologies/Mindware. Technologie dialogu” (Lublin 2012), “Postmedia. Digital code and databases/Postmedia. Cyfrowy kod i bazy danych” (Lublin 2013), “Project: media. Imagine the media and create the world/Projekt: media. Wyobrazić sobie media i stworzyć świat ” (Lublin 2020). Co-founder and board member of the Digital Culture Institute.

Waldemar Tatarczuk

Head of the Galeria Labirynt, artist, art curator

Founding Member and First President of the Lublin Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts (2006-2009), Head and currently Acting Director of Galeria Labirynt (2010-2021). He introduces online activities and accessibility for people with disabilities to the gallery syllabus.

Wioletta Stępniak

A deaf teacher, tattoo artist, Polish Sign Language teacher

Hearing-impaired from birth, fluent in Polish Sign Language since childhood. A graduate of Pedagogy at John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin. She cooperates with the Likejon Foundation, Bronowice District Culture Centre, Labirynt Gallery, Grodzka Gate – NN Theatre, the Ministry of Administration and Digitization and Lublin City Office. Since 2012, she has been actively conducting sign language courses. Owing to her, educational sign language video recordings were performed as part of "The Silent Guide" project. She participated in composing sign language songs together with MigamRap and the Centre for the Meeting of Cultures in Lublin. She is a substantive consultant in the field of Polish Sign Language; actively involved in helping people with impaired hearing.

Monika Dubiel

Psychologist, Iberianist, a blind person, accessibility consultant

A visually impaired person, expert of solutions dedicated to people with visual disabilities. Coach conducting trainings for people with disabilities in the field of audio description, accessibility and savoir vivre. She presented the issues of accessibility at numerous conferences, incl. IX Tourist Meeting (Lublin 2017), Dźwigacze Kultury conference (Krakow 2018), Arts and Disability: Crossing the Borders (Warsaw 2019). Since 2018, she has been a PhD student at the Faculty of Artes Liberales of the University of Warsaw. She prepares a dissertation in the field of disability studies.

Małgorzata Kopka-Piątek

Head of the European Programme at the Institute of Public Affairs

Head of the European Programme at the Institute of Public Affairs, a Germanist and political scientist by education, co-founder and president of the "FemGlobal. Women in international politics" association.

Iwona Reichardt

Deputy Editor in Chief of the “New Eastern Europe” magazine

a PhD dissertation in political science, English philologist, the board member of Jan Nowak-Jeziorański College of Eastern Europe in Wrocław. Co-founder of FemGlobal - an association of women involved in foreign policy.

Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz

Head of the 2050 Strategy Institute

A Polish sociologist, worked as a political scientist; international politics and systemic changes in Central Europe are at the core of her interests. Former Undersecretary of State at the Polish Foreign Ministry (2012-2014) and Ambassador of Poland to Russia (2014-16). From 2017 to 2019, head of ideaForum think-tank of the Stefan Batory Foundation. Author of a number of publications on the Systemic Transformation process in Central Europe, Polish policy within the EU, as well as Polish policy towards Russia and Eastern European Countries. Published "Poland on a green trail. Strategy of achieving climate neutrality” 2050 Strategy Institute.

Genci Kojdheli

Head of the Strategic Projects and Economic Development, Municipality of Tirana

Michał Czajkowski

Manager of Unicorn Hub incubation

Alaksandr Milinkiewicz

Candidate for President of Belarus, Belarusian opposition activist, deputy mayor of Grodno

Vasyl Khimyak

Senior Expert of the Poland-Belarus-Ukraine Cross-Border Cooperation Programme 2014-2020, Lviv representation office

He was a project manager and coordinator, moderator, coach and translator in "Ukraine-Europe", the Lviv Regional Foundation (1997-2002)
and the NGO "European Dialogue" (1998-2012).
Since 2011, he has been involved in the implementation of the Poland-Belarus-Ukraine 2007-2013 and 2014-2020 Cross-Border Cooperation Programmes.
He acted as a coordinator, translator, consultant and expert while implementing the development projects.

Stanisław Bielański

Team Leader of the Programme Unit in Joint Technical Secretariat of the ENI Cross-border Cooperation Programme Poland-Belarus-Ukraine 2014-2020.

In the Ministry of Regional Development (2009-2011), involved in the implementation of INTERREG IVC and Central Europe international and transnational cooperation programmes in Poland, Norway / EEA funds and the Swiss-Polish Cooperation Programme. For 11 years he has been involved in cross-border cooperation (ENPI, EIS) in the Poland-Belarus-Ukraine Programme. Member of monitoring committees and working groups under various programmes and initiatives.

Alicja Wosik-Majewska

Head of the Polish Branch Office of the CBC Programme POLAND-BELARUS-UKRAINE 2014-2020 with premises in Rzeszów

Deputy Governor of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship in the years 2012-2014, and earlier vice-mayor of Zagórz, in the period 2000-2010 a TVP journalist specializing in the Polish-Ukrainian and Slovak border areas.

Anna Adamczyk

Project manager, Visegrad Fund

Focuses on the social development and educational areas within the Visegrad Fund granted projects. Having academic background in cultural anthropology and experience of studying and working in Eastern Partnership countries,
Ms. Adamczyk skillfully combines both spheres when communicating with our grantees.

Petr Mareš

The Executive Director of the Visegrad Fund

Amb. Petr Mareš has years of experience working alongside Central and Eastern Europe and beyond. He served as a Special Envoy for Eastern Partnership and later a Consul General in Istanbul, where his proficiency in this region grew extensively, so did his passion for it. Mr. Mareš is an author of multiple publications on contemporary history of Czechoslovakia with the focus of international relations.