Speakers/experts 2026

CONFERENCE MODERATOR 

Ambassador Hatem Atallah (Tunisia)

Coming from a rich diplomatic background that encompassed over 35 years, Ambassador Atallah was the Tunisian Ambassador in several countries including the US, the UK, South Africa and Ethiopia, He was also the Permanent Representative of Tunisia to the Organization of American States, the African Union, the Economic Commission for Africa, UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme), UN-Habitat, and the International Maritime Organization. He was appointed the Diplomatic Advisor to the Head of the Tunisian Government until February 2015. Ambassador Atallah participated in numerous summits, ministerial meetings and high level conferences of the African Union, the United Nations and the Union for the Mediterranean.

From March 2015 to December 2017 he served as Executive Director of the Anna Lindh Foundation for Dialogue between Cultures in the Euro-Mediterranean Region. Ambassador Atallah serves as Vice Président of the Euro-Med University (EMUNI) in Slovenia and member of the Senate. He also serves on the Board of Governors of the Gorée Institute in Sénégal and is a founding member of « AVASP » (Institute for Strategic Analysis and Prospective Studies – Tunis).

EXPERTS and SPEAKERS

Panel “Regional Cooperation, Human-Centred Security, and Civil Society Engagement”

Häli Allas, Deputy Head of the Internal Security Institute at the Estonian Academy of Security Sciences (Estonia)

Ewa Puzdrowska, British Council Regional Lead Non-Formal Education, EU Region, Digital Citizens Euroopa programme manager  (Poland)

Priit Talv is the Editor-in-Chief of Propastop

Jamil Diarbekirli, Executive Director of the Assyrian Monitor for Human Rights (Sweden)

Elisabet Gamell Rodríguez, Board Member of the AHEAD (Spain)

Mette Brogden, Ph.D., Professor of Practice, University of Arizona School of Global Studies/Human Rights Practice, University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ, USA)

Dr. Brogden is a cultural and medical anthropologist who teaches graduate level courses on Migration Pathways (Central America to the U.S., and West Africa to Europe); Human Rights Crises and Trauma, CSOs & NGOs Advancing Human Rights. She holds a Ph.D. from University of Arizona. Mette`s research interests include international migration; trauma impacts and social healing from extreme violence and human rights violations; indigenous rights and cultural heritage protection; and rights of species and ecological systems.  From 2003-2017 while serving in leadership positions in resettlement agencies, state and city governments in Tucson, Texas, Wisconsin, Baltimore and Seattle, she oversaw the resettlement and integration of over 13,000 refugees to the U.S. from various of African countries, Asian and Middel East countries, the former Yugoslavia, and the former Soviet Union. Prior to 2003 she served as a neutral mediator/ facilitator in environmental and public policy conflict resolution processes across local, state, and national levels at UA’s Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy.

Panel discussion  “Societal Security and Resilience in the Nordic-Baltic and Arctic Region”

Julie Clark, Lunday, Balsillie School of International Affairs, Fellow with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute/ NAADSN (Canada)

Flemming Splidsboel Hansen Senior Researcher, Danish Institute for International Studies (Denmark)

Thierry Rodon, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Université Laval, (Canada) 

Linus Owman, Project Leader, Societal Security and Resilience, Nordic Council of Ministers (Denmark)

Dr. Daniel S. Hamilton, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy Institute of Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (USA)

Panel “Inclusive Governance and Institutional Participation in the Euro-Mediterranean Region”

Francisco Gaztelu Mezquiriz, Director DG MENA, Directorate-General for the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf, European Commission (Belgium)

Anna Dorangricchia, Programme Manager Gender Equality, Social and Civil Affairs Division, Union for the Mediterranean  (Spain)

Michael G. Kavuklis, Coordinator in Chief of the Europe, Entrepreneurship & Sustainable Development Forum of Rhodes (Greece)

Michael G. Kavuklis is a Political Scientist / International Relations (BA, MA) and owner of the marketing agency mgk.advertising, from Rhodes, Greece, specialised in branding, web development, content  developement, local marketing, digital marketing and marketing in the sectors of tourism, SMEs, academia, culture and civil society. He is a certified alternative tourism consulant. He has a long experience and involvement in projects as youth and for youth, intercultural dialogue, active citizenship, European integration, sustainbable development and entrepreneurship. He currently serves as the President of the House of Europe in Rhodes, Founder and Head of the Organizing Committee of the “Rhodes Model Regional Co-operation” youth leadership conference, Founder and Head of the Organizing Committee of the Europe, Entrepreneurship & Sustainable Development Forum – EESD Forum Rhodes,  Vice President of the European Network for Education and Training e.V. – EUNET and the Focal Point of the Greek Network of the Anna Lindh Foundation for Aegean and Crete.

Panel discussion “Interconnected Security Challenges in Europe and the Mediterranean: State and Civil Society Perspectives”

Kari Käsper, Head of Office for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Estonia 

Stefanos Vallianatos , Co-Founder of Fotoessa, Head of Greek Network of Anna Lindh Foundation (Greece)

Stefanos Vallianatos holds a Ph.D. in International Politics (on Middle East Foreign Policy Making) from Lancaster University and and an MA on Western European Politics. Currently, he is heading the department of International Relations of the Hellenic Foundation for Culture, and is co-founder of the CSO Fotoessa  (for Eductaion, Research & Action). He is also the coordinator of the Greek National Network of the Anna Lindh Foundation, has taught Middle East and Balkan Politics, participated in several conferences and gave lectures on Middle East Politics, on the state of Civil Society in the Euro-Med and the Middle East, on civic education and on intercultural dialogue and cities. He is a certified trainer on Creative and Social Entrepreneurship and has implemented projects educational, cultural and creative nature. His publications include volumes on International Relations in the Middle East, on the political system and evolution of Iran, on Arab Civil Society after the Arab Spring, the ALF and EUNIC: case studies of multi-lateral cultural diplomacy, Euro-Mediterranean Civil Society at a crossroad, and others.

Saara Pellander, Director of the Migration Institute of Finland (Finland) 

Veiko Kommusaar, Deputy Director General of Estonian Police and Border Guard Board (Estonia) 

Sophie Beau, Co-founder and General Director, SOS Méditerranée (France) 

Panel Discussion  “Ukraine, Moldova and the Future of European Security and Democracy”

PhD (Habil.) Nikolai Tsvyatkov, Professor of Political Science, Moldova State University (Moldova) 

he has been working as deputy chief at State Chancellery’ Bureau for reintegration politics. His main responsibility was to lead the effective management for analyses and planification of the country long term strategy to solve transndniestrian conflict. In 2017-2020 Nikolay worked as senior consultant in the President Office of the Republic of Moldova. In 2019, he defended his doctoral dissertation (Doctor habilitat) on the topic of civil society in the Republic of Moldova. He is the author of 5 books and more than 50 scientific articles published in 7 countries.

Maia Klaassen, Junior Research Fellow in Media Literacy, Institute of Social Studies, University of Tartu, Coordinator of Baltic EDMO hub BECID (Estonia)

Maia is a Junior Research Fellow in Media Literacy at the Institute of Social Studies at the University of Tartu. She coordinates the Baltic Engagement Center for Combatting Information Disorders (BECID; one of 15 hubs combatting disinformation in the pan-European EDMO network) and the programme manager for the interdisciplinary 1-year MA degree Disinformation and Societal Resilience.  In addition to teaching information disorder-related subjects at the university level, she also shares knowledge through non-formal and informal learning, leaning on more than 10 years of experience from nongovernmental and youth organisations. Her practitioner background and academic networks have equipped her with a bird-eye view of the information security ecosystem and civil society’s role in it.

Elis Paemurd, Deputy Head of Representation, Head of Media and Communication

Elis Paemurd is the Head of Media and Communication at the European Commission Representation in Tallinn. Her main task is to hold media relations and to facilitate communication of EU policies and priorities to the Estonian audience. Commission Representation acts as a liaison between the Commission and stakeholders in Estonia, providing political and economic information to the Commission, and promoting EU policies to Estonian public and media.

Leif Lønsmann, Senior advisor and board member at the Nordic Journalist Centre (NJC)

Zoran Vasic, Head of Communication, Cultural Affairs, and Resilience Initiative, German Embassy in Tallinn;

UK embasy representative TBA

Panel “Soft Security in Practice: Civil Society, Culture, Media Resilience and Youth Participation Against Community Polarisation”

Dmitri Teperik, independent senior policy expert  and director of National Centre of Defence & Security Awareness 

Oksana Belova-Dalton, Research Fellow in International Relations at the University of Tartu

Chrysa Vlachopoulou, British Council, Development & Operations Manager / Youth Connect Programme (Greece)

Karl Mattias Sepp, Deputy Secretary-General, YATA Estonia

Zane Matsesovica, British Council, Country Director Latvia