Online Education – Transforming the Teaching and Learning of Digital Skills

Daniel leads the GSMA’s global engagement on mobile-sector regulatory affairs. Under his direction, the GSMA is contributing new ideas and analysis to the global policy dialogue at a time when emerging digital technologies and widespread broadband connectivity are reshaping society and the economy.

Daniel also leads the GSMA activities in Europe, Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). He is responsible for all Advocacy Initiatives (Public Policy, Spectrum, Mobile for Development, External Affairs), Strategic Engagement and Industry Programmes (Future Networks, Identity, Internet of Things) of the GSMA in the wider European region.

Daniel has a unique record of strategic input into Europe’s telecommunications policy agenda, having previously served as head of Hungary’s National Regulatory Authority, chair of the European Regulators Group (ERG, now BEREC) and chair of the European Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG). More recently, Daniel was Director General of the European Telecommunications Network Operators’ association (ETNO).

He holds a MSc in Economics from the Budapest University of Economics and a Postgraduate Diploma from a leading French institutional programme led by Ecole de Mines, Ecole des Ponts and Sciences-Po.

He was awarded the Officer’s Cross of the Order of the Republic of Hungary in 2009 for his work in EU electronic communication regulation and the Order of Merit (Knight’s Cross) of the Republic of Hungary in 2005 for his work promoting the development of the information and communications technology sector.

Victor Negrescu is a Member of the European Parliament, Vice-Chair of the Committee on Culture and Education (CULT), being part of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament.

He is the MEP with the most significant pilot projects, generating in both mandates initiatives that go up to more than 60 million euros in the fields of digitalization, education, health, entrepreneurship, culture and media.

Victor Negrescu has been an active promotor of the allocation of 10% for quality and inclusive education of the National Recovery and Resilience Facilities, as well as 2% to the cultural and creative sector. He managed to obtain in this regard the support of the Budgets Committee members and integrated that in the official position of the European Parliament.

In his activity as MEP, he strongly advocates for consistent investments in education, culture, digitalization and youth, by Member States and the European Commission.

As Romanian Minister Delegate for European Affairs in 2017-2018, Victor Negrescu was responsible for the preparations for the Presidency of the European Council, highlighting consistently the importance of the digital sector for Europe.

Prior to this, he was a Member of the European Parliament, winning in 2015 the title of MEP of the Year for the Digital Agenda, being also ranked in the top 5 most active Romanian MEPs of the period 2014 – 2019. He was also the youngest Romanian MEP elected in May of 2014 and became ambassador for the eSkills for jobs network.

Victor Negrescu holds an MBA in executive business, a PhD in development cooperation and has accomplished several education programs in prestigious Romanian and international universities and education institutions. In 2009 he started teaching at the Dimitrie Cantemir Christian University in Bucharest and since 2012 he is a lecturer at the National School of Political Science and Public Administration (SNSPA), where he has developed a Master’s programme in English on Development, International Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid, as well as two research centres – the Institute for International Cooperation and Development and the Institute for Global Digital Policies. In the same time, he is currently teaching at the University of Saint Louis Brussels. He was also Vice-Rector of SNSPA in 2019, the main responsibility being the coordination of projects and activities aimed at developing the European profile of the university.

David Lega is a Swedish politician and a Member of the European Parliament since 2019. He is a Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Subcommittee on Human Rights.

David began his Paralympian swimming career when he was 12 years old. During the course of his career, he proceeded to win several World Championship gold medals and received the ‘Triumph of the Human Spirit’ award during the Atlanta Paralympic Games 1996.

After retiring from swimming, he started a successful career as a public speaker and an entrepreneur.  He was awarded with “The Outstanding Young Person of the World” in 2004. Previous honourees include George Orson Welles, John F. Kennedy and Elvis Presley.

According to David, he had “the fortune of being born at the exact right time and place” to live a good life. This feeling sparked his commitment to give back to society, and has become something of a red thread in his political career.

Upon being elected as a Member of the European Parliament, David pledged to be the voice of the people who have the most difficulties in being heard. Therefore, he uses his platform in the European Parliament for this purpose, and has participated in numerous events to improve children’s rights. As co-Chair of the Intergroup for Children’s Rights, he intends to ensure that the perspective of children is integrated into legislative work and that all children’s voices are heard.

MEP since 2019.

Antoaneta Angelova-Krasteva has been Director at DG EAC since 2016. She is currently Director for Innovation, Digital Education and International Cooperation.  Her Directorate is also responsible for managing the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, which are key components of the Horizon Programme. Under her supervision is also the coordination of the EU Digital Education Action Plan.

Antoaneta joined the European Commission in 2008. She has occupied various management and expert positions across the Commission and dealt with a wide range of topics such as external relations and enlargement, internal security and police cooperation, cyber security, stakeholder relations and international affairs. Prior to entering the European Commission, Antoaneta has worked as a diplomat in Brussels on Bulgaria’s accession to the EU for five years. She is a graduate in political science of Sofia University, with training and qualifications in European studies from Germany (Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung) and the UK (Sussex University).

Marc Durando, Executive Director of EUN, has over 35 years’ experience in the field of education and training, both at European and national level. He has worked in the education and training area since 1983, where, after five years in the field of continuing education for enterprises, he developed specific expertise on European cooperation in the field of education and training.

Since September 2006, Marc Durando joined the European Schoolnet network as Executive Director of EUN (www.europeanschoolnet.org). As a network of 34 MoE, European Schoolnet’s mission is to support ministries of education, schools, teachers and relevant education stakeholders in Europe in the transformation of education processes for 21^st century digitalized societies.

More particularly, European Schoolnet’s remit is to:

• identify and test promising innovative practices,
• share evidence about their impact, and
• support mainstreaming teaching and learning practices aligned with 21^st century standards and expectations for the education of all students.

ICT and digitization are a particular focus of European Schoolnet’s work, because of the critical role they play in terms of designing and implementing future classroom scenarios and supporting new forms of learning both in and out of school.

Zainab Hussain Siddiqui is VP Sustainability at Telenor Group overseeing Telenor’s sustainability global partnerships, digital inclusion efforts and supply chain sustainability work. With more than 19 years of experience in key positions within Telecom, Government and Development sectors, Zainab works on aspects of social responsibility with 9 markets across Telenor’s footprint with particular focus on programmes pertaining to digital identity, digital literacy, children’s online safety, big data for social good and human rights. In her previous role, Zainab headed Corporate Social Responsibility at Telenor Pakistan, where she led innovative projects in partnership with international agencies within the areas of health, identity, education, disability inclusion and emergency response. In other roles, she has worked with gender equality, decent employment, telecom strategy, enterprise portfolio management, and policy development positions with ILO, Pakistan’s incumbent operator PTCL and the Ministry of IT & Telecom Pakistan.

Audrey’s main activities focus on Technology and Geopolitics in Europe. She oversees advocacy efforts at the European Parliament and was recently appointed as European lead for the Green Deal and Transatlantic relationships as well as worldwide lead for Education. Audrey is former Vice-Chair of the Amcham EU Intellectual Property Rights Committee and has just been shortlisted to become a Board member of the European Internet Forum.

Audrey joined Qualcomm in 2014 after having worked in the public and private sectors for over 12 years and returned to Qualcomm in mid-2020 after having led the European Commission team at Google. Initially working for the French government’s European Affairs Service, advising the Prime Minister’s office, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Culture and Communication, Audrey had led the Government Affairs team of BlackBerry in Brussels for 5 years. She holds postgraduate degrees in European and International Law from La Sorbonne, and in International Relations from the University of Pantheon-Assas, Paris. She also completed the Executive Management Acceleration Program of INSEAD.

Audrey is based out of Brussels, and had previously lived in Toronto, Paris, Fort-de-France, Abidjan, and Djibouti. Audrey has a five-year-old daughter and enjoys spending time with her English bulldog and two cats. She is a big fan of martial arts and has just started training for boxing.

Amit is responsible for driving Vodafone’s social enterprise agenda across Europe and Africa footprint with a focus on innovation, commercialization and public benefit in Digital Education and Healthcare. Most recently he was leading channel and sales strategy in Vodafone Group Consumer. Prior to joining Vodafone, he was in Venture Capital and invested in numerous hi-growth European technology start-ups. He has a MBA from Said Business School, University of Oxford.

Michael Trucano is the World Bank’s Senior Education & Technology Policy Specialist and Global Lead for Innovation in Education, working on issues at the intersection of technology use and education in middle- and low-income countries and emerging markets around the world.
At a practical working level, Mr. Trucano provides policy advice, research and technical assistance to governments seeking to utilize new information and communication technologies (ICTs) in their education systems. Over the past 20 years, Mr. Trucano has been advisor on, evaluator of, and/or working-level participant in, educational technology initiatives in over 50 middle- and low-income countries.
A frequent public speaker and interview subject on the use of technology in education around the world, and on ICT use for development (ICT4D) purposes more broadly, he is the principal voice behind the World Bank’s influential EduTech blog. He leads research and analytical work under the World Bank’s flagship Systems Approach for Better Education Results (SABER) initiative as it relates to information and communication technologies (SABER-ICT), including a related working paper series.
Mr. Trucano co-leads the World Bank’s global edtech team and global solutions group on ‘technology and innovation in education’, which maintains the World Bank’s knowledgebase on related topics; provides technical support and guidance to large scale national education projects around the world; coordinates a community of 26 internal ‘EdTech fellows’, frontline staff from across the World Bank’s education global practice working in every region around the world on over 50 edtech-related topics; and sponsors numerous knowledge-sharing events each year.
In addition to his advisory work on projects funded by the World Bank and other international aid agencies and donors, including the EdTech Hub and the mEducation Alliance, he serves on a number of external advisory boards for non-profit groups, international development agencies and prize committees, including Digital Promise, Dfid’s Digital Advisory Panel and the International Literacy Prizes of the U.S. Library of Congress.

Dalia Doman is a member of Telia’s Children’s Advisory Panel. She has been a part of the Estonian Union for Child Welfare youth council for 6 years, Safer Internet Project member for 8 years and Eurochild’s Children’s Council member from 2016 until 2018. As an 18-year-old high school student, Dalia is especially interested in child rights, child and youth participation and the overall goal of creating a better space for children and youth to grow up in.

Janet Zaharieva carrier has been dedicated to communications, media and ICT already for 23 years. She has C-level experience both in telecom and media, being part of the management of the Bulgarian incumbent telecom – Vivacom and before that CLO of the major private broadcaster bTV.
Janet has masters’ degrees in law and engineering and PhD in digital transformation of communications.
She is a board member of ETNO and chairperson of the Bulgarian telecom association – ASTEL.