CO-FOUNDER, STATEFREE

Christiana Bukalo is a social change maker, speaker and co-founder of Statefree. Statefree is a non-profit organisation which follows the mission of empowering stateless people by creating community and belonging. End of 2021 the organisation launched the first global community platform for stateless people and their allies. Statefree.world allows stateless people to connect with each other, share stories and discuss questions. As a stateless person born from Germany, Christiana has had first-hand experience with the lack of transparency around statelessness and aims to fill this void by offering a space for stateless people to participate in the conversations that concern them. Furthermore Christiana has the honour of serving as a trustee and member of the Advisory Committee of the European Network on Statelessness and has been awarded the Echoing Green Fellowship (2022/2023).

CO-FOUNDER, REIMAGINED FUTURES

Hrishabh Sandilya works on narratives, systems, and imagination and relational infrastructures at the European Programme for Integration and Migration and at ReImagined Futures, a collective systems change consultancy he co-leads. Between 2018 and 2022, Hrishabh setup and led Project Phoenix in Cyprus working on refugee inclusion and entrepreneurship, building on a decade-long body of work in the non-profit, academic, and entrepreneurial worlds across Czechia, Armenia, India, and Sweden. Hrishabh occasionally opines and comments and his work has been featured on Czech Television and in Project Syndicate and the Indian Express (amongst others). Hrishabh was raised in Bombay and then spent 12 years in Prague, building a parallel life within the city’s engrossing cultural scene - as a restaurateur, curating a gallery and a regular DJ gig at one of the city’s favourite clubs. After naturalising as a Czech citizen, the rest of Europe beckoned, resulting in a meandering trail through Berlin, Yerevan, Sweden’s idyllic south coast, Nicosia and eventually Brussels, during which he complimented professional pursuits with time spent sailing and filmmaking, and back at university. Hrishabh is a 2023 Marshall Memorial Fellow.

FOUNDER AND CHIEF NETWORK WEAVER, THE HORIZONS PROJECT

Julia has more than 30 years of experience working for democratic change and conflict transformation around the world, is best known for her ability to convene diverse coalitions and her facilitative leadership of global networks. An organizer at heart, in her role as Chief Network Weaver at The Horizons Project, Julia is committed to bridge-building across sectors, disciplines, and cultures. Throughout her career she has been called upon to translate between theory and practice, while seeding new approaches, organizing principles, and mindset shifts for social change. After serving for almost 14 years as the President and CEO of PartnersGlobal, one of the preeminent international democracy and peacebuilding organizations – in 2022 Julia launched The Horizons Project to focus on the intersection of peacebuilding, social justice, and democracy in the United States.

FOUNDING DIRECTOR, NOVACT

Luca Gervasoni Vila. Is the Founding Director of NOVACT-International Institute for Nonviolent Action, President of the Federation of Organizations for Global Justice and associated professor at the Catalan Open University. For the last two decades, his work has focused on how civil society movements can successfully fight for rights, freedom and justice. He has lived in Jerusalem, Morocco, Tunisia and Barcelona and has worked with activists from around the world waging social change. He has coordinated the book Economic Democracy: an alternative to capitalism. After obtaining a degree in Political Science, he has followed several specialization courses and Postgraduates on Nonviolent Conflict, International Law and Social Transformation at TUFTS University, Harvard or Al Quds University between others.

FOUNDER, GORM MEDIA

Named as 'Activist of the Year' in the 2021 Inaugural Black and Irish Awards, one of the 50 people to watch in 2022 by the Irish Independent and shortlisted as 'Social Entrepreneur of the Year' in the 2022 Image Magazine Women in Business Awards, Mamobo Ogoro, is a social psychologist, social entrepreneur, activist and artist. Fuelled by both her personal experience and her academic background in prejudice, intergroup conflict and dual cultural identity. Mamobo is on a personal mission to unify the world! Mamobo is the Founder of Gorm Media, a start-up social impact digital media company. Gorm’s mission is to unify communities across cultural, social and political divides. Mamobo's vision for Gorm is to spark a movement of unity and shared understanding through innovative digital media that captures the stories, nuances, and experiences of different and diverse communities. At Gorm, we believe that common ground is the key to uniting, and that is built through content that highlights the stories/conversations that matter.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, FLORIDA IMMIGRANT COALITION

As a movement builder, Maria’s inclusive leadership and organizing has yielded wins in college access, wage protections, democracy and combating racist and xenophobic criminalization, allowing more people to live, love, and work without fear. As a social entrepreneur, she has been part of start up teams for half a dozen award-winning entities; a free medical clinic, a housing cooperative, an arts & therapy group, an electoral org, a policy institute, all thriving today. She served the Florida Immigrant Coalition for 17 years, is a graduate of Georgetown University, grew in Puerto Rico and is the proud mother of Dante.

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Mario Scharfbillig uses behavioral research to improve evidence-informed policymaking and democratic processes in the EU. He is working at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission where he is leading the work on values, identities and political intelligence as part of the Enlightenment 2.0 research program. Especially for his work on values, he was named among the "50+1 Influential Researchers Whose Work Could Help Shape 21st Century Politicians" by Apolitical Foundation. He is also associate editor of the JRC Editorial Review Board and works on improving the Science-Policy-Ecosystem in the EU. He received his PhD in economics from the University of Mainz, where he specialized in research on behavioural economics and public policy and managed the Interdisciplinary Public Policy (IPP) research group.

PROGRAM MANAGER, GMF CITIES PROGRAM

Paul Costello is a program manager for the GMF Cities program, based in the organization's Berlin office. He is passionate about connecting cities globally to tackle shared challenges effectively. In his current role, he leads the City Directors of International Affairs (CDIA) Network and works on projects related to strengthening democracy as well as centering equity and inclusion. Driven by a commitment to fostering international collaboration among cities, Paul plays a crucial role in the CDIA Network, which facilitates meaningful exchanges and partnerships among city leaders, encouraging innovative approaches to urban problem-solving. Paul's previous experience in sustainability and public diplomacy has provided him with a well-rounded perspective on the intersection of environmental and social issues. He is fluent in English, French, Spanish, and Catalan. He holds a Master of Public Policy from the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin and a Bachelor of Arts from McGill University in Montreal.

Renata Cuk is a passionate social justice advocate, a feminist, experienced grants-maker, systems thinker and storyteller, with over 13 years of experience in the human rights field. As an activist in Croatia she was part of the feminist movement and a member of the Women’s Court for the former Yugoslavia. Renata has spent the last 11 years with the Open Society Foundations, working for the European office on supporting social justice movements in Europe, leading the fellowship program, and developing a new portfolio of work on economic justice with a focus on the right to housing and decent work. Renata is a proud member of the Atlantic fellows community since her enrolment in the Atlantic fellows for Social and Economic Equity program in 2018. She remains committed to tackling inequalities with a specific focus on intersectional gender justice and racial justice. During her time with European philanthropy, Renata was part of different funders collaboratives, including the EDGE Funders Alliance, where she served as the European Steering Group member and where she committed to systems change work. Currently, Renata is exploring different ways to support social movements and engage in narrative change work. She is an improviser and a storyteller, trying to bring art into her social justice activism.

Samia Hathroubi is a doctoral student at the Max Weber Sociology Institute at the University of Heidelberg in Germany where she studies Jewish-Muslim interactions in Paris and Berlin. She began her professional career at the age of 21 as a teacher in an impoverished high school in the Parisian suburbs, where she joined very early on as a volunteer in Parisian associations fighting against the policies and discourses of exclusion towards immigrants and those perceived as foreigners in the public debate. Keeping the memory of her Tunisian parents' migration anchored in her mind, she quickly became involved in the fight for democracy and dignity during the Arab Spring. As Director of Advocacy in an association of young activists in the Middle East, she lives between Jerusalem, Ramallah and Tel Aviv. This experience coupled with her biographical history allows her to understand the Jewish-Muslim relationship through time and led her to commit herself as Director of Interreligious Programs within the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding in Europe and within Coexister in France. Because fraternity is vain without social justice and equity, Samia, whose parents and grandparents never had the chance to go to school, has been involved as a role model, coach, and mentor for 9 years within the association Rev'Elles in France, which opens fields of possibilities to young girls from modest backgrounds by helping them in their professional orientation. She has written several articles on the Muslim presence in France and on interfaith relations. She contributed to the discussion on the relations between Muslims and Jews in France for the book "Retissons les liens" directed by E. Benbassa at CNRS Editions in 2015. She teaches interreligious dialogue at the University of Strasbourg within the European Master Interreligion.

MBE, FOUNDER & CEO, THE INTERNATIONAL CIVIL SOCIETY ACTION NETWORK

Sanam Naraghi Anderlini is the Founder and CEO of the International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN). She has nearly three decades of experience as a peace strategist working globally on conflicts, crises, violent extremism and peacebuilding with civil society, governments and the UN. At ICAN, she leads the Women’s Alliance for Security Leadership (WASL) and oversees the Innovative Peace Fund (IPF), the first and only independent multi-donor fund dedicated to women-led peace organizations. She has extensive experience in designing and delivering curricula on gender responsiveness, preventing violent extremism, and inclusive mediation issues for senior government officials, UN staff, and mediators. She was appointed to the UN’s Standby Team (SBT) of Mediation Experts as the first Senior Expert on Gender and Inclusion working on Somalia, Libya, Syria, and Sudan, among other cases. Currently a Richard von Weizsacker Fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy and an adjunct professor at Columbia University School of International Public Affairs (SIPA). She serves on various expert boards and committees and was awarded an MBE (Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) in 2020 for her contributions to peacebuilding and women’s rights. She was the 2016 Greeley Peace Scholar at the University of Massachusetts, and recipient of the 2014 UN Association Perdita Huston Award for human rights. Sanam speaks four languages, holds an MPhil in Social Anthropology from Cambridge University, and is a UK and US citizen. She is Iranian by birth and has identical twin daughters.

DIRECTOR, POLITICS AND GOVERNANCE PROGRAMME, ODI

Kathryn Nwajiaku-Dahou is a British-Nigerian political scientist and poet. With a PhD and several postdoctoral fellowships in politics from the University of Oxford, and a longstanding interest in history and historiography, she is fascinated by the role which storytelling plays in shaping political community. She has written and published extensively about the intelligibility of the politics of identity in Africa and Europe, and on the role which political institutions, their histories, and patterns of economic accumulation play in shaping identities and identity discourses. Kathryn is currently Director of Politics and Governance at ODI, where she leads a team of critical thinkers producing ideas and evidence for governments and international organisations about how to tackle big societal challenges such as rebuilding public trust and the social contract in the face of war, securing civic space in the context of backlash against human rights and democracy; building peace in societies at war, decolonising the production of knowledge and rebuilding just and equitable partnerships when racism is structural, rife and very real. An acclaimed public speaker at high level fora (WEF, World Bank, OECD) and expert facilitator and convenor of difficult conversations, Kathryn’s love of languages, a 30 year long career in International Development and a stint as an Oxford academic, allowed her to travel extensively, particularly in French and English-speaking Africa and the Caribbean, all of which set the backdrop for both her research on the politics of identity and much of her poetry and prose. Kathryn currently lives in Paris where since 2022, she has hosted a quarterly Black Arts, poetry and politics salon for French and English speaking Black writers, poets and friends. Kathryn’s unshakeable confidence in the power of narrative to change ways of seeing and doing, shapes her belief that Belonging without Othering is indeed not just plausible but truly possible.