Cristina Ortega Nuere works as Chief Academic and Operating Officer of World Leisure Organisation, a non-governmental organization born in 1957 with consultive status of United Nations, since she was appointed in January 2016. Doctor in Leisure and Human Development, with a Master degree in Leisure Management, specialized in Cultural Management, she graduated from the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy from the University of Deusto and completed her studies in London, Middlesex and at Westminster University. She has done several research stages, the last ones at the University of Fordham (New York, EEUU) and Cambridge (UK). Previously to her present work, she has worked for over two decades at the University of Deusto as professor and researcher; the last five years as Director of the Institute of Leisure Studies and Principal Researcher of the official research group on leisure and human development. She has been the ENCATC President for 4 years, the leading European network of cultural policies and management education and research; and the Chair of ENCATC’s Policy Group Monitors of Culture, made up of over 40 cultural observatories worldwide. She has also been Jury member of the European Capitals of Culture. She has also been appointed twice as Member of the Basque Council of Culture of the Basque Government. Her area of specialization is cultural policies, cultural and creative industries, evaluation, wellbeing and human development.  She has participated in more than 50 research projects and wrote dozens of books and articles in the leisure and cultural field. She wrote a book of reference on Cultural Observatories where she built a utility model adopted in several cities and countries, Ortega, C. (2010) Cultural Observatories: Mapping of Observatorios Culturales. Creación de Mapas de Infraestructuras y Eventos, Barcelona. Ariel. She usually participates as a speaker in international scientific conferences worldwide, among her last conferences: Monitoring cultural policies and measures for sustainable urban economies and societies, UNESCO Creative Cities Beijing Summit II, Beijing, June, 2016; Research, evaluation and cultural policies, UCLG Culture Summit Culture and Sustainable Cities, Culture 21, Agenda 21 for Culture, Bilbao, March, 2015; FOCUS UNESCO World Forum on Culture and Cultural Industries, Florence, October, 2014.

Prof. Emanuele Bellini PhD is an Associate Professor in Information Processing Systems at the University of Roma Tre and a Visiting Academic at the University of Cambridge, Department of Computer Science and Technology. His research spans Cyber Resilience, Human-Cyber-Physical Systems, Critical Infrastructure Protection, and Trust Computing. He is also the founder of the emerging field of Cyber Humanities, and his current research investigates the security and protection of Digital Cultural Assets, as well as the counteraction of Cyber Cognitive Operations targeting Cultural Heritage, as part of the broader challenge of safeguarding memory,  knowledge and meaning in the digital age.

Prof. Bellini serves as Chair of the IEEE SMC Technical Committee on Cyber Humanities and Vice-Chair of the IEEE SMC Technical Committee on Homeland Security. He is also Founder and Co-Chair of the IEEE International Conference on Cyber Security and Resilience (IEEE-CSR) and the IEEE International Conference on Cyber Humanities (IEEE-CH). His work is based on a transdisciplinary approach fusing technical and humanistic perspectives to address the challenges of resilience, trust and sustainability in complex socio-technical critical ecosystems.

Since 2004, GiannaLia Cogliandro Beyens is the Secretary General of the European network on cultural management and policy, ENCATC. She is also the administrator of the Thomassen mobility programme and serves on several boards. GiannaLia is an expert in EU affairs and international relations, with more than 30 years’ experience in advocacy, cultural policy, and strategic management, in the context of international cultural NGO. Since 1998, GiannaLia has also successfully designed, drafted, and managed a large number of EU cross-sectorial projects in the field of culture, education, and research.

Former Policy Officer of the Cultural Forum of EUROCITIES, GiannaLia was also Secretary General of the Association of the European Cities of Culture , AECC. Journalist since 1993, she started her career as Press & PR Officer for the N.A.T.O organisation in Rome. For the European Commission, she wrote 10 Reports on social European policy and a major study on the European Cities of Culture of the year 2000. Educated at the University “La Sapienza” in Rome, GiannaLia holds a Degree in Political Sciences - International Relations and two additional masters in European & International Career Studies, and a in European Constitution. Since 1993, GiannaLia is member of the Association of the Former trainees of the European Union.

Iphigenia Taxopoulou is a founding member and general secretary of the European theatre network mitos21. She's an associate partner of Julie’s Bicycle, the UK-based charity that mobilises the arts and culture to take action on climate change. She has worked in theatre as literary advisor, programming consultant and international projects manager in Greece and abroad for several years. She is an experienced sustainability consultant, lecturer and educator. She holds a degree in Philology & Modern Greek Studies from Aristotle University (Thessaloniki) and an MA in Cultural Management & Theatre Criticism from City University of London. She is the author of Sustainable Theatre: Theory. Context. Practice, published by Bloomsbury/Methuen Drama (May 2023). In 2025, she was named Knight (Chevalière) of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Ministry of Culture.

Laura Noll is the Executive Education Lead in the Culture for the Planet project and Senior Researcher at the Center for Arts Management at ZHAW. Previously, Laura completed a PhD and Postdoc in Management at the University of St.Gallen (HSG). She founded a competence center for art market research at the HSG and initiated and supervised applied research projects with leading art institutions including Art Basel and Christie's. Her main research interests are the value and price of art and the future viability of art institutions. This is why she is committed to creating a pioneering sustainability programme for arts and culture.

Leticia Labaronne is Professor and Head of the Center for Arts Management at Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) as well as Director of the executive Master programme in Cultural Management. She has co-created and co-leads the Culture for the Planet project. Leticia worked in the performing arts for over 10 years before joining academia. Originally from Argentina, she holds a BA in International Studies (UK), a MSc in Public and Nonprofit Management (Switzerland) and a PhD on Cultural Management (Germany). Her expertise extends to a wide range of topics related to the management of arts and cultural organizations, including new paths for financing and funding, performance measurement and evaluation. Since 2023, Leticia is Vice-President of ENCATC.

Marco Fiore is Policy and Project Manager at Michael Culture Association. He has a MA in European Cultural Policies from SciencesPo Paris and a MA in Ethics of AI. His work focuses on bringing the voice of the cultural sector into European policies, especially in digital contexts where he advocates for digital justice and ethics.

Mira Höschler has been Community & Project Manager at the Network of European Museum Organisations (NEMO) since 2016. Her main focus lies in organising capacity‑building activities for NEMO members. Before joining NEMO, she worked for several years at the German Museums Association. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Intercultural European Studies and a Master’s degree in Cultural Management, and she is passionate about connecting people and fostering networks.

Roberto Bernad is Head of European Funds at Fundación Banco Santander, an organization working in culture, social action and education in Spain. He holds a Bachelor in Arts and a MA in International Relations. For several years, he held several management positions in the editorial and design sectors. He moved then into the social sector, where he worked in European funds management linked to social services and EU social policies. He is an expert in homelessness policies, and he has conducted research and coordinated international research projects in the field, and advised several governments in Europe and Latin America. He worked as a consultant in social policies and EU funds for public administrations and NGOs. At Fundación Banco Santander, he is coordinating CreaSus, a Creative Europe project on sustainability of cultural industries, and RELIGHT, an Interreg Sudoe project for culture in rural areas. He makes also part of the Alliance for Socially Engaged Arts and works on relations between culture, territory, sustainability and social justice.