Milda Laužikaitė is currently leading the association “Kūrybinės jungtys” (Creative connections), which promotes partnerships with creative professionals, aimed at nurturing creativity and transforming cultural and educational institutions to spaces open for learning and creating. In 2011-2015 Milda was director of national flagship programme “Creative Partnerships Lithuania”. In 2015-2016 Milda has worked at the Office of the President of Lithuania to co-develop the educational programme for Centre for Civil Education (Valstybės pažinimo cetras). The areas of interest include creative learning, potential of creative practitioners in social transformations, political aspects of culture.

Using non-traditional methods and creative tactics, Dave Meslin spent twenty years as a social and political entrepreneur leaving a trail of non-profit start-ups, campaign victories, viral videos, new magazines, and public space interventions in his path. An urbanist, community organiser, author and trainer, Meslin inspires us to invert the traditional pyramid of hierarchy by creating meaningful opportunities to engage our employees, our members, our students. His thesis is simple: We’re stronger and smarter when we’re all involved. Transforming top-down leadership into bottom-up collaboration is the true challenge of the 21st century.

Lightning Talk - Teaching Apathy: How we culturally discourage leadership - and how we can turn that around

Mrs. Mouna Trabelsi is a trainer and President of Alternative Media NGO. This organization gives training courses for Tunisian youth and women all over the country, especially in isolated and poor places. They offer trainings in journalism, communication and human rights. Mouna Trabelsi believes that being an activist is the best way to bring about positive changes in her country, because women and youth are the future of Tunisia. One of their most recent initiatives was a photo exhibition entitled “Don’t forget us”, which was showed on the famous Avenue Habib Bourguiba in Tunis and later put into a book. The objective was to draw attention to the often precarious situation in which millions of Tunisians are still living today, mainly in rural areas.

Astrid Helle Emilie is Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Norway to the Council of Europe since 2013. She holds a Master of History and a doctorate from the Paris Institute of Political Studies. Working at the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 1992, she was Secretary of Embassy in Tunisia and Morocco and posted twice to the Permanent Mission of Norway to the United Nations in Geneva, where she was responsible for Humanitarian Affairs and Human Rights. In Oslo, she was promoted to Deputy Director of Humanitarian Affairs and Coordinator for International Migration and the fight against human trafficking, and finally Director of the UN Division from 2009 to 2013.