Speakers | Skills for the future

Amany Asfour

President International Federation of Business and Professional Women

Alberto Maria Barberis

Presidente Gruppo Giovani Imprenditori

I’m Alberto Barberis from Turin (Italy), married and father of two children.

After the degree in Civil Engineering (2001) and some years of work as a professional, at the age of 28 I chose to completely change my personal and business life: I got married with Sabina (currently my wife) and at the same time I created a startup with two friends of mine (Daria and Leonardo, currently my partners in Protocube Reply).

It was 2005 and since then I carry both of these “healty follies” using the characteristics that distinguish me more: JOY, CURIOSITY, PASSION and RESPONSIBILITY.

In 2009 I also added the active participation in the Italian Young Entrepreneurs Association (Confindustria), of which now I am Chairman of the Turin section.

Marian Belko

Impact Officer European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT)

Marian Belko graduated in political sciences, international relations, and financial management. He has dedicated his entire professional career to higher education management. He currently works at the European Institute for Innovation and Technology (EIT) in Budapest as an Education Officer. He is responsible for managing the education agenda in trans-European innovation projects. Marian has previously worked at several different universities, where he was responsible for strategic management, international cooperation and relations with business partners. He also has experience as a university lecturer and has contributed to numerous international initiatives and research projects.

Contacts:

Fabrizia Benini

Head of Unit DG CNECT F4, European Commission

Head of Unit for Digital Economy and Skills in the Directorate General for Communication Networks, Content and Technology of the European Commission. A lawyer by training, Fabrizia joined the European Commission in 1995 and has since worked in the Internal Market, Competition and Maritime Affairs Directorates Generals. She also served in the private office of Antonio Tajani, at the time Vice-President in charge of Entrepreneurship and Industry. Throughout her career she has worked on the intersection between regulatory frameworks and technological developments taking into account the users' perspective. At present, her work focuses on the digital economy, its measurement and the impact digital development may have on the labour market and on skills. Currently one of her main tasks is to devise policy responses to the current digital skills gap.

Contacts:

Loubna Bensalah

Maroc Art'Chimiste

Loubna Bensalah, is an ex professor of communication and public speaking at Mohammed V University in Rabat. Mindful of the role of woment in Moroccan society, Loubna has decided to take action, rather than just waiting for things to change. In 2016, she launched a project called “I Walk With Her”, where she walked over 1000km along the Atlantic coast of Morocco, getting to know women, especially in rural areas.

Following this initial experience, she decided to do it again, this time in Tunisia. Again she walked around over 1000km around the coast of Tunisia. Her meetings, discussions, exchanges and stories that she learnt from the women she met led her to the conclusion that women need to unchain their bodies and their voices.

Once she returned, she started working with a smaller team on a project called “Kayna” (a word in the Moroccan dialect that means “I exist and I act”). The project maintained the idea of walking as a concept, but Loubna no longer walked alone - any woman could join the walk or the activities. The initiative is a walk for women, launched at the end of March 2018, to reclaim public space. The goal is to make the voice of women heard and to involve young people in society.

After the first edition in Safi, and the launch in Rabat, the “Kayna” project officially started.

Silvia Cambie

European Lead for Watson Workspace Ecosystem IBM

Silvia is a thought leader in digital transformation, passionate about emerging technologies. She began championing social channels ten years ago and has worked with multilaterals like the UNDP and the European Commission on international development projects. Silvia started her career in business journalism reporting from post-Cold War Czechoslovakia and Central Asia.

At IBM, Silvia is Europe Lead for Watson Workspace Ecosystem helping business partners understand AI and apply it to the new way to work.

Silvia is a published author and, since 2007, has been writing a blog on the impact of tech on communication.

Contacts:

Eduarda Castel Branco

European Training Foundation

Extensive experience in international cooperation, with thematic concentration in skills anticipation and matching and qualifications systems and frameworks. In 2010-2011 worked as a policy officer in the European Commission, at DG Education and Culture.

Coordinates the network on skills anticipation and matching - “Make it Match” - supported by the Eastern Partnership Platforms. In 2017 coordinated the renewal of the skills forecasting model Ukraine, and development of the concept for the Labour Market Observatory in Azerbaijan. From 2018 coordinates the ETF project “Big Data 4LMIS”.

In 2013-2016 represented ETF at the Advisory Group of European Qualifications Framework. Drafted notes on cooperation of ETF partner countries with EQF.

Borhene Chakroun

Head of Section UNESCO

Themis Christophidou

Director-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture European Commission

Themis Christophidou is a European public servant who became Director-General for Education, Youth, Sport and culture of the European Commission, in March 2018.

She is a civil engineer with 32 years experience in private and public sector management.

Since joining the European Commission in 2001, she has held various positions including in the Directorate-General for Regional and Urban policy; as Deputy Head of Cabinet of Androulla Vassiliou, Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism, Youth and Sport, 2010-2011; as Head of Cabinet of Maria Damanaki, Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, 2011-2014; and as Head of Cabinet of Christos Stylianides, Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, 2014-2018.

Born in Famagusta, Cyprus, she is trilingual Greek, French, English.

Contacts:

Lluis Prats

Head of Unit European Commission

Mirjam De Jong

Specialist in Qualification Systems European Training Foundation (ETF)

Mirjam de Jong, European Training Foundation, has been involved in Vocational Education and Training throughout her working career; as a technician, as a teacher and as a company trainer. She worked for many years on qualifications and curricula development at a Dutch sectoral body for the process industries. She led bilateral projects in Eastern Europe and Asia, providing technical assistance on development and implementation of vocational qualifications and curricula, assessment and teacher training. As specialist in qualification systems at the ETF, Mirjam works with partner countries in South Eastern Europe and Turkey on the implementation of national qualification frameworks and quality improvement of qualifications.

Contacts:

Zeynep Dereli

Founder and CEO Tink Technology and Humanity Colleges

Zeynep Dereli, the Founder and CEO of Tink is an educational innovator who has been nominated for numerous awards just a year after launching her company. She and her team have developed an educational ecosystem that embeds e-learning within the classroom allowing for entrepreneurial teaching and peer learning. Partnerships with the largest corporations in Turkey add another layer of interest to this ecosystem proving much needed real life experience to Tink teachers and students.

Tink, Technology and Human Colleges, is the first and leading chain of applied technology mid/high schools in Turkey. Based on its unique curriculum and e-learning platform, Tink converts 21st century skills training into academic curricula for students.

Tink students are future-ready with a special focus on digital competencies and personal skills.

Tink has become a thought leader in Turkey and is planning to expand its school network via its franchise management system.

Zeynep holds a master's degree in Development Economics from SOAS University in London and a degree in Engineering and Middle Eastern Studies from Princeton University.

She is one of the founders of Endeavour Turkey and is on the boards of TÜBİSAD and Digit4Turkey.

Contacts:

Patrick Develtere

Principal Advisor European Political Strategy Centre - European Commission

Patrick Develtere is Principal Adviser for European Social Policy at the European Political Strategy Centre (EPSC), the in-house think tank of the European Commission. Before joining the EPSC, he was the President of the Belgian Christian Workers’ Movement (Beweging.net). Beweging.net is one of the largest civil society networks in Belgium with over 4.5 million members and over 250,000 volunteers involved in trade union, mutual society and other civil association activities. Patrick also teaches ‘politics and society in developing countries’ and ‘international development cooperation’ at the University of Leuven, Belgium. Earlier, he was the Director of HIVA, Research Institute for Work and Society of the same university.

Patrick has a PhD in Social Sciences and has been a visiting professor at the University of Saskatoon (UoS - Canada), the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM - Canada) and the Université de Kinshasa (UNIKIN - DRCongo) among others. From 2010 to 2017 he was a member of the Board of the European Social Observatory.

Career Highlights:

President, Belgian Christian Workers' Movement, 2010-2017
Director, HIVA – Research Institute for Work and Society (KU Leuven), 2007-2010

Academic Highlights:

PhD in Social Sciences, KU Leuven (Belgium), 1994

Contacts:

Paulo Feliciano

Vice-President Institute for Employment and Vocational Training, Portugal

Anastasia Fetsi

Head of Operations Department European Training Foundation (ETF)

Since January 2015, Anastasia Fetsi has been Head of the Operations Department at the European Training Foundation (ETF). She is an economist and has a long experience on skills development policies in transition economies. As an ETF staff member since 1996 she analysed labour markets and skills matching mechanisms in Eastern Europe, the Western Balkans, Central Asia and North Africa; advised policy makers in adapting vocational education and training (VET) systems to emerging socio-economic needs; designed EU programmes in VET and employment. In her managerial role, Anastasia has guided the ETF's work in the fields of qualifications, skills and migration, education and social inclusion; VET provision and quality assurance; entrepreneurial learning and enterprise skills.

Contacts:

Vusal Gasimli

Executive Director Economic Reforms and Communication

Vusal Gasimli has been Executive Director of the Center for Analysis of Economic Reforms and Communication since 2016. Prior to this , Dr. Gasimli was Head of the Department of the Center for Strategic Studies from 2011 to 2016. In 2013, he was a guest scholar at the Korea Institute for International Policy. From 2009 to 2010, he worked as an expert in the European Commission. Between 2003 and 2007, he was President of ANS PRESS Publishing House. Dr. Gasimli is a specialist in macroeconomics, economic development,competitiveness, modernization, and geo-economics. In recent years, he has hosted and participated in more than twenty academic research projects, published about 500 articles, and wrote or co-authored ten books. Dr. Gasimli's book Resource-rich Countries was published in 2013 in Germany and Geo-economics was published in 2015 inTurkey. He has delivered lectures at Washington University, California University in Los Angeles, HanyanUniversity, Milan University, Warsaw University, Hankuk University, Cairo American University, Rio de Janeiro University etc. Dr. Gasimli gained his Master of Arts in Economics from the Azerbaijani State Economic University in 1997 and a Master of Arts in Journalism from the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs in 2004. He earned a PhD in Economics in 2009 and Doctor of Science in 2017. He speaks Azerbaijani, English, Russian, Spanish (elementary), and Turkish.0

Contacts:

Douja Gharbi

1-st Vice-President CONECT

Douja Bharbi is a serial entrepreneur, business and entrepreneurship consultant and mentor with strong community development motivation. Expert on Entrepreneurship and Investment Promotion. She is President of CEDE- Entrepreneurship Center and Endogenious Development, Vice-President of CONECT- Confederation of Citizen Companies in Tunisia and vice-president of FPAM- Finance Participative en Afrique et Méditerranée and recently appointed High Commissioner Tunisia to WBAF-World Business Angel Forum. She is specialized in project management, entrepreneurship and employment projects, with a focus on ecosystem development, value chain development, CSR strategies, social business, business counselling and training.

She has a master degree from the University of Economics and Management of Tunis, and has followed training courses on Business Administration by the Beyster Institute of the University of California (MEPI Program in San Diego-USA), on export techniques, management and capacity development of Women in Africa (ICT and Trade Facilitation Office Canada program), as well as business training and counselling of UNIDO (ARCEI Program Bahrain).

Contacts:

Eva Giovannini

RAI

Eva Giovannini is an Italian TV Journalist on the national RaiTre channel, where she works as a reporter covering the main european issues. She is now part of the team of "Mezz'ora in più", one of the most popular talk shows on Italian television. She was part of the special commission of "EURO SAGGI" selectioned by former President of Italian Chamber of Deputies, Laura Boldrini (2017). She presented two editions of Strega Prize, the most prestigious Italian literary award (RaiTre, 2017-18). "Europa Anno Zero: The Rise of Nationalism" (Marsilio, 2015) is her first book.

Contacts:

Sidney Roy Thomas Haberland

Representative of the European Apprentices Network European Network for Young Apprentices/ KulturLife, Gemany

Sidney Haberland is a German, born and raised in the north of Germany where he still works and lives today. He completed high school at a vocational school and is currently doing an apprenticeship at Kulturlife as an office management assistant. Kulturlife is a non-profit cultural exchange organization and through that work Sidney has developed his interest for international issues. He participated in an internship the UK last year. As a result of the experience he would like all apprentices to have the chance to be part of a mobility programme to gain more knowledge in terms of vocational work.

Contacts:

Majdi Hassen

Directorate for Education IACE

Stefaan Hermans

Executive Director Directorate for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, European Commission

Shada Islam

Director Friends of Europe

Shada Islam is Director of Europe and Geopolitics at Friends of Europe, a renowned and influential independent think tank based in Brussels. Ms Islam has spent most of her professional life researching, writing and speaking about the European Union’s relations with Asia. She has built up a reputation in both Asia and Europe as a leading commentator, analyst and writer as well as a fresh and original thought leader on EU-Asia relations.

Last year, Ms Islam was selected as one of the 20 most influential women in Brussels by the magazine Politico. She is also a Solvay Fellow at the Vrije University Brussel (VUB).

Jaana Kettunen

Vice Director, Research coordinator Finnish Institute for Educational Research

Dr. Jaana Kettunen is a Researcher at the Finnish Institute for Educational Research of the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. ln her work she focusses on the design and use of information and communications technology (lCT) in learning and working environments. She has extensive experience in training, supporting and working with practitioners throughout Europe. Her research interest is on the role of ICT and social media in career guidance. lt is both theoretical and practical: it aims at the development of theory-based and evidence-informed pedagogical practices. Recently her research has also focused on ethical practices in social networking and in the role of ICT in relation to national lifelong guidance policies.

Contacts:

Regina Kleingeld

Manager Credential Evaluation Cooperation Organisation for Vocational Education, Training and Labour Market

Regina Kleingeld is currently manager of Credential Evaluation at the Cooperation Organisation Education, Training and Labour Market (SBB). SBB executes legal tasks for senior secondary vocational education and training and the labour market. In this position at SBB she is responsible for credential evaluation of diplomas in senior secondary vocational education and training and for internationalization. Before that she was Director of the National Coordination Point for the Netherlands Qualifications Framework (NLQF) and responsible for the implementation of the EQF/NLQF in the Netherlands. Regina worked for the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science in various positions especially in the field of lifelong learning and vocational education and training.

Contacts:

M’hammed Kouidmi

Founder and CEO Business Wise

M'hamed Kouidmi is founder and CEO of Business Wise, a pioneering Algerian company in Social Innovation. M’hamed is a graduate in Political Studies and Inter-religious Relations. He is coach in personal development and has 10 years of work in bilateral cooperation and international organizations. In 2015, he founded MAHARA'TY, a job accelerator that supports job seekers in Algeria through innovative educational tools, including technology for education and employment. In 2018, he was named one of the 100 Africans of the Year by New African Magazine.

Gerardo Larghi

Member European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)

Ph.D. at the University of Messina in Provencal, he was a journalist, he taught in high schools and universities, he was secretary of the CISL trade union in Como and Varese and is now a member of the CISL of the EESC.

Sangheon Lee

Director, Employment Policy Department International Labour Organization (ILO)

Sangheon Lee is the Director of the Employment Policy Department of the ILO which leads the ILO's action for promoting full and productive employment by developing integrated employment, development and skills policies.

Previous to this, he was the Special Adviser to the Deputy Director-General for Policy on Economic and Social Issues (2014-18), providing advice on analytical work, policy development and advocacy across a range of economic, employment and social issues as well as coordinating the ILO's work in multilateral fora such as the G20, G7, and BRICS.

Mr. Lee has written extensively on economic, employment and labour issues, including articles in the International Labour Review and Socio-Economic Review, as well as editing volumes under the global research project of Regulating for Decent Work (Palgrave Macmillan). He is also one of the main authors of ILO flagship reports such as the Global Wage Report and the World Employment and Social Outlook. He co-authored Working Time around the World (2007 Routledge). Mr Lee holds a PhD in Economics from Cambridge University.

Contacts:

Ioannis Maghiros

Head of Unit Joint Research Center, European Commission

loannis Maghiros is Head of the Human Capital and Employment unit of the Directorate General Joint Research Centre of the European Commission (DG JRC/B4). He has been working for the European Commission since 1990 on various research activities in the scientific area of the Digital Transformation of society and the economy . The unit he leads supports policy initiatives in the areas of education and training, skills and competences, the changing nature of work and implications for the European welfare state. His research interests focus on educating people to make the best of their potential in the digital age.

Fabio Mercorio

Assistant Professor University of Milan-Bicocca

Fabio Mercorio, is Assistant Professor of Computer Science at University of Milan-Bicocca. He received his PhD in 2012. His interests include Artificial Intelligence and Big Data. His main contribution is in the design and development of an automated algorithm for performing Data Quality Cleaning through AI. In 2015 he was visiting researcher at AI Planning Group at King's College London. As member of the CRISP research centre, since 2011 he has been involved in many International projects related to Labour Market Intelligence through AI. He is Associate Editor of AICom, the European Journal of AI.

Contacts:

Mario Mezzanzanica

Professor- Scientific Director of the CRISP University of Milan-Bicocca

Mario Mezzanzanica is Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of Milano-Bicocca where he leads both the Department of Statistics and Quantitative Methods and the "CRISP" centre: an inter university research centre on public services. His research interests include Information Systems, Big Data, Business Intelligence and Knowledge Discovery, with a particular focus on Labour Market Intelligence.

In the past few years, he has been leading several projects on labour market intelligence for studying, designing and implementing Big Data systems for real-time analysis based on Web Job Vacancies. He has authored more than 100 research articles.

Contacts:

Paolo Mulassano

Direttore Innovazione di Impatto Compagnia di San Paolo

Anna Muraveva

Leading Expert Center for VET Studies

Dr Anna Muraveva, is a senior researcher at the Centre for Vocational Education and Training (VET) Studies, Moscow, Russia. She is also an expert of the National Qualifications Council of the Russian Federation. She has authored numerous publications and articles at both domestic and international level on education in the field of the knowledge-based economy, qualifications frameworks development, social partnership, occupational and VET standards and curricula development, vocational teacher training; quality assurance in VET and higher education, internationalization in education, greening VET, and adult education and training.

Contacts:

Cesare Onestini

Director European Training Foundation (ETF)

Cesare Onestini has been Director of the European Training Foundation since 1 September 2017. He combines a background in education and training policy with extensive experience in policy development and management at the highest level in the European Union.

Cesare is a graduate of Oxford University, where he achieved a doctorate in higher education policy. He joined the European Commission in 1995, working for six years in education and training policy before serving in a variety of roles in energy, trade, the Secretariat General and external relations, where he was Head of Political and Security Council Affairs at the EU Delegation to the United Nations in New York. Mr Onestini joined the European External Action Service in 2010, playing a key role in setting the service up, as advisor to the Chief Operating Officer and Head of the Corporate Board Secretariat, before his appointment as Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to India and Bhutan, where he served for three years.

Biljana Radonjic Ker-Lindsay

Associate Director EBRD - European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

Biljana Radonjic Ker-Lindsay, Associate Director, Economic Inclusion at the EBRD, has 17 years of international experience at the intersection between businesses, governments and civil society in nearly 40 emerging markets. Biljana focuses on promoting access to finance and entrepreneurship; skills and employability; and services for youth, refugees, people with disabilities and other disadvantaged groups through EBRD's investments and policy engagement. Biljana was also in charge of the EBRD's first Gender Action Plan and the Bank's engagement with civil society. Before joining the EBRD in 2006, Biljana co-founded Civilitas Research, an independent consultancy/think tank for political and business analysis in Southeast Europe and Eastern Mediterranean.

Francesca Rosso

Strategic Project Leader of the Employment team European Training Foundation

Francesca Rosso joined the ETF in 2012. In her current function of Strategic Project Leader of the Employment team, Ms. Rosso has been responsible for the overall coordination of the 2018 ETF corporate conference: Skills for the Future: Managing Transition. In her work at the ETF, Ms. Rosso deals with labour market reforms in the Western Balkans and in North Africa, in close cooperation with the European Commission and with the Delegations of the European Union. Before joining the ETF, Ms. Rosso spent several years managing programmes on employment and job creation for different international bodies, including the UN and the Italian Cooperation in Serbia Kosovo and Montenegro and the Secretariat of the EU Council at the United Nations in New York. Ms Rosso also worked for a few years at the European Commission in Brussels, Directorate General for Enlargement. Graduated in international law and holding master degrees on EU affairs, international relations and comparative law, Ms Rosso is a certified lawyer and alumni of the College of Europe

Thomas Roca

Economist and Data Strategist Microsoft European and Government Affairs in Brussels

Thomas is an Economist and Data Strategist at Microsoft & Linkedln. He conducts economic research about the impact of Artificial Intelligence and automation on the labour market. Thomas' favorite field of research is at the cross roads between data-science and socio-economic analysis.

Thomas gives data-training for the United Nation System Staff College in collaboration with Data-Pop Alliance (ODI, MIT media Lab, Harvard HHI).

ln his previous roles, Thomas was researcher and statistician at Agence Française de Développement - France's Bilateral Cooperation Bank. Thomas led a research programme on alternative welfare indicators, Big Data for Development and data visualization.

Contacts:

Agnes Roman

Advisor European Trade Union Confederation - ETUC / ETUCE

Guido Saracco

Rector Politecnico di Torino

Besa Shahini

Deputy Minister Ministry of Education, Sport and Youth

Besa Shahini is the Deputy Minister for Education, Youth and Sport in the Republic of Albania. Prior to joining the Albanian Government, Besa worked as a policy researcher and analyst based in Germany and Kosovo. Her research focused on education and European integration issues in the Western Balkans and South Caucasus. Besa also founded - or conducted capacity building that led to the foundation of – a number of think tanks in these two regions. She is an occasional university guest lecturer and columnist. Besa holds an MPP from the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin, Germany.

Oleksandr Shubin

Vice-President for Social and Economic Issues Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine

Oleksandr Shubin is an experienced professional with wide experience in the field of social dialogue in Ukraine. He is an expert and has held top managerial positions, including that of head of the national secretariat for social dialogue. He holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Economics, Master of International Law, Master of International Relations. He was formerly Secretary General of the Ukrainian National Tripartite Social and Economic Council, Head of Secretariat, Strategic Programmes Director of the Institute for Strategic Studies, Ltd., Deputy Head of State Property and Equity Agency of Ukraine. He has held various positions in the Ministry of Industrial Policy of Ukraine.

Contacts:

Siria Taurelli

Strategic Project Leader European Training Foundation (ETF)

Siria Taurelli is leading the VET Governance strategic project at the ETF. In the ETF's work, VET Governance applies to the legislative, institutional and financing arrangements of VET systems. She is coordinating an ETF study that aims to compare types and forms of public-private partnerships in the skills development domain, internationally and in Jordan, Kazakhstan, Serbia and Ukraine. Work on the study started in 2018 and results are expected in 2019. Siria has been working on lifelong learning with focus on continuing VET, skills for enterprise development, equity and human capital development thematic areas. She is experienced in project evaluation and impact assessment.

She is author and contributor to a number of ETF briefings and publications, on social partner engagement in VET, country progress indicators, Torino Process analyses, the VET sector in Morocco, and others.

Birgit Thomann

Head of Department BIBB

Birgit Thomann is director and head of department "VET International" at BIBB, the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training in Germany. She holds master degrees in social sciences as well as in adult education. After gaining international experience in France and the Middle East, Mrs. Thomann worked three years as a senior advisor for VET and team leader of a bilateral VET project in the Western Balkans. She is an appointed member in an expert committee on education at the German Commission for UNESCO and lecturer at the University (TU) of Darmstadt.

Contacts:

Sahin Tuna

Vice President Turkey Small and Medium Enterprises (KOSGEB)

Gazmend Turdiu

Deputy Secretary General Regional Cooperation Council

Mr. Gazmend Turdiu took office as Head of Program Department at the Secretariat of the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) on 2 September 2013. On 1 March 2014 he was appointed Deputy Secretary General of RCC. Mr. Turdiu joined the diplomatic service of Albania in May 1992 and held several positions, both in Albania and abroad.

At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of his country, Mr. Turdiu has held the position of the Director of the Department for Euro Atlantic Cooperation (1998-2000), Director of the Department of Europe (2003), Director General for Legal and Consular Affairs (2008-2009) and Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2009-2013). From 2001 to 2002, Mr. Turdiu served as Director General for Coordination of Foreign Aid at the Albanian Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Trade. Mr. Turdiu was Ambassador of Albania in Bern, Switzerland (1992-1997), and Ambassador of Albania in Berlin, Germany (2003-2008).

During his career, Mr. Turdiu has been member of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (2009), President of the 10th Meeting of the States Parties to the Ottawa Convention (2010-2011) and member of the Council of Foundation of the Geneva Center for Humanitarian Demining (2010 to 2013).

Mr. Turdiu holds a Civil Engineering Degree from the University of Tirana. Born on 6 April 1959, he speaks Albanian, English and Italian. He is married and has two children.

Giorgio Vernoni

Senior Researcher Centro Einaudi and IRES Piemonte

Giorgio Vernoni is an expert in labour economics. He is currently a researcher at IRES Piemonte - Regional Institute of Economic Research. He is also an associate of the Laboratorio Riccardo Revelli - Centre for Employment Studies and editorial collaborator of the Centro Einaudi of Turin, where he also contributes to the Report on Global Economy and Italy.

Contacts:

Loukas Zahilas

Head of Department CEDEFOP

Dr Loukas Zahilas is Head of Department for VET Systems and Institutions at Cedefop. He studied Chemistry and IT and he has a PhD in education policies. After a six-year stint in industry he has concentrated his efforts entirely on education and training. His more than 24 years of professional experience in VET were mainly acquired at the Greek Ministry of Education and Cedefop. He served for many years at various Directorate posts representing Greece in EU bodies and groups. He joined Cedefop in 2006 working on qualifications and EU tools. He is currently a member of the Cedefop management team.

Contacts:

Helmut Zelloth

Strategic Project Leader European Training Foundation (ETF)

Helmut Zelloth is a Strategic Project Leader and Senior Specialist in VET Policies and Systems at the European Training Foundation (ETF). He joined the ETF in 2000 and works on VET policies, career guidance, work-based learning (WBL) and apprenticeships. He has worked in over 60 countries, is author of ETF position papers on career guidance and on work-based learning and is frequently invited to speak at international events. He has published in international books and journals, co-edited international publications, such as ‘The Architecture of Innovative Apprenticeship’ and is co-editor of a forthcoming special edition of the British Journal for Guidance and Counselling. He has been a member of several European Commission Expert and Working Groups, is Board Member of the ICCDPP-International Centre for Career Development and Public Policy and of INAP-International Network of Innovative Apprenticeships. He holds a masters degree in philosophy, psychology and pedagogy, and geography with an economic focus from the University for Educational Sciences in Klagenfurt/Austria.

Georgios Zisimos

European Training Foundation

Georgios Zisimos is an educationist working since March 2014 at the European Training Foundation in Turin. He holds a senior expert position on EU Education and Training Policies. From 2010-2014, he served as member of the Cabinet of the EU Commissioner responsible for Education, Culture, Multilingualism, Youth and Sport. He was in charge of the Education portfolio within the cabinet. Previously he was a member of the scientific committees in Cyprus and Greece on Education Reform and Curriculum Development. In 2005, he was elected Secretary General of the Cypriot Secondary Teacher's Union, a post he held until 2008. During this period, he served as member of the Executive Committee of the ETUCE. He has taught in secondary schools in the UK and Cyprus. He holds an MA in Curriculum Studies from the Institute of Education, London.