Teppo Eskelinen is philosopher and social scientist, currently working as senior lecturer in social sciences at the University of Eastern Finland, where he teaches in the international bachelors programme in social sciences. His research work covers topics such as social justice, democracy, civil society, development, and political economy.

Özgehan Şenyuva is an Associate Professor in the International Relations Department at Middle East Technical University, Ankara, where he works extensively on youth, public opinion, Turkey-European relations and the politics of European football. He worked for more than two decades as a youth worker/trainer and comes from the learning mobility field. He is a steering group member of European Platform on Learning Mobility and member of the Pool of European Youth Researchers of the European Commission and the Council of Europe. He has published numerous research and opinion articles, book chapters and a book on youth work and learning mobility. 

Anna Litewka-Anttolainen has a MA in Polish and Classical Studies, and European Integration postgraduate studies from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland as well as a MA degree in Cultural Production in Creative Industries from Oulu University of Applied Sciences. She is a humanist and cultural producer actively involved in actions for diversity, migrant inclusion and cultural equity in the arts and culture sector. She is especially interested in projects aimed at developing a new, innovative and creative approach to promote diversity and intercultural dialogue as well as developing strategic collaboration between local cultural institutions and different immigrant associations, youth from immigrant backgrounds and their communities. She has also worked widely in film and media education as lecturer, facilitator and cultural producer. Anna is a chairperson of the Immigrants Council of the city of Oulu, Finland. Currently Anna Litewka-Anttolainen works as a training officer at the Peace Education Institute where she develops projects related to youth equality, solidarity, dialogue, inclusion and cultural diversity. 

Sara Nyman is a 22 year-old climate activist and youth inclusion expert from Finland. She has worked as a youth climate delegate and a member of the board of the Allianssi, the Finnish National Youth Council. Sara is studying political history at the University of Turku. She is the  Director of Turku Young Greens, Finland.

Jekatyerina Dunajeva defended her PhD in Political Science at the University of Oregon (USA) in 2014. She is a researcher at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences’ Institute for Political Science and an assistant professor of political science at Pázmány Péter Catholic University. She is the author of the book “Constructing Identities over Time” (CEU Press, 2021), and her research has been published in multiple book chapters and peer-reviewed journals, exploring topics such as Roma identity, discrimination, youth politics, nationalism, state- and nation-building, education policy, and contemporary Russian and Hungarian politics.

Sophie Pornschlegel is a Senior Policy Analyst at the European Policy Centre, covering French and German EU policy, rule of law and civil society. She also teaches at Sciences Po Paris. In 2020/2021, she conducted research on EU solidarity in the Covid-19 crisis in the framework of the Charlemagne Prize Fellowship.

Tommi Laitio is the inaugural Bloomberg Public Innovation Fellow at Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins University. The fellowship offers accomplished public sector practitioners the space and time to reflect on their experience and actively contribute to public sector knowledge and practice. Laitio joined Helsinki´s city government as Director of Youth Affairs and was later elected as the first Executive Director of Culture and Leisure to merge seven departments and deliver 20 million resident experiences with a team of 1800 professionals and a budget of $270M USD. The department has won international and national awards for innovations in youth employment, public libraries, citizen engagement, cultural access, covid-19 response and increasing physical activity. Laitio’s contributions to serving his country were recognized in 2021 with the medal for Knight First Class of the Order of the White Rose of Finland. Before joining the city, he ran the media and youth program for the European Cultural Foundation in Amsterdam, worked on sustainable lifestyles and democratic innovation at think tank Demos Helsinki and as a journalist for Finland´s leading daily newspaper. He holds an MA in Political Science and an Executive MBA. He lives in Baltimore with his husband.