Keynote speakers confirmed for ANGEL Conference 2023

Find out who will lead the discussion at the ANGEL's fourth international conference (19/20 June, Paris) on the theme of ‘Global Education & Learning for a Just, Peaceful and Sustainable World’. The event aims to bring academics, researchers, policy-makers, and practitioner-researchers from around the world for two exciting face-to-face days of sessions covering research relevant to Development Education, Global Citizenship Education, Human Rights Education, Education for Sustainable Development, Education for Peace, and Intercultural Education.

See the main event webpage here.

Arjun Appadurai

Arjun Appadurai is Emeritus Professor of Media, Culture and Communication at New York University and Max Weber Global Professor at the Bard Graduate Center in New York. He was born and educated in Mumbai, and later in the United States, where he lived and taught for four decades. He is now based in Germany and continues to write regularly on education, media and democratic politics.

Mirian Vilela

Mirian Vilela is Executive Director of the Earth Charter International and the Center for Education for Sustainable Development at the University for Peace. She coordinates the UNESCO Chair on Education for Sustainable Development with the Earth Charter and served as a member of the UNESCO Expert Reference Group for the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD). 
Over the years she has led and facilitated numerous international workshops, courses and seminars on values and principles for sustainability. Prior to her work with the Earth Charter, Mirian worked for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) for two years in preparation of the 1992 UN Earth Summit and a year at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). She actively participated in the 2002 World Summit of Sustainable Development, held in Johannesburg, and the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development/Rio+20 among others. Mirian holds a PhD. in Education from LaSalle University and a Master's Degree in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where she was an Edward Mason Fellow. She is originally from Brazil.

Arjen E.J. Wals

Arjen Wals is a Professor of Transformative Learning for Socio-Ecological Sustainability at Wageningen University where he also holds the UNESCO Chair of Social Learning and Sustainable Development. Furthermore, he is a Guest Professor at the Norwegian University for the Life Sciences (NMBU)and the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences. He holds an Honorary Doctorate from Gothenburg University in Sweden.
His work focusses on enabling, supporting and assessing ecologies of learning that foster sustainable living by inviting more relational, ethical and critical ways of knowing and being. Much of the research Wals engages in focusses on the development of Whole School Approaches to sustainability and the decolonization of education.
He writes a regular blog that signals developments in the emerging field of sustainability education: www.transformativelearning.nl 

Stefania Giannini

Ms Stefania Giannini was appointed UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education in 2018, becoming the top UN official in the field. She provides strategic vision and leadership in coordinating and monitoring the Education 2030 Agenda, encompassed in Sustainable Development Goal 4. 
During her term, she has given fresh impetus to multilateral and bilateral partnerships; increased focus on education’s ethical role in providing learners with the skills to respond to 21st century challenges and on the responsibility of universities in achieving the SDGs. She affirmed UNESCO’s leadership in the COVID-19 response through global evidence, guidance, policy dialogue and collaboration with all partners, including through the Global Education Coalition. In 2022, she led the landmark Transforming Education Summit convened by the UN Secretary-General, which propelled education to the top of the political agenda. 
With a background in the Humanities, Ms Giannini has served as Rector of the University for Foreigners of Perugia (2004 – 2012); Senator of the Republic of Italy (2013 – 2018) and Minister of Education, Universities and Research (2014 – 2016). (See image credit*)

Evarist Bartolo

Evarist Bartolo served 30 years as a Member of Parliament for the Maltese Labour Party, 11 years as Minister for Education and Employment and then as Minister for European and Foreign Affairs. He has previously lectured in Media Studies at the University of Malta, worked as TV Journalist and News Editor.

Christopher Castle

Christopher Castle is Director of the Division for Peace and Sustainable Development at UNESCO since November 2022. He has more than 30 years of development experience in the areas of education and health. He has served at UNESCO since 2004 at the International Institute for Educational Planning and at the Section of Health and Education. He holds a BS in International Studies and French from The American University, and an MSc in International Relations from theLondon School of Economics.

Doug Bourn

Douglas Bourn is Professor of Development Education at UCL Institute of Education and Co-Director of the Development Education Research Centre. He is the author of Theory and Practice of Development Education (2014) and Understanding Global Skills (2018) and editor of the Bloomsbury Handbook of Global Education and Learning (2020).

 

 

Tania Ramalho

Tania Ramalho is Professor of Education at SUNY Oswego, Emerita and a Visiting Scholar at the University of Oulu, Finland, in the Fall 2022.  She  writes about Paulo Freire and pedagogies of liberation. As a Critical Literacy and Pedagogy educator and public intellectual, she  investigates global/citizenship/peace education related to sustainability issues.  She is co-editor of Activist Art in Social Justice Pedagogy (2019) and Enacting Critical Pedagogy Online (2022).

Elina Lehtomäki

Elina Lehtomäki, Ph.D. in Education Sciences and Professor of Global Education at the University of Oulu, Finland, leads the research team Education, diversity, globalisation and ethics. Her research interests include global education and learning, social meaning of education, equity and inclusion in and through education, cross-cultural collaboration, and internationalization in higher education.

Virginie Gilbert

Virginie is an Environment / Climate Expert at Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, Luxembourg

Thibaut Lespagnol 

Thibaut is Deputy Head of Unit for civil society at the Ministère de l'Europe et des affaires étrangères, France.

La Salete Coelho

La Salete Coelho is an educator, researcher and project consultant in the field of Development Education and Global Citizenship Education at the Centre for African Studies of the University of Porto and the Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo. She is working as a consultant for GENE – Global Education Network Europe and for the Catholic University of Beira, in Mozambique. She is the secretary of the Initiative of Global Citizenship for Sustainable Development of the Ibero-American General Secretariat. She is a member of the Advisory Board of ANGEL and of the Sinergias ED Community, also participating in the Editorial Board of the journal Sinergias - Educational Dialogues for Social Transformation. She has experience as trainer and consultant in Development Cooperation projects in the field of education, in Portugal, Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau

Agnieszka Skuratowicz

Agnieszka Skuratowicz represents the European Commission. She leads a team in charge of youth, education and culture policies in the International Partnerships Department (DG INTPA). Her previous assignments include strategic advice to the President of the European Commission and to the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. She was member of the management board of the European Political Strategy Centre – the Commission in-house think-thank.

Sobhi Tawil

Sobhi Tawil (PhD) is Director of the Future of Learning and Innovation team at UNESCO where he currently leads the Futures of Education initiative, as well as work on technology and innovation in education. He has some 30 years of experience in teaching, education policy analysis, research and program management with diverse institutions and organizations, including the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies (Geneva), as well as the Network for International Policies and Cooperation in Education and Training (NORRAG). He has also worked on issues of education policy in relation to identity-based conflict, social cohesion, and citizenship. Sobhi Tawil holds a PhD in Education and Development from the Graduate Institute for Development Studies in Geneva.

Liam Wegimont

Liam is the Executive Director of GENE – Global Education Network Europe – the network of Ministries and Agencies with national responsibility for Global Education in European countries (www.gene.eu). Liam has been involved in in education for social change for over 30 years – as teacher, teacher-educator, project lead, school principal, curriculum developer, curriculum analyst, evaluator and network initiator. Former Head of Global Education, Council of Europe, Liam more recently initiated and co-founded ANGEL. Liam lectures widely and advised Ministries of Education and Foreign Affairs in countries as diverse as Austria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Finland, Malta, Mauritius, Norway, Poland, Portugal, and Spain; and has also worked with international organisations (European Commission, OECD, UNESCO, UNICEF) in various roles related to Global Education, public awareness and the SDGs.

Frank Geary

Frank Geary is Director of IDEA, the Irish Development Education Association, Ireland’s national network for education for global citizenship and sustainable development. He is a civil society leader with extensive experience in Global Education, human rights & culture. With IDEA he leads a network which has engaged with multiple national & international policy processes, created the GENE Award winning Code of Good Practice for Development Education, and built consensus around a shared vision for Global Citizenship Education in Ireland known as Vision 2025. Frank has advocated for civil society and education with the UN, EU, African Union and Irish government. He is a member of the National Steering Group on Education for Sustainable Development in Ireland. In previous roles he supported PEN International Centres in over 70 countries to develop regional networks and programmes for human rights, freedom of expression and civil society. He has worked in the Arts & Culture sector, including coordinating national programmes as Education Manager for the Poetry Society in the UK.

Thaïs Leray

Thaïs Leray is Team leader for Youth in the unit in charge of Youth, Education and Culture of the European Commission DG for International Partnerships. She has spent the past 20 years working on policies and programmes in the field of international cooperation, sustainable development and climate action. Prior to joining the European Commission in 2010, she has worked for the private sector and the World Bank. She holds 3 Masters, in Business Administration, Environmental Management and International Economics.

Massimiliano Tarozzi

Professor Tarozzi is full professor at the University of Bologna, UNESCO Chair in Global Citizenship Education in Higher Education, founding director of the Research Centre on Global Citizenship Education. He is also responsible for co-ordinating the new Academic Network on Global Education and Learning (ANGEL), and was Co director of the Development Education Research Centre at UCL Institute of Education, now appointed Visiting Professor.

*Image credit: Stefania-Giannini Official.jpg, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons