Speakers & Moderators

Zuzana Andreska graduated from the Master’s program in Gender Studies at Charles University and she is currently finishing her law degree at the same university. She has been a member of the Centre for Gender and Science of the Institute of Sociology, Czech Academy of Sciences since 2021 as a member of the UniSAFE project, which aims to offer solutions to gender-based violence in academia.

Student Ombudsperson at the Faculty of Arts, Palacky University, Olomouc, Czech Republic (since November 2020, together with Jaroslav Šotola). As a member of the faculty Ombuds team, she deals with communicatively challenging situations and conflicts between students and teachers/employees and strives for prevention and cultivation of the university environment in terms of establishing partner cooperation and mitigating power imbalances.

She teaches medieval history at the Department of History, Palacky University; her research interests include social urban history and gender history which has shaped her activities in the field of civic engagement. She has cooperated with a human rights NGO on a campaign for women's rights, currently she is a member of the Gender Expert Chamber of the Czech Republic. She is a member of the Board of ENOHE (European Network of Ombuds in Higher Education), and she is also part of the team preparing the establishment of the School Ombuds Platform of the Czech Republic.

Barbara Biglia is Associate professor at the University Rovira I Virgili. She has been an active member of the research and academic community for over 20 years. She has been the PI for 30 competitive research projects (6 of which were European) and 8 research contracts (2 international) and a researcher for 25 other projects or contracts. As well as completing several extended foreign stays (in USA, UK, Chile, Spain, Brazil), she has shared the results of her research at multiple international conferences. Worldwide collaboration has been a key feature of her research (in Latin America, USA, Canada, Europe, Africa, Australia), and she received the Distinguished Publication award for the Handbook of International Feminisms from the AWP. Her work has garnered most recognition in two areas: (1) processes of knowledge construction and feminist epistemology and research methodology, and (2) sexual and gender-related violences. In reference to the second research area, her academic production began in 2007 with the co-edition of the book Estado de Wonderbra. Since then, her pioneering wider understanding of gender-related violences has been adopted by numerous international and national regulations. Within this sphere, she has recently acted as principal investigator on three European-funded projects, a national project, and a Catalan project. Furthermore, her feminist, activist research has strongly influenced the specific area of gender related violences within universities.    

Fredrik Bondestam is Associate Professor in Sociology at Uppsala University and currently the Director of the Swedish Secretariat for Gender Research at the University of Gothenburg. His research covers organizational change in higher education and research, feminist pedagogy, gender-based violence and sexual harassment, risk and masculinities, and gender mainstreaming in theory and practice. As senior research leader at the Center for Gender Research, Uppsala University, he developed pioneering gender perspectives on the management, governance and organization of higher education. Fredrik has also managed government assignments on gender mainstreaming in Sweden during 2013-2017 and currently participates in several EU funded Horizon 2020 projects targeting preventive measures on gender-based violence and harassment in ERA (UniSAFE, GENDERACTION Plus).

Dr Anna Bull is a founder and director of The 1752 Group, a research and campaign organisation addressing staff sexual misconduct in higher education. She is currently Principle Investigator on the ESRC-funded research project ‘Examining Institutional Responses to Sexual Misconduct: Higher Education After #MeToo’. Her research interests include class and gender inequalities in classical music education; and staff sexual misconduct in higher education. Her monograph Class, Control, and Classical Music was published in 2019 with Oxford University Press and in 2020 was joint winner of the British Sociological Association Philip Abrams Award. Anna was an academic advisor to the National Union of Students for their report Power in the Academy: staff sexual misconduct in UK higher education and co-authored The 1752 Group and McAllister Olivarius' Sector Guidance to address staff sexual misconduct in UK higher education.  

Alejandra Calvo Martínez has a degree in Sociology from the University of A Coruña and a Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Social Science from the University of Abertay Dundee (Scotland). She has worked in research and social intervention in the fields of gender, migration, and citizen participation, among others. She is currently responsible for Gender and Universities in the cabinet of the Minister of Universities of the Spanish Government.

Ms. Rhonda Davis is head of the Office of Equity and Civil Rights (OECR) in the Office of the Director at the U.S. National Science Foundation. Davis joined NSF in 2010 from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights where she served in several positions including Acting Associate Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights. Davis' experience includes establishing and managing nondiscrimination and diversity programs for both small and large federal agencies. Davis holds a M.S. in agricultural economics from North Carolina Agriculture and Technical State University and a B.S. in agricultural economics from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. She has completed numerous executive education programs including Georgetown University (Leadership Coaching), Fielding University (World Café), Harvard University (Strategies of Persuasion and Essentials of Decision Making), Duke University (Innovative Leadership), George Washington University (Senior Executive Education Program), Georgetown University/Brookings Institution (Advanced Public Policy), and the Center for Creative Leadership (The Looking Glass Experience).

Alain Denis is partner and Managing Director at Yellow Window, a design consultancy based in Belgium. He is mainly involved in service and policy design, translating research results into operational solutions. This includes developing social innovations to reduce inequalities that increased due to the Covid-19 policies (RESISTIRE), or developing evidence-based solutions to ensure Green Deal policies do not increase inequalities (ACCTING). He has been working on gender mainstreaming for 20 years in different policy domains and leads the team developing the toolkit on gender-based violence and harassment for research performing organisations in UniSAFE.

Karin Gilland Lutz chairs the LERU policy group on diversity, equality and inclusion, and serves as deputy head of the Office for Gender Equality and Diversity at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. Some of the main dossiers that she oversees include Gender Equality Plans, professional hiring and EDI in an Open Science environment. Originally from Sweden, Karin holds a PhD in Political Science from Trinity College Dublin (2001) and an M.A. degree in Public Administration from the German University of Administrative Sciences Speyer (2022).

Anne Laure Humbert, PhD, is Professor of Gender and Diversity and Co-Director of the Centre for Diversity Policy Research and Practice at Oxford Brookes University. Anne is very experienced in gender equality research at national and EU level, policy analysis and assessment as well as gender statistics. She specialises in applying quantitative methods to comparative social and economic analysis, particularly in relation to work and organisations, entrepreneurship, and work-life balance. She holds visiting positions at the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London and at the Center for Feminist Social Studies at Örebro University in Sweden. She has previously held positions at Cranfield University and Middlesex University London. Anne is a regular public speaker on gender equality and she enjoys the opportunity to make connections between theory, practice and activism.

Dr Gemma Irvine is Vice-President for Equality & Diversity in Maynooth University, Ireland.  Dr Irvine also has oversight of access and widening participation, and Excellence in Exile including University of Sanctuary and Scholars at Risk.  Previously Dr Irvine was Head of Policy and Strategic Planning in the Higher Education Authority (HEA), Irish National Delegate for FP7/Horizon2020 programmes, and Assistant Director of the Irish Research Council (IRC). Dr Irvine led the secretariat for the Irish National Review of Gender Equality in Irish Higher Education Institutions, 2016 and the Gender Equality Taskforce, 2018. Dr Irvine was an Irish National Delegate for the ERAC Standing Working Group for Gender in Research and Innovation (ERAC SWG GRI). Prior to that Dr Irvine completed her Masters and PhD in Neuroscience in New Zealand before coming to Ireland in 2004 to work as a Research Fellow in Trinity College Dublin.

Eva Janebová, Ph.D. is the Founding Director of the Institute for Excellence in Internationalization (IEI) Project at Palacký University. Her qualifications and experience were gained from Charles University, Columbia University, and the University of Minnesota where she was the very first Mestenhauser Fellow in 2018. In her 20 years working in international education Eva has focused on curriculum development and quality assurance, and has served as academic advisor to the Council for International Education Exchange and the Czech Ministry of Education. Her recent academic work includes ‘Mapping the Dimensions of Inclusive Internationalization’ (with Christopher Johnstone) in Inequalities in Study Abroad edited by Suzan Kommers and Krishna Bista, and is the author of "The Challenge of Culture" in Mestenhauser and the Possibilities of International Education from Routledge and co-author of one of ACA Think Piece on Inclusive Internationalisation (2022).

Lucie Jarkovská is a sociologist focusing on gender, sexuality, and education. She works at Masaryk University (Faculty of Education). She popularizes feminist issues and research on gender and sexuality with Kateřina Lišková in the stand-up act called Duo docentky.

Anne Johnson moved from California to the Czech Republic in 1994. She works in Brno as a medical and academic editor. She's the co-founder  of Czech Theater (performing Czech plays in English) and performs as an actor, storyteller, and comedian in Brno, Prague, Berlin, Bratislava, and Vienna.

Lukáš Levák joined the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports of Czechia in 2009, after completing his studies (History, Latin America Studies) at Charles University. Before he was appointed the Director of the Department for R&D, he had been in charge of the development of bilateral collaborations of Czechia in R&D and participation of Czechia in the ARTEMIS and ENIAC Joint Technology Initiatives under the 7th EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. Since 2014, he serves as the Director of the Department for R&D, which consists of the Unit for Research Infrastructures and the Unit for European Research Area. His duties and responsibilities, therefore, comprise particularly policy-making and public funding of research infrastructures (including Czech memberships in international R&D organizations and ERIC consortia), and formulation and implementation of the Czech national strategy for international cooperation in R&D in the framework of the European Research Area (including agenda of the EU Competitiveness Council of Research Ministers). As of 2014, Mr. Levák has been a Czech delegate to ERAC and also serves as a delegate to ESFRI since 2019. He represents the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports on many platforms, such as the ERA Forum, the ELI ERIC General Assembly, and the ESS ERIC Council. In 2022, he’s been the lead coordinator of the research policy agenda of the Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU.

Dr Anke Lipinsky, senior researcher at GESIS Leibniz-Institute for the Social Sciences, Department Data and Research on Society. She is a specialist in mixed methods. Dr Lipinsky has extensive experiences in the application of qualitative and quantitative social science methods in the field of gender (in)equalities and related topics in higher education and research. Her work focuses on evaluation, monitoring and understanding the effects of policy interventions that aim eradicating inequalities, including in research funding in the European Research Area. Dr Lipinsky is the PI for UniSAFE’s cross-cultural online survey in research performing organisations. She collaborated in multiple EU-funded projects, e.g. INTEGER, GenPORT, GEECCO, UniSAFE and INSPIRE. She served as expert in the European Commission's expert panels Gendered Innovations 2.0 and Impact Assessment on Structural Change and is a member of the international network of Women in Higher Education Management WHEM.

Miguel Lorente Acosta, Associated Professor in the School of Medicine of the University of Granada (Spain), advisor of the Equality, Sustainability and Inclusion Vice-rectorate of the university, PhD in Medicine and Surgery (graduated with honors), Specialist in Legal Medicine, Master in Bioethics and Law (University of Barcelona), and Forensic Doctor. He works and research on interpersonal violence and, specially, on violence against women and gender-based violence. He also works on masculinity and how men identity and androcentric culture are related with violent and power behaviors. As a consequence of his work, he has collaborated as an expert with United Nations, WHO, EIGE (EU), EC and other organisms and institutions. He has occupied political positions related to his work, being Delegate of the Government for Gender-based Violence in the national Government from 2008 to 2011. He has published more than 80 scientific papers in national and international journals, and has written 7 books, basically on violence against women and masculinities.  He also has two blogs, one, “Autopsia” (“Autopsy”) related to VAW, equality and social problems related; and the other, “Cardiopatía Poética” (“Poetic Cardiopathy”) on poetry, his other passion.

Dörthe Nickel is working on European and international scientific affairs at the direction of the Research Centre and is responsible for the gender, diversity and inclusion activities of the Research Centre of Institut Curie. She has worked for many years in the gender field, both in science and other areas. Active in EU-Life since 2013, she currently co-chairs the EU-Life Gender, Diversity and Inclusion working group. She alson led a work package in the H2020 project LIBRA on the development of Gender Equality Plans, which was carried by EU-LIFE member institutions. Before entering the field of life sciences, she headed a training centre for women in STEM jobs in Austria and edited a journal for women seeking a career in technology and science; she holds a certificate as gender mainstreaming expert.

Moira Pérez holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy (University of Buenos Aires, Argentina), is a researcher at the Argentine Council for Scientific and Technical Research, and is a lecturer at the UBA (School of Philosophy and Literature). She has been a guest lecturer and/or researcher at the Universities of Hildesheim (Germany), Toulouse (France), New York (USA), the Catholic University of Chile, and the University of the Republic (Uruguay). She directs the Research Group on Applied Philosophy and Queer Politics (PolQueer) and studies, from Practical Philosophy and Queer Theory, the articulation between violence and identities, with a focus on institutional violence and epistemic violence.

Sara Pilia graduated in Chinese language and culture at Sapienza University (2015). She subsequently started her PhD training in History and Political institutions of Contemporary China at the same university. At the same time, she got involved in advocacy activity at University and research, with the Italian Association of ECRs in Italy first, and then Eurodoc. At the European level, she focused especially on gender issues in academia. From 2019 to 2021 she coordinated the Eurodoc Equality WG, and in 2021 was elected Eurodoc Vice President and started working on the drafting of a Gender Equality Plan. As Vice President, she also acted as Head of the delegation at the Conference of INGOs of the Council of Europe. In the Conference of INGOs, she is Secretary of the Committee devoted to gender equality and women’s rights. Currently, she works mostly in Italy in cooperation with the national association ARCI. In this association, she is also a member of the National working group on gender issues.

Paulina Polak is a first year MA student of Cultural Studies at University of Warsaw, Poland. She is a member of a team dealing with sexual violence which operates under student’s ombudsman.  It is a new body in university’s structure and is still being in the making. In the team she is especially involved with promotional activities, contact with students, university emploees and media. Paula is a co-funder and member of Student Feminist Community of the University of Warsaw which consociates feminist-oriented students. It’s main mission is to provide a safe space for academic discussions, informal meetings and activism. Her academic interests consist of feminist theory and cultural history.

Lesia Radelicki is a Member of Cabinet of Commissioner for Equality Helena Dalli at the European Commission, within which she is responsible for gender equality. Prior to joining the Cabinet, she coordinated a European women’s organization, advocating and designing policies on gender equality, leading campaigns on closing the gender pay gap and combatting VAW and conducted a series of trainings worldwide on women’s political empowerment and participation as well as participated in election observations.

Stephan Michael Schröder, since 2022 Vice Rector for Academic Staff and Equal Opportunities, University of Cologne. Born in Namibia. Studied Scandinavian Studies, Political Science and History at the Universities of Kiel, Minneapolis and Odense. M.A. in Kiel 1988, Ph.D. in Scandinavian Studies in Berlin (Free University) 1993. Academic employment 1991–2005 at the Free University and the Humboldt-University in Berlin, interrupted by a scholarship stay in Copenhagen 1997–1999, financed by the German Research Council. Since 2005 Professor in Scandinavian Studies at the Department of Scandinavian and Finnish Studies at the University of Cologne. 2015–2019 Vice Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, the first three years responsible for staff, gender equality and diversity, the last one for international affairs.

Anna Schubertová is a PhD candidate studying comparative literature at the Faculty of Arts at Charles University. She is a member of a student organisation Initiative Out Loud (Iniciativa Nahlas) focused on gender based violence at universities. In February, Iniciativa Nahlas published an open letter advocating for an implementation of policies against GBV and since then continues to push for improvement of preventive measures, report procedures or teacher’s training. Since October 2022 Anna is a member of the student branch of the Faculty of Arts Academic Senate and has been appointed as a student advisor for the reporting of sexual harassement cases.

Věra Sokolová is Vice-Chair of the Equality & Diversity Working Group at Coimbra Group; Chair of the Board for Equal Opportunities at Charles University; and Associate Professor of History and Head of the Graduate Program in Gender Studies at Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic. She is a member of the Gender 4EU+ platform of the 4EU+ European University Alliance; a former member of the Committee for Sexual Minorities of the Government Council of the Czech Republic; and a member of several editorial and research boards of academic institutions in the Czech Republic. She specializes in comparative history of gender and sexuality; collective memory and public space; and reproductive justice. She is the author of four books and numerous chapters and research articles, mostly in English.

Sofia Strid is Associate Professor in Gender Studies, Örebro University and Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Gothenburg University, Sweden. She is Research Leader of the Centre for Violence Studies. She works inter-disciplinary and has held positions in Gender Studies, Political Science, and Sociology in Austria, Belgium, Sweden, and the UK. Strid has worked extensively on developing concepts and methodologies for theorising and measuring gender-based violence, currently as the Scientific Coordinator of the EUH2020-funded projects UniSAFE: Gender-based violence and institutional responses (2021-2024), RESISTIRÉ: Reducing gendered inequalities (2021-2023), and ACCTING: For a fair and inclusive green deal (2022-2025), and as PI of the Swedish Research Council funded Violence Regimes (2018-2022). Her work has been published in e.g., Policy and Practice, Feminist Theory, Health Care for Women International, Journal of European Social Policy, Journal of Sex Research, Politics and Governance, Social Politics, Social Problems, Sociology, Theory & Society, and Women’s Studies International Forum.

Dr. Rona Jualla van Oudenhoven is the Chief Diversity Officer of Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands with the responsibility to strategically embed Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion [DEI] into the cultural and structural fabric of the institution. She embraces this role in collaboration and partnership with all stakeholders. She is a sociologist by training and an action researcher and equity practitioner by trade. She has worked as an education and equity consultant in international development for ten years with marginalized groups focusing in many instances on situations of violence including gender-based violence. Her publications include among others, A Rights-based Approach to Violence, Diversity Dialogues, and most recently The Myth of Child Welfare which speaks to the systemic violence of discrimination in Ontario’s child welfare system.  She has incorporated the themes of social safety, intersectionality, power and powerlessness, gender equity, and human rights as premised on the social sustainability goals into the university’s DEI strategic plan and the university’s gender equality plan [GEP].

Prof. PaedDr. Radka Wildova, CSc. graduated from the Faculty of Education at Charles University. After teaching practice at several primary schools, she started in 1993 as an academic worker at the Faculty of Education, Charles University, where she was also the dean from 2009 to 2016. From 2016 to the end of January 2022, she held the position of Vice-Rector of Charles University for the conception and quality of education. She is the author or co-author of a number of professional publications and a member of several domestic and foreign expert teams. Since 2022 she has held the position of Deputy Minister for research and Higher Education.