Dr.  Shlomo  Alon

2009- until now, Member of the National Academy for Arabic in Nazareth,  Israel; An Executive Committee  Member 

2018- Senior Lecturer, Department of Arabic, Achva College

1986-2011 Head of Arabic & M.E. Studies, Israel Ministry of Education

 1978 – 2011  Senior Lecturer, Hebrew University, School of Education(Teachers Certificate for Teaching Arabic in Secondary Schools)

 1976-1985, Teacher of Arabic, Department of Arabic Language, University of Tel Aviv

Academic Education: PhD from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Dissertation: The sources of the dictionary  'Lisan al-Arab' by Ibn Manzur( M.A. research: The Linguistic Concepts of al-Farabi.

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Greg Brooks is Emeritus Professor of Education, University of Sheffield, UK.

In an educational research career starting in 1977 he has researched and published widely on the initial teaching of literacy (including phonics), what works for those with literacy difficulties, family literacy, adult literacy, and trends in literacy attainment over time. All his life he has been fascinated by language and languages, and their influences on each other.

Greg Brooks is a member of Reading Hall of Fame.

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Dr. William G. Brozo, Professor of Literacy in the Graduate School of Education at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, USA

He is the author of numerous articles on literacy development for children and young adults, a contributing author to Pearson Common Core Literature, and Pearson iLit, a digital platform program for struggling adolescent readers. He is a past member of IRA's Commission on Adolescent Literacy, the Adolescent Literacy Committee, and past chair of the PISA/PIRLS Task Force.  He was a co-investigator on a Carnegie Grant team on best practice in adolescent literacy. 

As an international consultant, Dr. Brozo has provided technical support to teachers and teacher leaders from the Balkans to the Gulf.  He has been a member of a EU grant team BaCuLit and an expert evaluator of ELINET, a pan-European literacy policy network, currently as a board member. 

Dr. Brozo was also a member of the working groups of the Learning Metrics Task Force sponsored by UNESCO/Brookings and an advisor to the PISA 2018 Assessment Framework expert team for Pearson International. 
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Gunilla Holm worked as professor in sociology of education at Western Michigan University 1989-2006. Holm became the Swedish professor of education (educational studies) at the bilingual University of Helsinki in 2006. In 2011, she started an early childhood teacher education program and in 2016, she started primary and secondary teacher education programs in Swedish at the University of Helsinki.

In 2013, Holm became the director of the Nordic Centre of Excellence in Education called Justice through Education (JustEd, www.justed.org). Her research focused on the way school structures and processes contribute to the marginalization of students.

Holm has served on a variety of university committees and boards such as the European Educational Research Association board. She has also received the University of Helsinki award for advancing  equality and the Nyström award for scientific achievement. She was awarded the University of Buffalo Graduate School of Education Alumni Award in 2019.

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Kriselle Lou Suson Jónsdóttir is an Educational Specialist who works as a language and cultural mediator at the Language and Literacy Centre of the Department of Education in Reykjavík City. Kriselle completed a BA degree in International Studies in Education from the University of Iceland in 2013 and a master’s degree in Education in 2017 at the same university. Her research and work focus mainly on diverse cultures, literacy skills and the linguistic diversity of children.
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Maria Jürimäe is a senior expert at the Centre of Educational Innovation, Institute of Education, University of Tartu, and the member of the board of Estonian Reading Association. Her research and books are about learning to read, and phonemic awareness, the use of digital devices (digital pen) in early literacy development. Maria has leaded the team in MEIS project to develop the curriculum for the kindergarten with Russian instructional language, participated in ISSA project “ Effective teaching for minority-language children in pre-school” as the developer of materials, trainer and observer, and in the project Avatud Algus (Open Start) as the moderator of learning networks, and one of the authors of the book, and videos to create a supportive early learning enviroment for the children with diverse language and cultural background.
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Dr Kęstutis Kaminskas is the teacher at the Faculty of Philosophy, Vilnius University and Head of Division to the Committee on Education and Science at the Seimas (Parliament) of the Republic of Lithuania. He has been External evaluator of the project Mobility Framework and Standard Development for Teacher Trainees (MOST), Contributor to the National monography on education (Eurydice), National summary sheets on education systems in Europe and ongoing reforms. (Lithuania); Reporter on the International Colloquium “Mother tongue education and curriculum in a Multi-Cultural World: Case Studies and Networking for Change”; Contributor to the Working document SCHOOL AUTONOMY. Policies and measures prepared for the Conference ‘Schools facing up to new challenges’ (Eurydice); Reporter of the Investigation into the needs of Eurydice target groups; Contributor to the National Dossier on Teaching Staff (Eurydice); Contributor to the Key Data on Education in Europe 2008 (Eurydice) etc. Besides civil service and teaching in Vilnius University, he is a member of Board of the Lithuania Language Association.

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Maie Kitsing has worked at the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research since 2001 in various positions – Head of Supervision/Supervisory Division, Head of General Education Department, and since 2006 as an adviser of external evaluation. Her responsibilities include coordination of the PISA Study in the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research, topics related with the evaluation of educational institutions.

In earlier years, Maie has worked for 15 years at school (as a teacher, head master) and seven years as a school inspector. In the last decade Maie has been engaged in scientific research. Her research area is the interconnection between learning outcomes and microclimate of schools.

Maie’s spare time is spent on gardening and hiking.

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Irene Käosaar, Director of the Estonian Integration Foundation

Irene Käosaar has been the Director of the Estonian Integration Foundation since 2017. Before this post, she worked at the Ministry of Education and Research as the head of the General Education Department and the Minorities Education Department. She is also a member of Estonian Integration Strategy Steering group and a member of Estonian Language Strategy Steering group.

In addition, she is a laureate of the President of the Republic`s Educational Award (2004) and a chevalier of the Order of the White Star (2013).

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David Mallows, Principal Teaching Fellow at the UCL Institute of Education in London, has over 30 years of experience in adult education as a teacher, teacher trainer, manager and researcher. He was previously Director of Research at the National Research and Development Centre for adult literacy and numeracy (NRDC) and currently represents the European Basic Skills Network in EPALE as thematic coordinator for Life Skills.

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Dr Ieva Margeviča-Grinberga is the associated professor and leading researcher at the Faculty of Education, Psychology and Art, University of Latvia. She is the author of international publications about higher education and educational programs for decreasing social exclusion. Ieva Margeviča-Grinberga has been a visiting professor at numerous universities in Georgia, Mexico, Chile, Lithuania, Spain and Brazil. She leeds research projects and is one of the founders of RIAICES (A Red Iberoamericana de Investigación sobre la Calidad de la Educación Superior). She collaborates with partners from Spain, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico on research related to teacher training, social inclusion, reading skills, intercultural communication and higher education. Her current interests are related to competency-based higher education.

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Hanna Ragnarsdóttir is a Professor in the School of Education at the University of Iceland, where she completed a BA degree in Anthropology and History in 1984. She obtained an MSc degree in Anthropology from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1986, and a Dr. philos in Education from the University of Oslo, Norway, in 2007. She has published widely in international and national journals and edited six books. Her research interests include immigrants and refugees in Icelandic society and schools, multicultural education, and school reform. She has led a number of Nordic and national research projects, including Learning Spaces for Inclusion and Social Justice: Success Stories from Immigrant Students and School Communities in Four Nordic Countries (2013-2015) funded by NordForsk and the Icelandic Research Centre and Educational aspirations, opportunities and challenges for immigrants in university education in Iceland (2016-2018) funded by the Icelandic Research Centre.
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Jesper Sehested has been dyslexic for 34 years. It has costed many difficulties in learning how to read and spell.
In primary school, Jesper found a way to avoid some of the challenges. Trouble making and playing the class clown. It was his way of moving focus away from the dyslexia and ensuring that classmates did not discover it. In the 9th grade, when writing, there was no smiling Jesper. In his dictation he got 71 out of 92 possible errors. Failed!
Today, Jesper knows that his dyslexia does not limit him when he is passionate about something and speaks openly about being dyslexic.
 After some errors in finding his strengths, Jesper has a Master of Science in Finance and Strategic Management from Copenhagen Business School.
For the last five years, Jesper has worked full-time in his own business helping young dyslexics create new stories about their dyslexia both online and offline. In danish he has created www.etlivsomordblind.dk and has started to build up a similar site in a global context  www.pluslexia.com.

Read the abstract of his presentation here!