Meet the contributors

Ágnes  Albert  is  assistant  professor  at  the  Department  of  English  Applied  Linguistics at Eötvös Loránd University Budapest and holds a PhD in Language Pedagogy. Her research interests include task-based language learning and individual differences with a focus on learner creativity and positive emotions related to foreign language learning. As a member of a research team, she has investigated  the  motivation,  autonomy,  and  positive  and  negative  emotions  of  secondary school learners about their English classes, and her book on some of the findings of this project is being published by Springer in December 2022. She is currently a member of the MTA-ELTE Foreign Language Teaching Research Group, which is a research program for public education development of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. She has been involved in CHARM-EU since 2020, initially contributing to WP3, but mostly working with WP7 on piloting issues.

Jesus Alcober is an Engineer and PhD in Telecommunications from the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (UPC). He is the delegate of the UPC rector for the Unite! Digital Campus, and formerly the vice director of the Institute of Education Sciences in UPC. He belongs to the Network Engineering Department and he teaches in the Castelldefels School of Telecommunications and Aerospace Engineering (EETAC). His area of interest is based on the learning management systems, service management systems and m-health. He is also currently the Chairman of Spain in the ISO SC6 “Telecommunications and information exchange between systems”. He has worked on a variety of national and international research initiatives and has authored over 20 national and international publications.

For more information about publications and research activities, please visit the web https://futur.upc.edu/JesusAngelAlcoberSegura?locale=en

Civil engineer (1994), with post graduate studies (Japan, 2000) and PhD (Romania and France, 2002), Professor Alexandru Aldea works in the field of structural safety and natural hazards, vulnerability and risk, mainly in engineering seismology and earthquake engineering. Promoter and actor of the internationalisation in his university, he has an important academic management experience (8 years Dean of the Faculty of Engineering in Foreign Languages, member and since 2020 President of the Senate of UTCB, etc.). He is active in Francophonie, Chevalier des Palmes Académiques (2018), he is member of the Regional Council of Economic and Scientific Experts of Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie in Eastern and Central Europe (2022). Involved in the European University for Smart Urban Coastal Sustainability EU-CONEXUS since its start in 2019, he is the academic coordinator of the Minor in Coastal Development and Sustainable Maritime Tourism (bachelor level) proposed by EU-CONEXUS and he was recently nominated member of the Academic Council.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandru-aldea-4951453/

Christien Bok is Innovation manager education at SURF. She aims to support collaboration between higher education institutions in the field of IT innovation in order to improve student success and the quality of education. She is an advocate for the protection of public values in education and research. She is convinced that international agreements on standards and architecture are a key to organizing education efficiently and flexibly, nationally and across borders. Christien designed various national innovation programs, including the Acceleration Plan (16M) and the Digitization Impulse for Education (600M). Christien studied Dutch literature at Utrecht University. She worked for the Dutch Foundation for Literature and at The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). At NWO she was responsible for a research program in which IT researchers and heritage managers worked together to make heritage available digitally.

Dr. Jake Rowan Byrne is an Educational Technologist and Assistant Professor in Contemporary Teaching & Learning and Computing at the School of Education, Trinity College Dublin. Jake is also the Academic Director of Tangent, Trinity's Ideas Workspace, overseeing a wide range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Jake is also the Pilot Work Package (WP7) leader for CHARM-EU, and has been heavily involved in design and  delivery of the Master in Global Challenges for Sustainability (Module Coordination, Phase Coordination, Programmatic Assessment Committee, Mentor).

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jakerowanbyrne

LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakerowanbyrne/

Pádraig Carmody is Professor in Geography at Trinity College, the University of Dublin where he did his undergraduate and masters work and is a Senior Research Associate at the University of Johannesburg. His Ph.D. is from the University of Minnesota in the US, where after graduation he taught at the University of Vermont. At TCD he directs the Masters in Development Practice and CHARM-EU. His research centres on the political economy of globalisation in Africa and he has published in journals such as European Journal of Development Research, Review of African Political Economy, Economic Geography and World Development.

He has also published nine books, including Africa’s Shadow Rise: China and the Mirage of African Economic Development (Zed Books with P. Kragelund and R. Reboredo, 2020), The New Scramble for Africa (2nd ed., Polity, 2016), the Rise of the BRICS in Africa (Zed, 2013) and as part of the Royal Geographical Society-Institute of British Geographers’ book series with Professor James T. Murphy, Africa’s Information Revolution: Technical Regimes and Production Networks in South Africa and Tanzania (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015).

He has won research grants from the United States National Science Foundation, European Commission, National Geographic and Irish Research Council, amongst others. He sits on the boards of Political Geography, African Geographical Review, Journal of the Tanzanian Geographical Society and Geoforum, where he was formerly editor-in-chief. He is currently associate editor of Transnational Corporations published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. He is a Fellow of Trinity College and was elected to the Royal Irish Academy and the Royal Academy for Overseas Sciences in 2018. He has been chair of the Development Studies Association of Ireland and is co-Chair of the Global Association of Masters in Development Practice and sits on the Academic Advisory Committee of the Sustainable Development Goals Academy.  

Patrick Caron is a veterinarian and holds a doctorate, he is habilitated to direct research in geography. As a specialist in livestock systems and territorial dynamics, he has worked on the analysis of the role of territory in rural transformations, particularly in Brazil, southern Africa and the Middle East. In addition to his role as Director of the Montpellier Advanced Knowledge Institute on Transitions (MAK'IT), P.Caron is International Director of the Montpellier University of Excellence (MUSE) initiative since September 2017 and Vice-President of the University of Montpellier for International Relations since February 2019. He has been a researcher at CIRAD (Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement) since 1988, and was its Deputy Director General for Research and Strategy from 2010 to 2016.

P. Caron is involved in many national and international scientific and institutional bodies: he is notably President of Agropolis International and a member of the French National Council for Development and International Solidarity. He has led the organisation of international conferences, such as the 3rd World Scientific Conference on Climate Smart Agriculture (Montpellier, France, March 2015), the conference "Agricultural Sectors and Sustainable Development" (Montpellier, France, December 2016) and the conference "Living Territories to Transform the World" (Montpellier, France, January 2018). He will co-chair the 4th Conference on World Food Security (Montpellier, France, June 2020). He was appointed in November 2015 as Chair of the High Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) of the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS), a position he held until October 2019. He is the author of about 200 publications in international journals, books and conference proceedings.

As Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Advisor at Utrecht University, Linas Cepinskas supports and promotes initiatives and policies with the goal to make the university more equal, diverse and inclusive for all. Prior to joining Utrecht University, Linas was leading projects and programmes in human rights advocacy, public diplomacy, and higher education in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Lithuania. Originally from Lithuania, Linas holds a Master’s degree in International Relations (VU University Amsterdam) and a Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences (University College Maastricht).

Marcin Chojnacki is a second-year student at the CHARM-EU Master's in Global Challenges for Sustainability. Marcin is originally from Poland however he grew up moving between Switzerland and the Netherlands. After completing his International Baccalaureate diploma at the International School of Geneva, he moved to the University of Amsterdam to complete a BSc in Political Science, before moving on to the CHARM-EU Master's. He spent the first phase in Utrecht, second phase in Dublin, before finally moving to Barcelona for the Capstone phase. He has also done two internships working in business development and project coordination in the renewable energy sector.

Martin Ebner is currently head of the Department Educational Technology at Graz Uniersity of Technology and therefore responsible for all university wide e-learning activities. He holds an Adjunct Prof. on media informatics (research area: educational technology) and works also at the Institute for Interactive Systems and Data Science as senior researcher at Graz University of Technology. His research focuses strongly on MOOCs & microcredentials, learning analytics, open educational resources and maker education. Martin has given a number of lectures in this area as well as workshops and keynotes at international conferences. He is also responsible for the WP2 („digital campus“) within the European alliance UNITE!.

For publications as well as further research activities, please visit his website: http://martinebner.at

Luca Alexa Erdei is an assistant lecturer at the Institute of Research on Adult Education and Knowledge Management, Faculty of Education and Psychology, Eötvös Loránd University, as well as a mobility expert and work package co-lead within the CHARM European University Alliance. Her main area of research is the broad field of internationalisation of higher education, including the topics of internationalisation at home and organisational learning through joint degree programmes, the results of which she uses extensively in her development work.

Agnes Sarolta Fazekas (she/her) is an assistant professor at the Eötvös Loránd University Bárczi Gusztáv Faculty of Special Needs Education in Budapest, Hungary. Since 2019, Agnes has been the leader of the Work Package 6 Inclusiveness of the CHARM-EU Alliance. Agnes has been elected as a member of the EAIE General Council 2020-2022 and has been the chair of the EAIE Expert Community Access and Diversity from 2018-2020. She has acquired an extensive list of additional skills throughout her education and international professional experiences in inclusive education, focusing on Universal Design Educational Models, social inclusion, diversity, disability, and Human Rights Education. 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/agnessarolta 

LinkedIn: https://hu.linkedin.com/in/agnes-sarolta-fazekas 

Julien Frémont has a strong experience in international university cooperation through his various positions in several French universities (Université Paris-Est Créteil, Université Paris-Dauphine, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne) and his work at the Embassy of France in Thailand. His 15 years expertise includes European projects funded by the European Commission on university alliances, digitalisation of higher education and governance and especially projects implying Ministries and Universities in order to support the transformation of Higher Education ecosystem. Julien Frémont holds a degree in social and cultural anthropology and a Master’s degree specialised in political and public communication in France and Europe.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julien-fr%C3%A9mont-52322528/

José García works in the development and application of specific analytical methodology to two fields: cultural heritage and environmental radiochemistry. He has a BSc. in Chemistry (University of Barcelona, 1982); a Master’s degree in Business Administration (ESADE, 1996) and holds a PhD in Analytical Chemistry (University of Barcelona, 1989). His is Associate professor at the Chemical Engineering and Analytical Chemistry Department, University of Barcelona. He is the Coordinator of the Master in Analytical Chemistry of the University of Barcelona since 2015 and the Director of the UB Institute of Water Research since 2019.

Being a CHARM-EU Teaching Fellow in Emerging Technology at Trinity College Dublin, I support our students and staff in class and online. I am part of the core teaching teams for the Transdisciplinary Research and Social Innovation modules and a repeating guest lecturer on the Capstone module. Prior to teaching on CHARM-EU, I worked with the pilot work package (WP7), the VLE team (WP4.4) and co-lead the Emerging Technology (WP4.5) and the Hybrid Classroom build teams. I am also a CHARM-EU mentor and PhD candidate in the TCD School of Education with a research interest in Mixed Reality Tools for Distributed Teamwork. I have a technical background and have worked as a Software Engineering lecturer, IT Manager and professional web developer in previous roles.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-griffin-2506903/ 

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4135-779X

Jan Haarhuis is an Educationalist and teacher of Mathematics and Physics. During his career at Utrecht University he held various positions with a focus on educational innovation and change. In 2021 Jan started as part-time program manager U-Collaborate in Education for Utrecht University. 

Since 2019 he has been participating in the development of CHARM-EU a new European University and a member of the steering committee, the Project Management Team, the Work package leader Teaching and Learning Strategies and member of the Academic Board of the first European Joint degree master “Global Challenges for Sustainability” started in September 2021. 

In 2019 he became a member of the Education steering group of the strategic alliance TUe, WUR, Utrecht University and UMCU (EWUU). From 2014 until 2020, he has led the University-wide program “Educate-innovation and technology” (Educate-it) that supports teachers as they future-proof and enhance their educational practice. This includes ‘Faculty development’, ‘Quality assurance and Research’ and ‘Cultural and Organisational Change’. In 2016, Jan received the ‘change maker’ award in the ICT and Education Professionals category in the Dutch SURF education awards. 

Since 2016 he has been Chair of the Policy group Digital Education of the League of European Research Universities LERU, which brings together experts from across the LERU network to focus on Institutional Perspective; Future and Emerging Technologies (AR, VR, AI), Academic Development and Collaborative Research. The group organized the first blended conference ‘Digital Higher Education Summit’ in November 2018.

Prof. Imre Hamar earned his degrees in Chinese and Tibetan Studies at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) and became doctor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 2016. He is continuously teaching and doing research on the field of Chinese studies. He has been fulfilling different leadership positions. Professor Hamar serves as Vice-Rector for International Affairs of ELTE since 2017, also coordinating the work of the CHARM European University Alliance at ELTE.

Cati Jerez is a sociologist and coordinator of University of Barcelona Support Programme for Refugees and People in Conflict Zones. She works with refugees, universities and public administrations to advocate and promote access to higher education for refugees; contribute to improving their social and academic inclusion; raise awareness of forced displacement, its causes and consequences, and foster the crucial role of education providers as agents of change and global justice.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/catijerez

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/catijerez/

Institutional Erasmus Coordinator at Åbo Akademi University has been working at the International Affairs since 1995. She is the university’s representative in the Coimbra Group and has been active in different task forces and working groups since 1995. She is also a representative in both national and regional committees and has been the founding member of both the Nordlys Network and the Coimbra Group Student Exchange Network. Both of them are multidisciplinary student exchange networks, today functioning under the Erasmus programme. She has been participating in several Erasmus and Tempus projects and has acted as a consultant on student exchange for both the Finnish National Agency and the Nordic Council of Ministers. She has also been the Secretary General for the Nordic Association of University Administrators (NUAS). She is the alliance manager for the CHARM-EU alliance work at Åbo Akademi University.

Alex Lodder is coordinator of the virtual learning environment (VLE) at Utrecht University. He has a has a background in educational sciences and works at the Centre for Academic Teaching and Learning with a focus on innovating and strengthening education with the help of technology. In CHARM-EU, Alex is deliverable lead for the shared inter-institutional virtual learning environment. This is the team that takes care of the design of the core components used in teaching and learning in CHARM-EU and it includes the learning management system and the assessment- and collaboration platforms.

LinkedIn: https://nl.linkedin.com/in/alexlodder/en

Antoni Luna earned his Bachelor’s degree in Geography (UAB, 1989), his master’s degree in Planning (1994), and his PhD in Geography from the University of Arizona, USA (2000). He is a tenured lecturer of Geography at the Department of Humanities and a member of the Research Group on Geohumanities. His main areas of research are: urban social geography (use of public space and gender perspective), the history of geographical thought, and the didactics of geography, in which he has worked on various international projects such as the AAG Center for Global Geography Education [http://www.aag.org/cgge]. Most of his recent works are related to epistemological issues in the field of the geography of emotions, cultural geography, landscape and geohumanities. Before taking up the position of vice-rector for internationalization projects, he held various managerial offices, including departmental director (2010-2014), coordinator of study programmes for foreigners (2003-2009), and academic coordinator of the bachelor’s degree in Global Studies since its creation in 2016 until 2021. He has also been involved in various international programmes of American universities in Barcelona and has actively participated in international meetings of universities.

Twitter: @ttoniluna

IG: @lungara

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/antonio-luna-a5a3954/

Julien Lorentz graduated in project management and culture and science communication at the University of Versailles – Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. He was a European project manager for Responsible Research and Innovation projects in the EuroScience association in Strasbourg. Since mid-2020, he has been the CHARM-EU Manager in the International Relations Office of the University of Montpellier. His role is to coordinate the different activities of the alliance in the university and to manage the financial and operational aspects of the different projects related to CHARM-EU.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julienlorentz/

Pedro Matias has a BSc in Technological Physics Engineering, a MSc in Mathematical Physics and a PhD in Mathematics. His main scientific interests are in the areas of Dynamical Systems and Differential Geometry. Since 2021 he is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Engineering at Lusófona University. He also holds a vast experience in quality assurance and funding of higher education systems based on his positions as a Project Coordinator at the Agency for Assessment and Accreditation of Higher Education (2012-2020) and as a Counsellor in the Cabinet of the Secretary of State for Higher Education (2013-2014). Currently, he is the team leader of WP7 (Joint Governance Structures) and a member of the WP9 (Quality Assurance) in the European Universities Initiative project FilmEU - European Universities Alliance for Film and Media Arts.

Hugo von Meijenfeldt is a senior legal counsel, executive manager and ambassador. For the Kingdom of the Netherlands he was the first Climate Envoy and the first SDG Ambassador. At UN Global Compact he uses his experience to stimulate all stakeholders at all levels to mutually reinforce instruments (law-finance-tech-governance) in order to achieve ambitious sustainable goals for people, the planet, prosperity, and peace.

2019-today: Lecturer at educational institutions and business organisations, member of several boards and jury’s, writer of articles, blogs, etc.

2009-2019: Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs: 2016 SDG-coordinator, 2013 Consul General in San Francisco, 2009 Special Envoy for Climate Change.

1994-2013: Dutch Ministry of the Environment: 2009 Deputy/Acting Director General, 2006 Director International Affairs, 2002 Director Soil & Water, 1994 Head Europe.

Three years chairman of the Committee on Environmental Policy (UN-ECE, Geneva).

1982-1994: Legal counsel for environmental liability (e.g. costs of soil cleanup).

1974-1981: Law School study of the Free University Amsterdam

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hugo-von-meijenfeldt-013b4ab/

Frank Miedema is Vice Rector for Research at Utrecht University and chair of the Utrecht University Open Science Program.  He studied biochemistry at the University of Groningen, specialising in Immunology, with a minor in the Philosophy of Science. He obtained a PhD from the University of Amsterdam at the Central Laboratory of the Blood Transfusion Service (CLB), now Sanquin. From 1983, he was a project leader there in the immunovirology of HIV/AIDS, as part of the Amsterdam Cohort Studies. In 1996, he was appointed full professor at the AMC/University of Amsterdam and became Director of Sanquin Research in 1998. In 2004, he became head of the Immunology Department at the University Medical Center Utrecht. From January 2009 to March 2019 he was dean and vice chairman of the Executive Board  of the University Medical Center Utrecht. He is one of the initiators in 2013 of Science in Transition (www.scienceintransition.nl/english) who believe that the academic incentive and reward system is in need of fundamental reform. Next to Science for Science (articles in ‘high-impact’ journals), the impact on society must be valued more and societal stakeholders should be involved more integrally in the production of knowledge. 

His new book titled ‘Open Science, the very idea’, that describes recent developments in science from a historical, sociological, philosophical perspective and from a personal perspective was recently published (Open Access) by Springer Nature: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-94-024-2115-6.

Júlia Miralles de Imperial holds a BA degree in Political Science and a BA in Law, both from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), a Master’s degree in Private International Law from the University of Buenos Aires, and nowadays she is finishing an hybrid ALM in Government at the Harvard Extension School. She also carried out training activities at the Academy of International Law in The Hague and at the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon. She is currently an adjunct lecturer in public policy at the UAB and she was an assistant lecturer at University of Buenos Aires and at the National University of Avellaneda (Argentina). Her field of specialization is focused on public policy, anti-corruption, transparency, and prevention of money laundering, combining professional experience in the public and private sectors with university lecturing and academic research, currently focused on her PhD project on corruption carried out at UAB.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JuliaMirallesdI

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julia-miralles-de-imperial/

I work as an educational advisor and project leader at Educate-it. My role lies on supporting teachers on developing innovative education and more specifically Challenge Based Learning (CBL) educational programs and courses. I am supporting them by creating trainings (online/offline), with on demand consultations and advices. Some of these initiatives are:

• MOOC on CBL introduction course in LLL
• Peer Observation training on CBL
• On-demand support on designing
• SIG: the combo of CBL, entepreneurial education, community engaged learning and interdisciplinary education 
• Collection of best practices from UU alliances working on CBL 
• Formation of a common UU CBL vision and UU community 

Other than my role in Educate-it, I am also working for the two UU alliances (CHARM-EU and EWUU ), where innovative education is the main driver as well. I am involved in the teams developing the educational designs of the master programs and courses, policies regarding the aspects of such educational approaches, supporting teachers with professional development activities, and mentoring students among other tasks.  

Educate-it works UU-wide on innovating and strengthening education with technology. Educate-it supports teachers who take the initiative to renew their own education, both in (re)designing their courses by incorporating the teaching methods and ideas of blended learning, and in the use of educational tools whose added value for education has already been established by other UU teachers. Here we work as much as possible in an evidence-informed way. In addition Educate-it works on innovation projects aimed at the future of education. Educate-it is a partner in the Center for Academic Teaching.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dimitramousa/

Emily Palmer obtained her MA degree and Jean Monnet Prize in European Studies at the University of Success. After her internship at the European Commission (DG Education and Culture), she worked as a European Policy Assistant at West Midlands in Europe and later as an officer for the South West UK Brussels Office. From 2012, she served as an advisor at the EuroTech Universities Alliance where she became Head of the Brussel Office in 2014. She is the Secretary-General of Una Europa Alliance since April 2019.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/EmilyPalmer_Bxl

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-palmer-9b92aa19/

Anna Ramos is the Director of Fundació Mies van der Rohe. She studied architecture at ETSAB-UPC and TUDelft. She is an Adjunct professor at ETSAB-UPC and international lecture. She served as an Assistant Dean at ETSAB-UPC (2014-16) and President of Young Architects’ Association of Catalonia, AJAC (2005-08).

Olivia Riksen is a student and class representative of the first CHARM-EU cohort. After obtaining a bachelor's in Global Sustainabilty Science in Utrecht, she started the master program (of CHARM-EU) Global Challenges for Sustainability at Utrecht, followed the Life&Health specialization in Dublin and is now writing her Capstone project on ocean energy in Barcelona. 

International Ph.D. in Marine Sciences by the Polytechnic University of Catalonia and University of Barcelona. Her research is focused on hydrodynamics, morphodynamics and coastal evolution in shallow waters, from the shoreline to the shelf-break in the short and middle term and it is mainly based on “in situ”, remote observations and modelling of beach inundation and morphological changes during storm conditions in order to study coastal impacts. Academic management experience has been collected through Vice-Dean of the Bachelor of Marine Sciences at Catholic University of Valencia (UCV) from 2017 to 2019, which led to the academic coordination of EU-CONEXUS alliance Joint Study Programmes and Educational Training Offers (2019 – 2022) resulting co-creation of joint Minor programmes, joint Master programme and internationalisation of PhD curriculum. Currently she is appointed to lead the academic transformation projects at UCV in relationship to EU-CONEXUS activities.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/amanda_44444  

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-sancho-85044040/

Maria Teresa Sauras Yera, a lecturer at the Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences, is the rector’s delegate for sustainability. She has a broad background in sustainability: she has been the head of studies in Environmental Sciences from 2019 to 2022. She is a representative of the UB in the Ad Hoc Group on Sustainability of the League of European Research Universities (LERU). She is also a member of the CBP teaching innovation group and lecturer of the Bachelor's Degree in Environmental Sciences and the Master's Degrees in Environmental Agrobiology and Ecology, Environmental Management and Restoration. She is also a member of the Consolidated Research Group FORESTREAM, and her lines of research include soil-plant relationships and ecological restoration, among others.

Marcello Scalisi is the Director of UNIMED – Mediterranean Universities Union – since 2008. He holds a degree in Historical Sciences and in International Cooperation at the Faculty of Literature, Philosophy and Languages of University of Roma Tre, Rome. He gained extensive experience in Sicily in the sustainable tourism sector, managing and monitoring EU projects for local tourism development and providing vocational training for dozens of companies and thousands of workers. He started working at UNIMED in 1998 as project manager and moved gradually to the coordination of UNIMED’s European, International and National funded initiatives and projects. Since Marcello Scalisi became director of UNIMED, there has been a significant increase of the number of associated universities to the network, funded projects and employees and collaborators. Moreover, UNIMED is nowadays a permanent stakeholder of the European Commission. 

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/marcello-scalisi-1a8b66a 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/marcelloscalisi

Graciela van Schaik is a Master student in Veterinary Medicine at Utrecht University. Next to veterinary medicine her interest is in Educational research and under the supervision of dr. Harold Bok and dr. Lubberta de Jong, she performed educational research on the innovative didactic approaches (programmatic assessment and challenge-based learning) within CHARM-EU.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/graciela-van-schaik-a08b48203/

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Susanne Staude graduated 1998 in Special Environmental Engineering from Brunel University in the UK. After finishing her studies, she worked in the UK and Germany as a development engineer in the automotive industry before moving to Cologne University of Applied Sciences in 2003. From October 2006 to October 2010, Susanne Staude was a research assistant at the Chair of Thermodynamics at the University of Duisburg-Essen.

In February 2011, she completed her doctorate at the University of Duisburg-Essen on the topic of "Mechanistic Investigations on Premixed Laminar Flames" and has been Professor of Thermodynamics at the Institute of Energy Systems and Energy Economics at the Ruhr West University of Applied Sciences since March 2011.

In October 2015, she was appointed Vice President for Learning and Teaching, and in 2018, she became interim President at Ruhr West University of Applied Sciences. Susanne Staude was elected as President in 2019. Since then she has strongly promoted the Internationalization and the dissemination of the European Idea within Ruhr West University of Applied Sciences.

LinkedIn: https://de.linkedin.com/in/staude-susanne-83968852

Social Media: Ruhr West University of Applied Sciences

https://www.instagram.com/hochschuleruhrwest/

https://www.linkedin.com/school/hochschule-ruhr-west-university-of-applied-sciences/

https://twitter.com/HSRuhrWest

Photo credit: Henning:Photographie

Ferenc Takó studied Philosophy and Japanese Studies at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), Budapest, Hungary, where he currently lectures at the Department of Japanese Studies. He used to be head of the Rector's Cabinet International Strategy Office at ELTE between 2018 and 2021. Since 2021, he is head of the Rector's Cabinet CHARM-EU Office, project manager of CHARM-EU as well as of TORCH (the research & innovation project of the CHARM-EU Alliance) at ELTE.

Péter Tordai has been the deputy director for mobility at Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest (ELTE) since January, 2021. In this position he is coordinating the implementation of different transnational cooperation programmes (Erasmus+ mobility and partnership projects, Stipendium Hungaricum programme (a large in-coming degree mobility programme, financed by the Hungarian Government)); he is the lead of the Mobility Working Group of the CHARM-EU European University Alliance and he is a member of the Internationalisation Committee of ELTE. 

Between 2008 and 2020, he had been the director of Tempus Public Foundation, an umbrella organisation for the internationalisation of education and training in Hungary. His task was the co-ordination of the implementation of transnational co-operation programmes at national level (Socrates / LdV; LLP; Erasmus+; Stipendium Hungaricum; Ceepus; EEA Grants; Bilateral State Scholarships; Scholarship Programme for Young Christians; Europe for Citizens). Furthermore, he coordinated the design and implementation of the Campus Hungary / Campus Mundi projects (financed by ESF) in order to facilitate the internationalisation of HE in Hungary.

He was also a member of the Administrative Council of Academic Cooperation Association (ACA), between 2016-2020. He has been involved in the Monitoring Internationalisation of Czech Higher Education with a special focus on the participation in the European University Alliances.

Andrius Uždanavičius is Head of Studies’ Quality and Development Office at Vilnius University, Chair of European Universities Alliance ARQUS action line Student Centered Frameworks for Quality Learning board. He is responsible for creating and implementing teaching evaluation and continuous professional development systems at Vilnius University as well as internal quality enhancement processes and internationalisation of studies. As a coordinator of one of the action lines in the European University Alliance, Andrius is responsible for creating common measures for CPD, joint programmes, innovative curricula, mobility possibilities for faculty and students, and enhancement in collaboration between academic staff.

Based at the University of Montpellier I work as a digital educationalist in CHARM-EU supporting local and international teaching staff in designing their activities aligned with our pedagogical principles. I currently lead the emerging technology team and hybrid classroom team among the alliance, I am an active member of the team in charge of the virtual learning environment too. My mission is to offer a wonderful experience to all actors involved in CHARM projects by supporting them with tech, wow effects and by providing a problem-solver attitude when needed. I studied Communication Sciences and have worked as UX researcher, IT accessibility manager, e-services designer for public administrations in France, Italy and Switzerland.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessa-vigano/

Marjanneke Vijge is Assistant Professor at the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University. She is Academic Board member of CHARM-EU and Utrecht program leader of the Master’s Global Challenges for Sustainability. She coordinates the Capstone, the last phase of the Master’s program. In addition, she led the work package on Public Engagement in TORCH, the research component of CHARM-EU. In her research, Marjanneke focuses on multilevel sustainability governance with a specific focus on developing countries. She studies policy coherence around the Sustainable Development Goals and climate goals with a focus on social justice. She is currently leading a research project on the water-energy-food nexus in South Africa, and is involved in several international research projects around the effects of the SDGs. 

Prof. László Zentai is a professor and head of the Institute of Cartography and Geoinformatics at Eötvös Loránd University. He earned his degrees and Ph.D. at ELTE and became a doctor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 2005. After serving as Secretary General and Treasurer of the International Cartographic Association between 2011 and 2019, he became the Vice-president of ICA in 2019. He is ELTE’s Vice-rector for Education since 2017 and a member of the CHARM-EU Academic Board.