Speakers and moderators
Nekane Balluerka Lasa
Professor of Behavioral Sciences Methodology at the Faculty of Psychology at Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (UPV/EHU)
Nekane Graduated (1989) and PhD (1993) in Psychology from UPV / EHU, both occasions with Extraordinary Prize, has been a professor in this university since 1989. She has been Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Psychology (2004-2006), Vice-Rector for Quality and Teaching Innovation (2006-2009) and for Postgraduate Studies and International Relations (2012-2016), member of the University Commission for Teaching Evaluation (2007-2012), and member (2009-2012) and president (2012-2013) of the Committee of Ethics for Research and Teaching Practice with human beings of the UPV / EHU. She has been Rector from 2017 to 2021. She directs the Qualiker research group (group A of the Basque university system). She has directed or co-directed 11 doctoral theses. She has been a visiting professor at Arizona State University, University of California and University of Manchester. She has participated in 51 research projects, being the main researcher in 14 of them. She is the co-author of 120 scientific articles, 28 books and 10 book chapters and 220 contributions to national and international congresses. She has 4 six-year research periods and one six-year transfer period. Her lines of research focus on the methodology for the intercultural development and adaptation of psychological assessment instruments and the application of multilevel analysis models to the study of psychosocial phenomena.
Maria Rosa Buxarrais Estrada
Director at the Institute of Education Sciences (IDP-ICE) of the University of Barcelona (UB)
Maria Rosa holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from University of Barcelona, is PhD in Pedagogy and professor in the Department of Theory and History of Education at the same university. Main researcher of the Research Group in Moral Education (GREM), a consolidated group of the Government of Catalonia since 1995, is also Director of the Observatory of Civic Education and Values of the Government of Catalonia and an active member by election of the Board of Directors of the AME (Association for Moral Education, the main international association on the subject).
On the international front, she is responsible for the Erasmus Intensive Program (2016-2020) with the participation of 7 universities from different countries (Netherlands, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Finland, Greece and England), and member of the Editorial Board of the book collection in English: Moral Development and Citizenship Education, SensePublishers, The Netherlands.
She has held single-person management positions at the UB: Head of Department, Rector’s Delegate for Masters and Doctorate, Head of Research at the Institute of Education Sciences (IDP-ICE).
Author of articles, books and didactic materials, she has given more than 100 lectures and training workshops in various university and non-university institutions, both nationally and internationally, about moral education, training teacher, higher education, ethical competencies and applied ethics.
Julia Freeland
Director of education research at the Clayton Christensen Institute.
Julia Freeland Fisher leads a team that educates policymakers and community leaders on the power of disruptive innovation in the K-12 and higher education spheres through its research. Julia has published and spoken extensively on trends in the edtech market, blended learning, competency-based education, and the future of schools. She is the author of Who You Know: Unlocking Innovations That Expand Students’ Networks (Wiley, 2018). Julia Freeland holds a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and a JD from Yale Law School.
Manel Jiménez Morales
Vice-rector for Educational Transformation, Culture and Communication of Pompeu Fabra University.
Manel Jiménez Morales is a graduate in Audiovisual Communication from Pompeu Fabra University and in Literary Theory and Comparative Literature from the University of Barcelona.
He has a PhD in Social Communication from Pompeu Fabra University. He has been a scriptwriter, producer and director for various film and television projects, as well as cultural programmes. He has been on several international research stages and has taught at various German universities. In 2013 he started to develop the strategy for MOOCs and new educational formats at UPF, entrusted with the incorporation of new technologies in teaching.
In 2016 he took over the academic management of the CLIK.
Jeff Merriman
DXtera’s co-founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO).
As internationally recognized leader in educational technology, Jeff Merriman brings over thirty-five years of rich experience in educational innovation and collaborative leadership to the DXtera Institute. In his role as CTO, Jeff oversees technical strategy, design and development related to the DXtera consortium. His deep understanding of post-secondary information systems, along with a progressive architectural approach to scalable, extensible integration solutions guides DXtera’s technological path toward increasing digital integration and access. Jeff’s career began as Director of Residential Computing at Stanford University in 1987, and In 1998 he became Director of Academic Computing Technology. In 2000, he joined MIT as Senior Strategist for Academic Computing and served as Executive Director of the Open Knowledge Initiative. Jeff has also served on the Board of Directors of the Sakai Collaborative Learning Environment, and for the Learning Curve Consortium, facilitating educational technology for K-12. As Associate Director in MIT’s Office of Digital Learning, Strategic Education Initiatives, Jeff oversaw Institutional and global projects, extending architectural approaches to educational innovation. This experience and work provides a foundation for the DXtera Institute to reimagine higher education information systems and next generation solutions.
Anna Pons
Public policy analyst at the OCDE
Anna Pons is analyst and project lead at the OECD Directorate for Education and Skills. She leads the work on the Global Teaching InSights Video Study and Video Library which aims to foster international peer learning on teaching. Previously, Anna coordinated and contributed to in-depth reviews of the effectiveness and equity of nine education systems in Europe, Latin America and Asia, and co-authored a comparative report on policies and practices for supporting disadvantaged students.
Joan Manuel del Pozo i Àlvarez
Emeritus professor and trustee of the University of Girona
Joan Manuel is Doctor of Philosophy (University of Barcelona) and emeritus professor and trustee of the University of Girona. Author, among other works and articles, of the essay EDUCACIONARI. Una invitació a pensar i sentir l’educació a través de seixanta conceptes. He has translated three of Cicero’s philosophical treatises into Catalan, the De natura deorum, the De re publica and the Paradoxa Stoicorum, published by the Fundació Bernat Metge. Author of the direct translation from the original Latin of Thomas More’s Utopia. He has an intense activity as a lecturer here and in several countries on issues of education, philosophy, ethics and politics. His latest publications include an essay on urban ethics entitled Ciutats de valors, ciutats valuoses and, co-authored with Ulises Cortés, the book of dialogues on artificial intelligence La intel·ligència (artificial) a la butaca.
He has been co-founder and director of the ” Observatory of Ethics Applied to Social, Psychoeducational and Sociosanitary Action”.
He has been a deputy in Congress of Deputies and Parliament of Catalonia, deputy mayor of the Girona City Council and Minister of Education and Universities in the last government of Pasqual Maragall. He has also been a government advisor to the Corporació Catalana de Mitjans Audiovisuals.
Xavier Prats Monné
Strategic initiatives advisor for the UOC
Xavier Prats Monné is currently the Senior Advisor for Strategic Initiatives of the Open University of Catalonia (UOC), and the Special Advisor of Teach For All, a global non-profit organisation whose mission is to expand educational opportunity around the world. He is Strategy Advisor at ASTANOR, a mission-driven venture capital investor that focusses on biotechnology and the sustainability of food systems. He serves as chairman of the European Committee of the King Baudouin Foundation (Brussels, Belgium) and president of the Future of Health Working Group of the Jacques Delors Institute (Paris, France), as well as Chief Advisor to the Board of the European Institute for Innovation and Technology (EIT-Health; Munich, Germany). He previously served at the European Commission as Director-General for Education and Culture, Director-General for Health and Food Safety, Director for employment policies and the European Social Fund, and Deputy Chief of Staff of the Vice-President for Foreign Affairs. He is from Spain, grew up in Rome, and is a social anthropologist by training. He sits on the Board of several non-profit organisations.He is from Spain, grew up in Rome and is a social anthropologist by training. He sits on the Board of several non-profit organisations.
Silvia Sivera
Director of the UOC eLearn Center.
Phd. Cum Laude in Communications from the Ramon Llull University (URL), Master’s degree in Information and Knowledge Society from the Open University of Catalonia (UOC) and a degree in Advertising and Public Relations from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). She worked as a copywriter for more than 15 years in multinational advertising agencies and in 2006 she became part of UOC to be responsible for the design of online learning for subjects in the field of creativity and innovation in Information and Communication Studies. She was the academic director of the University Master’s Degree in Social Media: management and strategy, and the University Master’s Degree in Strategy and Creativity in Advertising. For the last two years she has also served as Deputy Director of Emerging Programs, a vice dean position focused on competitiveness and employability.
In 2020 she was recognized by the government of Catalonia with the Jaume Vicens Vives Distinction for University Teaching Quality, for her career committed to developing the creative capacities of the student body, based on the creation and implementation of innovative tools, methodologies and resources in the virtual teaching of creativity, in addition to the transfer and dissemination of knowledge.
Her research interests, within the Learning, Media and Entertainment Group (GAME), focus on new trends and narrative forms in communication, creativity and e-learning. In 2015, she received the 6th Prat Gaballí Prize for promoting research in advertising, for her doctoral thesis on the creative keys to viral marketing.
Francesc Sole Parellada
Emeritus Professor of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) and vice president of the Fundación Conocimiento y Desarrollo (CYD).
Doctor in Industrial Engineering from the UPC, graduate in Economic and Business Sciences from the University of Barcelona. Master in Technology Management from the UPC.
During his academic life at the UPC he has held the positions of vice-rector, director of ICE, CEO of Parque Mediterráneo de la Tecnología SL, vice-president and promoter of the Polytechnic Foundation, promoter and director of the UPC Park Foundation and of the INNOVA Program for the promotion of the entrepreneurial culture and support for the creation of companies, of the Women’s Program and director of the UNESCO Chair of University Management. He has taught at the UPC and at the University of Quebec.
He has written more than 300 books and articles on Industrial Policy and Technology, Training Economics, Economics of Technological Change, Regional Economics, and Training Economics, “Entrepreneurship and Innovation”.
He has received the individual Medal for Merit from the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism and the Narcís Monturiol Medal for Scientific and Technological Merit from the Generalitat de Catalunya. Member of the Royal Spanish Academy of Economics and Finance
Josep M. Vilalta Verdú
Executive Secretary of the Catalan Association of Public Universities (ACUP) and Director of the Global University Network for Innovation (GUNi)
He holds a degree in History and Geography (Universitat de Barcelona), a Master in Public Management (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona), a Master in Political and Social Theory (Universitat Pompeu Fabra) and a postgraduate degree in Higher Education Management (Open University at Universiteit Twente).
Before he held the following positions and responsibilities: Deputy Director General for Research of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Head of the Evaluation, Studies and University Cooperation of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Head of the Strategic Planification Unit of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Coordinator of the UNESCO Chair for University Management, Deputy Director of Management of the Laboratori d’Enginyeria Marítima (Ocean Engineering Laboratory) (UPC) and Executive Secretary of the International Centre for Coast Resources. He has lectured in the fields of public management, public policy and university and research management in different universities and centres. He also promoted and coordinated a Master in University Management and Policies.
He has written more than sixty publications (books, chapters of books, articles and reports) in the following areas: university leadership, management and public policies, organisation, management and university funding, university policies and governance, research management and policy, knowledge management and innovation. Recently, he has been the Director of the Annual directory of the Fundació Jaume Bofill “Reptes de l’educació a Catalunya” and “Una agenda per transformar l’educació a Catalunya”.
Organized by:
Organized by:
