SPEAKERS
Marjo Kyllönen
Marjo Kyllönen is passionate about Future school concepts, leadership, and school culture. She believes that education can make a difference and build societies for future success. As Education Development Services Director for the City of Helsinki, Marjo oversees expert and development services in the Education Sector, providing education services from early childhood education to adult training. As former Chief of Education at the General Education division for over ten years, Marjo has a PhD in Education and defended her doctoral thesis on Future School and Leadership. At her current position, Marjo shapes ‘Basic education,’ covering curriculum matters, pupil participation, special education, and multicultural issues. She is appointed to various committees on the national level on topics including curriculum work, pupil welfare, and pupil assessment. She has written publications in pre and basic education, evaluation, multicultural issues, multi-professional cooperation, future school concepts, and future leadership. Near to her heart is voluntary work promoting children’s education in developing countries. Currently, Marjo is involved in NGO work in Kenya, Nyanza district, with a key task to coach the local leaders to build a better school for less privileged children in that area.
Birgy Lorenz
Birgy Lorenz is Senior Scientist at Tallinn University of Technology and experienced trainer in cybersecurity-related awareness and AI in Education. She has, among many other things, developed CyberSecurity curriculum and materials for secondary school and many different educational games.
Kelly Hrupa
Kelly leads projects related to Media & Information Literacy (MIL) in order to raise awareness about the direct connection between MIL and democratic participation and give education, training and youth field stakeholders inspiration and new skills to start MIL projects that have a positive impact on democratic participation. She is organising events and developing content in cooperation with wide range of experts ranging from UNESCO and DW Akademie to regional MIL networks and partners. She has spent 5 years supporting the thematic work of SALTO Participation & Information. She holds a Master’s degree in philosophy and is curious about problems related to critical thinking.
Jaan Aps
Jaan Aps leads Stories For Impact, a social impact research and consulting company focused on increasing organisational effectiveness in improving human well-being and enabling personal development. One of Jaan's strengths is adapting and simplifying project design and impact evaluation principles for small and medium-sized organisations and projects. Jaan has experience with Erasmus+ programmes as both a project evaluator and a project manager. In 2023, an Erasmus+ strategic cooperation project initiated and led with Jaan’s participation received the 'Deed of the Year' award from the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research and the Education and Youth Board. His experience also includes founding and managing organisations, notably co-founding and leading the Estonian Social Enterprise Network.
Leo Siiman
Leo A. Siiman is an Associate Professor of Educational Technology at the Institute of Education of the University of Tartu. He has published over 40 articles in peer-reviewed academic journals. Dr. Siiman also teaches physics to high school students at Miina Härma Gümnaasium based on the globally recognized International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. From 2021 to 2023, Siiman led the successful Erasmus+ project "Digi-Science: Developing Innovative Practices in a Digital Era for the Teaching of Natural Sciences," which aimed to revolutionize science education through the integration of digital technologies. This project focused on providing educators with the tools and skills needed to effectively incorporate digital methods into science curricula. By emphasizing inquiry-based learning, digital simulations, and collaborative platforms, Digi-Science enhanced student engagement and critical thinking in scientific studies. The project successfully transformed traditional science education, creating a more dynamic and accessible learning environment for students.
Laura Hütt
Laura Hütt is the Chief Programme Officer for Erasmus+ Higher Education Mobility Projects and the SALTO Digital Contact Point at the Estonian National Agency.
Democracy Fitness Training by Ave Habakuk and Maiu Lauring
A healthy democracy in the digital age requires citizens to not only be digitally competent, but also be active and engaged. To be strong democrats we have to be aware of our democracy “muscles”. Just like the muscles in our body, we might forget to exercise them, but we all have them! With Democracy Fitness Training we exercise our democracy muscles and keep them toned to engage in our democracy! Democracy Fitness Trainers Ave Habakuk and Maiu Lauring, will help us find and exercise our opinion muscle in a fun, quick and gently challenging training session.