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 programs. He is interested in EU affairs, international relations, foreign policy, education, and culture.
Martina Vysluzilova is a Conscious Creation Trainer, specializing in Creative Development and Superconscious Transformation, certified in the neuroscientific method of Magnetic Mind.
She helps people to consciously create their desires with the power of their mind using a 6-STEP SYSTEM backed by neuroscience that has required 40 years of research and is taking the personal development industry by storm.
In her individual and group training, she helps people to shift from a problem-solving orientation into a creative orientation and regain personal power and identity alignment that allows them to easily attract and manifest their visions.
Martina is a former graduate of U. of Economics Bratislava (International Business and World Economy) with a traineeship in the European Parliament; she speaks 4 languages and lives in Barcelona. She has been a transformational coach for more than 10 years.
Thomas Berger is the Head of EU Mobility programs and Director of the Online Academy of the Institute inter. research e.V. He has been the head of the contact point of a regional Erasmus traineeship consortium since 2001. The consortium supports each year approx. 200 students and graduates with an Erasmus+ traineeship grant and online key skill training. He furthermore works as an EU liaison officer for the University of Applied Sciences Fulda, Germany. In this role, he manages the European network OPEN-EYE – a European consortium of 10 contact points of the EU program Erasmus for young entrepreneurs. In 2018 he was seconded as national expert for professional training to the European Commission (DG EAC) for 3 months and to the EU staff unit of the Hessen Ministry of Higher Education Research and the Arts in 2021 for 12 months. He received his Diploma degree in Applied Computer Science in 1999 from the University of Applied Sciences Fulda and his MBA (Science and Education Management) Degree in 2011 from the University of Oldenburg.
Sophia Siegfried is the Head of the International Office at Technische Universität Ilmenau, Germany, and the Erasmus+ University Coordinator. In addition, she is the Managing Director of EU-Praktikum THÜRINGEN, a regional consortium that coordinates Erasmus+ traineeships on behalf of nine Thuringian universities. Besides living and working stations in Bucharest, Berlin, and Brussels she works for more than ten years in international relations in higher education. She is a member of the Working Group Leadership Conference at the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), part of EU Multipliers in the Federal State of Thuringia, Germany, and a regular selection committee member for several Fulbright scholarship programs. Since 2019 Sophia Siegfried is managing the EU-Praktikum THÜRINGEN consortium and is responsible for its accreditation, evaluation, development, and transition into the new Erasmus+ program era.
Susanne Friedemann works as Erasmus+ SMP Coordinator at the regional consortium of the Thuringian universities EU-Praktikum THÜRINGEN and International Marketing Assistant at the International Office of Technische Universität Ilmenau in Germany. The consortium works on behalf of the Thuringian Ministry of Economy, Science, and Digital Society TMWWDG and the participating Thuringian universities. Her primary tasks amount to promoting and arranging traineeships in the Erasmus+ program for students and young graduates, besides Erasmus+ project management within a consortium structure.
Her main goal is to bring people of different learning cultures into the exchange and to set up learning environments focusing on individual user experiences. As a media scientist, she has scientific experience in developing and evaluating concepts of media-enhanced learning technologies at Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT and Fachhochschule Erfurt. She also used to manage language training courses and cultural events for international students.
Karol Ovesny is the Founder and CEO of WorkSpace Europe, a consortium of universities in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, focused on university-business cooperation and international student traineeships in the frame of Erasmus+. He is an experienced project manager in the areas of Business and Education with a focus on business-academia cooperation, EU programs, employability of graduates, as well as digital communication and marketing. He also manages a student internship program for businesses and cooperates with top-level international companies based in Slovakia and abroad.
A social entrepreneur and lecturer for the Slovak Governmental Business Agency, Karol is also a board member of LEO-NET (International association of Universities with a focus on bridging Higher Education and Sustainable Careers) as well as a Steering Group member in the Employability Expert Community of EAIE (European Association for International Education).
John David Is the founder and CEO of Amnick – Social Enterprise based in London, UK, and Editor in chief of City Pulse magazine (10m circulation)
John is leading the International Collaboration Team made up of City Leaders, Mayors, 110 Tech companies, and Universities from around the world. This team focuses on city challenges, and technologies and developing training and work experience opportunities for students, graduates, and unemployed people. John is also a member of the development team of the Virtual Internship Academy project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.
Anastasiia Shevchenko is the Coordinator of Placement Slovakia, an internship program providing comprehensive services for selected university students, graduates, and young professionals interested in pursuing Erasmus+ internships in Slovakia. Anastasia is originally from Ukraine and came to Slovakia 3 years ago as a university student to study marketing. She started working at Placement Slovakia as an intern and then became the Program Coordinator and now helps other international students to get the best work and life experience in Slovakia.
Sergio Molla Garcia is a student at Escuel a Profesional Xavier where he is studying to become a Senior Technician in Administration and Finance. He got an internship in the finance sector in Slovakia in March 2023 in a Slovak Business Center of a global Fortune 500 company. He is gaining his first professional experience and the knowledge of finance area in an international environment, learning how to cooperate in a team, and working with internal systems.
Patricia Burssens holds academic degrees in literature, teacher training, communication science, and public management. She gained 18 years of experience in counselling of graduating studentsat the UGent Student Counselling Centre for Students. Since 2009 she joined the UGent IRO Office as a Policy Advisor for (international) traineeships and study abroad.She has always shown a genuine interest in student welfare and inclusion, from both the student and the educational (IRO) environment perspective.
Thomas Faltner is the President of IAESTE Global, the umbrella organization of IAESTE Offices in 70+ countries around the world. He started his professional career with his first internship at 16 parallel to technical college. From 2006 – 2021 he was a Member of the Managing Board and Co-CEO of an Austrian engineering company, responsible for international projects in space and aviation industry. He joined IAESTE back in 2002 and was involved in local, national and global management since then. Being a mechanical and chemical engineer by education, his career involved management activities in a very wide scope.