Speakers

Karen Simon

Communication OfficerEuropean Commission, Conference on the Future of Europe

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Biography:

Karen Simon joined the European Commission team working on the Conference on the Future of Europe in May to help coordinate the communication around the Conference.

As a communications specialist motivated by innovative projects, Karen has worked on the setting up of the European Research Executive Agency, the modernisation of the EU's Europe Direct Contact Centre and the development of a new approach to knowledge management calling in Artificial Intelligence and linked data models. She gained experienced of EU local and regional authorities when working at the European Committee of the Regions. Before joining the European institutions, Karen worked for several years in the field of television and radio advertising, for the account of public and private broadcasters and sales houses across Europe.

 

Kelli Rose Pearson

Co-FounderRe.imaginary

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Biography

Kelli Rose Pearson is working on her PhD on the topic of leadership and transformative imagination at Wageningen University (the Netherlands), as well as working as a consultant in the field of sustainable regional development with the Economic Transformations Group. She's also writing middle grade adventures about the mythical Cosmos Mariners – a secret society of people who bring kindness and beauty to their quest for just ecological societies.

Kelli is the co-founder of reimaginary.com, which shares resources and creative methods for cultivating cultures of sustainability, and is developing a project with the Flourishing Fiction Co-lab and Arizona State University's Institute for Science and Imagination around speculative sustainability-based science fiction. In the past, she's been the owner of a successful cafe and community hub (which just celebrated its 20th anniversary!) and a transdisciplinary Marie Curie Research Fellow in sustainability science (Susplace.net), amongst other eclectic activities she could tell you about over a cup of coffee.

Marianna Marchesi

LecturerArchitectural Design at the Welsh School of Architecture

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Biography

Marianna is a Lecturer in Architectural Design at the Welsh School of Architecture at Cardiff University (UK).

She joined the school in 2018 as a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellow for implementing the research project called CircuBED. The project focused on exploring how urban communities like social housing can contribute to sustainable development through the transition to a circular economy and how they can be engaged.

In research and teaching, she is particularly interested in supporting changes towards sustainable development through design by developing social, organisational and technological innovations. Her research and teaching are supported by a holistic background acquired through education by a Master of Architecture, Master of Science in Sustainable Design and PhD in Sustainable Energy and Technologies. She has consolidated interdisciplinary expertise through long-term practice experience as a registered architect and by research and teaching experience in sustainable architecture and urban design in Italy and abroad (USA and UK).

Marion Roullet

Founder and R&D ScientistAtelier CirculR

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Biography

Marion Roullet is a Materials Scientist interested in nature-made materials.
Her PhD research explored the influence of milk proteins on the texture of yogurt. Fascinated by the science taking place in everyday life products, and willing to share the wonders of Food Science, Marion produced the webseries Yummy Physics in 2019.

Lead by sustainability concerns, Marion has recently funded Atelier CirculR, an independent Research & Development laboratory that aims to elaborate new materials out of organic waste, in collaboration with designers. This project aims at building a bridge between Food Science and sustainable Materials Engineering.

Mathieu Orphanides

Development and implementation Manager of the DiscoverEU initiativeDG EAC

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Mathieu Orphanides is a Cypriot national living in Brussels and working for the European Commission. He graduated in marketing and started his professional career in an advertising company. He joined the European Commission in 2002, first in the HR department dealing with finances and budget, then he was recruited in the DG for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport (DG EAC). In DG EAC, he worked in several departments : resources, budget/finance and National Agencies. He was also part of the team of the Cypriot Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou in charge of Education and Culture. In 2016 he joined the youth unit in DG EAC as Programme Manager for Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps. He is also responsible for the development and the implementation of the DiscoverEU initiative and he has joined the team in charge of the #EuropeanYearOfYouth.

Nicolás Cuello

Marie Curie Postdoctoral FellowInstitut de Planétologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble, CNRS, France

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Nicolás Cuello is a theoretical astrophysicist working at the IPAG in Grenoble (France). He is Argentinian but he did his undergraduate studies in France & Italy, before doing his PhD in Lyon (France). Then, he moved to Santiago (Chile) to work with astronomers and deepen his understanding of how telescopes such as the Very Large Telescope and ALMA operate in the Atacama desert.

His main topic of research is planet formation in protoplanetary discs. These discs can be seen as planet factories, which are made of 99% gas and 1% dust and that are orbiting around young stars. He uses theoretical models and numerical simulations to understand planet formation in multiple stellar system. These are systems where there are more than one star: 2, 3, 4, and sometimes even more. The central question is the following: where, when and how do planets form in multiple stellar systems? In other words, he seeks to better understand how "baby planets" form in the presence of several stars.

Stefan Zotti

Team leader in the European CommissionDG EAC

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Stefan Zotti is team leader in the European Commission/DG EAC, responsible inter alia for the Education for Climate Coalition and investment in education policies. Before rejoining the Commission he was Director General of the Austrian Agency for International Cooperation in Education and Research and Vicepresident of the Brussels-based Academic Cooperation Association. Between 2010 and 2013 he served as member of cabinet of Commissioner Johannes Hahn (Regional policy). Stefan holds a PhD in Theology (bioethics) and a master in European Studies.