Region: Europe
Anna Biryukova
Anna Biryukova is Head of Public Opinion Research at the Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF), Russia's most significant opposition organization, founded by Alexey Navalny. Anna joined the team of the Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny in 2013 during Navalny's election campaign for Mayor of Moscow. Since then, Anna has run independent and unbiased surveys, nationwide polls and focus groups, always under immense pressure from Putin's regime. In 2019 she was forced to leave her home country. Russian authorities considered her work — political polling — to be a terrorist and extremist activity. Living in exile in Lithuania, Anna has never stopped doing her research work. As ACF's head of polling, she manages…
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Laura-Kristine Krause
Laura-Kristine Krause is Founding Director of More in Common Germany, an organization devoted to understanding the forces that are driving our democracies apart and to countering “us vs. them”-narratives. She also serves on the organization’s international executive team, alongside her colleagues from France, Poland, the UK, and the US. Laura is a leading expert on polarization and social cohesion and an advisor to key civil society organizations, initiatives, and political institutions. She also applies this lens to her role on the oversight board of Germany’s largest public broadcaster ZDF and her board roles in German philanthropy and public administration. She was a negotiator for the coalition treaty of the German…
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Tarek Mouganie
Tarek Mouganie is a Ghanaian entrepreneur and Founder and Group CEO of Affinity Africa, a digital bank that provides affordable and accessible services to micro and small and medium sized businesses. Since inception, Affinity's contribution has been profound, with nearly 90% of their customers previously unbanked, over 60% of whom are women operating in the informal sector. Tarek was previously a Director at Man Group where he managed a portfolio of investments within the $160 billion global investment fund. He started his career as an academic at the University of Cambridge where he obtained his PhD in Physics at the age of 21 and is currently an MBA Entrepreneurship Tutor…
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Leon McCarron
Leon McCarron is a writer, broadcaster and trail designer from the north of Ireland. In the past decade, he has travelled over 30,000 miles by human power, including walking across China, crossing the Empty Quarter desert on foot, and riding on horseback across Argentine Patagonia. Most recently he followed the river Tigris from source to sea. Leon works at the intersection of journalism and exploration. The slowness and immersion of his projects – reporting at 3 miles per hour – emphasizes the interconnectedness of stories at a local level, and how together they speak to the big issues of our time. As a trail developer, he specializes in creating hiking…
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Andrei Kureichik
Andrei Kureichik is a Belarusian playwright, director, publicist, and civil activist. As a writer and director prior to 2020, Andrei was especially beloved for his comedies and suspense thrillers. Following the contested presidential elections and brutal aftermath in Belarus in August 2020, Andrei gained an international following as a political playwright. Forced to flee the country as a member of the Coordination Council working with perceived winner Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s transition team, Andrei leveraged his creative energy to produce the documentary play “Insulted. Belarus(sia)” about the 2020 presidential elections, subsequent protests, and violent crackdown by Alexander Lukashenko’s regime in Belarus. The play has been translated into 29 languages and received 200…
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Sascha MĂĽller-Kraenner
Sascha MĂĽller-Kraenner is CEO of Deutsche Umwelthilfe (Environmental Action Germany), a leading environmental, nature conservation, and consumer advocacy organization. He is also a founding partner and board member of the Ecologic Institute, a non-profit applied environmental policy research institute with offices in several European and North American cities. From 2007-2014, Sascha built and led The Nature Conservancy's regional program in Europe. From 2003-2006, he served as the Heinrich Böll Foundation's Director for Europe and North America as well as head of the Foundation's program on foreign and security policy. From 1998-2002 he served as Director of the Foundation's office in Washington DC. Sascha serves on several boards of scientific and…
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Kirsten Rulf
Kirsten Rulf has been working as a senior advisor for digital, technology, and innovation policy to former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and current Chancellor Olaf Scholz since 2019. She is Head of Division for General Digital Policy Issues and “Nerd-in-Chief” at the Federal Chancellery of Germany in Berlin. In her strategic leadership position, Kirsten is shaping Germany’s and Europe’s role in the geopolitics of tech. What does European digital sovereignty mean in a global context? How should Germany navigate the Great Power competition between USA and China? Kirsten first started to think about these issues during her decade-long career as an award-winning journalist: as current affairs correspondent for Germany’s flagship…
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Temuri Yakobashvili
Ambassador Temuri Yakobashvili is President of TY Strategies, a boutique consulting firm advising governments, non-governmental institutions, and businesses across the U.S., Europe, and Eurasia. He also Founder and President of the New International Leadership Institute, non-for profit organization, dedicated to reforms, good governance, and anti-corruption. Temuri was previously Executive Vice President of the global strategy consultancy, PASS, LLC. Until fall of 2014, he held position of the Senior Transatlantic Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the US. From early February 2011 to March 2013 he served as an Ambassador of Georgia to the United States. Prior to his posting, he was Deputy Prime Minister and State Minister for Reintegration…
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Jan Jakub "Kuba" Wygnanski
Jan Jakub "Kuba" Wygnanski is sociologist serving as President of Board for Shipyard – Centre for Social Innovation and Research. Kuba starting his career as a Solidarity activist in Poland. He was participating in historical Round Table talks. After 1989, he became deeply involved in numerous initiatives aiming to support civil society in Poland and other countries. He has started several NGOs including the KLON/JAWOR Association and the Forum of Nongovernmental Initiatives, which plays a key role as representative of Polish Third Sector. Kuba was initiator and coordinator of a multi-year systemic project of Polish Model of Social Economy. For over 25 years Kuba has been deeply involved in the…
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Nizam Uddin
Nizam Uddin is Chief Strategy Officer of algbra, a technology-based financial ecosystem dedicated to global financial inclusion by focusing on the underserved and underbanked. Nizam was previously the Senior Head of Mosaic and Community Integration at The Prince’s Trust and Head of the Mosaic Initiative. Nizam has a strong interest and background in overcoming the societal and economic challenges that prevent disenfranchised and minority communities from fulfilling their potential. He is a 2019 US State Department International Visitor Leadership Programme (IVLP) participant and a Trustee of: SOAS, University of London, Robert. F. Kennedy Human Rights UK, and Belong – the UK's Cohesion and Integration Network (COIN). Nizam was awarded an…
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