Bios
Wendy Chun
Wendy Hui Kyong Chun is Simon Fraser University’s Canada 150 Research Chair in New Media in the School of Communication and Director of the Digital Democracies Institute. She has studied both Systems Design Engineering and English Literature, which she combines and mutates in her research on digital media. She is the author of many books. She has been Professor and Chair of the Department of Modern Culture and Media at Brown University, where she worked for almost two decades and is currently a Visiting Professor.
Josée Johnston
Josée Johnston is Professor of Sociology and Graduate Chair of the Department of Sociology at the University of Toronto. Her research explores the cultural politics of food, sustainability, and ethical consumption. She is co-author of Happy Meat: The Sadness and Joy of a Paradoxical Idea (Stanford University Press, 2025), which investigates how consumers and producers navigate tensions between pleasure, ethics, and sustainability in contemporary food systems.
Shengnan Han
Shengnan Han is a professor of Computer and Systems Sciences (specializing in information systems) at Stockholm University, Sweden. Her main research interests are technology adoption and impacts, where she encompasses a holistic approach, spanning from individual behaviors to organizational performance and societal transformations. Likewise, her research is also characterized by cross-disciplinary collaboration with researchers from healthcare, industry management, data science, law, and human geography.
Connie Hedegaard
Professional Board member (a.o. Danfoss, BBVA, the Villum Foundation and Chair of OECD’s Round Table for Sustainable Development), Former EU Commissioner for Climate Action and former Danish Minister for Environment and Climate&Energy.
Ewa Luger
Professor Ewa Luger is codirector of The Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Bridging Responsible AI Divides (BRAID) programme. She works closely with policymakers and industry and is a member of the UK government's Department for Culture Media and Sport college of experts. She is also co-director of the Centre for Doctoral Training in Responsible NLP . Ewa’s research explores social, ethical, and interactional issues in the context of AI and other complex data-driven systems, with a particular focus on policy, design, spheres of exclusion and consent of the user.
Maria Pilar Aguar Fernandez
Ms. Pilar Aguar Fernandez, a pharmacist and food scientist with expertise in toxicology and public health, joined the European Commission in 2001. She has held senior roles in DG Health & Food Safety, DG Research & Innovation, and the Joint Research Centre, leading work on food safety, health research, and innovation, and in 2025 became Director of the Directorate People – Health and Society at DG Research & Innovation.
Kate Soper
Kate Soper is an Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at London Metropolitan University, and former Honorary Professor at Brighton University. She has published widely on environmental philosophy, aesthetics of nature, theory of needs and consumption and cultural theory. Her concerns encompass feminism, the green movement, how best to define nature, and other issues of political and cultural moment.
Deividas Petrulevičius
Deividas Petrulevičius is a National Contact Point (NCP) for Horizon Europe in Lithuania, focusing on digital technologies and industry. He works at the Research Council of Lithuania, where he helps researchers and innovators access EU funding and build international partnerships. He is particularly interested in bringing together Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) and STEM fields, exploring human–technology interaction in industry, digital innovation, and beyond, and seeks interdisciplinary approaches that connect technological progress with human values and societal needs.
Charlotta Sparre
Charlotta Sparre is the deputy director of Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) since September 2024. She has over 35 years of experience from international diplomacy, including serving as the director of the Swedish Dialogue Institute for the Middle East and North Africa, Director of the Swedish Diplomatic Training Programme, Swedish Ambassador to Egypt and to Jordan and the Permanent Representation to the EU. Her work has mainly focused on issues related to the MENA region and European affairs.
Verena Fuchsberger
Verena Fuchsberger is an associate professor at the Center for Human-Computer Interaction at the University of Salzburg. In her research, Verena focuses on the agency of human and non-human actors in human-computer-interaction and interaction design, i.e., the relations and associations between individuals (users, but also non-users, designers), materials and digital-physical artefacts. In particular, she is interested in the hybrid materiality of interactions as it occurs in different domains, contexts, and situations.
Eric Arnould
Eric Arnould is a professor emeritus of Marketing at the Aalto University of Business School. His areas of expertise are consumer culture, cultural marketing strategy, services marketing and marketing and development, which he has taught in, on faculty at four European universities and several in the US.
Vinciane Gaillard
Vinciane is Director for Research and Innovation at EUA, leading the implementation of the Association’s Agendas for R&I, Innovation, and Open Science. These agendas take a comprehensive approach to the R&I continuum, covering basic research, applied research, and innovation. Developed by universities for universities, they are implemented with the support of the EUA R&I unit. A strong advocate for the role of university R&I in shaping the European Research Area, Vinciane works towards a well-designed and sustainable R&I system, supported by a favourable regulatory environment and sufficient and sustainable funding. Before joining EUA in 2019, Vinciane spent over 15 years as a researcher and research manager in cognitive psychology and neuroscience. She holds a PhD in Psychology from the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Belgium.
Thomas B. Moeslund
Thomas Moeslund is a professor at Aalborg University, Denmark. His current research interests span both technical AI research as well as interdisciplinary AI research bridging ethical, governance, and compliance aspects. He is leading the university-wide interdisciplinary AI for the People initiative at Aalborg University, the Nordic AI Hub, and is Deputy Director in the Center for AI in Society (CAISA), and co-lead in the Pioneer Center for AI.
Anne Gerdes
Anne Gerdes is a professor of Information Science at the Department of Design, Media and Educational Sciences at the University of Southern Denmark where she also leads the Center for AI Ethics. She researches and teaches in the intersection of applied ethics and computer science. Her research focuses on IT ethics, AI ethics in healthcare, data ethics, AI Ethics by Design, robo-ethics, and privacy
Annelien Bredenoord
Prof dr Annelien Bredenoord (1979) is President of the Executive Board of Erasmus University Rotterdam and Professor of Ethics of (Biomedical) Technologies. She has rich experience in executive and non-executive roles and works on the intersection of higher education, health care, technology & innovation, ethics, politics & governance. Bredenoord has been member of the High Level Expert Group on the Future of Horizon Europe, advising the European Committee on the next research & innovation programs. She has been a member of the Senate of Dutch Parliament and D66 floorleader from 2015 – 2023.
Maria Leptin
Maria Leptin is the President of the European Research Council. After receiving a PhD at the University of Heidelberg, postdoctoral research in the UK and leading a research group in Germany, Maria Leptin became a professor at the Institute of Genetics, University of Cologne and Director of
EMBO. Leptin is an elected member of EMBO, the Academia Europaea and the German National Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina), Honorary Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, Foreign Member of the Royal Society and international member of the US National Academy of Sciences.
Matthias Reiter-Pazmandy
“Matthias Reiter-Pázmándy is Deputy Head of the Department for Social Sciences and Humanities in the Directorate General for Scientific Research, International Relations, Gender Equality and Diversity Management in the Austrian Federal Ministry for Women, Science and Research. Currently he is delegate in the Programme Committee for Cluster 2 in Horizon Europe and Chair of the General Assembly of the European research infrastructure CESSDA (Consortium of Social Science Data Archives in Europe).”
Erich Prem
Erich Prem is a research strategist, AI expert, and philosopher. He received his Dr. phil. from the University of Vienna and his Dr. tech. from TU Vienna. His research interests include AI, innovation, and ethics. He currently works on ethical and epistemological questions of AI. Erich was a researcher at the Austrian Research Institute of AI and a guest researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He coordinates the European Digital Humanism Initiative EUDHIT. He is president of the Austrian Digital Humanism Association and CEO of the strategic RTDI consultancy eutema GmbH.
Sergio Salvatore
Professor of Dynamic Psychology at the University of Salento (Lecce, Italy), he investigates the sensemaking processes underpinning psychosocial and socio-cultural dynamics. His research focuses on modelling and interpreting social fields and on designing psychologically informed interventions within interpersonal, community, organizational, and institutional contexts. Psychologist, psychotherapist, and consultant for institutions and organizations in community development and psychosocial intervention design. Author of over 330 publications President of the Italian Association of Psychology (AIP, 2024–).Co-Editor of the Springer Book Series Culture in Policy Making: The Symbolic Universes of Social Action.
Gabi Lombardo
Gabi Lombardo (PhD LSE), is Director of the European Alliance for SSH one of the largest advocacy and science policy organizations in Europe. High-level experience in strategic and ‘foresight’ planning working in international organisations like London School of Economics, European Research Council and Science Europe. She’s an evaluator for the EU, World Bank, and COST. Gabi received the Young Academy of Europe Prize in 2018.
Christina Egelund
Christina Egelund is currently serving as the Minister for Higher Education and Sci-ence in Denmark, a position she has held since December 15, 2022. In this role, she is responsible for science, innovation and higher education, with a focus on addressing challenges such as labor and talent shortages, and fostering international collaboration.
Maria Pilar Aguar Fernandez
Mario Scharfbillig uses behavioural insights to improve evidence-informed policymaking and democratic processes in the EU. He is working at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, leading the Enlightenment 2.0 research programme. The programme seeks to provide the interdisciplinary scientific underpinning to improve this evolution of the political decision-making process in an increasingly polarised, complex and uncertain present. He is also a member of several advisory groups, including for Horizon projects, ALLEA, Club of Venice, EGU and ISC. He received his PhD in economics from the University of Mainz, where he specialized in research on behavioural economics, public policy and corporate governance. For his work on advising policymakers, he was named among the "50+1 Influential Researchers Whose Work Could Help Shape 21st Century Politicians" by Apolitical.
Mona Kanwal Sheikh
Mona Kanwal Sheikh is senior researcher and head of Global Security and Worldviews at the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS). She has developed Worldview Analysis as an approach to deal with competing perceptions of history, order, justice and authority in International Relations.
Louise Drogoul
Louise Drogoul is Senior Advisor for Innovation and Sustainability at CESAER, the association of leading universities of science and technology in Europe. She works at the intersection of research, innovation, and higher education policy, advancing human-centric approaches to sustainability, interdisciplinarity, and responsible innovation. With master’s degrees in European and Asian Studies, she brings a global and cross-cultural perspective to shaping how universities contribute to Europe’s green and digital transitions and to embedding human values at the heart of science and technology.