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Alex Grech

Department of Media and Communications

Faculty of Media and Knowledge Sciences - University of Malta​

Malta​​

Dr. Alex Grech is a strategist, change consultant and academic. He is the founding Director of the Commonwealth Centre for Connected Learning. He advises governments, public institutions, startups and NGOs on projects impacted by disruptive technologies. He teaches new media at the University of Malta within the Faculty of Media & Knowledge Sciences, an expert on the EU Blockchain Observatory & Forum, and a member of the board the Centre for Distributed Ledger Technologies at the University of Malta. He is also a consultant to the EC on the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI) initiative. Alex holds a PhD in Internet Computing from the University of Hull and is a Chartered Accountant by profession. Alex’s research interests are in digital citizenship, digital literacy, blockchain & identity, social media and power.

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Title of Speech: Emerging Technologies & Digital Education: rethinking strategies for troubled times

The talk will lever on the first-hand experiences of the speaker in two key projects supported by the European Commission. The DEL4ALL project is being upscaled because of covid-19 to fast-track a community of practice working with emerging technologies (blockchain, AI, augmented reality, internet of things) as a means of redefining the needs of digital education. The European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI) project identified blockchain diplomas as one of the first four use case studies to illustrate the benefits of self-sovereign identity to European citizens. The talk will discuss the strategies being deployed in these two projects and examine their potential adoption by higher education institutions and learners seeking workable solutions to long-lasting challenges. ​

Luís Miguel Cardoso

Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre

Centre for Comparative Studies - University of Lisbon

Portugal

Luís Miguel Cardoso as a PhD in Modern Languages and Literatures (Comparative Literature) by the University of Coimbra. In December 2018, concluded his Post-Doctoral research on Communication, Education and Literacies (Pedagogical Innovation in Higher Education) at the University of Seville (Spain). Adjunct Professor of the Department of Language and Communication Sciences of the Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre (Higher School of Education and Social Sciences), Dean of the School of Education and Social Sciences from February 2010 until January 2018, and President of ARIPESE – Association for Reflexion and Intervention in Higher Education Schools Politics from November 2015 until May 2018. Main interests in teaching and research include Science and Communication Languages, Education and Pedagogical Innovation, Literacies, Literature and Cinema, and Higher Education Management. National coordinator for the Public Polytechnics, during the Portuguese integration in the European Bologna Process, in Media and Communication Sciences, Member of several international organizations concerning Education, Communication, Literacies, Comparative Literature, Narratology, Film Studies and Higher Education Management and reviewer of several international journals. Published papers in national and international journals and is a member of C3i - Interdisciplinary Research and Innovation Coordination of the Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre and CEC – Centre for Comparative Studies of the University of Lisbon.

Title of Speech: Challenges and Horizons for Education and Technology

The society of the twenty-first century is deeply heterogeneous, increasingly demanding in the codification and decoding of messages due to its complex, multicultural nature, in a permanent technological vortex, with a clear discursive hybridism, with different media and interactive information platforms, information oceans for which we rarely have the time and tools to analyze, filter and assimilate. Thus, there is a triple need for change: educational systems must understand the challenges of this new society of technology and information must follow the new faces and characteristics of our students, immersed in cyberculture, and must provide new educational practices, carried out by a new teacher. It is urgent to train the trainers for this new reality, with information and communication technologies, image, teaching platforms, new didactic resources, multiliteracies, always with critical thinking (because technology is not enough), and always being aware that teachers are the agents of scientific, technical and emotional change. For this triple shift, one factor is fundamental in the process of rethinking pedagogical innovation in Higher Education: specific skills motivated by a constantly evolving society. As stated in the OECD report (OECD, 2018, p.6): “The concept of competency implies more than just the acquisition of knowledge and skills; it involves the mobilisation of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values to meet complex demands. Future-ready students will need both broad and specialised knowledge.” Our task is to understand all these changes, accept the challenges and broaden our horizons in Education and Technology.

Woodrow W. Clark II

Qualitative Economist, Managing Director

Clark Communication-Strategic Partners

Beverly Hills, CA
USA

Dr. Clark is a well-known international author, expert, lecturer who works with entrepreneurs and consultants for companies, government due to his demonstrated global achievements (EU, Asia, Middle East and Western Hemisphere. He earned three separate Master of Arts degrees from three different universities in Illinois and his PhD at University of California, Berkeley in Cross-disciplinary Studies”. His primary focus and concerns are on global, national and local solutions to climate change in economic and polices in smart green healthy communities. He has over 3 decades of experiences in renewable green energy, technologies and systems such as solar, wind, geothermal as well as energy efficiency. Aside from starting three different companies, he was the first Manager of Tech Transfer at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in the USA and was one of five Energy Advisors to the California Governor (2000-2003). From 1993 to 2000, he volunteered to be a contributing author and editor for the UN IPCC Third Report (2000) that won the Nobel Peace Prize in December 2007. 

For the last two decades, Woody started Clark Strategic Partners 2004 and in 2020 added to it the name of his media company (1980s) titled Clark Communication-Strategic Partners that has accomplished other achievements such as:

•    Professor in Sustainability, Business with Economics and Technology solutions to Climate Change at Pepperdine University, University of California, Riverside, Davis and UCLA and European and Asian universities (2004 - 2019)

•    Visiting lecturer, Aalborg University, Denmark (1994-2019) as Fulbright Fellow in 1994.

•    Visiting lecturer at University of International Relation (UIR), Beijing, China (July 2013 – 2019) for two weeks each year.

•    Member of UN B20 Finance Task Force Coordinated by China (2016), Germany (2017), and then Argentina (2018) 

•    Member of the December 2015 Paris Accord hosted by China (2016)

•    Produced documentaries on topic such as sexual harassment, laughter is good medicine, older workers. Member of the Producers Guild of America (PGA) from 1983 to 2020

Woody has published 18 books by the end of 2019 and 2 more set for 2020. His next books are: Sustainable Mega Communities (Elsevier Press) and Circular Economics (Nova Press). He has over 90 peer-reviewed papers. Clark authored and edited are his first book on Agile Energy Systems (Elsevier Press 2004 and 2017), The Next Economics (Springer, 2012) and Global Sustainable Communities Handbook (Elsevier, 2014). Sustainable Communities Design Handbook (Elsevier Press 2017) and based on his PhD Thesis Violence in Schools, Colleges and Universities (Nova Press). Climate Preservation (Elsevier Press) and 3 more books that are published in 2019: Qualitative Economics (2nd Springer Press); Qualitative and Quantitative Economics (Q2E): Making Economics into a Science (NOVA Press). And with co-authored with Grant Cooke The Green Industrial Revolution (Elsevier, 2015), Green Development Paradigm (in Mandarin, 2014) and Smart Green Cities (Routledge, February 2016).

Title of Speech: The New Normal in Economics

There is a “disconnection” between everyday life at home and business activities due to the international spread of the COVID -19 virus. The discussions and debates now are what we all need to do next. Being at home is the new “normal” by communicating with our children and grandchildren only on phones and computers through Zoom, WhatsApp and Skype plus more coming out every week. On a larger scale the “new normal” is what The Economist noted for economics in five or six areas such as manufacturing, businesses, transportation, hospitality, sports and more. Now the world is going through a new normal due to the pandemic. All of us baby boomers need to know what this new normal is about for our children and grandchildren.

Gabriela Kelemen

Psychology and Social Sciences

Faculty of Educational Science - "Aurel Vlaicu" University of Arad

Romania

Gabriela Kelemen is full professor of the Faculty of Educational Sciences, Psychology and Social Work of “Aurel Vlaicu” University, and she is the head of Department of Pedagogy, Psychology and Social Work, and also the editor in chief of Journal Plus Education.

She has a PhD. in Educational Science obtained at Faculty of Psychology and Educational Science, of University Babes Balyai Cluj Napoca, under the direction of Vasile Chiş, PhD.

Her domain of expertise are: Pedagogy of preschool and primary school, Romanian Language didactics, Psycho Pedagogy of play, Psycho Pedagogy of learning disabilities, Fundamentals of Special Education Methodology of integrative activities, The didactics of early learning activities and young schooling, The competence profile of educators for early education and young schooling .

She has published over 60 scientific papers. She is author of more 12 books as unique author or in collaboration and she has participated in over 60 scientific gatherings. 

Nowadays society with all that it implies requires well-balanced training of the young generation so as they would be able to face social challenges. Moreover it is necessary to pay increased attention to the training and education of students who wish to pursue a teaching career. This paper wants to stress out the importance of initial training of future teachers involves. It is based on the results collected from a five-year long study which has been investigating how students from the study programme Primary and Pre-school pedagogy acquire their theoretical and practical knowledge at the Faculty of Education Sciences, in Bachelor and Master degree studies. The study suggests strategies to improve initial teacher education and ways of linking theoretical knowledge to practical abilities. Studying how students learn, we have identified two ways of thorough training for the teaching profession. Both are very important if properly and rigorously corroborated. The first of them refers to the study of theoretical components recorded in the curricula and the second refers to the right practical application of theoretical knowledge. 

Türker Kılıç

Neurosurgery Department

School of Medicine - Bahçeşehir University

Turkey

Prof. Dr. Türker Kılıç is a Professor of Neurosurgery. He conducted his post-doctoral work on brain tumors and treatments at Harvard University and holds a PhD degree in Anatomy. In 2015, Prof. Kilic was selected to the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, one of the three most important academies in the world with over 30 Nobel Prize winners and a total of 15 Turkish members since its inception a quarter of a century ago. Having received medical training at Hacettepe, Marmara and Harvard Universities, Dr. Kılıç has been carrying out his academic work as the founding dean of the Bahçeşehir University School of Medicine since 2012. His research interest areas include the Mind-Brain Connection, Brain and Hypophysis Tumors, Microsurgery of Blood Vessels in the Brain, Intraoperative MRI. Professor Kılıç has been invited as a guest lecturer by more than 10 universities, including Harvard Medical School, Yale Medical School and Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Kılıç has received over 100 awards throughout his career for his contributions to medicine. His most prized awards are the European Association of Neurosurgical Societies Scientific Research Award (1999) and the American Association of Neurosurgery Award for Tumor Research in 2001. Dr. Kilic was nominated as a fellow to the World Academy of Art and Science in May, 2019.

Professor Kılıç, who has an H-index score of 32 and over 200 academic publications that have received 3,750 citations, is the inventor of various brain surgery methods and has made significant contributions to Gleevec, a smart drug for brain tumors. He is among the pioneers of Gamma-Knife Surgery, Tumor Banking, and Intraoperative MRI in Turkey.

In addition to his ongoing scientific research, Dr. Kılıç is involved in Medical Education and Science Education. Dr. Kılıç’s speeches on Science and Science Education have received over 10 million views online.

Levent Şahin

Department of Labour Economics

Faculty of Economics - Istanbul University

Turkey