Experts

Michal is an Assistant Professor at the Metropolitan University Prague. He is also a board member of a think tank Eurothink (Skopje, North Macedonia). He has been involved in dialogue facilitation processes in the SEE region, namely between Bulgaria and North Macedonia. He obtained his doctorate in 2017. Previously he was associated with the Institute for European Policy (IEP), Berlin and EUROPEUM, Prague. He underwent research fellowships at University of Konstanz and University of Vienna, South East European University (MK). He cooperates as consultant with international organizations, such as OSCE.

Ukrainian culture expert, political scientist, editor-in-chief and founder of Independent Cultural Journal "Ї".Studied at the Lviv Polytechnic National University. After Gorbachev’s thaw he became an activist of democratic movement and coorganised the first general strike in Ukraine (at Lviv Factory of Milling Machines). Associated with an informal group of intellectuals “Lvivska Shkola” (Lviv School). He translated a large number of texts and published within samizdat. He isthe editor-in-chief and publisherof theIndependent Cultural Journal "Ї", which has transformed into an influential NGO and a think tank covering issues of civil society, human rights, interethnic relations, cross-border cooperation, multiculturalism, European integration, regionalism, globalisation and anti-globalist movements, ecumenical dialogue, political changes in the region. Initiator and organiser of community campaigns on the promotion of cultural heritage of Halychyna. Co-initiator of an honorary distinction "Order for Intellectual Bravery". Author of more than 400 publications in Ukrainian and foreign media. Awarded with an honorary distinction "Knight of Halychyna" in the nomination "Public Figure" (2001), a distinction “20 Years of the First Democratic Convocation of Lviv Regional Council” (2010), a distinction by Lviv Mayor “Saint George Distinction of Honour” (2011).

Born 1950 in Kitzbühel, Austria; studied philosophy and literature in Vienna; worked as a teacher, university lecturer and civil servant in the ministry of education. In the 1990s was a director of KulturKontakt Austria: cultural and educational cooperation with Central, Eastern and South-eastern Europe. From 2002 to 2009 Gottfried was director of the European Cultural Foundation in Amsterdam. Currently working in the ministry for education, arts and culture, Vienna: as a special envoy for international cultural-political projects. Gottfried acts as an advisor to the MORE EUROPE initiative http://www.moreeurope.org/

Sociologist, researcher and Assistant Professor at the Institute of Sociology, Jagiellonian University. Her Ph.D. thesis focused on citizenship and its various forms among Muslim women in Britain. Her key research interest include gender studies, citizenship and democracy studies and qualitative methodology. From 2005 onwards she has been involved as a researcher and coordinator in various research and educational project dealing with the problems of social exclusion, various forms of inequality, migration and citizenship. Recently she was a researcher at her project “Gender equality and quality of life. How gender equality can contribute to development in Europe. A study of Poland and Norway” and coordinated a project “Research and Expertise in Society”. She worked also as an International Programme Coordinator and was responsible for English-taught MA programme as well as several MA double degree and Erasmus Mundus programmes. A visiting scholar at Western University in London, Canada, University of Oslo, Catholic University of Portugal and Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Sevilla, Oxford University and Cardiff University.