This year’s speakers 2023 (list to be completed)

Kjell Stefan Löfven is a Swedish politician who has served as the President of European Socialists since October 2022. He previously served as Prime Minister of Sweden from October 2014 to November 2021 and as leader of the Social Democratic Party from 2012 to 2021. He is currently Chair of the Governing Board of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. His background includes extensive experience from various domestic and international assignments. He was recently appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General to co-lead a High-level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism in preparation for the 2023 Summit of the Future. 

Dalia Grybauskaitė is a Lithuanian politician and was President of Lithuania from 2009 until 2019. She is the first woman to hold the position and in 2014 she became the first President of Lithuania to be reelected for a second consecutive term. She has also served as Minister of Finance, as well as European Commissioner for Financial Programming and the Budget from 2004 to 2009. 

Lusine Djanyan is a Russian artist of Armenian origin whose work and activism have made a significant impact in both the art world and the broader social and political landscape. She is a member of the Russian feminist punk group Pussy Riot and participated early in iconic actions. Her art explores themes of identity, trauma and memory. She has exhibited her work in galleries and museums around the world, including in Russia, Norway, Sweden, London and others. She currently lives and works in Stockholm and has received political asylum in Sweden.

Djanyan has been involved in various activist movements, including protests against the Russian government, support for political prisoners and anti-war movement. The feminist group Pussy Riot has famously brought attention to issues of freedom of expression and political repression in Russia.

Djanyan is known for her work using various mediums including painting, performances and installations, often incorporating elements of documentation. For instance, she documented protests in Russia using art and creating installations «White circle» which was exhibited in Bergen’s KODE in 2014. She has also documented her life-story, as a twice-displaced person, once in her early childhood in the collapsing USSR for ethnic cleansing reasons, and later for political reasons as an artist and activist in Russia.

Bjarni Jónsson is a member of the Allthingi in Iceland (Left-Green Movement). Iceland currently holds the presidency of the Council of Europe. Since 2021, Jónsson has been the Chair of Iceland’s Foreign Affairs Committee and the Icelandic delegation to the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly. He is also a member of the EU-Iceland joint Parliamentary Committee since 2022, as well as being a member of the Environment and Communications Committee since 2021.

Erkki Tuomioja is chair of Historians without Borders and a member of the Finnish parliament. He was behind the initiative to establish Historians without Borders in Finland as an NGO in 2015. In 2008, Erkki Tuomioja was president of the Nordic Council, and he served as minister of foreign affairs in Finland from 2000-2007 and 2011-2015. He has a Ph.D. in political science and has published 18 books. Erkki Tuomioja holds a lectureship in political history in the University of Helsinki.  

Olga Stefanishyna is Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine. She holds a degree in international law and translation (English) from the Institute of International Relations of the University of Kyiv. In 2016, she received a specialist degree in Finance and Credit from Odesa National Economics University. 

William Horsley is the Media Freedom Representative of the Association of European Journalists and AEJ UK Chairman. He was a long-standing BBC Foreign News Correspondent and is now writing for BBC News Online, The World Today (Chatham House), Standpoint magazine and other publications. He is also International Director of the Centre for Freedom of the Media (CFOM) at the University of Sheffield and works with the UK National Commission for UNESCO and has chaired and co-organised the annual World Press Freedom Day debates in the UK each year since 2007 on behalf of UNESCO and the UK Press Freedom Network of 20 media and human rights organisations.

Kjersti Løken Stavrum is the CEO of the Tinius Trust and Chair the Board of the Cultiva Foundation. She has several years of experience as a journalist and chief executive editor. She was previously Chair of the Board of Norwegian PEN and leads the Norwegian government’s Commission on Freedom of Expression. 

In 2022, Erik Møse was appointed as Chair of the Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine. He is a Norwegian judge and an expert in international human rights law and international criminal law. He is a former judge of the European Court of Human Rights, former President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and a former judge of the Supreme Court of Norway. He chaired the Council of Europe’s Steering Committee for Human Rights, the expert committee drafting the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and has published extensively on human rights. Having presided over an international criminal tribunal, he has a profound understanding of human rights investigations and the collection of evidence. 

Sonay Ban is the editor of Susma/Speak Up Platform in Turkey. She holds a Ph.D. degree in Cultural and Visual Anthropology from Temple University, USA. Additionally, she holds a B.A. in Sociology from Boğaziçi University, an M.A. in Cultural Studies from Sabancı University, and an M.A. in Anthropology from Temple University. She has taught graduate and undergraduate courses at Temple University and Sabancı University, published an online article on American Anthropologist, and written a book chapter in Turkish. She is currently co-writing a textbook with Can Candan (MFA) on the history of documentary cinema in Turkey in Turkish. In her forthcoming article (to be published on the Spring 2023 issue of Visual Anthropology Review), she examines multiple mechanisms and practices of film censorship from contemporary Turkey. 

Photo credit: Lütfiye Ban 

Sara Whyatt is a campaigner and researcher on freedom of artistic expression and human rights, notably as director of PEN International ‘s freedom of expression program for over 20 years and previously at Amnesty International’s Asia Research Department.  In 2013 she took up freelance consultancy, working on projects among them for UNESCO, Freemuse, Culture Action Europe, PEN International, and the International Freedom of Expression Exchange.  In 2019 she was selected onto UNESCO’s Expert Facility advising on its 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. She is also the author of the chapter on freedom of artistic expression in the Convention’s 2015 and 2018 Global Reports and has developed training programs for governments and CSOs on monitoring and reporting strategies on artistic freedom. 

Bjørn Berge is a former Norwegian diplomat who has recently been elected as the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe. He has served as Secretary of the Committee of Ministers and Head of the Cabinet of SG Thorbjørn Jagland. He will give an opening statement at the conference.

Deineko Oleksandra is a guest researcher (Scholar at Risk) at the Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research (NIBR), OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University (Norway) and an associate professor at School Sociology V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University (Ukraine).

Ph.D. in Sociology (2015). Oleksandra is the member of the Norwegian Network for Research on Ukraine – UKRAINETT and a board member of the Sociological Association of Ukraine (SAU).

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine Oleksandra is focusing on studying social transformations occurred of Ukrainian society under the war and life experiences of Ukrainian refugees in Norway.

She is a project researcher at such projects  “Ukrainian refugees experiences with the integration process and public services in Norway” (2023-2026); “Ukrainian refugees – experiences from the first phase in Norway” (2022); “Accommodation of Regional Diversity in Ukraine” (ARDU) 2018-2021, “Fostering the Urban Food System Transformation through Innovative Living Labs” (2021-2024); “Sociological and mathematical modeling of the socio-epidemic management effectiveness processes to ensure the national security of Ukraine” (2021-2022). Project leader in “The quality of higher legal education and the educational environment in the assessments of law students in Ukraine" (2020-2021, USAID New Justice Program).

Ine Eriksen Søreide is a Norwegian politician and a member of the Conservative Party (Høyre). She served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2017 to 2021 and was the first woman to hold this position. Previously, she was the Minister of Defence from 2013 to 2017.  

Paul Dujardin is a leading figure in Europe’s civil society. He has been CEO of the Centre for Fine Arts Brussels (BOZAR) from 2002 to 2021. Under his leadership, the house for culture has turned into a respected and internationally recognized multidisciplinary European hub driven by the New European Bauhaus ideals. Since 2016 Paul was co-author and advisor for the EU for the development of public (cultural) diplomacy strategy. Attracting over 1,3 million visitors each year, BOZAR plays a crucial role as a meeting place in the heart of the European Union, while acting as a pivotal defender of the European project both in the EU and in its external policies. Over the last years, Paul has widened BOZAR’s scope of expertise, activities and outreach through the establishment of a thorough intersectoral approach incorporating the arts, science and technology. Under his leadership, BOZAR has developed numerous exhibitions, festivals, concerts, cinema events and debates with various hybrid formats and became a contemporary think tank. 

Jan Oddvar Skisland is the Mayor of Kristiansand and chairman of the Steering Committee of the European Conference of Democracy and Human Rights. 

Sunniva Whittaker is the elected rector of the University of Agder for the period 2019 – 2027 and is also the Chair of the University Board. She holds a PhD in French Linguistics from the University of Bergen. Additionally, she has studied French, Literary Science and Russian and is also a trained conference interpreter. From 2021 – 2023 Sunniva Whittaker serves as the Chair of Universities Norway. She was formerly the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Education at UiA and has also held positions as Department Head and Vice Rector at NHH Norwegian School of Economics.  

Gunn Marit Helgesen is president of the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities. She is vice President of the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities – an organisation that works to promote human rights, democracy and good governance. Helgesen is also Co-President of CEMR, the umbrella organisation for European municipalities and regions.

Sverre Pedersen has been a filmmaker since 1985, mainly directing and producing documentaries. He was the president of Norwegian Film Makers Association from 2005 to 2020 and a member of the board of FERA from 2015 to 2022. He worked as campaign and advocacy manager in Freemuse for 2 years from September 2019. Now he is head of production in Fuuse – Deeyah Khan’s production company and chair of the Freemuse Executive Committee.

He has been an activist in human rights, solidarity work, anti-racism, environmental protection, and he has worked with refugees since his early teenage years. 

Fiona O'Loughlin is a member of the Irish Senate. She currently serves as Chair of the Oireachtas Women’s Caucus, and Head of Irish delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. She previously served as a Councillor, Mayor, member of the Committee of the Regions , and was the first ever female elected TD  for her native Kildare. Fiona is rapporteur on a fourth Summit for a renewed, improved and reinforced Council of Europe. She is also Vice- President of the ALDE Council of Europe representation.

Ambassador (R) Tacan Ildem is the Chairman of the Istanbul-based think-tank EDAM, Centre for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies. Ildem, who was one of the members of the Independent Experts Group appointed by the NATO Secretary General, that presented a report entitled “NATO 2030: United for a New Era”, is a senior Turkish diplomat. From the start of his long career in 1978 till he retired in February 2021 he held bilateral and multilateral positions including NATO Assistant Secretary General between 2016 to 2020. He served as the Turkish Ambassador to the Netherlands and the Turkish Permanent Representative to NATO and the OSCE. He also held positions as the Director General for International Security Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Chief of Cabinet, Principal Foreign Policy Advisor and Spokesperson of the President of the Republic. His earlier postings abroad also include those at the Turkish Permanent Delegation to NATO and the Turkish Embassies in Washington DC, Athens and New Delhi. Ambassador Ildem is a graduate of Ankara University Faculty of Political Science. He is a recipient of the decoration of Grand Officer of the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity and the Medal of Gratitude of Albania.

Iulian Bulai is president of the ALDE group within the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe (PACE). He is a member of the Romanian Parliament from Save Romania Union (USR) and chair of the Culture, Arts and Mass Media Committee. Iulian Bulai is a graduate of The Oslo National Academy of the Arts and University of Siena.

Alice Bergholtz is the vice chairperson of the Advisory Council on Youth of the Council of Europe. She was one of the initiators of the Council of Europe campaign for revitalizing pluralistic democracy "Democracy Here | Democracy Now", and has worked extensively on social inclusion and meaningful youth participation. She is currently conducting a PhD in Media and Communication Studies, focusing on young people’s advocacy practices in democratic decision-making. 

Dr. Bernd Vöhringer has served as President of the EPP Group and head of the German delegation of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities in the Council of Europe for many years. Since 2021 he serves as President of the Local Chamber of the Congress.

Bernd Vöhringer is Lord Mayor of Sindelfingen, a city of about 65,000 inhabitants in the German Land Baden-Württemberg. He studied Economics at the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart. In 2003 he completed his PhD where he focused on information and communication technology within the New Public Management. From 1994 to 2000 he was elected as city councillor of Sindelfingen. In 2001 he was elected as Lord Mayor and reelected in 2009 and 2016. 

Oleksandr Syenkevych was elected as Mykolaiv City Mayor on November, 24, 2015. Syenkevych is the youngest mayor of the regional centre of Ukraine. On November 22, 2020 he was reelected as the Mykolaiv City Mayor. His main task as a mayor of a half a million city is transformation of Mykolaiv into the best city for the citizens’ life. On February, 24 with the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into the territory of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syenkevych has become the head of the city, which has been on the front zone. He has organized the work of the city council executive bodies under martial law. Prior to his position as a mayor, Mr Syenkevych founded a public organization «Golos gromady».

Ambassador (ret) Torbjørn Frøysnes,

Torbjørn Frøysnes is working as a consultant for public affairs. He is a retired Ambassador who served for more than 40 years in the Norwegian diplomacy, last as Norway’s Ambassador to the Council of Europe, Strasbourg, 2003-2008 and Ambassador of the Council of Europe to the EU in Brussels, 2008-2017.

He is a former Deputy Foreign Minister of Norway and has been Chief of Cabinet to the Foreign Minister. He served as Norway’s Chief Negotiator and Ambassador for Trade in Services in the World Trade Organisation (WTO), as Deputy Director General in the Trade Department of the MFA and has been a long-time negotiator on security and arms control in East-West relations.

He has been the CEO of the Norwegian Tourist Board, Chairman of the Nordic Tourist Board and Vice President of the European Travel Commission (ETC). He has written numerous articles on politics, diplomacy, and international affairs, and participated frequently in public debates and news on these issues.

He has been member of the Board of the European Trotting Union (UET, Paris), of the Board of the National Trotting Association (DNT) of Norway and of Norsk Rikstoto, the Norwegian Betting Company for Horse Racing. He is a long-time owner and breeder of racehorses.