Gert Biesta is Professor of Public Education in the Centre for Public Education and Pedagogy, Maynooth University, Ireland, and Professor of Educational Theory and Pedagogy at the Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, UK. He holds Visiting Professorships at the University of Agder, Norway, and Uniarts, the University of the Arts, Helsinki, Finland. Gert is a prolific author and has written many books on the theory of education and educational and social research, and his work has appeared in 20 different languages. He has particular interests in national and global education policy, curriculum, teaching and teacher education, democracy and citizenship education, religious education and arts education.

Dr Kevin House is Education Futures Architect at ⁠Education in Motion⁠, a growing family of premier education brands, including ⁠Dulwich College International⁠ and ⁠Green School⁠, with more than 11,000 students. As part of this work, Kevin is leading the development of a new and innovative high school concept called ⁠SE21⁠. You can find out more about SE21 ⁠here⁠. 

Kevin is also Associate Professor in Practice in the Education faculty at Durham University.

Prior to this, Kevin led quality assurance processes for the International Baccalaureate Organisation as the Head of IB World Schools. 

AJ Juliani is the Founder/CEO of Adaptable Learning and serves as Faculty for the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education (PLN). Prior to his current role, AJ served as Head of Learning & Growth at NextLesson, Director of Learning and Innovation for Centennial School District, and Education and Technology Innovation Specialist for Upper Perkiomen School District. Previously AJ worked as a K-12 Staff Developer (Instructional Coach) in the Wissahickon School District where he also taught middle school and high school English/LA. Juliani's latest book is ⁠Adaptable: How to Create an Adaptable Curriculum and Flexible Learning Experiences That Work in Any Environment⁠. Previously he authored EMPOWER, an education best-seller and the award-winning LAUNCH on bringing design thinking into K-12 classrooms.

Sir Michael Barber⁠ is a world leading expert on government delivery, education systems, systemic innovation and education reform.

Sir Michael led the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit for the Blair administration in the UK from 2001-2005. Since then, he has worked on ⁠delivery and system-wide reforms⁠ in more than 50 countries. He personally leads high-stakes engagements with political leaders, such as quarterly cabinet retreats in Canada with PM Justin Trudeau, to help them adopt the delivery approach.

Professor Daniel T. Willingham⁠ earned his B.A. from Duke University in 1983 and his Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from Harvard University in 1990. He is currently Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia, where he has taught since 1992. Until about 2000, his research focused solely on the brain basis of learning and memory. Today, all of his research concerns the application of cognitive psychology to K-16 education. Daniel writes the ⁠“Ask the Cognitive Scientist”⁠ column for American Educator magazine, in which he has translated relevant cognitive science research for educators since 2003. He is also a prolific author whose writing on education has appeared in seventeen languages.

Dr. Mary Helen Immordino-Yang⁠ studies the psychological and neurobiological bases of social emotion, self-awareness and culture and their implications for learning, development and schools. She is a Professor of Education at the ⁠USC Rossier School of Education⁠, a Professor of Psychology at the Brain and Creativity Institute, a member of the Neuroscience Graduate Program Faculty at the University of Southern California, and Director of the USC ⁠Center for Affective Neuroscience, Development, Learning and Education (CANDLE)⁠.

Joshua Freedman⁠ is a leading expert on applying emotional intelligence (EQ) to optimize performance. He is the CEO of ⁠Six Seconds⁠, the world’s most extensive EQ organization, now with offices and representatives in 25 countries. 

Josh teaches people how to increase EQ to be happier, stronger, and more effective professionally and personally. He works with leaders and teams around the world helping them use emotional intelligence to get better results.  His clients include FedEx, Microsoft, INTEL, Amazon, all branches of the US armed forces, and the United Nations.

Jonathan James⁠ is a teacher, education consultant and doctoral candidate at the UCL Institute of Education.

Jonathan's own doctoral research investigates how policies developed in response to the threat of terrorism are being implemented in schools in England and France in light of the two countries’ policy traditions, and educators’ pre-existing values and practices.

Jonathan has written extensively on ⁠the role of schools in anti-terrorism policy⁠ and is an expert on ⁠values education⁠ and countering radicalisation. His book, co-authored with Dr Jan Germen Janmaat, ⁠Civil Disorder, Domestic Terrorism and Education Policy: The Context in England and France⁠ was published in 2019.

Sharath Jeevan⁠ is one of the world’s leading experts on reigniting our inner drive (intrinsic motivation). He founded and led ⁠STiR Education⁠ – arguably the world’s largest intrinsic motivation initiative. STiR has re-ignited the motivation of 200,000 teachers, 35,000 schools and 7 million children in emerging countries. 

Sharath is currently the Executive Chairman of ⁠Intrinsic Labs⁠, which supports organizations all around the world to solve deep motivational challenges, from governments to leading UK universities and high-profile corporations. He was elected an ⁠Ashoka Fellow⁠ in 2014 and was recognised as one of the UK’s ten leading social entrepreneurs in 2019.

Andreia Mitrea⁠ is the CEO of ⁠Colina Learning Center⁠ - a new educational project seeking to change the way people think about learning. As part of the ⁠Colina Nouă⁠ residential development in Romania, Colina Learning Center is developing a new educational concept in response to the question: “How might we use school to serve the learning of both children AND adults?" As the residential development and school grow, Andreia is leading the development of an innovative "integrated adult-child curriculum". Andreia believes that “It doesn’t take a village, it takes a GREAT village to raise a child.”

Dr. Samah Karaki is a neuroscientist, and the founding director of the ⁠Social Brain Institute⁠. SBI is an NGO based in Geneva and operating in Europe and the Middle East where it implements research-based strategies to support individual and organisational change.

Samah's research focuses on the neuronal basis of stress affecting emotional and social behaviours. She is also interested in the neural basis of memory and unconscious processes, empathy, behavioural change and creativity. Combining scientific outreach and consultancy experience with neuroscience insights, Samah has delivered tailored seminars to over 2000 academics, corporate executives, entrepreneurs, scientific institutes as well as universities, teenagers at schools and consulted on change management programs for leaders in various organisations.

As Dean of the African Leadership Academy, Hatim Eltayeb leads the Diploma Program, enabling the rich community of colleagues bringing the leadership learning program to life.

Hatim is a life-long educator with pan-African and south-south tendencies. Sudanese by spirit and nationality; born in Kuwait; reared in Oman; raised in Cairo and flourishing in Johannesburg. 

Alongside a committed team, Hatim works to translate ALA’s mission into the daily work of building, learning, innovating and leading school community. He has represented ALA’s work at conferences and convenings across the continent as well as in Singapore, Japan, the US and at the European Parliament in Brussels.

Mart Laidmets⁠ is the General Director of Education and Youth Board of the Republic of Estonia. Previously, from January 2019 until August 2021, he held the position of the Secretary General of the ⁠Ministry of Education and Research of the Republic of Estonia⁠, responsible for directing the work of deputy secretary generals and departments of the Ministry as well as co-ordinating the work of state institutions and government bodies under the Ministry’s sphere of administration. 

Julia Middleton is passionate about helping people from all backgrounds to develop as leaders and make an active and tangible contribution to their communities and to wider society. Julia is the author of two bestselling books: Beyond Authority: Leadership in a Changing World and Cultural Intelligence: The Competitive Edge for Leaders Crossing Boundaries. In the autumn of 1989, Julia founded Common Purpose, which has grown to be one of the biggest leadership development organizations in the world. Julia stepped down from the position of Chief Executive in 2019. In 2015, Julia gave a very well-received talk at TEDxEastEnd on Cultural Intelligence: The Competitive Edge for Leaders.

Jessica Cavallaro⁠ is an innovative educator and curriculum designer who brings ⁠the agile mindset into the classroom⁠. She is a champion of project based learning and creating purposeful educational experiences both in and out of the classroom. Jessica has delved into applying Agile and Scrum to keep students connected, collaborating and creating while teaching in a hybrid setting. She is passionate about developing better systems that put students first in education.

Kiran Bir Sethi⁠ is a designer who became a teacher, a principal who grew into an education reformer and subsequently morphed into a social entrepreneur. A trained graphic designer from the National Institute of Design, she comfortably uses the language of design – iteration, prototype, design specs – to develop not only curriculum innovation, but also community-based social programmes.

Kiran founded the award winning ⁠Riverside School⁠ in Ahmedabad, India, in 2001. Riverside, is viewed as a laboratory to prototype design processes that uses a systems approach to build a culture of empowerment, graduating young citizen leaders with an ‘I CAN Mindset’ – using their agency for the greater good.

Estelle Baroung Hughes⁠ is the Founding President of ⁠Africa Learning International⁠, focused on SDG 4 (Quality Education for All) in Africa. As a Cameroonian citizen, Estelle is passionate about the cultural wealth of her 250 languages country. The focus of her NGO is to honour the diversity of African nations by supporting culturally responsive education on the continent. ALI provides teacher professional development, Master Teacher programs, shares educational resources and opportunities and organizes conferences and teacher exchanges.

Aug 7

Cathryn Berger Kaye, M.A., president of CBK Associates, and ABCD Books, travels throughout the United States and globally providing professional development programs, conference keynotes, in-depth institutes, and exceptional education and learning resources on service learning, 21st century competencies, social and emotional realms, climate and culture, youth engagement, effective teacher strategies, and environmental sustainability.

Raya Bidshahri⁠ is a serial education entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and award-winning educator.

Raya is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the ⁠School of Humanity⁠, a revolutionary online high school with a progressive model and skill-based curriculum.

Raya is also the Founder of ⁠Awecademy⁠, an award-winning organization offering future-focussed & wisdom-based education. She has served on the founding teams of multiple organizations including ⁠SciFest Dubai⁠, and ⁠SheWorks⁠.

Raya serves as an advisory board member to multiple EdTech companies and is a member of the Bett Future Education Council. She was named one of the ⁠BBC's 100 Women⁠ for 2019.

Dave Snowden⁠ is the founder and Chief Scientific Officer of ⁠Cognitive Edge⁠. His work is in the area of naturalising ⁠sense-making⁠, seeking to base social science research and practice in the natural sciences. He is generally considered to be a pioneer in the application of complex adaptive systems theory to a range of social issues, and in the development of narrative as a research method. His work extends across government and industry in a variety of fields including knowledge management, strategic planning, conflict resolution, counter terrorism, decision support and organisational development.