Keynote Speakers

Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Lenzen has been president of Universität Hamburg since 2010. Starting in 1975, he was professor of education, first at the University of Münster and, from 1977 onwards, he held a chair for philosophy of education at Freie Universität Berlin.

Dirk Van Damme is Head of Division in the Directorate for Education and Skills at the OECD in Paris. He holds a PhD in educational sciences from Ghent University, where he became professor of educational sciences. His main academic work focused on the history of education, comparative education, lifelong learning and international higher education.

Professor Heila Lotz-Sisitka holds a Tier 1 South African National Research Foundation Chair in Global Change and Social Learning Systems, and is a Distinguished Research Professor in Education at Rhodes University, South Africa.

Dr Karen Block is Associate Director of the Evidence and Child Health Unit in the Centre for Health Equity, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health and coordinates the Melbourne Social Equity Institute’s program in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies at the University of Melbourne.

Annette Scheunpflug holds the chair of Foundations in Education at the Otto-Friedrich-University of Bamberg in Germany and is an elected member of the Bavarian Academy of Science. She has a broad international teaching and research experience in Europe, the US, Japan and several African countries.

Arjen Wals is a Professor of Transformative Learning for Socio-Ecological Sustainability at Wageningen University. He also holds the UNESCO Chair of Social Learning and Sustainable Development. Furthermore, he is a senior advisor at the Gothenburg Centre for Sustainable Development (GMV).