European Leadership Academy • Speakers Valencia

Speakers Summer School 2023, Valencia

The 2023 Summer School gathered an inspiring group of speakers. The 29 students heard from experts across a range of fields who addressed everything from technology to sustainability and took them on a journey that explored economics, international relations, media and innovation as well as subjects close to the School’s philosophy - such as equality and female leadership. The dynamic format moved away from traditional classroom learning and meant that every day was different. Participants attended workshops, masterclasses, panel discussions and roundtables as well as having the chance to share and learn in more informal settings during lunch breaks and evening events.

The speakers for the 2023 Summer School are listed below. To see the speakers who participated in previous editions, please check the 2022 Summer School, 2022 Winter School and 2021 Summer School pages.

Pilar Alegría

Minister of Education, Government of Spain

Aleksandra Przegalinska

Kozminski University; Senior Research Associate, Harvard University

Violeta Bulc

Curator of Ecocivilisation; Former European Commissioner for Transport

Teresa Cervero García

Leading Research Engineer, Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC)

Tony Jin Yong

Vice-President European Region, Huawei

Mary Coughlan

Former Deputy Prime Minister of Ireland

Soledad Patiño

Global Skills Academy Coordinator, UNESCO

Marc Angel

Vice-President of the European Parliament

Prof. Danuta Hübner

MEP, European Parliament; former EU Commissioner for Trade & Regional Policy

Elisabeth Köstinger

Former Environment Minister of Austria

David Jiménez

Columnist, author & journalist. Former Editor-in-Chief, El Mundo

Selina Wen

Chief Representative to the European Institutions, Huawei

Evangelia Chalioti

Senior Lecturer and Associate Chair, Department of Economics, Yale University

Prof. Soulla Louca

Head of the Department of Digital Innovation and Director of the Institute for the Future, University of Nicosia

Berta Herrero

Director, Schools for Female Leadership in the Digital Age & The Women’s Academy for Rural Innovation; Head of Equality, Diversity & Inclusion, Huawei Europe

Josianne Cutajar

Member of the European Parliament

Cécile Deprez

Researcher, German Aerospace Center (DLR); Public speaker and advocate for women+ in STEM

Inmaculada Rodríguez-Piñero

Member of the European Parliament

Sevim Aktas

Policy Officer, DG CLIMA, European Commission

Katarína Roth Neveđalová

Member of the European Parliament

Ángela Paloma

Head of Cabinet of Spain's Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism; PhD, Women Leadership in Politics

Carmen González

Vice-President, Huawei Spain

Cristina Rivero Fernández

Director of the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Industry, CEOE

Eleni Stavrou

Member of the European Parliament

Tamara Tafra

Minister Counsellor for Cyber Issues, Hybrid Threats and Disinformation, Permanent Representation of Croatia to the EU

Andrea Davies Brezoňáková

First Officer, Boeing 737, Norwegian

Marcos Ros

Member of the European Parliament

Ghislaine Ihirwe

Legal advisor in digital inclusion, Digital Economics, Directorate-General for Economic Regulation, Belgian Ministry of Economy

Emma Wehrwein

Head of the Project Management Office, Gaia-X Federation Services

Kadri Tuisk

Founder & CEO Clanbeat & SageAI; Advisory Board Member, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications of Estonia; Co-Founder, EdTech Estonia

Eduvigis Ortiz

Founder & President, Women4Cyber Spain; Strategic Alliances Leaders, SAS

Hafsat Abiola

President, Women in Africa Initiative

Ricardo Marvao

Co-founder & Chief Growth Officer, Beta-i; Strategic Council Member, Startup Portugal

Sabina Ciofu

Associate Director – International, techUK

Prof. Salvatore Moccia

Head of EIT Digital Master School, European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT)

Ewa Widlak

President, UN Women Spain

Lilia Luchianov

Policy officer, DG SANTÉ, European Commission

Aina Monfort

Head of Operations - Industrial Site Spain, Airbus

Francesca Romana D'Antuono

Co-president, Volt Europa

Roberta Cianetti

Global Director, Social Operations & Partnerships Strategy, Condé Nast

Andrea G. Rodríguez

Lead Digital Policy Analyst, EU Digital Agenda, European Policy Center (EPC)

Raquel Jorge Ricart

Policy Analyst - Technology, Digital and Cyber Policy, Elcano Royal Institute

Angela Stathi

Expert Advisor, The European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA); Chair, NED

Eva Poptcheva

Member of the European Parliament

María Paula Caycedo

Directress of Innovation Hub South, EIT Urban Mobility

Anastasia-Sissy Gkika

Member of the Permanent Representation of Greece to the EU in charge of Education

Prof. Cecilia Danesi

Researcher at the Institute of European Studies and Human Rights, Pontifical University of Salamanca

Noemi Diéguez Casero

Project Manager - Control Centers, Siemens

Brian Fitzgerald

Krehbiel Chair in Innovation in Business & Technology, University of Limerick; Director, Lero - Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Software.

Luisa Baldini

Co-Founder, Composure Media; former Royal Correspondent, BBC

Elena Schubert

Deputy Equality Coordinator, DG AGRI, European Commission

Michele Pastore

Director, Public Affairs, Huawei Europe

Maria Daniel Loureiro

Intelligence Analyst, DG HERA, European Commission

Evelina Kurgonaitė-Swoboda

Secretary General, Fair Standards Alliance

Mitch Davis

Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategic Programs Lead, Autodesk

Núria Salán

President, Catalan Society of Technology; Professor, UPC-Terrassa

Aikaterini Liakopoulou

Business Coach for EU-backed Deeptech Startups

Elma Hot Dervic

Postdoc, Complexity Science Hub Vienna

María Pérez

Councillor Local Government of Valencia

Montse Delgado Llavina

Head of Entrepreneurship Education, EIT Health

Angeliki Eleftheriou

Corporate Affairs & ESG Senior Manager, Nova

Despina Manousos

Senior Manager, EU Public Affairs, Huawei

Ozioma Egwuonwu

Founder & Chief Strategic Transformation Officer, BurnBright International; Founder, World Dream Day

Eva Bernard

Principal, Gender and Climate Action, EBRD & Lecturer, Sciences Po

Moon Jerin

Founder and CEO, Aeindri Protocol

Fanny Benedetti

Global Gender, Diversity and Inclusive leadership Advocate; former Executive Director, UN Women France; former Chief Gender Equality, Education and Youth, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France

Cristina Almeida

Co-Founder & President, Women4Cyber Portugal

John Edwards

Secretary-General, EURASHE

Manuela Prina

Head of the Skills Identification and Development Unit, European Training Foundation (ETF)

Kristien Van den Eynde

Human Capital Development Specialist with a focus on Entrepreneurial Learning, Youth Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Skills, European Training Foundation (ETF)