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Nynne Afzelius holds a Master in Science (Mathematics and physics) from University of Copenhagen. She has been teaching senior secondary mathematics and physics for 10 years, and she has started and headed a number of large talent projects in Denmark. At present she is heading ScienceTalents, a large talent project initiated and supported by the Danish government. ScienceTalents has a large building in central Denmark, with outstanding facilities for science education and a talenthotel. ScienceTalents hosts among others science camps for youngsters aged 12-20, host numerous talent programs: for gifted children, for young people with a special interest in different fields of science, for children from disadvantaged homes etc. ScienceTalents cooperates with a large number of other talent programs, coordinates and facilitates courses for educators in gifted education, and has an intensive cooperation with many companies and universities.

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Menno Bart is Public Affairs Specialist at the Adecco Group. As such, Menno is responsible for managing the Group’s relationship with global and European institutional stakeholders, and for positioning the Group as a labour market leader. Menno has a background as a lobbyist in Brussels, and a former diplomat for the Dutch government in Prague and Aruba. Before joining the Adecco Group, he worked at Eurociett, the European industry federation representing the HR services industry. Menno is currently based at the Group’s headquarters in Zurich. The Adecco Group is the world's leading provider of HR solutions. With more than 32,000 FTE employees and around 5,100 branches, in over 60 countries and territories around the world, it offers a wide variety of services, connecting around 700,000 associates with the clients every day. The services it offers fall into the broad categories of temporary staffing, permanent placement, career transition and talent development, as well as outsourcing and consulting.

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Dr. Giovanna Barzanò is an inspector of the Directorate General for School regulations and autonomy, Ministry of Education, Italy and a Honorary Senior Research Associate at UCL Institute of Education London, where she completed her PhD. A former primary school teacher and headteacher, she was the Italian representative in the OECD-INES project (NW C) for ten years and she coordinated and participated in several EU-Socrates projects on issues such educational leadership, active citizenship and pupil voice, intercultural education. Since 2011 she has been the scientific coordinator of the DIALOGUES, a national professional development project on intercultural dialogue, involving some 30 schools in various Italian regions. She has published extensively in Italy and abroad.

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Sophie Beernaerts is the Head of unit, in the European Commission, in charge of Schools and Educators, and multilingualism. Her unit supports high quality education for all by facilitating school policy development, fostering dialogue, channelling expertise and supporting educational policy makers, institutions, educators and learners. It is also in charge of the implementation of the Erasmus+ programme in school, vocational and adult education sectors. Before that, Sophie was in charge of the Europe for Citizens Programme that aims at strengthening European remembrance and enhancing capacity for civic participation at the Union level. She also dealt with the Community Initiative EQUAL to combat discrimination in the labour market. She graduated from Solvay Business School in 1987 and holds a postgraduate in European economics from the University of Brussels.

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Ľubomír has long-lasting experience in support of scientific institutions and innovative companies in technology transfer processes. At Slovak Centre of Scientific and Technical Information he has been responsible for preparation and implementation of different national and international projects focused on support of research, development and innovation, including active promotion of science and technology and raising awareness on IPR issues. Lubomir also actively participates in the process of building the national infrastructure for technology transfer support in Slovakia and supports creation of National Business Centre. He was an active member of the Innovation Relay Centres (IRC) Network dealing with the support of transnational research and technological co-operation development. He was also active within the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN), as the head of Innovation section within the Enterprise Europe Network Slovakia consortium – European Commission initiative supporting business, innovation and research co-operation of research organisations and SMEs.

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Michaela is an aerospace undergraduate student currently studying at the Delft University of Technology. In the past, she has won several awards, including the first place at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in the US and having a minor planet named after her as a recognition of her research. She has presented her works at conferences all around the world. She is currently doing a research on the simulation of synthetic plasma jet actuators for aircraft drag reduction, and she is also actively participating at organisation of several activities and events for younger students to motivate them to study science & technology.

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Marco Cornelisse (52) has backgrounds in the arts and is in education since 1999 and worked in various school organizations and initiatives. In 2005 he started to teach product development at HMC Vakschool in Amsterdam. This school is specialized in creative craftsmanship, furniture, interiors and instruments. As a senior teacher he is involved in the development of new studies and qualifications dossiers for this type of vocational education. In 2006 he received an ECHA diploma in Lahti, Finland. Talent development and talent coaching is the main focus at this moment. In 2016 he received the master in education (Med) title with a study on innovation & creativity in the field of furniture making in Netherlands. The outcome of this study has been used for the curriculum of talent programs in schools.

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Peter Csermely (57) is a professor of the Semmelweis University (Budapest, Hungary). His major field of study is the adaptation of complex networks (www.linkgroup.hu). In 1995 dr. Csermely launched a highly successful initiative, which provided research opportunities for more than 10,000 gifted high school students so far. In 2006 he established the Hungarian National Talent Support Council (www.tehetseg.hu/en) running a talent support network involving more than 200,000 people. In 2012 he became the president of the European Council for High Ability, which started a European Talent Support Network in 2015 (www.echa.info) now having more than 300 nodes in 35 countries of Europe and several other continents. He wrote and edited 13 books (including the Weak Links at Springer) and published 270 research papers with a cumulative impact over 750 and total citations over 7,000. Dr. Csermely was the member of the Wise Persons’ Council of the president of Hungary, is a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and Academia Europaea and an Ashoka Fellow, was a Fogarty, a Howard Hughes and a Rockefeller Scholar, as well as a Templeton Awardee and received several other national and international honors and awards including the 2004 Descartes Award of the European Union.

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Vladimír is a child psychologist, a longtime researcher, editor-in-chief of scientific journal Psychology and Pathopsychology of Child. His professional interests include giftedness, creativity, children from minority groups, psychological methodology and diagnostics. He works also as an Associate professor at the Comenius University in Bratislava.

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Alexander Farrugia (b. 1978) studied Philosophy and Social History at the University of Malta. For 15 years he worked as a journalist, 7 of which he spent as editor in chief to Malta’s largest newspaper in the Maltese Language. He served as Head of Communications to Malta Enterprise, the country’s investment promotion agency and currently works at the Ministry for Education and Employment as an Advisor to the Permanent Secretary on matters related to employment and education (non-formal learning). A visiting lecturer at the University of Malta in Social Theory and Politics at the Faculty of Social Wellbeing, he is also one of the co-founders of Philosophy Sharing, a non-governmental institution to educate the public in matters of philosophy and generate philosophical debate. He has published a number of papers related to Social History and Social Theory. He is also author of literary works in Maltese, English and Italian.

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Diana Filip is currently Deputy CEO and Vice President for Marketing and Development at JA Europe. She holds a MBA from the Vlerick School of Management Leuven and a Masters in European Economic Integration from the Vrije Universiteit de Brussels. She started her career as an entrepreneur running her own company in Romania and she then moved to Brussels as President of the European Students Forum and consultant in Public Affairs. She joined JA Europe in 2004.

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Professor Joan Freeman PhD, MEd, BSc, CPsychol, FBPsS is a world expert in the lifetime development of gifts and talents. She has been honoured with both a Fellowship and Lifetime Achievement Award by the British Psychological Society, a Lifetime Achievement Award from Mensa International and Honorary Fellowship of the College of Teachers. She is a Chartered (Licensed) psychologist with a busy international practice in London for gifted children. Joan Freeman is the Founding President of the European Council for High Ability (ECHA), Visiting Professor at Middlesex University, London, UK, and Executive European Talent Centres. She has written three UK government reports on the international education of the gifted, as well as 17 books for scholars and parents, and hundreds of academic and non-academic publications. She was Editor in Chief of High Ability Studies. She has given invited presentations in most parts of the world to scholars, practitioners and the public. Her most recent book, Gifted Lives, describes the intimate lives of the gifted people in her deep comparative 35-year follow-up study.
www.JoanFreeman.com

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Ben Hekkema má skúsenosti v oblasti divadla a agogiky a v minulosti pôsobil ako tanečník, herec a učiteľ tanca. Neskôr sa začal špecializovať na manažment a poradenstvo. V súčasnosti vzdeláva mladých budúcich umelcov a učiteľov na školách v rôznych aspektoch umenia a kultúry.

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Ján Hero works at the Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic at the Office of the Government Plenipotentiary for Roma Communities. His work relates to the management and professional services in the areas of education, housing, social affairs, health and safety in relation to the Roma communities. He has many years of experience in teaching at primary and secondary schools, including primary schools of arts. He worked as a researcher at State Pedagogical Institute and was responsible for designing pedagogical documents for primary and secondary schools as well as designing pilot programs for further education for teachers. He took part in several programmes concerned with education, including a professional exchange programme of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

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While Dylan Hyman was working with children with cognitive talent (often called gifted or highly gifted), she found out there existed a big disparity between the “enrichment” programs for these children and the practice in their own classrooms. At Tedx Amsterdam Education in 2013, she asked parents and other teachers to help start a grassroots movement to implement components of enrichment in the Dutch primary curriculum. She advocates using easily accessible models for teachers like the Higher Order Thinking (Bloom, 1956) and implementation of student-driven learning via practices like 20% time. In 2015 she was asked to develop and teach at a new school for students aged ten to sixteen in a diverse and multicultural neighborhood of Amsterdam. In August 2016 they opened their doors for the first group of students at Spring High, a school with heterogeneous learning groups and a focus on project based learning (PBL).

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Chew 'n lose is a student company from Košice, Slovakia, founded in September 2015 under the Junior Achievement program. This company consists of 5 young talents: Aleš Manica, Kristína Kráľovská, Petra Pangrácová, Patrícia Halászová and Natália Hamadejová. They designed a unique weight-loss chewing gum “Chew ‘n Lose”, with which they competed at numerous national and international competitions. They won the most prestigious International Student Company Festival, held in Riga. They are currently trying to make their dream a reality, using everything they learned in real life business and sell their product on the market throughout the world.

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Dr. Ella Cosmovici Idsøe is professor at the Norwegian Centre for Learning Environment and Behavioural Research in Education, University of Stavanger, Norway. She has her PhD. from 2006 on Talent identification and selection within differentiated educational programs. She authored the book “Elever med Akademisk talent i skolen” (Students with Academic Talent in School) (Oslo: Cappelen Damm, 2014), and co-authored the book “Våre evnerike barn: En utfordring for skolen” (Our gifted children: A challenge for the school) (Kristiansand: Fagbokforlaget, 2011). She is for the moment involved in different research projects on giftedness. She has a broad experience in working with gifted and talented children and adjusting learning experiences to fit the needs of the gifted children. She is giving courses on giftedness for teacher training modules, has supervised several master theses on giftedness, counseling schools, training daycare centers and schools in identifying and supporting gifted and talented students.

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Patricia Susan Jackson is an internationally renowned expert in the Exceptionally and Profoundly Gifted Persons. She is the founder of the Daimon Institute, in White Rock, British Columbia, Canada. The Institute is international in scope, providing psychotherapy and educational consulting for the overall development of the exceptionally gifted. She has 15 years of experience as an Educational Administrator for Programs of the Gifted, has published widely in peer-reviewed journals, in textbooks and has made two internationally acclaimed documentaries on this subject. Sue is on the advisory board for SENG (Supporting the Needs of the Gifted) and has served in several leadership positions for the NAGC. Sue developed the Integral Practice for the Gifted model based on 25 years of in-depth psychotherapy, research and consulting with highly and profoundly gifted persons. The model is multi-modal in that all aspects of the gifted individual are addressed: intellectual, emotional, moral, spiritual, social, physical, talent-based dimensions, communicative capacity and many others. She consults worldwide and regularly presents at national and international workshops and conferences.

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Linda Jarvin, PhD., is the Dean of Paris College of Art (Paris, France) and an Associate Professor at Tufts University (MA, USA). She received her PhD in Cognitive Psychology from the University of Paris V (France) and her postdoctoral training at Yale University (USA). Her research and publications focus on education and talent development, including in the performing and visual arts. She has extensive experience with curriculum design, professional development training for teachers and higher education faculty, student assessment, educational programmatic evaluation, and higher education institutional quality assurance. In addition, Linda has designed, implemented, and managed several large-scale health and education programs in sub-Saharan Africa.

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Jari Jokinen is currently Director for education and employment policy at Academic Engineers and Architects in Finland TEK, which is a professional organisation with about 73,000 members. Jari Jokinen has worked also in several other positions developing Higher Education and HEIs nationally and internationally. Previously, he has been Chief Development Officer at the Aalto University. As Project Director at the Aalto University and Finnish Ministry of Education he was responsible for preparing and implementation of the transformation programme for the merger of Helsinki University of Technology, Helsinki School of Economics and University of industrial Art Helsinki to a new Aalto University in 2010. He has also worked as Counsellor at the Ministry of Education as well as Counsellor at the Finnish Permanent Representation to the EU. During the Finnish EU Presidency, he chaired the Education Committee of the Council of the EU.

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Ivo is currently partner at CSR consult, company connecting and challenging businesses to take on society’s issues and problems – and making money doing so. His background is in education, where he worked as a teacher, in-service training professional, director at Ministry of Education responsible for programming and implementing EU Structural funds in EDU and R&D topics in Czech Republic, member of the Czech Republic main negotiator team to the European Commission and Czech representative to High-Level Group and Educational Committee of Council of the European Union. Since 2009 he worked for National Institute of Education as director of National Qualification Framework with responsibility to start up and manage national project providing Czech educational system and labour market with common framework of qualifications. Since 2015 he is external advisor to Minister of Labour and Social Affairs and to Deputy Prime Minister for the Science, Research and Innovation. He is co-founder of two non-profit organizations with focus on education – New Economics (2008) and Aisis (2000), where he is a board member.

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Mojca Juriševič, PhD., is an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. Her research focuses mainly on motivation to learn, gifted education and professional development of preservice teachers. She is a founding director of the Centre for Research and Promotion of Giftedness at Faculty of Education UL, widely recognised as European Talent Centre in the European Talent Support Network. Mojca Juriševič is the author of the chapter on gifted education in the White Paper on Education in the Republic of Slovenia (2011). She is a World Council for Gifted and Talented Children national delegate. She serves as the Chair of the “Psychologists in Education” division of the Slovenian Psychologists’ Association.

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Tintti Karppinen is a drama teacher, specialized in drama as teaching method, games and plays in education, socio drama, communicative skills and drama for peace education. Since 1975, she has also been working as a trainer of teachers (of different subjects and levels), nurses, social workers etc. in universities, institutes and trade unions. She has been running workshops and courses for personnel in different organisations and firms, and for over 10 years she ran workshops (one week per each) for whole families from babies to grandparents. Every workshop had a special theme, studied through music, visual arts, drama, theatre, games and playing. She has also been giving courses for refugees and immigrants and for their teachers: How to use drama in cultural exchange and in teaching or learning of a new language. Tintti is involved in several national and international organisations and bodies. Since 2012, she has been the Chair of Honour and between 1974-2016 she was the International Contact Person in Executive Committee in FIDEA. She was also involved in IDEA – International Drama/Theatre & Education Association as a Member of Executive Committee (1995-1998), Vice President (1998-2001), Vice President of General Meeting Committee (2001-2004 and 2004-2007), and Vice President of Accountancy Committee (2007-2010 and 2010-2013). She has also been a coordinator in IDEA Europe since 2006. Since 1998, she has been appointed a representative of IDEA in UNESCO and speaker in Arts in Education congresses and regional seminars around the world.

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Stuart has been a member of staff at the Centre for Talented Youth Ireland since 2007, originally starting as an astronomy instructor for 6-17 year olds while finishing up his M.Sc. in experimental physics. He then moved on to administrative and IT support roles within the centre and has been involved in their efforts to provide more online learning opportunities to students. He is currently studying for an Ed. Doc. in Educational Leadership with a focus on developing online learning programmes for CTYI students. His research interests lie in the areas of online learning and educational technology, and their intersection with the field of gifted education.

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Vladimir Kvetan works as an expert in the Department of skills and labour market of the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop). His main tasks are related to the projects on forecasting skill supply and demand in Europe and using online vacancies for Labour market information. Before joining Cedefop he worked at the research fellow at the Institute of Economic Research Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava. His main tasks were related to macroeconomic modelling, labour market analyses and analyses of regional development. He took part in several research project related to the key policy reforms and labour market transition in Slovakia. Together with his team he developed the first labour market demand model for his country.

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Jolana Laznibatová is the principal of the School for Gifted Children and also a researcher. She was the first in Slovakia to address the issue of giftedness. In 1993 she worked on the Project of Alternative Care for Gifted Children, which set the basis for the opening of the first school for intellectually gifted students in Bratislava. She is also the author of an educational program – Program APROGEN focused on care, education and support of gifted pupils from the age of 5 to 18. The program is used in the network of schools in Slovakia that provide classes for gifted children, where she works as a coordinator. As a researcher, she has dealt with personality characteristics of gifted students, issues connected with gifted children and ADHD, or Asperger's Syndrome. She is currently addressing the problems of coping with life challenges and gaining satisfaction from life in gifted adolescents. She organized 6 international conferences with a focus on expanding knowledge about gifted for both educators and psychologists as well as for parents and the wider public. As a psychologist she provides counseling services for gifted children and their parents. She founded the Alumni Club to work closely with former pupils of the school to create an independent research group providing information about the gifted in real life. She is the author and co-author of numerous articles and publications on the subject of giftedness (Psychology of Giftedness (1987), Meet a Gifted Child (2003), Talent Development Around The World (2013)). Amongst the most important are her monographs from 25 years of practical experience of the gifted: Gifted Child, His-Her Development, Education and Support (2001), Talented Students in Elementary, Middle and High school (2012). For her long-term excellent care, support, education and development of gifted and talented students in Slovakia she was awarded a title of Slovak Woman of the Year 2016.

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Professor Diane Montgomery is an international expert on underachievement, giftedness and special needs. She has lectured on these topics in Australia, USA, Europe and the UK and is the author of more than 30 books on giftedness, underachievement, dual exceptionality, dyslexia, behaviour problems, slower learners, appraisal, classroom observation, study skills and learning strategies. Her latest book (2015) is Giftedness and Special Educational Needs: Supporting Dual and Multiple Exceptionality. She is a qualified teacher, teacher educator and chartered psychologist. She wrote and ran distance learning MAs in G Ed, SpLD and SEN for Middlesex University where she was Head of the School of Education and Dean of the Faculty of Education and Performing Arts.

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Szilvia Németh is the managing director of T-Tudok Centre for Knowledge Management and Educational Research in Budapest. She holds an MPhil Degree in Education from the University of Cambridge, U.K. She has led and participated in various national and international research projects focusing on equity in education and on equal access to quality education of Roma. She was working as an education expert in the Cluster on Access and Social Inclusion in Lifelong Learning at the European Commission, DG EAC, and as an external expert of the Roma Education Fund. Since 2013 she has been working on implementation of the Creative Partnerships programme in Hungary, and takes part in OECD CERI project on “Assessing Progression on Creative and Critical Thinking Skills in Education”.

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Ian has over 15 years’ senior management and entrepreneurial experience in the arts, creative and technology sectors and 4 years’ experience working with Local Government, Local Enterprise Offices, Local Arts Offices, Arts Organisations and Venues, Universities, Businesses and Community Groups throughout Ireland, auditing and engaging the artistic and creative community within specific geographic regions. Currently Ian is working on advising and designing sustainable projects that utilise art and creativity as the main driver to effect sustainable economic and social change.  He also teaches and mentors artistic and creative entrepreneurship training to adult learners and undergraduate students. Ian co-founded with Monika Sapielak the Centre for Creative Practices (CFCP) in September 2009. Having worked with 1,500 individual creatives from all over Ireland and with various Creative Organisations they have realised that the entire Creative Sector is missing training in the basic business and entrepreneurial skills necessary to sustain careers. For more information on Ian’s work in the Centre for Creative Practices see: www.cfcp.ie.

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Emilia Petrikova is 21 years old Slovak scientist working in a field of oncology. She is studying medicine at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic. She has experiences from Mayo Clinic and Berkeley University in the USA and from University of Heidelberg in Germany. At the age of fourteen, Emilia started doing research. Her work on the effect of aspirin as a treatment supporter against cancer gained great interest and lead to several international prizes, including Special prize at European Union Contest for Young Scientists and silver medal at International Young Investors Project Olympiad. Emilia also represented the EU at the biggest international science competition, Intel ISEF. She is an organizer of several international science events, lecturer and reviewer of medical publications.

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Pirkko Pyörälä works as Policy Officer in the unit Vocational Training, Apprenticeships and Adult Learning at the European Commission's Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion. She has held several different posts in the field of education and training, including within Leonardo da Vinci and the Erasmus programmes. Before joining the European Commission, she worked as an international coordinator at a higher education institution in Finland.

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Piotr started his career at Cisco ten years ago by joining the European leadership team in the CEE region, which had just been created to accelerate business growth. Since 2012 he has been leading Cisco Corporate Affairs in EMEAR with broad responsibility for Cisco Corporate Social Responsibility Programs in Europe. Cisco CSR includes pillars like Governance and Ethics, Supply Chain, Social and Environmental corporate impact. Education, Healthcare and Economy Development are key areas of Cisco CSR impact in Europe. Between 2008 and 2012 he has been leading the Public Sector Practice in Central Europe, Emerging Markets EMEA and the Global Public Sector team as Local Government Manager. Within those years, the Public Sector department has reached a new level of cooperation with Central Government organizations and Government Enterprises. Government Digitalization, E-Society Development, Transformation of Healthcare and Education are the main areas of Piotr’s competence and experience. During his assignment as Cisco General Manager in the Baltic States region from 2005-2008 he collaborated closely with the governments of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia (the Prime Ministers of Estonia and Lithuania have visited Cisco in San Jose to discuss the transformation of their countries). In his early years at Cisco, as a member of the CEE Management Team, he contributed to building a leadership team and to designing and implementing the organization’s investment model. Before joining Cisco, Piotr built his experience in different leadership roles. He worked as Sales Director of Polish Operations and lead HR in CEE at Ford Motor Company. He spent the first years of his career at Coca-Cola and Eli Lilly, where he gained international experience. He has experience in management roles in four different industries – pharmaceuticals, FMCG, automotive and high-tech. Building and leading high performance teams, empowering managers and leaders, and developing and implementing policies and infrastructures are his areas of competence. This experience is a strong asset and helps building relationships with Governments, NGOs and industry. Piotr is a Harvard University Alumni, concluding the Innovation for Economic Development program, and a Stanford University Alumni - Leading Growth – Executives Education. He graduated as a Medical Doctor in Poland. This background enables him to be a trusted advisor to governments and business leaders, which is his passion.

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Martin Putala works as an associate professor on the Faculty of Natural Sciences at the Comenius University in Bratislava, where he leads basic and advanced courses on Organic and Physical Organic Chemistry at undergraduate level. He also conducts research on organic synthesis (development of regio- and stereoselective course of cross-coupling reactions; preparation of new axially chiral ligands, chiroptical switches and materials for organic electronics; structure-properties relationship of organic compounds) and holds the position of the president of the Council for Higher Education of the Slovak Republic. Marin Putala graduated in Inorganic and Organic Chemistry from the Comenius University in Bratislava and continued his post-gradual studies at the Moscow State University. He also took part in postdoctoral stays at University of Geneva and University of Regensburg. Along with leading university courses and conducting research, Martin Putala dedicates his time to discovering young talented students in the field of science. He is the president of the Slovak Commission of Chemistry Olympiad and a member of the Steering Committee of International Chemistry Olympiad.

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Yoomi Renström has been Mayor of the Municipality of Ovanåker (Sweden) since 2010. She is a graduate of the University of Uppsala, where she studied Literature, Psychology, and Information and Communication. She pursued her studies at the University of Falun, where she received Headmaster education. Before becoming a politician, she worked with disabled people both as a member of staff and later as a manager. She is the President of the district board of the Swedish Social Democratic Party of Gävleborg County and a Member of the International Committee of the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR). From 2005 until 2006, she served as Member of the Swedish Parliament, following the works of the Committee on the Constitution. She was opposition leader at the Municipality of Ovanåker for the 2006-2010 period. She has been a Member of the European Committee of the Regions since 2006. She also sits in the Congress of the Council of Europe as a Representative of the Chamber of Regions and is an alternate Member of the Current Affairs Committee of the same organisation.

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Jozef Ristvej is the Vice-Rector for International Relations and Marketing at the University of Žilina, Slovakia since October 2014. He gained his PhD. in Crisis Management in 2007 at the University of Žilina. Afterwards, he was given a postdoctoral position as Assistant Professor and in 2014 after successful habilitation he has received position as Associate Professor at the Department of Crisis Management, Faculty of Security Engineering at the University of Žilina. In 2010 he received the visiting scholar grant of Ruth Crawford Mitchell to the Center for Disaster Management at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh. His work is focusing on supporting the information systems in the area of decision making process in crisis management. At the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Erasmus Programme he was selected by the European Commission as the Erasmus Staff Ambassador for Slovakia for the period 2012/2013. He is author of several papers in Europe and abroad. He is a member of several scientific project teams and of the ISCRAM Association in Brussels (Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management) and the Society for Science and the Public, in Washington D.C. He dedicates his free time to promote science among young people. Jozef Ristvej is the director of the prestigious contest for students of secondary and primary schools Festival of Science and Technology of AMAVET (identifying talent in science and technology among schoolchildren) and also National Coordinator of the EUCYS (European Union Contest for Young Scientists).

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Dana Rušinová is the Executive Director of the Children of Slovakia Foundation and the President of the Coalition for Children Slovakia, an expert in children´s rights and well-being. The Foundation supports various activities aimed at all groups of children and young people through its grants, educational projects and advocacy. It has adopted a „child-centered“ approach supporting development of the individual potential (talent) of each child and young person, as well as institutional development of NGOs. Dana is responsible for strategic and content development and advocacy activities. The Foundation´s educational projects are focused on the empowerment of the professionals working with children and young people, mainly teachers, and promoting inclusive education. The Coalition is a platform organization of NGOs promoting the children´s rights under the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Dana was the initiator of the Coalition. She has led a team of experts preparing a Complementary report on the implementation of the CRC in Slovakia (2007-2015) and she headed a delegation which presented the report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva in October 2015. Dana is a member of the Eurochild Management Board, a European NGO platform promoting children's rights. She is also a local politician focusing on children and young people.

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Clare Ryan is Principal of St. Leo’s College, Carlow, Ireland, a large Catholic school for girls. She has worked in a number of key educational roles such as Home/School/Community Liaison Co-ordinator, National Co-ordinator for the 8-15 Early School Leaver Initiative and Assistant National Co-ordinator of the Leadership Development for Schools with responsibility for social inclusion. Clare has also served as Chief Executive Officer of the National Educational Welfare Board, the statutory body charged with enactment of the Education Welfare Act. She continues to work with the Professional Development Service for Teachers both in facilitating in-service for newly appointed Principals and Deputy Principals as well as lecturing and tutoring on the Post-Graduate Diploma in Educational Leadership and the Masters in Education with the National University of Ireland, Maynooth. Clare has acted as the Department of Education and Skills representative on an EU thematic working group on early school leaving. She has presented at several conferences in Europe most recently delivering a Ted-like talk at the European Education, Training and Youth Forum (EETY Forum 2015) in Brussels on the topic of Early School Leaving. The talk was based on the main findings of the Working Group on Schools Policy and addressed how schools can prevent ESL and promote school success for all learners by adopting more collaborative practices.

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Kenneth is the Managing Partner at KPMG Slovakia. He was born in Ireland and has been living in Bratislava for more than 15 years. Kenneth is a Fellow Member of the Irish Institute of Chartered Accountants. He witnessed the gradual transformation of the Slovak economy from its 1989 state, through the wave of privatisation, all the way to the current push for knowledge economy. Kenneth has broad experience gained via working with leading global corporates establishing their presence in Slovakia. Moreover, he has managed over 300 M&A transactions. All in all, this spans 20 years of covering a wide spectrum of areas ranging from attestation of financial statements to creation of proper corporate governance structures. Kenneth's corporate-world experience has been complemented by mentoring startup and scaleup founders. This led to an intertwining of corporate and startup ideas. In 2012 Kenneth founded iKid - an educational program which focuses on Slovak students aged 10-14 and aims to make sure Slovak entrepreneurs of tomorrow start unwrapping their potential today.

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Moninka is an award-winning Cultural Manager, Producer, Curator, Educator, Mentor, Entrepreneur & Researcher with 25 years of work experience as CEO and Cultural Leader at European level. Recipient of the Merit to Polish Culture awarded by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland as well as Main Awardee of the Arthur Guinness Fund. Founder & CEO of “ArtConnected” – a technology platform that matches Creative Opportunities with Talent. Co-founder and CEO of the Centre for Creative Practices, Dublin that provides Creative Entrepreneurship Training Programme and runs yearly multidisciplinary & multicultural series called “New Voices of Ireland”. Monika curates New Voices of Ireland with the focus on integrating, promoting and mentoring migrant, experimental and emerging artists (over 750 events, +16,000 audiences). Previously she was also founder & CEO of ArtPolonia, Lab for Intercultural Collaboration and Exchange, facilitating Polish-Irish Intercultural Exchange (50 events, +10,000 audiences). Monika is a speaker, writer and promoter of the key messages at conferences, for the media and as a guest lecturer at various academic institutions. Monika has published articles and papers in Ireland, Poland and Germany advocating for social and cultural change; influencing cultural policies and promoting entrepreneurial education in the Creative Sector.

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Johanna Stahl studied Psychology at the University of Jena and received a Doctor’s Degree in Cognitive Neurosciences in 2010. She is a postdoctoral researcher at the Austrian Research and Support Center for the Gifted and Talented (ÖZBF) in Salzburg. Her work focuses on the effects and long-term benefits of different support models for gifted students as well as on the development of diagnostic approaches for gifted education. Dr. Johanna Stahl is a member of iPEGE (International Panel of Experts for Gifted Education) and represents the ÖZBF, a European Talent Centre for Austria, in the European Talent Support Network.

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Margaret Sutherland is senior lecturer in inclusive education at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK. She is the Director of the Scottish Network for Able Pupils and Deputy Director of the Centre for Research and Development in Adult and Lifelong Learning, University of Glasgow. She has 34 years teaching experience in mainstream primary schools, behaviour support and latterly in higher education. She has written articles in the field of gifted and talented education and is author of Gifted and Talented in the Early Years and Developing the Gifted and Talented Young Learner. Her first book is now in its second edition and has been translated into German and Slovenian. She is a member of the general committee of the European Council for High Ability (ECHA). She also serves on the Executive Committee of the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children. Margaret is on the editorial board of the Korean Educational Development Institute Journal of Educational Policy. She regularly gives keynote addresses at conferences and has led courses, workshops and seminars across the UK and has also been invited to work with staff and students in Tanzania, Malawi, Korea, Virginia, USA, Slovenia, The Netherlands, Poland, Germany, Luxembourg and Denmark.

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Dr. Kirsi Tirri is a Professor of Education and Research Director at the Department of Teacher Education at the University of Helsinki, Finland. She is the Chair of Finnish Academy of Science and Letters and the Chair of Doctoral Programme SEDUCE (School, Education, Culture and Society). She is also a visiting scholar with the Stanford Center on Adolescence, USA. Tirri has been the President of ECHA (European Council for High Ability) for the years 2008-2012 and the President of the SIG International Studies at AERA (American Educational Research Association) for the years 2010-2013. Her research interests include school pedagogy, moral and religious education, gifted education, teacher education and cross-cultural studies. She has published 12 monographs and numerous journal articles related to these fields. She serves in 13 Editorial Boards of educational journals. She has supervised 20 doctoral dissertations in education and theology and mentored many postdoctoral students who are now professors and researchers in education. She has led the Finnish team in many national and international research projects. You can read more of her work from the web page: http://www.helsinki.fi/~ktirri

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Mag. Ramona Uhl, MBA is a professor in the institute of vocational education in the University of Applied Sciences in Linz, Austria. After gaining work experience in the free economy and banking sector, she has been an educator for many years, having worked in vocational school, taught at university of applied science for technicians and held lectures as a senior lecturer at the Johann Kepler University in Linz, Austria. Her main interests and research focus on the development of professionalism of teachers in the international context, conception and realization of various projects to identify and foster the gifted youth, simulation gaming and gifted education in the dual system.

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Piet Van de Craen, PhD., is professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) in Brussels. His research is focused on multilingualism and multilingual education in a European and international perspective emphasizing implicit learning as a way to develop cognitive and neuro-scientific aspects in learners. He is co-founder of the European Language Council/Conseil européen pour les langues (1997) and he is part of the board of this organisation. He has also co-founded an organisation promoting and assessing multilingual schools in Brussels, called STIMOB, i.e. stimulating multilingual education in Brussels (2001).

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Oldřich (Oldo) Vaňous is a Member of the Board of Directors of JA Slovakia (http://www.jaslovensko.sk). His activities as a Member of the Board include support for JA Slovakia's team in program development and training, development of the national competitions, and data management. Oldo also serves as a classroom volunteer for JA Slovakia's Company Programme and as a judge at the national JA Competitions. After a career in engineering and later in business consultancy, Oldo joined Junior Achievement in Slovakia as a classroom volunteer in 1994. In 1996, he was hired to join JA Slovakia as the CEO. Since 1996, Oldo has held several senior management positions at the national and international levels of JA organisations. He retired in December 2015 as the Vice President of Network Services at JA Europe (http://www.jaeurope.org). However, he stays closely connected with JA through his volunteering activities.

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Armin Vincentius Fabian is a high school student who ended his last three years with the highest possible rating – 10. This year he received the ‘’Magis Prize’’, which is the most prominent award given only to 2 students from the whole institution. He won two times in a row the “National Academic Competition of Biblical Studies” prized by the Romanian State and took part in literature competitions, getting 4 international first prizes, national rewards and special gifts. A few months ago he was selected to the Hungarian Templeton Program, a community that has been formed to develop 315 exceptional cognitive talents from 20,000 applicants. He represented the program at the EP meeting in Brussels, as well as at the European Youth Summit and the ECHA Conference in Vienna. Since March he has been working hard to help develop the Youth Platform.

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Zdeněk Vondra has experience with the graphic design of computer games and advertisements, following principles of applied informatics, motion picture design, multimedia and art. Nowadays, the biggest areas of his interest are the communication concepts and strategies. In his everyday work at the university he connects commercial projects for various clients, academic grants, applied research and teaching. All these activities are focused on multimedia, communication process and concepts of their effective use. His main points of interests in communication use are advertising, popularization of science by art and presentation of cultural heritage. In 2011 he and his colleagues started a bachelor’s study program Multimedia in Economical Practice which became one of the most popular study programs of creative skills and knowledge outside of art universities.

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Margaret Waters is the Deputy head of unit in the unit responsible for EU higher education policies and the higher education strand of the Erasmus+ programmes at the European Commission’s Directorate General for Education and Culture. Previously, she worked in policy coordination in the Directorate General, and before joining the Commission she worked in educational publishing in Ireland.

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Dr. Marca Wolfensberger is the first president of the European Honors Council (EHC), a network organization bringing together educators, researchers, students, policy makers and others interested in talent development in higher education from around Europe. At home in the Netherlands, she holds two positions. Wolfensberger has led the research group “Talent Development in Higher Education and Society” at Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Groningen since 2009. At the University of Utrecht, she works as honors director and assistant-professor at the Faculty of Geosciences, where she also co-founded the first full honors programs in the Netherlands in 1997. Wolfensberger earned her PhD. on honours education in 2012 and was named a Fellow of the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) in 2013, and has been Chair of the NCHC Research Committee since November 2012. In 2015, she authored the book ‘Talent Development in European Higher Education’, providing an overview of honors education in eleven countries. Subsequently, she took the initiative to found the European Honors Council and in June 2016, she was named the first president.

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Marián is passionate about impact-oriented education interventions. Between 2010 and 2012, he implemented Transparency Initiative at the Ministry of Education as an executive assistant and advisor to the Minister and co-founded several programs focused on talented high-school students at Slovak NGO LEAF. In 2015 he co-founded the Slovak National Office of the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award in order to help as many young people as possible succeed. In the same year, he was selected to the Map of social innovators who change Slovakia for better, the project created by Ashoka and Pontis Foundation. He graduated in Political Science and International Relations from Charles University and experience at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and University of California, Berkeley.

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Albert Ziegler, PhD., is Chair Professor of Educational Psychology and Research on Excellence at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany. He is the Founding Director of the State-wide Counseling and Research Centre for the Gifted. He has published approx. 350 books, chapters and articles in the fields of talent development and educational psychology. Presently he serves as the Secretary-General of the International Research Association for Talent Development and Excellence (IRATDE) and as the Vice-President of ECHA (European Council for High Ability).

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Georgios Zisimos is working since March 2014 at the European Training Foundation (ETF) in Turin holding a senior’s officer position on EU Education and Training Policies. On February 2010, he was appointed in Brussels 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. In his career in the EU he followed closely the developments in Pre-primary, Primary, Secondary, Tertiary and Vocational Education and Training. Currently in the ETF he is following up on the Copenhagen/Riga process developments in the EU candidate countries. Previous to his EU postings, Georgios taught in public schools both in the UK and Cyprus, and had a very active role in key education organisations and committees (elected Secretary General of the Cypriot Secondary Teacher's Union in 2005, member to the Executive Committee of the ETUCE, and Member of the Scientific Committee on Curriculum Reform in Cyprus appointed by the Minister's Council in 2008). He has a BA in Design and Technology, and holds an MA in Curriculum Studies from the Institute of Education, London.