Speakers

Head of Business Development for BioCarbon Engineering, an ecosystem restoration company that uses exponential technologies, such as autonomous robotics and big data to enhance intelligence on ecosystems and increasing the rate of restoration; gathering inventory data and surface data. He has also worked in venture capital, consulting, taught entrepreneurship at the University of Oxford and had two company exits.

A journalist at TOYA TV. He cooperates with the Liberte! magazine. An author of articles and reportages published in Gazeta Wyborcza, Najwyższy Czas, Krytyka Polityczna, Tenisklub, among others. Awarded with the Crystal Screen by the Polish Chamber of Electronic Communications for his reportage "Monsters".  

The creator of "Robimy Startupy w Łodzi" - a community of startups in Lodz. He enjoys advising pre-startups and entrepreneurs thinking of running their own businesses.

Research Scientist at the Center for Collective Intelligence at MIT's Sloan School of Management where he leads a project exploring Collaborative Innovation Networks (COIN), Founder and Chief Creative Officer of software company galaxyadvisors. He is also a Honorary Professor at University of Cologne, Honorary Professor at Jilin University, Changchun China, Distinguished Visiting Professor at P. Universidad Católica de Chile, and a lecturer at University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW). Previously, Peter was a Partner with Deloitte Consulting, leading its e-Business practice for Europe, a Partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers and the section leader for software engineering at UBS.

She has served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Poland, representing Civic Platform since 2009, being returned to Brussels at the 2014 European elections. Previously, she was involved in two anti-communist organizations (the Student Committee of Solidarity and the Workers' Defence Committee) in the People's Republic of Poland. After the fall of Communism, she was the chairwoman of the Polish Robert Schuman Foundation, a non-governmental organization promoting European integration. Thun was also the head of the European Commission representation to Poland between 2005 and 2009. Since 2011 she has been Vice President of the European Movement International.

The initiator and leader of Women’s Protest in Poland.

The Mayor of the City of Słupsk since 2014. For many years he has been a consultant for numerous Human Rights organizations, both in Poland and abroad. He is also a co-founder and a long-standing president of the Campaign Against Homophobia. Since 2009, he has acted as the president of the Podkarpacki Institute, which is an organisation focused on the development of civil society. On October 9, 2011, he was elected as a Member of Parliament. He was a vice chairperson of the Justice and Human Rights Committee and a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee. Former member of the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe and General Rapporteur on LGBT people of the Assembly. In the years 2008-2016, he was a member of the Human Rights Advisory Board by the Open Society Foundation. Since 2015 member of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Council of Europe. Since 2016, he has also been a member of the Advisory Group on Gender, Forced Displacement and Protection launched by United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

A journalist cooperating with the Gazeta Wyborcza daily, a naturalist, and a traveller. A nature protection activist. The author of books about nature, eg. Wilki (Wolves), Umarły las (Dead Forest), and To zwierzę mnie bierze (I'm Taken with this Animal). He is a honorary citizen of Rzeczpospolita Ptasia, an initiative for bird-lovers. He was awarded with the medal of Nature Protection League (LOP).  

A member of Civic Platform since 2003. In 2007, she became an MP from the Lublin electoral region.She was a member of the Committee of Health and the Committe of Public Finance. She was the head of a special sub-committee for an act amending the former act on pharmaceutical chambers and a member of a continuous sub-committee for public health as well as a continuous sub-committee for financial institutions. She was a secretary of the Committee on Bioethics Convention. Between November 18, 2011 and November 27, 2013, she was a secretary of the Minister of Sport and Tourism. Currently, she is the Vice-President of the Special Committe for Derelugation. She is also a member of the Committee on Public Finance.  

She debuted as an actress in 1993. She performed in the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Cracow, Studio Theatre and National Theatre in Warsaw. She appeared in numerous films, tv series, and theatrical plays - including Polish Television Theatre. In 2005, she started her music career and created a music performance and recorder the Miasto mania album. Three years later, she recorded Maria Awaria. Both albums received very positive reviews and thus made Peszek one of the most popular alternative Polish artists. In 2012, she released her third album, Jezus Maria Peszek, which was both an artistic and commercial success. Her music is characterized by controversial lyrics and performances. Maria Peszek will be one of the speakers during Freedom Games 2017.   Sorry Polsko: Jacek Żakowski z Marią Peszek o Polsce i nowej płycie (Polityka, 2012, in Polish)  

Zaraza puchnie i wybuchnie: Rozmowa z Marią Peszek o strachu i artystycznej reakcji na ten strach, w przeddzień premiery płyty „Karabin” (Polityka, 2016, in Polish)

Researcher at the Institute for Futures Studies in Stokholm. He works on moral philosophy, the ethics of technology and political philosophy.

A Polish MP, Civic Platform. An experienced lawyer, member of the local government and parliamentarian. He graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Silesia, is a holder of a PhD in economics, as well as a lecturer at the Department of Law of the University of Economics. He has represented the parliament before the Constitutional Tribunal over 60 times. In 2015, he served as the Minister of Justice. Since 2016, he is the Vice-President of Civic Platform.

Polish economist, founder and Council Chairman of Civil Development Forum. The Head of the Department of International Comparative Studies at Warsaw School of Economics. Former President of National Bank of Poland (NBP). Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance in the first non-communist Polish government after the World War II. Doctor honoris causa of over a dozen of universitites in Poland and abroad. Awarded with the Order of the White Eagle, among others.

A Representative of the Civic initiative ”Free Courts”. The Pro Bono Lawyer for 2016. A member of The Right to Help Foundation and the Zbigniew Holda Association. The coordinator for NGO relations of Direct Bar Association in Warsaw.

In March 1993, she began to work in the Government Offices in Stockholm, first as Deputy Press Secretary to the Minister for Finance and then as a Political Adviser to the Minister for Culture and Immigration. Between May 1995 and January 2002 Maria Åsenius was Desk Officer for the ELDR Group in the European Parliament before becoming Political Adviser to the President of the European Parliament, Pat Cox, a position held until July 2004. She was a member of Olli Rehn’s cabinet (August 2004 to June 2007) and Deputy Head of Cabinet to Commissioner Olli Rehn at the European Commission in Brussels. After her work as State Secretary for European Affairs in Stockholm she has been Head of Cabinet to Commissioner Malmström since January 2010.

Co-founder and President of the Panoptykon Foundation, which deals with human rights protection in the context of new technology development. Polish lawyer specializing in human rights and technology. She is a graduate of the University of Warsaw’s Law and Administration Department, and the University of London’s Development Studies program in the School of Oriental and African Studies. She is also the Vice-President of European Digital Rights, a coalition of over 30 organisations. She serves as an advisor to the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative and to the Minister for Administration and Digitalization in Poland. She is also a member of the International Commission of Jurists (Polish section) and the Internet Society. Event: Facebook's Algorithmic Factory

A curator, researcher and art director. He is the founder and former director of International Festival of Photography in Lodz, Foundation of Visual Education and Lodz Art Center. Krzysztof is currently working as a consultant, guest curator and visiting lecturer in numerous organizations, museums, schools and festivals in Europe and worldwide. Since 2014, he is the artistic director of the Hamburg Triennial of Photography in Germany. He is also active member of social movement called Cohabitat – a network of people, organizations, enterprises and institutions. It’s focus on open source collaboration, architecture, natural technologies and permaculture.

A professor of technical sciences, recognized biotechnology authority ( in particular: molecular and industrial biotechnology), food technology, related disciplnes and bioeconomy. Currently, the main areas of his scientific investigation are: molecular and industrial biotechnology, bioeconomy, biopolimers and in particular bacterial cellulose and its applications, applied biocatalysts, molecular engineering of enzymes, enzymatic synthesis of oligosaccharides, biocatalysis in nonconventional systems. Professor Bielecki is an author or co-author (scientific attainment features) of over 200 research papers, 51 patents and 10 patent applications. He is a director of the IBT, a member of the Council of the European University Association (EUA, 2016-2020), member of the European Bioeconomy Stakeholders Panel at the European Commission (2016-) and a member of: the Biotechnology Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Innovation Council of the Lodz Region, and the Foundation of Polish Rectors. Moreover prof. S. Bielecki has many years of experience in managment of higher education institution. He was a rector of the Lodz University of Technology in 2008-2016. He is a member of national and international scientific organizations and expert teams working in the field of biotechnology and bioeconomy. He is an author and co-author of a series of reports and expert opinions on the strategies and perspectives of biotechnology and bioeconomy development in Poland.

A Polish poet and writer. He translates from English (Philip Larkin, George Szirtes, W.H. Auden) and Russian (Osip Mandelsztam), as well as songs to the music by Astora Piazzoli. Editor of the English anthology Six Polish Poets published in London in 2008 by Arc Publications. In 2005, he was awarded the Kościelski Award and in 2006 received the Polityka Passport Award. He made his poetry debut with the publication of Żywoty równoległe, which featured on the cover a  positive feedback by Czesław Miłosz.

Head of Department of Economy I, SGH Warsaw School of Economics. A full professor at the Warsaw School of Economics (SGH), where he previously got his Ph.D. and habilitation. He has been lecturing and conducting research at SGH since 1984. Currently, Marek Góra teaches macroeconomics, pension economics, and labour economics, health economics and economic policy for graduate and Ph.D. students. Previously, he also taught econometrics and economic forecasting. He is also a visiting professor at the College of Europe (Natolin). During his academic carrier, Marek Góra completed research at the London School of Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam and Ifo Institute for Economic Research in Munich. Marek Góra is an author of various articles in the fields of pension economics, labour economics, unemployment, labour market policies, and macro and microeconomic problems of the transition in Central and Eastern Europe. Marek Góra also worked with the Directorate for Education Labour and Social Affairs at the OECD (1992-1993). He was Executive Committee member of the European Association of Labour Economists (1990-1997). Marek Góra is the co-author of the design of the Polish pension reform called „Security through Diversity” and the leader of a team of experts who worked on the reform. He also was (until closing down) the Director of the Office of the Government Plenipotentiary for Social Security Reform. Marek Góra keeps working on the Polish reform and at the same time is also involved in pension reform activities in various countries. Together with a number of researchers dealing with pension issues he established the Polish Pension Group – a research platform for various types of co-operation.

Polish award-winning science fiction writer, philosopher by education. Winner of the Janusz A. Zajdel Award (2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2010), Śląkfa (2000, 2007, 2009), Żuławski Award (2008, 2010, 2011, 2012), Kościelski Award (2008) and the European Union Prize for Literature (2009). In 2013 Dukaj received Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland. Winner of the Kościelski Prize 2008 for his novel Ice. He made his debut very early, at sixteen years old, in the journal Fantastyka, and quickly gained recognition as one of the most promising writers of literature of the fantastic (some consider him a successor to Stanisław Lem). He has been many times given the Janusz A. Zajdel Award, which has a great deal of prestige in fantasy circles. Tomasz Bagiński made an animated film called Cathedral based on motifs from a Dukaj short story, garnering an Oscar nomination in the process.

A Polish politician, a lawyer, and MP and spokesperson of the .Nowoczesna (.Modern) party. She formerly worked in private legal companies and the office of the Polish Human Rights Defender, and cooperated with the Forum Dialogue Among Nations foundation. In 2015, she was appointed as the spokesperson of the Nowoczesna party. After being elected an MP, she now is a member of the Committee for Health and the Committee for Justice and Human Rights.    

A writer, a poet, and a columnist. The author of two books of poetry (Reklama and Życie na gorąco), several novels (Stosunek seksualny nie istnieje, Janusz Hrystus, Dobry troll) and a collection of columns titled Jak odebrałem dzieci Terlikowskiemu (How I Took Away Terlikowski's Children). A member of Krytyka Polityczna's editorial board. He's currently working on his new book Polskie mięso, czyli jak zostałem weganinem i przestałem się bać (Polish Meat, or How I Became a Vegan and Stopped Being Scared)

A humanities professor, the Head of the Department of Electronic Media at the University of Lodz. A professor at the Strzeminski Academy of Art in Lodz. He focuses on the issues of new media art, art theory and recent tendencies, as well as on cyberculture, information and network society. He is an author of a number of publications devoted to these issues.

President of the Board of SL Consulting. Economist and banking expert with exceptional academic reputation and more than twenty years of experience in the banking industry in Poland and Central and Eastern Europe. Slawomir Lachowski has a proven record of innovation and successful strategic thinking. Restructured savings bank PKO BP (Poland's largest retail bank) and implemented a new growth strategy that allowed the organisation to become the leader in the Polish banking sector. Restructured PBG Bank’s portfolio of bad debts, which amounted to 67% of the portfolio’s total loans, using innovative methods of financial restructuring that used conversion of debt into shares of companies on a large scale and that created the first Polish restructuring investment fund, PBG Investment Fund. Restructured BRE Bank and improved its organisation to the extent that BRE Bank won the award for the Best Financial Institution in Poland in 2008. Developed mBank, the first Internet bank in Poland, which swiftly became successful in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Restructured FM Bank PBP and transformed the bank into dual-brand financial institution focusing on prospective target customer groups: new generation customers, citizens of digital world (Bank SMART), and micro-enterprises and self-employed professionals (BIZ Bank). Awarded the Golden Cross of Merit (Poland) for an outstanding contribution to the transformation of the Polish banking sector. Slawomir Lachowski has served as the chairman and as a board member of many business organisations, including VISA International, Hochtief AG, Intermarket Bank AG, Orange Polska, COMP SA, Redan SA, Best SA, BRE Bank Hipoteczny.

A media scholar and a phisolopher. He is an assistant lecturer at UJ Department of Games Technology. His primary area of interest is affective computing, virtual and augmented reality.  

Associate Professor and Chair at the Media and Communications Department at ELTE University in Budapest. His fields are public service media and problematic media representations and in cultural sociology. He has worked as a scholar in the UK and the US. His works have been published in five languages. Active in media policy initiatives.

CEO of the private equity investment fund PGK Ltd., active in the energy & gas segment, infrastructure, real estate, outsourcing and new technologies (Internet of Things, Cognitive Computing, Asset Management). Doctor of economics. Graduate of the Harvard Business School and the Technical University of Wrocław. Vice President of the Initiative for Infrastructure. Senior Adviser at A.T. Kearney. Former Vice President at Philips Lighting, General Manager of Oracle in Poland and a global Sales Executive at IBM. Highly experienced, successful leader with a demonstrable record of achievement in Smart Infrastructure, Software & Services sales in various geographies and market sectors. Experience of building, leading & managing high performing teams, running regional/cross-country sales and operations. Excellent communicator, customer orientated with an open, direct & collaborative style. Many times reelected Chairman and Vice President of the International Facility Management Association (Poland), chapter of the global organization of Asset Management professionals. Visiting lecturer at the Warsaw University and the Warsaw School of Economics (SGH). Certified maintenance manager, facility manager, property manager, real estate broker, strategic business consultant.

Professor Dr. Michael Wohlgemuth is an economist and has been Director of Open Europe Berlin since August 2012. He has been Professor of International Governance in the Law and Economics department at the University of Bayreuth, Germany, since October, 2011; the Managing Research Associate at the Walter Eucken Institute in Freiburg since 2002; Research Associate at the Centre for European Studies in Brussels, Belgium, since 2009; Associate Fellow at the Ratio Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, since 2009; a visiting lecturer at the Baltic International Academy in Riga, Latvia, since 2008; a member of the Council on Economic Policy at the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in Berlin since 2007; and Rapporteur of the Working Group “European Governance” within the European Ideas Network (EIN) in Brussels since 2002. His major fields of research are in New Institutional Economics, Economic Theories of Politics (Public Choice Theory), Theories of economic systems, Evolutionary Economics, Social and Legal Philosophy and History of Ideas.

Director of the Institute for Market, Consumption and Business Cycles Research (IBRKK).

Advisor to President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Dudada. In the years 2003 – 2006, Professor Zybertowicz was a member of the Committee of Science Studies, and of the Committee of Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He was in charge of research grants financed by the Polish Committee for Scientific Research KBN and the National Science Centre. Professor Zybertowicz is an author of numerous research publications on political transformation, especially focusing on the dimensions of social life and the sociology of knowledge. He is co-author of the scientific analysis of the role played by the secret services in the process of exit from communism, the first of the kind to be published in the West: Privatizing the Police-State: The Case of Poland. In 2006-2007, he was advisor of the Vetting Commission of Military Intelligence Services. In 2006-2007, he chaired the Programme Committee of the Central Training Centre within the Internal Security Agency. From July to November 2007 he acted as the chief state security advisor to Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski. From 1 January, 2008, to 10 April, 2010, Professor Zybertowicz worked as a state security adviser to Polish President Lech Kaczynski. In 2009-2010, he was head of Energy Security Team in the Chancellery of the President of Poland. From 2006, Professor Zybertowicz has participated participates in research projects, conferences and seminars of the Polish Internal Security Platform.

A journalist at Polityka.

A sociologist, a journalist at Gazeta Wyborcza.

A journalist at Gazeta Wyborcza.

Partner, Management Consulting, Head of Public Sector and Infrastructure in Poland and CEE KPMG in Poland. For several years Mirosław has been developing advisory services to government administration, supporting it in the process of computerization, project management and risk management. His clients include: The Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Digitization, Social Insurance Institution. He works for the local governments, where he supports them in the area of social policy (active forms of counteracting unemployment, social policy at the local level). Mirosław also runs infrastructure projects relating to urban regeneration, development of urban studies and approach to the management and coordination of projects in the city. His clients include local self-governments and municipal councils. In the area of support to the infrastructure sector, he is specialized in projects relating to water management. He was in charge of projects such as computerization of the natural hazards management area, developing flood risk management plans and updating river basin management plans. In the energy field, Miroslaw Proppé promotes planning approach based on multi-dimensional prioritization of investments and project management based on the unique methodology of KPMG - Major Projects Advisory. His clients include: National Water Management Authority, the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management, PP National Forests and waterworks companies. In terms of energy, he promotes good practices asset management and production based on standard PAS55 / ISO 5500x. It involves optimizing the use of assets and expenditures on the property in order to rationalize expenditure while maintaining required levels of operational safety and the risk of unavailability. He participated in many projects related to computerization of company various areas in the energy sector. His clients include the biggest energy companies operating in Poland.

A historian, columnist, the President of the Mikromakro Insitute. A co-creator of the "Five Elements" conference series.

Polish journalist, columnist, and author. City, social and business life activist In his 28 years long career he was writing for "Forbes", "Rzeczpospolita", "Parkiet" and managed a press magazines or newspapers like "Businessman Magazine", "Gazeta Bankowa", "Życie", "Życie Warszawy". He is frequent media commentator on politics, economy and business, producer of television documentaries, publisher of web sites. He is member of the board of Journalists and Publishers Association REPROPOL, Turnitzmuhle Heritage Foundation, Modern Men Association Miasto20077. He was also served as President of The Warsaw Branch of Association of Polish Journalists, Chairman of Business Journalism Club.

Federation of European Accountants (FEE), former President of the Board at Deloitte.

Former President of T-Mobile Poland. Formerly, the President and CEO at Netia, Senior Advisor at MCI Capital, Executive Vice President for Corporate and International Affairs at KGHM Polska Miedź. He studied at the University of Lodz, Stokcholms Universitet, and at Harvard Business School.

President of Amcor Specialty Cartons.

Director of the Man in Danger festival and Head of the promotion and development department at the Museum of Cinematography in Lodz. A former Head of the Department of Culture by the City of Lodz Office and a journalist of Gazeta Wyborcza daily (1999-2011).

Radio broadcast journalist, Radio ZET.

Polish journalist, reporter, and writer. The author of a book about the lives of Muslim women in Poland titled Poddaję się. She graduated from Collegium Civitas in Warsaw in the fields of jorunalism and political science. For many years she was a contributor to such Polish magazines as Polska The Times, Elle, Przekrój and Polish edition of National Geographic Traveller.

Editorial Assistant at the Liberté! quarterly and liberte.pl, a columnist. Previously, Editorial Assistant at instytutobywatelski.pl and Project Coordinator at Instytut Obywatelski (Civic Institute), a political think tank affiliated to the Civic Platform Party, EPP Group. The founder and Editor-in-Chief of the liberal protestant online magazine Miesięcznik Ewangelicki ewangelicki.pl.

She holds a PhD in economics from the Warsaw School of Economics and MsC in sociology from the London School of Ecomics. She works in the field of financial and economic governance for one of the EU's institutions and her prior experience includes business consulting and economic media. Kamila was awarded with the Chevening scholarship of the UK government and was a fellow of the Atlantic Council. A member of the Projekt: Polska association.

A Polish politician and a member of local government. Since 2010, he is the Marshal of Lodz voivodeship.

Vice-Rector, Lodz University of Technology.

A Polish philosopher, a historian of ideas, a columnist. Her research stems from the philosophy of war, applied ethics, social and political philosophy. She conducts interdisciplinaty research on the basis of art, literature, history and international law. Formerly, a Fellow at Politische Akademie der ÖVP, University of Vienna, IWM – Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna, University of Siegen and the Julius Maximilians University of Würzburg. She is a member of the editorial board of the Liberté! magazine.  

The Country Managing Partner of PwC in Poland from 2014. Prior to his current role, he was a leader of Assurance Department and for three years he was responsible for non-audit Assurance services in CEE. He was also a leader of the Telecommunications, Media and Entertainment Group. He has been with PwC since the start of his professional career – his whole career path has been with PwC, including two years in the American office.

Director of Investor Service and International Cooperation Bureau, City of Lodz Office.

Head of Information Technology Centre, Department of Microelectronics and Computer Science, Lodz University of Technology.

The Founder and President of the Casimir Pulaski Foundation, and is also a political scientist, international affairs commentator, and civic entrepreneur. Advisor to the President of the Republic of Poland on the Strategic Review Of National Security. Expert of the Council of Europe with regards to NGOs in Central and Eastern Europe. Graduate of the University of Vienna, he also studied at Harvard University and Georgetown University. He is finishing his doctorate in Economics at Warsaw School of Economics (SGH) and writing his dissertation on the perspective of American foreign policy in the area of democracy promotion in the former Soviet Union states. Commentator of Polsat News in the programme of “To był dzień na świecie”. Blog author on the website www.pisarski.pl. Commented for: TVN, TVN 24, TVN CNBC BIZNES, Polsat, Polsat News, TVP1, TVP3, Superstacja, Rzeczpospolita, Gazeta Wyborcza, Daily, Policy, Newsweek, Warsaw Business Journal, AFP, El Pais, Polish radio RMF FM, Radio Zet, amongst others. Fluent in English and Russian.

A Polish publicist, essayist, writer and translator. He is a critic of science-fiction, chief editor of Nowa Fantastyka from 1992–2003, and editor of several science-fiction series and anthologies. Chief editor of Czas Fantastyki. Author of several science-fiction stories and a book, from the social science-fiction genre, most of his fiction works are from 1970s and 1980s. In the late 1990s he was involved in a major discussion in Polish science-fiction literature, revolving around the Janusz A. Zajdel Award and the distinction between "serious" and "pop" sci-fi. Editor and supporter of several Polish comics. In 2006 he received an award for support of Polish comics, the humoris causa. In 2007 received silver medal for Cultural Achievements Gloria Artis from Polish Minister of Culture, and in 2010 - Mackiewicz Prize (second place) for novel "Burza".

PhD in Management at the University of Lodz, a specialist in marketing. He works in the Political Marketing Unit, Faculty of International and Political Studies, University of Lodz. An academic lecturer of Strategic Management at the postgraduate studies programme in Management of Cultural Institutions as well as at the French Postgraduate Management Studies of the University of Lodz and Universite de Lyon 3. Vice-President of Institute for Marketing Development in Lodz.

A press spokesman in the Lodz region of the Committee for the Defense of Democracy, member of the Regional Board. He is a publicist of the Liberté! magazine. He is Professor of the Humanities and author of more than 80 publications in the field of literary studies, cultural studies and cognitive science, including six individual books and eight collective volumes. Vice-Rector for Programs and Quality of Education in the term of 2012-2016. Chairman of the Committee on Culture and the Arts of the Łódź branch of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Rector's Proxy for Open Educational Resources. He is also a Lay Member of the Council of the Synod of the Evangelical-Augsburg Church in Poland. He also serves as President of the Foundation for the Tolerant Poland.

Dr hab. Renata Włoch majored in Sociology and International Relations. She is Adjunct Professor in the Institiute of Sociology, the University of Warsaw, and Coordinator of Society in Digital Age Programme in Digital Economy Lab at the University of Warsaw. She was the principal researcher in several action research projects (EEA grant "Civic participation: a diagnosis of barriers and creation of tools upgrading good governance"; CEE grant "Social Action 2012", EU Commission grant "The city ghettos of today"). Since 2008 she has carried numerous  evaluation research of public policies for public institutions and NGOs (Ministry of Sport, Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, MInistry of Foreign Affairs); at the moment she supervises the Polish part of Horizon 2020 Project "Chain React: making supplier networks transparent, understandable, and responsive" in cooperation with Cambridge and Wikirate. Her recent academic interests focus on trends in digital society and digital skills, particularly in the aspect of supporting evidence-based public policy.

Ph.D. in humanities, an assistant professor at the Faculty of International and Political Studies, University of Lodz. His research activities focus mainly on various aspects of the EU-China relations, the Sovereign Wealth Funds, and regional/local authorities developing paradiplomatical relations with foreign partners. He is also an active blogger and a regular contributor to the Liberté! magazine, a leading Polish political quarterly. His publications can be found at academia.edu or researchgate.net.

President of the Board, Liberté! Foundation.

A political scientist and ethicist; a lecturer at the Faculty of Political Science and International Studies at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń; a publicist in Liberté!; one of the winners of the scholarship „Zostańcie z nami!” („Stay with us!”) of the magazine Polityka in 2010; he deals with the ethics of public life, political thought (liberalism, libertarianism, populism) and public discourse; author of books: Populistów ethos zmanipulowany (Toruń 2013) and Wojny trybuna ludowego. Przypadek Andrzeja Leppera (Toruń 2013).

Editor-in-Chief of 4liberty.eu Review - a half-yearly magazine devoted to current European topics discussed from the CEE perspective. She is also the coordinator of the 4liberty.eu network on behalf of Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom. Since 2013, she works with Industrial Foundation - the publisher of the Liberte! magazine - based in Lodz, Poland. Apart from her professional activities, she is also currently doing her PhD in Audiovisual Translation at the University of Lodz.

The Director of the International Festival of Comics and Games. Graduated Tadeusz Makowski School of Fine Arts in Lodz and graphic art at the Strzemiński Academy of Art in Lodz.  He has been organizing comic festivals in Lodz since 1991. He also produced and co-produced many live concerts, exhibitions, cultural and entertainment events both in Poland and abroad. In 2013, he opened the first Polish official institution devoted to comic art – Lodz Comics Center (as a part of House of Literature in Lodz), inspired by the Belgian Comic Strip Center in Brussels, with which he frequently collaborates. He is also one of the leaders of the EuroComics Association that combines within its structure the most important European comics festivals. He is currently the head of the Comics and Interactive Narratives Centre at EC1 Lodz – City of Culture in Lodz, which purpose is the co-realisation of the International Festival of Comics and Games in Lodz, as well as the creation of a modern center dedicated solely to comic art and contemporary narratives in video games.

Social entrepreneur, civic activist and political scientist. As the Founder and Director of the European Academy of Diplomacy, in less than a decade she has transformed a “start-up” institution into an international renowned diplomatic academy, with over 5000 Alumni coming from 40 countries. Throughout her career she has inspired and led change within a number of organizations, including the Community of Democracies and the Council of Europe, in cooperation with which she currently runs the Visegrad School of Political Studies. In addition to her leadership and management experience Dr. Pisarska pursues a career in academia.

An economist, a graduate of Warsaw School of Economics (SGH), the co-founder of Nowoczesna party, currently the Director of Analysis Team in Nowoczesna headquarters and the national coordinator of Better Poland Expert Network (Sieć Ekspercka Lepsza Polska). Previously, he worked for 5 years for Civil Development Forum (Forum Obywatelskiego Rozwoju). An ATLAS Think Tank MBA programme graduate from 2014.

PhD in economics, an academic teacher, researcher, and lecturer at the University of Economics in Katowice. His research interests focus on economics of information, innovation, information society, and knowledge economy. A consultant of Information Society Development Strategy of the Silesian Voivodeship (Strategia Rozwoju Społeczeństwa Informacyjnego Województwa Śląskiego), a member of Silesian Innovation Council (Śląska Rada Innowacji), an expert of Knowledge and Innovation Institute in Warsaw (Instytut Wiedzy i Innowacji), an expert of ICT observatory of Science and Technology Park TECHNOPARK GLIWICE sp. z o.o. In business practice, a controlling specialist in a large IT company in Silesia, performing management consulting services for companies and business environment. The author of several dozens of scientific publications (in Polish and English) on innovation, knowledge based economy, information society – full list: http://rzelazny.pl/category/publikacje . An author of development strategies, expert reports, research reports.

A liberal supporting free market, secular state, and autonomy of an individual. Inspired by the philosophy of Objectivism and Austrian school of economics. The founder of the Liberal Clubs (Kluby Liberalne). A columnist of Liberté! and Nasze Czasopismo. Born in Łódź, Poland, he holds BSc in Banking and International Finance and Master in European Business at Cass Business School, London, UK. Currently, he lives in the Grochów district of Warsaw, working as a management consultant in banking and payments industry.

A pedagogue, a graphic designer, a social activist. Since 2015, he is the co-founder of the Committee for the Defence of Democracy (KOD) in the Lodz region. Currently, he is the President of the Lodz region and a Vice-President of Board of Regions of Committee for the Defence of Democracy - an advisory body consisting of the presidents of all KOD regions in Poland.  

A psychologist and a social activist. He founded the Free Belarus and Ukraine Initiative. On behalf of OSCE, he co-organized Polish monitoring missions in Ukraine and Belarus. A journalist, he publishes in Gazeta Wyborcza and La Repubblica.  

An associate professor at the Department of Radiobiology, Institute of Melucular Biophysics, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, University of Lodz. The Head of full-time doctoral studies in Molecular Gentics, Cytogenetics and Medical Biophysics. An academic lecturer and supervisor. The author and co-author of over 70 scientific publications, including 27 articiles featured in the Journal Citation Reports database. A member of Polish Biophysical Society and Polish Radiation Research Society. A member of the Board of the Lodz branch of Polish Radiation Research Society.

A PhD candidate at the Institute of Philosophy and Social Studies, Pedagogical University of Cracow. A columnist and a social activist. He focuses on the topics of bioethics, human relations with animals, and aesthetics. He is the Director of the Student Section of Polish Ethics Association. A member of the Laboratory of Animal Studies - Third Culture at the Faculty of Philology, the University of Silesia. A scientific editor of the animal rights ethics desk of the interdisciplinary academic yearly ZoophilologicaPolish Journal of Animal Studies. He ccoperates with the Filozofuj! magazine. He wrote a number of articles devoted to the ethics of human-animal relations published in journals and monographs. He co-authored a book Filozofia wobec świata zwierząt (Philosophy and the Animal World).

She received her Master of Arts in Design from the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow. She also studied Design Management at Fachhochschule Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences. As a Senior Clerk of Industrial Design and an associate of Executive Team of Design Silesia she took part in training at The National Centre for Product Design and Research (PDR) in Cardiff. Her professional interests focus on personality of Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain and privacy by design. In addition, she is a member of Association for Computing Machinery and last year she filed in International Patent Application on "Processing of status data in an electronic device". Currently, she is a User Experience Designer at Orange Labs.

A Chief Director of the New Theatre of Kazimierz Dejmek in Lodz since July 2016. He graduated from the Law and Administration Faculty of the University of Lodz. As a student, in 1987, he joined the Independent Students' Association (NZS) and was its active member until graduating in 1992. He was a Vice-Prsident of the NZS at the University of Lodz and was a member of its national board. He took part in the Orange Alternative (Galeria Działań Maniakalnych). As a member of opposition organizations he was several time arrested by communist police and the SB. In the years 2006-2010, he was a councillor of the Łódź Regional Assembly. He was a member of the Committee of Culture, Science and Sport as well a of Audit Committee. He is the initiator of several social projects: "Pamiętam. Katyń 1940" (I Remember. Katyń 1940), "Prawo do kultury" (The Right to Culture). He was awarded with the Silver Cross of Merit for his contribution to the World Association for Home Army Soldiers, a merit badge "for contribution to the City of Lodz", and a Honorary Badge for "The contribution to the Siberian Sociaty". In the years 2007-2016,he was the Director of the Polish National Centre for Culture (NCK).

An assistant professor in Jagiellonian University in the Department of Cognitive Science, in the Institute of Philosophy.  I was a post-doctoral researcher at the Berlin School of Mind and Brain. He hold a PhD in philosophy from City University of New York, Graduate Center, with David Rosenthal as the supervisor. His research focuses on the temporal dimension of cognition, including conscious experience, perception, memory, and dreams.He also deals with ethically problematic consequences of emerging technologies, such as autonomous weapon systems and moral enhancement.

Chairman of the Committee of Digital Affairs, Innovation and New Technologies of the Polish Sejm, a member of Parliament, an entrepreneur, a manager, a social and sport activist, a doctor of economics, a politician. Dr.Pudłowski has worldwide experience – worked in the UK, the Netherlands, the United States, Turkey, India, and Germany for BP International. He was Group Commercial Vice President of LOT Polish Airlines; Director of Development for Marathon Oil Poland, and CEO of Energo Gas. He is a graduate of Poznan University of Economics (Summa Cum Laude), a scholar of the EU–studies in Leeds, a doctor of the University of Science and Technology in Krakow; Director of Mining (second degree). He holds Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt. He completed business executive trainings at Harvard Business School, INSEAD, Ashridge. Dr.Pudłowski was a member of the Board of the Polish Tennis Association,Vice-President of Rotary International at Warsaw-City Club, President of the Alumni Association of the Poznan University of Economics in Warsaw.  

A Secretary of the Board at Aureus Link Foundation. She graduated in Art History from the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan,  Public Relations from the University of Warsaw, and from Gdansk Debate Academy. She's been involved in social and political activities for over 20 years. She was a member of the Freedom Union (UW), a Vice-President of the Pojekt: Polska association, Chief of Electoral Staff for the Nowoczesna party in Masovian voivodeship. She actively supports the Secular School and HejtStop initiatives and various endeavors related to the European integration.  

He works as the managing director at Hitachi Data Systems' Global Finance Shared Services organization. He is in charge of two finance business centers: one in Krakow (Poland) and the second one in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). Prior to Hitachi, he worked at PriceWaterhouseCoopers in the Netherlands and at IBM BTO in Krakow.  He is a Certified Chartered Accountant (ACCA) and a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) as well as a graduate of the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt/Oder (Germany).

Since 1999, she is the head of the Department of Material and Commodity Sciences and Textile Metrology at Lodz University of Technology. Formerly, she was the dean of the Faculty of Material Technologies and Textile Design. She created Polish Technology Platform of Textile Industry. She is a honorary member of The Textile Institute, a prestigeous international association. She was awarded with the medal by World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) for her contributions in the field of textiles.

A Polish historian and columnist. He works at Dom Literatury in Lodz and cooperates with the Museum of Independence Traditions in Lodz, where he coordinates an event series titled “Plus or Minus - Historical Confrontations”. He is interested in the topics of historical memory, USSR (1917-1941), Polish People’s Republic and the relations between the Jews and Poles. His articles were published in Rzeczpospolita, Gazeta Wyborcza daily, Polityka weekly, Tygodnik Powszechny, Znak or Fronda LUX. Moreover, he coordinates the project “Warsaw of Two Uprisings” conducted in the Warsaw Rising Museum. He's the author of a book titled Rewolucja permanentna Lwa Trockiego. Między teorią a praktyką (Leon Trotsky's Permanent Revolution. Between Theory and Practice).

The Editor-in-Chief and the Programming Director at the TOK FM radio. Formerly, she was the head of information at Radio ZET as well as conducted trainings for other media: traditional and electronic. She's a new technologies enthusiast, addicted to internet. She uses apps for everything and discovering new cutting-edge, elegant, and well-designed applications brings her joy.  

An enterpreneur: since 2008 he is the owner of an IT company, Gemini. He is one of the shareholders in Matbud, a company constructing lightwells for industrial halls. A researcher: he has a PhD in finance from Southern Illinois University Carbondale and is a professor of the Univerity of International Business. A feature writer: since 2008 he is the Economy desk editor at Res Publica Nowa, publishing also in a number of print and online journals. A liberal, sometimes deemed as an extreme one.

An energetic entrepreneur with over 10 years of experience in building global IT products. The CEO of Inwedo, a company that creates dedicated software for business processes optimization - or in other words, making technology work in favour of your business. With a track record of over 160 IT projects realized worldwide, Dominik loves sharing his experience and knowledge to the Clients' best advantage. The graduate of Google Leadership Academy, and constantly brushing his skills in that area, to support his team in the pursuit of their professional and personal development. Having created a few software solutions from scratch, he also enjoys advising aspiring startups or entrepreneurs how to build, and scale their products globally.

A feature writer at naTemat and Wysokie Obcasy, a women's activist.

A cyperpunk fan who looks critically at new technologies. He is the co-creator of the otwieracz.net podcast. He is also the author of the edgerunner.pl blog. Profssionally, he is a PR consultant in the Planet PR agency, where he focuses on clients from the new technologies industry. He is the former CEO of the Kolko agency and a former editor of the Proseed magazine, devoted to technology business.    

A democracy activist, one of the co-founders of the Lodz department of the Committee for the Defence of Democracy and a former member of the board. A co-organizer of all major Lodz opposition manifestations since winter of 2015, including the Black March held on October 2, 2016. She holds a PhD in Slavic philology from the University of Lodz and is a translator from Serbian and Croatian. In 2009, she cooperated with Jacek Talczewski on his film Rewolucjoniści (The Revolutionaries) produced for Biełsat, a how-to documentary on peaceful revolutions. In 2014, she was the translator of a meeting with Croatian feminist writer Vedrana Rudan, which resulted in their further cooperation on proofreading of one of Rudan's books. She also supports such initiatives as: Dziewuchy Dziewuchom, Secular School (Świecka Szkoła), Łódzka Masa Krytyczna, and Pulse of Europe. =

Co-founder and member of the board of the Nowoczesna (Modern) party, the coordinator of public consultation, vice-president of the Warsaw region, a candidate for the President of the City of Warsaw.  

A specialist of control engineering and robotics, professor at the Lodz University of Technology, vice director of the Institute of Automatic Control. A scientist and a constructor, the founder of the Human Centered Robotics Lab. – a place for interdisciplinary technical projects. A member of the scientific committees of the National Robotics Conference and International Conference on Robotics in Education. Founder and a mentor of the Student Robotics Research Association SKaNeR. The president of the Fablab Łódź Foundation Board.

President of the European Humanist Federation, the largest umbrella organisation of European secularist associations, advocating separation between religion and public institutions. In 2013, he took part in the foundation of LibMov, an association aimed at helping reunite the Italian liberals linked to the ALDE party, and became a member of its Executive Committee. He is an Italian journalist, writer, essayist, and the former Secretary General of the Italian Radical Party.

A labour economist, a President of the Board at Institute for Structural Research (IBS), Warsaw, Poland, and a Research Fellow at IZA, Bonn, Germany. Between 2005 and 2010 he worked at the Department of Economics I of the Warsaw School of Economics (SGH). His research interests include minimum wage, temporary contracts and labour market segmentation, influence of technology on jobs, pensions and social policy, transition economies, and labour market effects of climate and energy policies.

A freelance translator since 2001, after completing his Laurea in Foreign Languages from University of Rome La Sapienza, Italy. His translation career continued over the years alongside a research career, after being awarded a PhD in Translation from the University of Leeds, UK. He is a Reader in Translation Studies at the Centre for Translation Studies, University College London, UK. There, he has directed the MSc in Specialised Translation (2016-2017) and is involved in teaching theoretical concepts of translation, as well as practical and professional aspects of technical and audiovisual translation. Previously, he founded and directed the EMT MA in Translation Studies at Durham University, UK (2008-2014), where he also founded and directed the Centre for Intercultural Mediation. He served as member of the Board of the European Master's in Translation Network (2011-2014), the initiative supported by the Directorate General for Translation of the European Commission. Together with several articles in journals, he authored "Translation as Stylistic Evolution" (2009), edited "Mediating Emergencies and Conflicts" (2016), "Translating Dialects and Languages of Minorities" (2011), and co-edited "Translators, Interpreters and Cultural Mediators" (2014). His research focuses on the role of translators and interpreters as intercultural mediators and on reception of translated texts . He is involved in a series of projects focusing on the role of translators working in emergencies; he is a member of the EU-funded project INTERACT, International Network on Crisis Translation.

Project manager of New Europe 100 – a network of innovators from CEE supported by Google, International Visegrad Fund and Financial Times. Her professional career revolves around two areas: management and communications. She formerly worked in the media as an anchor on Teleexpress, TVP Info, and Panorama. As the head of foreign affairs department in TVP she coordinater the work of a team of almost 40 journalists and foreign correcpondents. She also trains students, managers, and PR specialists.

Vice-Dean for Development and Business Cooperation at the Faculty of Technical Physics, Information Technology and Applied Mathematics, Lodz University of Technology. Cofounder and leader of the first polish IT teaching specialisation on Computer Games at the Lodz University of Technology. Vice-chairman of the GameInn Steering Committee in the National Centre for Research and Development. He is the University Rector representative in the Lodz Game Dev Cluster and Faculty Dean representative in the ICT Central Poland Cluster. He is a main organiser of  International Conference on Game Innovations and National Game Development Competition.

An expert in European politics. A political sociologist, historian of ideas and political thought, he graduated from University of Warsaw. He is an editor of the international Visegrad Insight magazine, a commentator and a columnist (TVP Info, Polsat News, Trójka Polskie Radio, Radio TOK FM, Radio PiN, Gazeta Wyborcza, Polska Times).

A Labour Economist at the OECD where he is part of the team working on the Future of Work project. His recent research focuses on the effects of technology on the quantity and quality of jobs. He holds a Phd in Economics from the University of Warwick and was a Research Fellow at ISER, University of Essex for seven years before joining the OECD.

Professor at the Institute of Mechatronics and Information Systems, a specialist in databases, warehousing, data mining, and of semi-structural data processing (Big Data). Since 2012 Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Electrical, Electronic, Computer and Control Engineering at Lodz University of Technology. Author of 4 books and over 100 publications. Member of the Scientific Committee of the IEEE International Conference Beyond Databases, Architectures and Structures BDAS. Propagator of science among young people.

Editor of Society desk at Newsweek Polska. Formerly, she also worked for the Wprost and Przekrój weeklies and Dziennik. She began her career in the radio - for a number of years she has been working in various radio broadcasters: RMF FM, Trójka PR, and the Polish branch of BBC.

The designated representative of the Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit for Central Europe and the Baltic States in Prague. Until 2015 he was the director of the Liberales Institut (Liberty Institute), the think tank of the Foundation in Berlin. He has studied philosophy and history at Cologne University (Ph.D. in Political Philosophy in 1990) and University College London. He authored several books: Kleines Lesebuch über den Liberalismus (ed., translated into 22 languages/English translation: Readings in Liberalism, published by the Adam Smith Institute) (1992), The Political Economy of Secession (ed., with Jürgen Backhaus) (2004), Kleines Lesebuch über den Föderalismus (2005), Globalisation: Can the free market work in Africa?(2007), Traktat über Freiheit (2009), Freedom, The Rule of Law, and Market Economy (2011), Freedom – Frontier – Ford. Der amerikanische Western in der politischen Bildung (ed., with. Klaus Füßmann) (2012). He also published numerous articles in German and international academic journals and daily newspapers on economic, political and historical subjects. Member of the Mont Pelerin Society since 1996.

Head of Parliamentary Club of the Nowoczesna party, MP of the VII convocation. Former city councillor in Lodz. Academic lecturer at the University of Lodz. She regularly publishes articles in the Liberte! magazine and since 2014 writes a blog in the domain. She was involved in the Secular School initiative, promoting a civic legislative project in favor of putting a stop to financing lessons of religion from state budget. Apart from that, she is also a member of Institute of Tolerance, which organzied the LUTA project for refugees.

A researcher, an entrepreneur, and a science populariser. Works at the Lodz University of Technology on design and safety of centrifugal compressors. Chancellor's proxy for Academic Entrepreneurship, Lodz University of Technology. A member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineering, Institute of Physics, The Institution of Engineering and Technology, Top 500 Innovators Society, Innovation Forum, Strathclyde Almuni Society. Worked at the Leeds University, Oxford University, Cambridge University, University of Strathclyde, and General Electric. A co-founder of AMBER EDITING - a company providing solutions for researchers writing scientific papers. Actively works towards growth of local innovation ecosystem. The founder of international journal for researchers, investors, and entrepreneurs "Innovation & Impact".

Head of the Department of Information Technology, Poznań University of Economics. He has been a visiting professor at the following universities in France and Italy: University of Nancy I, University of Nancy II, University of Paris-Sud, University of Paris-Dauphine, University of Genova, and University of Ancona. He has been a leader of numerous research and industrial projects on the development of hardware and software of computer systems and their applications in telecommunications, the computer industry, the electric power industry, education and administration. The projects were supported by Polish, French and American industry, as well as 4th, 5th, and 6th EU Framework Programme. He served as a consultant to the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education, Ministry of Administration and Digitalization, Ministry of Telecommunications, Ministry of Regional Development, Ministry of Economy, Polish Parliament, and several research institutes and governmental projects.

President of Polish Materials Society, a member of European Materials Science Society (FEMS) and American Society for Metals (ASM). He has been the Head of Materials Science and Engineering Institute at Lodz University of Technology since 1997. Since them, he has founded and developed a strong research team in the field of surface engineering and nanotechnology, recognized as the “Lodz School”. His main scientific and research achievements are none steady state models of vacuum carburizing and vacuum nitriding, artificial intelligence based software that supports these processes in the industrial scale and recently the manufacturing technology of High Strength Metallurgical Graphene (HSMG®).

Political sociologist, member of the editorial team of <i>Liberté!</i>. He is an author of the book Po co nam Europa? (Why Do We Need Europe?; 2009). In the years 2012-2014 he was the Head of Plan Zmian - a think tank of Twój Ruch.

Vice President and Economist at the Civil Development Forum (FOR Foundation) in Warsaw, Poland – a think tank founded by Professor Leszek Balcerowicz. He received his BSc in Economics and Politics from the University of Bristol in England and MA in Economics from the Warsaw School of Economics in Poland. In 2013 he completed the CPPR-ACE Winter School in Public Policy Research Methods in India and the Think Tank MBA program organized by the Atlas Network. He is the graduate of the Atlas Leadership Academy.

Polish columnist and commentator, Editor-in-Chief of “Liberté!”. Expert on international relations, co-founder of a community centre 6. Dzielnica in Lodz, Poland. Columnist of such publications as Gazeta Wyborcza, Rzeczpospolita, Polityka, Wprost; commentator for TOK FM radio station and TVP television channel. Marshall Memorial Fellow. He was chosen as a leader in a project carried out by Teraz Polska magazine nominating 25 leaders for the next 25 years. He is the co-author of two books Liberal reflections on life chances and social mobility in Europe and Democracy in Europe Of the People, by the People, for the People?.

A PhD student in the Department of Psychology at the University of Cambridge. Her research interests lie in studying personality, well-being, health, and daily behavioural patterns. With the help of new technologies (e.g., smartphone sensing methods) she's been researching feelings and behaviours in the natural, spontaneous contexts in which they occur.

Professor of Russian and Soviet Studies, University of Rennes II. Her main field of academic interest includes: Russian influence strategy in France and in Europe, now in the Soviet past, relations between art, politics and society in Russia since 1940, oppositions in Russia since 1917, history and memory problems in the ex-Soviet Union and in Central and Eastern Europe.

A Czech journalist and musician, working as a commentator and analyst for the daily newspaper Lidove noviny. Before, he worked for Hospodarske noviny and weekly Respekt, the latter of which he co-founded after the velvet revolution (1989) as the country‘s first independent media outlet. His main field of interest is economic politics, namely Eurozone crisis or European integration. He writes his daily blog Monitor on internet and provides analysis for Czech Radio and Television. With his lectures he visits international conferences and universities. He teaches journalism at New York University in Prague. During the Communist era he was a member of Czechoslovak dissent and signed the human rights petition Charta 77. He was involved in samizdat publishing and underground music culture. Chariman of the board of trustees of Institute for Politics and Society, former chairman of the board of trustees of Vaclav Havel Library. Repeatedly awarded the best journalist in the country (Ferdinand Peroutka Award, 2010).

A Polish poet, fiction writer, journalist, a lead singer in bands: Świetliki [Fire-flies] and Czarne Ciasteczka [Black Cookies]. He made his debut with the book Cold Countries published in 1992 by Fundacja brulion Publishers, although he was discovered by the critics and recognised as one of the most genuine representative of the brulion generation before his official debut. He was awarded many literary prizes, including The Georg Trakl Award, The Kościelscy Award, Grand Prix in a competition organized by brulion magazine, the Jan Twardowski Award. He was also awarded with Polityki Passports Award, but he refused to collect it. He is also a several-time-nominee of the Nike Literary Awards and in 2006 his book Music of the Middle was chosen as the Kraków Book of the Month. In 2009, he received Gdynia Literary Award in fiction for his detective story Jedenaście [Eleven]. While receiving the award he said: I want to congratulate the Jury and my publishers for having such a cool writer.

Head of the POLITICO Office in Warsaw. A former Editor-in-Chief of the Polish Forbes monthly (published by Onet-RASP Group). In the past, he was also the chief of Warsaw and Moscow branches of Reuters, Vice-President of the Interfax agency (in charge of English business webportals), and a Member of the Board of ITI. He also worked as a reporter for Associated Press and Reuters.

She was appointed as the Executive Director of the Ukrainian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (UVCA) in March 2016. Olga has got PhD degree on Finance at the Ukrainian banking academy of the National Bank of Ukraine, had been studying at University of Applied Sciences of the Deutsche Bundesbank, Academy of Capital Market Leaders at Lesław A. Paga Foundation (Poland). Olga has 8 years' experience in lecturing at Ukrainian banking academy of the National Bank of Ukraine, University of Greenwich (London, UK), as well as at the Jean Monnet Program of Erasmus +. Has got an experience in corporate governance and international cooperation.

At Newsweek he is responsible mostly for foreign politics. He has conducted a few hundreds interviews with the most influential intellectuals of the world. In the years 2004-2010 he was the editor of the Europe Magazine of Ideas – an extra added to Fakt, Dziennik and Newsweek.

A Polish journalist. Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Gazeta Wyborcza daily. Between October 1989 and July 1990, he was Lech Wałęsa's spokesman. In 1991, he published Wódz (Eng. The Chief), which was critical towards Wałęsa. It was later re-published in 1992 in the USas Lech Wałęsa. Democrat or dictator? He joined the editorial team of Gazeta Wyborcza in 1992. In January 2007, he became the deputy Editor-in-Chief. Event: Digital Propaganda as a Challenge for the Media

Media expert interested in the relationship between new media and cultural participation. His research interests include the Internet, computer games, transformation of television, contemporary culture, and informal distribution of information. He collaborates with numerous public cultural institutions, businesses and NGOs. He is also the co-creator of Kultura 2.0 [Culture 2.0], a project devoted to cultural transformations in the digital era as well as Medialab, the first Polish initiative combining social activism, art and technology. He was the principal investigator on numerous research projects, including Młodzi i media (Youth and Media), Tajni kulturalni (Secret Agents of Culture], and Obiegi kultury (The Circulations of Culture). Author of several books, such as Wirtualny plac zabaw. Gry sieciowe i przemiany kultury współczesnej (Virtual Playground. Online Gaming and Transformation of Contemporary Culutre, 2006), and Media, wersja beta (Media. Beta Version, 2014). Co-author, together with Alek Tarkowski, of Dwa zero. Alfabet nowej kultury i inne teksty (Two Zero. The Alphabet of New Culture and Other Texts, 2015). He is also Deputy Editor of Kultura Popularna (Popular Culture), a peer-reviewed academic quarterly journal. At SWPS University, he lectures on new media, pop culture, and audiovisual culture. Event: How Computer Games Change Cultural Behavior?

Polish journalist and writer, the author of numerous travel, fantasy, and jorunalistic books. Since 1997 he works for the Gazeta Wyborcza daily, where he writes about mass culture and Internet. He's an expert in the works of Stanisław Lem. He authored the book Co to są sepulki? Wszystko o Lemie (2007) - an encyclopaedic guide to Lem's works, as well as Lem's biography Lem. Życie nie z tej ziemi (2017) and a script to the documentary film by Borys Lankosz Autor Solaris about Lem. He was awarded by the Silesian Fantasy Club with the Śląkfa award for the Publisher of the Year 2008 for publishing a collection of Stanisław Lem's works by the Agora publishing house. Event: Was Lem a Liberal? Meet the author of Lem. Życie nie z tej ziemi

Vice President of the Lithuanian Free Market Institute. He holds Master’s degree in economics from Vilnius University and is currently pursuing joint doctoral studies at the ISM University of Management and Economics and the University of Angers, France. His areas of research include monetary policy and financial markets.

President of Lithuanian Free Market Institute, political and NGO activist. His field of analysis at LFMI encompasses energy, transport, and competition policies. He participated in several high-level working groups of legislation of energy, was a member of working groups of “Sunset” (reform and closing down government agencies), and “Sunrise” (cutting red tape, improving conditions for businesses) commissions for the Lithuanian government. Moreover, he has also worked as a teacher of Economics and an adviser to a CEO of an energy company.

Polish writer, journalist at “Polityka” magazine. He is mainly interested in topics concerning processes of modernization and postmodernization, social networks, social communication and influence of media (especially New Media) on social and political actions. Since 1999 he has been working for “Polityka”, a major Polish weekly magazine. Bendyk teaches at Warsaw School of Social Psychology and Center for Social Studies at PolishAcademy of Sciences topics concerning social networks, knowledge management and digital culture. At Collegium Civitas he has a lecture on modern ideas. He wrote two books, “Zatruta studnia” (“The Poisoned Well”, 2002), which won several prizes and was nominated to the Nike 2003 Prize, the most important Polish literary award and “Antymatrix. Czlowiek w labiryncie sieci” (“Anti-Matrix. A Man in a Labyrinth of Networks”, 2004). He is writing a blog: bendyk.blog.polityka.pl.

Before Hanna Zdanowska became the Mayor of the City of Lodz, she served six years as the Director of the Office of Lodz Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In 2006, Hanna Zdanowska became the Councilor of the Lodz City Council, and later the Vice-Mayor of Lodz in charge of education, sport and EU funds. In autumn 2007, she was elected a Member of the Polish Parliament from the Civic Platform list. She served as the Deputy Chairman of the Special Commission “Friendly State” for matters related to the reduction of bureaucracy. On December 13, 2010 Hanna Zdanowska, after the victory in the elections for the local government was sworn for the position of the Mayor of the City of Lodz. She was elected for a second term by the Lodz inhabitants already in the first round of the elections in 2014.

Political strategist, director of the Hungarian liberal think tank Republikon Institute and member of the board of the European Liberal Forum.