Alexandre de Streel is the professor of EU Law at the Universities of Namur and Louvain in Belgium. Previously, he held different positions related to EU policies: senior EU advisor to the Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and member of the Belgian delegation to the European Council, attaché at the Belgian Permanent Representation to the EU and chair of the Council Social Questions Working Groups during the 2010 Belgian Presidency, policy advisor at the European Commission (Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology). He holds a PhD in Law from the European University Institute (Florence) on the relationship between telecom regulation and competition law, and a Master Degree in Economics from the University of Louvain.

Antoine Bailleux is associate at Van Bael & Bellis – a leading independent law firm based in Brussels – and a professor at the Saint-Louis University in Brussels. He holds a degree in Law from the Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve (UCL), an LLM. from Cambridge University (UK) and a PhD in Law from the Facultés Universitaires Saint-Louis (FUSL). His main practice areas and fields of research are the European Institutions Law and the Internal Market Law, mainly focusing on Competition Law.

Bernard Snoy is a Belgian economist, PhD from Harvard University. He is currently visiting Professor at the Institute of European Studies at the Catholic University of Louvain (UCL). He has spent most of his career working with European and international organisations. The positions he has held include: Executive Director of the World Bank and of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and, more recently, Co-ordinator of the economic and environmental activities of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

Funzionario dello European Research Council (Agenzia della Commissione europea), ha lavorato per due anni presso la DG Ricerca della Commissione europea. Dopo aver conseguito il Master in Studi Europei della Camera di Commercio Belgo-Italiana, ha lavorato presso la sede della Regione Veneto a Bruxelles, occupandosi di ricerca e innovazione e presso la sede di Unioncamere del Veneto in Croazia come Regional development point officer.

Eda Ozdek works as a senior project manager at White Research (http://white-research.eu/), a Brussels-based research and consultancy company. Her key expertise lies in international funding, lobbying, project and policy research. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Master’s degree in Statistics at KU Leuven (Belgium), and is currently a doctoral researcher at KU Leuven’s Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences. Eda began her professional career as a consultant in World Bank projects. She gained extensive experience in data management and complex data analysis by contributing to the Eurobarometer studies conducted on behalf of the European Commission and the World Bank. Eda has been working as a project manager and consultant in several funding programmes for over ten years. Her complementary skillset allowed her to participate in over 50 project proposals in IPA, FP7 and H2020 programmes in various fields. With White Research, Eda has also taken part in the preparation and implementation of tender projects for the European Commission on a wide array of topics, ranging from ICT and KETs to entrepreneurship. Building on her first-hand experience, she has delivered several trainings and coaching on EU Funding programmes and project development for SMEs, Universities and Research Centres, Public institutions. 

Laureata in Economia all’Università di Trento, lavora come Senior Consultant al dipartimento Global R&D and Innovation di Ernst & Young (https://www.ey.com/), una delle più grandi società multinazionali di servizi professionali al mondo.

Dal 2016 lavora su  progetti finanziati dall’Unione Europea, principalmente nel quadro dei programmi H2020 e LIFE, occupandosi di financial reporting, audit e  preparazione di proposte progettuali.

Enrico Riberi is an EU official working as External Auditor for the DG “Agriculture and rural development” of the European Commission. Before this position he has worked 7 years as Financial Adviser at the EACEA, the Education Audiovisual & Culture Executive Agency of the European Commission. He developed his in-depth knowledge of the financial management of the EU grants working both in the Commission’s education sector (Lifelong Learning Programme – EACEA) and in the external aid service (EuropeAid). Before joining the European Commission, he worked as a project manager for several EU-funded projects (e.g. Interreg) at the European Affairs office of the Italian National Association of Municipalities (ANCI) based in Brussels. He is an IMES graduate; he also holds a university degree in Business Economics and the professional qualification of chartered accountant in the UK (ACCA – Association of Chartered Accountant).

Laureato in Diritto Internazionale, è Segretario Generale dell’Osservatorio europeo per il Maghreb, Direttore Responsabile di DSPress, una delle principali agenzie di stampa di lingua italiana a Bruxelles e Direttore dell’Istituto Europeo di Studi Giuridici e Comunicazione – Eurojus.

Economista, è stato docente di Politica Economica Internazionale e di Cooperazione allo Sviluppo presso l’Università di Padova. È esperto in beni pubblici internazionali, processi di globalizzazione e coordinamento delle politiche economiche. Svolge missioni di ricerca e docenza in diversi paesi europei e del mondo e ha collaborato con OCSE, UE, UNCTAD, UNDP, UNICEF, UNIDO. È membro del Consiglio direttivo di UNICEF Italia.

Gabriella Iglói studied foreign trade and international relations and holds a PhD in management and business studies. She worked for 14 years within the national administration of Hungary as being in charge of several EU assistance programmes from pre-accession to Structural Funds. She had been representative of Hungary in cohesion policy related working groups of the European Council for 5 years and was president of these working groups during the Hungarian Presidency in 2011. Currently, she is policy officer within the European Commission, Directorate General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Policy.

Giovanna has over 10 year experience in EU enterprise policies and programmes and an academic background in international relations and diplomacy complemented by a post-graduate master in European studies. She has been working for the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) since 2008. where she currently contributes to the management of the COSME programme and of some Horizon 2020 actions targeting SMEs. In particular, Giovanna provides expertise and support to the Enterprise Europe Network, the official network of the European Commission to help SMEs internationalise and innovate in Europe and beyond. Her main dossier is access to finance and her sectoral areas of responsibility include aeronautics and space and agro-food. Before joining the EASME, Giovanna worked two years for Confcommercio, the Italian General Confederation of Enterprises, Professions and Self-Employment, which is the largest business association in Italy. 

Henk Visser, graduated in 1990 in public management and joined the European Commission, DG Enlargement in 2001 dealing with Regional Programmes. Before this he worked with the EC as an expert/consultant drafting project proposals and programmes, managing and evaluating projects. He has dealt with programming, contracting, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of actions in areas such as demining, culture, civil society, media, information society, research and development, support to SMEs and recently justice and home affairs. He has been dealing with the accession negotiations on Science and Research and still coordinate the participation in Union Programmes, Agencies and Committees. 

Ilenia Gheno is Research Project Manager at AGE Platform Europe, International NGO advocating for older people, and representing directly more than 40 million seniors in the EU28. She holds a Master in European Policies and has worked as Project Manager and Coordinator for European Consultancies, Public Authorities, European Non-Governmental Bodies and Non-for-Profit Associations for more than 10 years. She has been responsible for the management of project activities, reporting and financial duties for more than 50 different European projects under FP7, CIP PSP, IEE, LLL, H2020, COSME; she coordinates inputs on project proposals, especially in the field of social policies, health and tele-medicine, transport, accessibility, senior tourism and ethics; she is responsible of team management (capacity building, quality control, efficacy and time efficient, internal communication, team valorisation) and works on user engagement strategies and implementation, especially addressed to older vulnerable persons. Since 2013 she has been appointed as independent reviewer at the European Commission on FP7 and COSME programmes. 

Ilkka Saarilahti holds degrees in Arts, Economics, and Political Sciences from the University of Helsinki, the College of Europe in Bruges and the Ecole Nationale d’Administration in Strasbourg. He is a Fellow of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute in Florence. His PhD deals with budgeting and financial management reform issues in the European Union. He has published several books and articles on EU Public Finances and, besides Universities, he has lectured for many years at the European institutions in Brussels and Luxembourg, at the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA) in Maastricht, and at the European Administrative School in Brussels.

Jan-Willem BROUWER (1956) studied History in Groningen and Paris (Paris-I, La Sorbonne). He obtained his doctorate at the Leiden University. He is a senior research fellow at the Centre for Parliamentary History at Nijmegen University. Since 1997 he teaches European integration history at the Institute of European Studies at the Catholic University of Louvain (UCL).

João Pedro Silva has more than 15 years of professional expertise in the field of EU environmental policy and related funding programmes. He has been involved in LIFE programme, first as a LIFE Nature project manager, and now as a contractor supporting the European Commission on LIFE programme communications, especially on nature conservation and biodiversity strand. He is experienced in nature conservation and biodiversity issues and in EU Biodiversity policy; he has 7 years of experience in providing Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). João is a Portuguese professional with a PhD from the Autonomous University of Madrid in Evolution Biology and Biodiversity.

John Baptist Onama è nato in Lacor, Uganda, ed è specializzato nelle politiche europee per la cooperazione allo sviluppo, grazie alla sua partecipazione diretta a ricerche sul campo ed esperienze progettuali in Kenya, Uganda, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Svezia, Irlanda e Romania. Ha tenuto diverse lezioni sulle tecniche di gestione dei progetti europei sia in Italia che all’estero e attualmente collabora come trainer e consulente con la facoltà di Scienze Politiche all’Università di Padova e l’Istituto salesiano di Venezia.

John Baptist Onama was born in Lacor, Uganda. He has a solid background in the field of EU development co-operation policies, thanks to his direct participation in study missions and project fieldwork experiences in Kenya, Uganda, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sweden, Ireland and Romania. Currently, he is a lecturer at the Faculty of Political Science of the University of Padua, yet he has been often called to conduct lectures on EU Project Cycle Management techniques both in Italy and abroad. He is Founder member and Chairman of the Italian Research Association for Sustainable Development Initiatives (IRASDI) and Vice Chairman of Incontro fra i Popoli NGO. He is the author of several publications such as «Africa Fifty Years After Decolonisation», «Development Cooperation and Gender Empowerment», «Decentralised Cooperation and Sustainable Urban Development», «Witnessing in Awareness» for UNICEF, «Promoting the International Cooperation Capacity of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)». He is a member of the Council for Dignity, Forgiveness, Justice and Reconciliation in Rome. He was Quality Board member in the EU Uni-Key Project. In 2012, he was part of the Committee for the Revision of the Development Cooperation Guidelines on Minors, developed by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 2009 to 2011 he worked on the Implementation of the law on Abandonment of Female Genital Mutilation.

Laureata in Relazioni Internazionali, è advocacy Officer presso l’Organizzazione delle Nazioni e dei Popoli non rappresentati. Si occupa dell’organizzazione e della gestione di conferenze ed eventi e di attività di advocacy e lobbying presso le istituzioni.

Laureato in Lingue Straniere per la Comunicazione internazionale all’Alma Mater Studiorum di Bologna, è Segretario Generale della Camera di Commercio Belgo-Italiana e project manager dei progetti “OPEN EYE” (-5, -6, -7, -8, -9) nell’ambito del programma “Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs” (COSME); “European School of Entrepreneurship”, programma Erasmus +; “Jade: EU support to improve Technical and Management Capacity within SMEs in Jordan”; “EU Partnership for peace”, tender ENPI. Si è occupato inoltre dell’implementazione di progetti di alternanza scuola-lavoro e di stage linguistico sviluppati in collaborazione con Istituti Superiori italiani all’interno dei progetti PON C5 e PON C1. Partecipa inoltre in qualità di esperto a conferenze, seminari e corsi di formazione in Italia e a Bruxelles sui fondi e progetti europei.

Laureata in Scienze Politiche all’università di Siena, ha conseguito un master in International Relations all’Università di Kent e una certificazione come Policy Officer & Project Consultant alla Camera di Commercio Belgo-Italiana. Dal 2015 si occupa di consulenza e supporto alle PMI e startup che ricercano finanziamenti europei.   

Michael Lognoul has an advanced Master in Information and Communication Technologies’ law (ICT), obtained in 2017, and is now a University Assistant and Researcher at the Law Faculty of the University of Namur (CRIDS). He has particular interest in Competition Law and Intellectual Property, and in Artificial Intelligence and Big Data related research subjects. His purpose is to start a PhD that articulates these fields of law, based on the technological evolutions that recently brought the latter to the public’s attention.

Professionista affermata nell’ambito del project management, ha una solita conoscenza del settore dell’europrogettazione, del fundraising e delle procedure di accesso ai fondi europei. Lavora per Eurecna S.p.A dal 2013, nel ruolo di responsabile per l’attuazione di progetti che hanno luogo anche al di fuori dell’Unione Europea. Ha lavorato alla Rappresentanza Permanente dell’Italia presso l’Unione Europea, oltre che alla Direzione di Bruxelles della Regione Veneto.

Esperta in Relazioni Internazionali, diritti umani, lavora presso la sede di Bruxelles dell´organizzazione umanitaria Care International. Dopo uno stage presso la Commissione europea, ha collaborato con Amnesty International come policy assistant nel campo economico, sociale e dei diritti culturali; è stata poi associate protection officer per l´UNHCR, lavorando in Colombia fino al 2015. È Laureata in Relazioni Internazionali presso l´Università di Milano

Born in Cologne in 1963 and father of 3, Pascal Goergen was appointed Secretary General of the Assembly of European Regions (AER) in January 2012 until June 2014. Previously, between 2000 and 2011, he was the Diplomatic representative of the Brussels-Capital Region Representation to the European Union. Doctor of Political Sciences and graduate in international relations, he is passionate about Europe and has specialised in matters relating to regional policy and institutional lobbying of regions within the European decision-making process. With his expert knowledge of the role of regions in European policies, advocating for regions has clearly become his trademark. Since July 2014 he is Professor at the Business University EPHEC in Brussels and Louvain-la-Neuve. Author of two publications, “Lobbying in Brussels” (2006) and “Networking in Brussels” (2008), he is currently heavily involved in several key European dossiers: cohesion policy 2014-2020, research policy, the EU 2020 Strategy, the Euro-Mediterranean partnership and multi-level governance.

Philippe Morin has a working experience of 12 years in the field of Aviation and in EU affairs. Previously he has worked as Deputy Representative at Air France KLM and as Manager Public Affairs at the Association of European Airlines. Currently, he is Assistant Director EU Affairs for IATA the International trade association representing more than 270 global airlines. Philippe is dealing with consumer rights, safety, financial issues, and access to infrastructures, taxes and many other files. 

Tanguy Struye de Swielande holds a Master in International Relations from the Catholic University of Louvain, where he also obtained his PhD in Political Sciences in 2003. He is specialised in geopolitics, geostrategic and geo-economics of great powers, and focusing on new security questions (asymmetry, privatisation of security). After having worked as an independent consultant from 2005 to 2006, in 2007 he joined The Egmont Institute as Research Fellow in the Security & Global Governance Department – a think tank associated to the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since 2006 he is a professor at the University of Mons and at the Royal Military Academy, where he teaches geopolitics. In 2008 he became the coordinator of the InBev Baillet-Latour Chair programme EU-China at the Catholic University of Louvain where he teaches one course on China and World politics and another one on Geopolitics of the European Union and the Great Powers.

Thomas Berger has been head of the EU liaison office of the University of Applied Sciences (UAS) Fulda since 2016. Before he joined the university he had been managing director of the Institute of Interdisciplinary Research inter.reseaerch e.V. for 17 years. He still works part-time for the institute as director of mobility programmes and online academy. He has managed a regional Erasmus+ traineeships consortium since 2001 and the European Erasmus for young entrepreneurs consortium OPEN-EYE since 2009. He has been involved in numerous European research, education and innovation projects. The online academy implements results of European funded projects, which focused on the development of entrepreneurial, intercultural and civic key skills of mobile learners. Mr Berger received his Diploma Degree in Applied Computer Science in 1999 from the UAS Fulda and his MBA Degree in Science and Education Management in 2011 from the Carl-von-Ossietzky University Oldenburg.

Project e Business development Manager alla Camera di Commercio Italiana di Lione, si occupa di progettazione europea e promozione economica internazionale. In passato ha lavorato alla Camera di Commercio Italiana in Bulgaria come Direttore Esecutivo. Laureata all’Università « La Sapienza » di Roma in Economia e Commercio.

Tom Delreux is an associate professor at the “Institut de sciences politiques Louvain-Europe” and the “Institut d’études européennes” at the “Université Catholique de Louvain” (UCL), where he teaches courses on European Union politics and institutions. Before joining the UCL in 2010, he was a Research Fellow of the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research (FWO) at the “Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KUL), where he graduated in 2008. His research interests include the EU’s external relations in former “first pillar” policy areas (mainly environment), inter- and intra-institutional relations in the EU and international environmental politics.

Tommaso Mignani graduated at the Faculty of Economics and Law at the University of Bologna and accomplished a Masters’ Degree in Development Studies at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, in UK. He has several years of work experience in managing and coordinating grants-related processes, including in conflict affected countries. He worked for EU institutions and international NGOs in Nepal, Brussels and Colombia and he is knowledgeable of disaster preparedness, humanitarian assistance, rights of indigenous people and gender equality issues, and the protection of human rights defenders. He currently works as Grants Coordinator at the secretariat of ProtectDefenders.eu, a consortium of twelve international NGOs implementing the EU HRD Mechanism, a project funded by DG DEVCOs’ EIDHR. 

Vincent Curie has a working experience of ten years in the field of EU funded projects. Previously he has worked as a project officer at the European Commission / EuropeAid and as senior adviser in EU projects at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Currently, he is responsible for EU funded projects in Business and Strategies Europe. B&S Europe is a Brussels based consultancy firm, specialized in cooperation and development projects, mainly in the governance sector. Vincent is responsible for the ENPI SOUTH and Balkans Department in B&S Europe, where he is managing different projects such as “Support to Fight Financial and Economic Crimes in Kosovo”, “Support to Criminal Justice in Serbia” and “Support to the Central Authority for Organisation and Training in Egypt”.