Magda Kirsch
worked for more than thirty years at the Business school of the University College Leuven Limburg as an English language lecturer and later as the deputy head, responsible for Quality Assurance as well as Internationalisation. From 1984 she was also responsible for the Joint Study Programme (pilot for Erasmus) and later for the Erasmus programme and carried out research on the impact of the Erasmus mobility on the career of her students. Also in recent years she evaluated the impact of Erasmus and Erasmus+ mobility on students and learners in several countries and regions in Europe. In 2001 she started a consultancy company in education together with Yves Beernaert (Educonsult). As an external expert, she worked for the QA unit of the university colleges for ten years. They conducted various studies for the European Commission, including on level 5 of the European Qualifications Framework for Lifelong Learning (2003, 2011). She was also a team leader of PHARE-projects in Bulgaria to enhance VET-education (2006 and 2008). Recently she has worked on placement mobility of VET learners in Flanders and the EU as well as on the impact of placements on the studies and employability of higher education students. Over the last 10 years she has conducted evaluations of PD courses for STEM teachers. At present she is working with EUN on the preparation of a seminars on aspects of STEM education in Europe. She also worked for the King Baudouin Foundation drafting reports on joint degrees in higher education and the influx and retention of students of migrant origin in higher education.
Shui Beam
works as a Policy Officer in DG EMPL (European Commission) on youth employment policies. She is part of the team that is currently carrying out the evaluation of the 2014 quality framework for traineeships. The evaluation assesses whether the quality framework is still fit for purpose or whether there are quality aspects of traineeships that should be strengthened or added. Previously she worked on the European Semester (also in DG EMPL) as well as on various EU trade matters (in DG TRADE).
Fernanda Correia
is psychologist in career development and vocational guidance, with a Master degree from the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Porto.
She is an effective member of the Portuguese Psychologists Association and with a European certificate in Psychology – Europsy, by the EFPA (European Federation of Psychologists Associations). She is also member of the Advisory Board for Higher Education of the North Regional Delegation of the Portuguese Psychologists Association.
Fernanda Correia is certified in Career Management and has been working for 15 years in this area at U.Porto. There she was responsible for the creation in 2020 of the U.Porto Talent & Career area, whose main goal is to create a Career Community for sustainable careers for U.Porto students.
Furthermore Fernanda Correia is Ambassador of the EUGLOH Alliance. She is lecturer and trainer in subjects related to Employability Skills, Career Management and Personal Development and an invited speaker at several conferences and seminars related to Employment and Career.
Rosalyn Eder
Is the head of international affairs at the Paracelsus Medical University in Salzburg, Austria. She holds a doctorate in education science from the University of Fribourg in Switzerland, and has been working in the field of international higher education since 2008. She has extensive experience in developing international educational programs and collaborative EU-funded projects. Her research focuses on education and globalization, education policy, and teaching and learning in higher education. She is an adjunct lecturer of research methodology, qualitative research, and globalization in education.
Mr. Bruno Woeran
Bruno Woeran is currently Head Research Management & Technology Transfer for www.PMU.ac.at – Paracelsus Private Medical University. Until recently he was EU Affairs and Innovation Networks Manager for www.Merinova.fi OY AB, Finland.
Previously he held positions as Senior Advisor EU- R&D and Open Inno Networks at http://www.lut.fi; Research Grant Officer and Senior Expert Controlling www.IST.ac.at Austria.
He is currently enrolled in the PhD Programme at Oulu University Business School, holds an MBA from the University of Nebraska at Omaha (1993) and University of Economics and Business Administration, WU Vienna (1991).
Bruno Woeran is Chair for www.NCURA.edu Int’l Region VIII, IP president for www.TII.org, Europe’s longest standing tech transfer association, Board member Director project development for www.ISPIM.org, co-editor and author of articles on knowledge transfer and expert systems and works intensively on training and certification, innovation and knowledge management issues on regional innovation management tools and intercultural communication and inclusive organization methods.
Elke van der Valk
is Consultant Sustainability & SDGs for the Education & Research Department and also coordinates the Hybrid Learning Environment (HLE) for Circular Transition at Fontys University of Applied Sciences. She advices the institutions of Fontys on how to integrate the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN into all Education & Research. Elke is also part of the SDG Coalition that was created amongst all Universities of Applied Sciences in June 2018. One of the results of this collaboration is the creation of the platform www.sdgsonstage.nl, which is created to connect students, teachers and businesses through SDG-related content and internships. Furthermore Elke has started the coordination of the HLE Circular Transition last February where students work in interdisciplinary teams together with coaches and organisations on solutions for circular challenges. Besides her work for Fontys Elke also leads a project for the municipality of Veldhoven in which she is organising a School day for Sustainability. During this day primary school children will follow workshops related to the SDGs and supported by local organisations and volunteers.
Rens van der Vorst
is Techno-philosopher He teaches, e.g. at Fontys University of Applied Sciences, writes and does research. Rens van der Vorst is the author of two well-selling books about our relationship with technology. He created the technology impact cycle tool, a tool to assess the impact of technology that is used worldwide. He builds games and software to make as much people think about the impact of technology as possible. In his presentations he combines humor and sharp observations to inspire people to become a little bit of a techno-philosopher themselves.
Valérie Van Hees
is the coordinator of the Support Centre for Inclusive Higher Education (SIHO, Belgium) and has accumulated over 20 years of experience in the field of policy and inclusion in higher education. SIHO serves both policy makers and higher education institutions in the development and implementation of equity and inclusion measures for inclusive higher education. Valérie Van Hees is the project manager of two European projects on inclusive mobility, nl. the EPFIME project and the PLAR-4-SIMP project. She authored European reports on Inclusive Mobility, as well as a framework self-assessment tool and a training package to support higher education institutions, ministries of education, and national agencies in implementing a sustainable inclusive mobility strategy at institutional and national level.
Nadie Baudry
has an MA in Social and Cultural Anthropology, and a background in the field of training and education. She started at SIHO as a project officer on the topic of student wellbeing, and is now working on Inclusive Mobility. She is currently developing an online training package for the PLAR-4-SIMP project, with the goal of making mobility more accessible to all students, regardless of their backgrounds.
Johannes Gehringer
is Policy Officer for Erasmus+ Higher Education at the European Commission in Brussels. Johannes has work experience in EU external relations and cooperation (audiovisual, culture) as well as in EU education and training policies and programmes. He is interested in EU affairs, international relations, foreign policy, education and culture.