Experts

Piotr Różański

Studied piano with Katarzyna Popowa-Zydron and Ewa Bukojemska at the Academy of Music in Krakow (Poland), where he is currently an assistant piano professor. He holds also a PhD title. Piotr performs regularly as a soloist and in various chamber ensembles. He performed in Poland, USA, Switzerland, Germany, France, Latvia. He played with Kaja Danczowska, Robert Kabara, Piotr Reichert, Marcin Zdunik. Together with Maria Slawek (violin) they recorded two CDs with violin sonatas by Schumann, Prokofiev and Weinberg. Piotr is a laureate of numerous piano and chamber competitions, including the 1st Prize at the 4th EPTA Piano Competition (Krakow 2003), the 2nd Prize at the Carl Czerny Piano Competition (Prague 2003), the 1st Prize at the 38th Polish National Chopin Piano Competition (Warsaw 2006), and many other awards at solo and chamber competitions (Lodz 2010, Kiev 2010, just to name few).

Silvia Ruppeldtová

Silvia Ruppeldtová

Slovak screenwriter, journalist, translator and archaeologist. She graduated from drama studies, dramaturgy, Latin-American studies, archaeology and Egyptology in Bratislava, Moscow, Madrid, Vienna and Havana. She’s an author of the screenplay of „Changes of Bratislava”. She translated Spanish, French, English and German films and literary texts such as for instance: „Aprende a dibujar” by Rosa Curto, „Lettre à D.” by André Gorza and „Them, Adventures with Extremists” by Jona Ronsona. Her articles, feuilletons, interviews and essays were published in numerous Slovak magazines and journals. As an archaeologist she took part in excavations in Spain, Portugal and Egypt. She is currently involved in “Visegrad Literary Residences” programme, which operator is the Villa Decius Association.

Urban Rusnak

Urban Rusnak

Ambassador of Slovakia in Ukraine. Studied at the Moscow Institute of Oil and Gas and at the Institute of Social Sciences at Ankara University in Turkey. PhD in Public Administration and Political Sciences. 1992-1993 worked at the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs; 1994-1998 Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of the Slovak Republic in Turkey, Ankara. 1999-2000 Director of the Slovak Institute for International Studies in Bratislava. Former Executive Director of the International Visegrad Fund. Former director of Department of Analyses and Policy Planning in Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic. 

Arne Ruth

Arne Ruth
As Editor-in-Chief of the liberal Dagens Nyheter, Sweden's largest morning daily, for sixteen years. He left his position in 1998, voicing sharp criticisms of the monopoly tendencies involving the parent company. As an essayist, he contributed to journals in Scandanavia, the German-speaking countries, France and the United States, focusing on aspects of European culture and politics. Among his most noted achievements as an author is a book on the arts under fascism: Staging Society: Aesthetics and Politics in the Third Reich (co-authored with Ingemar Karlsson). He is also on the board of the Swedish Helsinki Committe, the Swedish chapter of Reporters Sans Frontiers, and the Ship to Bosnia project for the establishment of a Cultural Centre for Reconciliation in Lipnica, Bosnia.

František Ružička

František Ružička

Currently, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Slovak Republic to Poland. Graduated from the Moscow Institute for International Relations and Charles University in Prague. In 1993-1996 First Secretary in the Embassy of the Slovak Republic in Washington, USA. From 1996-1999 held posts in the Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Deputy Director in the Office of the State Secretary, Director of the Department of International Economic Cooperation, Deputy Director General, and Director of the First Territorial Department. In 1999-2003 Deputy Chief of Mission in the Embassy of the Slovak Republic in Prague. In 2003-2005 Director of Department for Internal Affairs and Institutions of the EU. From October 2004 to March 2005 Director General in charge of the European Affairs Section in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  

Mykola Ryabchuk

Mykola Ryabchuk

Mykola Ryabchuk (Mikolaj Riabczuk) is a senior research associate at the Ukrainian Centre for Cultural Studies in Kyiv and a co-founder and member of the editorial board of Krytyka monthly (www.krytyka.kiev.ua). He penned five books and many articles on civil society, state/nation building, nationalism, national identity, and post-communist transition in the post-Soviet countries, primarily in Ukraine. Two of his books were translated into Polish (“Od Malorosji do Ukrainy”, 2002; “Dwie Ukrainy”, 2004), and one into Serbian (“Od Malorusije do Ukrajine”, 2003), French (“De la 'Petite Russie' à l'Ukraine”, 2003), and German (“Die reale und die imaginierte Ukraine”, 2006). He was distinguished with the POLCUL Award (1998) and Polish-Ukrainian Capitula Award (2002) for his contribution to Polish-Ukrainian reconciliation. 

Anna Sacio-Szymanska

Anna Sacio-Szymanska works at 4CF as a proxy. In her previous professional role professional role, she managed research projects and served at the Institute of Technological Exploitation (Łukasiewicz Research Network) as a plenipotentiary of the director for EU research programs.

EU research programs. Her research interests include foresight, long-term strategic thinking, discovering the links between innovation, competitiveness, strategy and foresight, and developing the mindset of leaders towards future-oriented leadership.

Anna Sacio-Szymanska was the chairwoman of the Foresight Europe Network in 2020 year. Among her clients for training and competence development activities foresight activities include UNFCCC, UNEP, FRSE and EIT Climate-KIC, among others

Rafał Sadowski

Rafał Sadowski

Policy analyst in the Centre for Eastern Studies, Head of the Eastern Partnership Department. He is also editor-in-chief of the EaPCommunity website, which is dedicated to the EU-eastern neighbours relations. He received his M.A. in the Centre for East European Studies at Warsaw University. He also studied Cultural Anthropology in the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology at Warsaw University. He joined Centre for Eastern Studies in 2001. His current research subjects are: EU-Eastern European states relations, Eastern Partnership, European Neighborhood Policy and internal situation and foreign policies of Eastern European states. Author of many publications, f. e. Cross-border Co-operation at the new Eastern Border of the European Union, Similarities and Differences of Instruments and Policies of the Council of Europe and the European Union in the Field of Transfrontier Co-Operation, Belarus – the EU’s unknown neighbor, (as co-author).

Katarzyna Šalamun - Biedrzycka

Translator of the Polish literature into Slovenian and Slovenian literature into Polish. 

Ivo Samson

Ivo Samson

Graduated in history from University of Brno (1981) and in political science/security policy in Germany (The University of Giessen, 1997, PhD in 1998). Teacher in several universities (Sodortern-Stockholm, Giessen-Germany, CEU-Budapest). Author of several books and numerous studies (security policy, international terrorism). Works as analyst of international relations in the Research Center of Slovak Foreign Policy Association in Bratislava, Slovakia. 

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