Session Speakers
Here you can meet the speakers whose contributions shape this year’s sessions. Each contributor offers specialist knowledge and distinct perspectives that add depth to the program and provide participants with meaningful, thought‑provoking insights.
Anders Malthe-Sørensen
Anders Malthe-Sørensen is a professor of physics at the University of Oslo, the director of two centers for excellence in education and the vice president of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. His research focuses on fundamental development of AI methods and applications of AI to neuroscience, materials science, geoscience and text analysis. He leads the Norwegian expert committee on AI in higher education who will deliver their report to the Ministry of Education and Research in November 2026.
Anna Lindahl
Anna Lindahl is the Head of the Office of International Relations at Mid Sweden University. She also serves as the project lead for Mid Sweden University’s participation in the ChallengeEU alliance. Anna has worked in higher education and the field of internationalization for over 20 years, with an expertise in strategic internationalization, strategic partnerships, double degrees and joint programs as well as comprehensive and responsible internationalization. Over the last 6 years she has also focused on the European Universities Initiative, through work at Mid Sweden University as well as on the national and interinstitutional levels in different task forces and expert groups. She represents ChallengeEU in the FOREU4ALL topical group on the European Degree and joint programs and is also a member of the NUAS internationalization group.
Anna Stina Sinisalo
Anna Stina Sinisalo works as the Head of Development for International Affairs at the University of Helsinki. In her current role, she serves as the University of Helsinki operational lead of the Una Europa alliance and as a deputy unit head in UH International Affairs. She has been involved in diverse tasks within higher education international relations for nearly twenty years and has broad expertise in international higher education cooperation, international partnerships and exchanges, joint degree programs, and collaborative projects funded with external funding. Anna Stina has contributed to steering groups and development committees for various international networks. Since 2020, she has held different volunteer roles in the European Association for International Education (EAIE) and is also an EAIE Academy Trainer. Anna Stina holds a Master’s degree from the University of Turku and has recently enrolled in a PhD pathway program at the Centre for Higher Education Internationalisation (CHEI) in Milan.
Anne Bruun
Anne Bruun is Director of International Education at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH). The office holds twenty-seven staff members working with the development of Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters, student mobility, and UCPH educational activities in international partnerships and alliances. Anne has worked within the field of international education for twenty-five years. She works closely with colleagues within UCPH and the 4EU+ European university alliance and with her large network of international partners to further student mobility and international education. Through her career, Anne has attained extensive knowledge of trends and processes within higher education. She presents at international conferences such as the EAIE and APAIE on topics relating to strategic partnerships, evaluation of partnerships and student engagement.
Bjørn H. Handeland
Bjørn H. Handeland is a Senior Research Librarian at the University of Agder, Norway, and serves as AI Coordinator for Research. He holds a PhD in linguistics, with a research background in multilingualism and language acquisition. His current work focuses on integrating artificial intelligence into research processes, drawing on his experience in research ethics, methodology, and academic publishing.
Dag Rune Olsen
Dag Rune Olsen is professor of medical physics and holds a PhD from the University of Oslo (1999). He served as head of cancer research at The Norwegian Radium Hospital in Oslo and professor at University of Oslo until he took up a position as Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (2010-2013) at the University of Bergen. After serving as dean for one period, he was elected rector and served two periods (2013-2021) before he was appointed rector at UiT The Arctic University of Norway (2021-2025) and is currently serving his second term (2025-2029).
Professor Olsen has served as chair of universities Norway (the Norwegian rectors
conference) and as member of the research policy working group of EUA. He chairs the board of the Nordic Institute of Studies of Innovation, Research and Education and serves on the board of cultural institutions in Norway.
Olsen has been awarded with The Breur Award for his research, is elected member of The Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences the Academia Europaea of which he was also presented with the Presidents Merit Award this year. He chairs the board of the Nordic Institute of Studies of Innovation, Research and Education and serves on the board of cultural institutions in Norway.
Olsen has been awarded with The Breur Award for his research, is elected member of the The Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences the Academia Europaea of which he was also presented with the Presidents Merit Award this year. He is also an honorary professor at the Shandong University and has been elected President of YERUN – Young European Research Universities Network.
Eeva-Liisa Viskari
Eeva-Liisa Viskari has a doctoral degree in environmental sciences. She has more than 35 years of experience as a researcher, professional teacher, head of the degree programme in environmental engineering and project manager in various R&D projects related to environment, sustainability, and circular economy. Currently she is working as a Chief Specialist in sustainability and responsible for organizational sustainability and responsibility work of Tampere University.
Elina Rajuvaara
Frauke Urban
Frauke Urban is Professor in the Management of Sustainable Energy Systems at the Department of Industrial Economics and Management at KTH Royal Institute of Technology. She has more than 20 years’ experience in research, teaching and policy advice in the field of sustainability transitions. Her main areas of expertise are sustainable energy transitions, climate change mitigation, decarbonization of industries / transport / energy systems and sustainable development. She has assisted organisations like the EU and the IEA in energy and climate policy-making, as well as advising the Climate Action Network for International Educators CANIE.
Fredrik Karlsson
Fredrik Karlsson is a Senior Officer at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, where he supports researchers, management, and academic units on matters related to research ethics and export control. His work includes developing institutional guidelines, advising schools and research groups, contributing to the Faculty Council’s ethics committee, and representing KTH in national and international research ethics networks. He holds an academic background in biomedicine and religious studies and earned his PhD in ethics in 2009. Before joining KTH’s Research Funding division, he spent around fifteen years working in teaching and research.
Friðrika Þóra Harðardóttir
Friðrika Þóra Harðardóttir holds a Master’s degree and PhD in Immunology from Yale University, USA. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at Yale, she returned to Iceland to pursue research at Landspítali University Hospital and later in the pharmaceutical start-up sector.
In 2007, she joined the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, contributing to higher education strategy and policy development. Since 2013, she has served as Head of the International Division at the University of Iceland, where she leads international relations, student and staff mobility, and engagement in global networks, including the Aurora European University Alliance.
Fridrika also serves as Secretary General of the Icelandic Rectors’ Conference and is active in the Secretary General forums of the Nordic University Association (NUS) and the European University Association (EUA). She has served on several national and international committees and boards, including the Fulbright Commission, the Watanabe Trust Fund, and the NUAS Internationalization Group.
Galina Lanchina
Galina Ianchina is the Head of DKCERT and previously served as CIO and Deputy Director at Roskilde University. With a strong background in information security, digital leadership, and IT governance, she oversees national cybersecurity efforts for Danish research and education institutions. Her work focuses on strengthening resilience, incident response, and sector‑wide security coordination.
Hilde Sandvik
Hilde Sandvik is a jounalist and podcast host. In 2024, Hilde Sandvik was involved in establishing Nord 55, a platform for Nordic summits and pan-Nordic debate.
Hilde is currently best known for the podcast Norsken, svensken og dansken, a weekly Scandinavian talk show. The hosts describe it as pan-Scandinavian conversational therapy, featuring discussions ranging from politics to anecdotal trivialities from one of the three countries represented by the debaters Hilde Sandvik, Hassan Preisler and Åsa Linderborg.
Hilde was awarded the Nordisk fortjenestemedalje in 2022.
Hilde is an outstanding speaker, debater, moderator and master of ceremonies, with a solid background in the Norwegian media industry. She is goal-oriented, both in the short and long term, and brings extensive experience in strategic development work through ten years as an editor, in addition to various board positions.
Sandvik achieved significant editorial and financial results for Bergens Tidende during her ten years as editor and commentator.
Ingunn Björnsdottir
Ingunn Björnsdóttir is the associate professor who was most harmed in the knife attack in the University of Oslo on August 24th, 2023. She was a Practice Coordinator at the University of Oslo for the Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience, the six months of training in a pharmacy, that the EU regulations require pharmacy students to undergo.
Jenny Wanselius
Jenny Wanselius is Head of the EU Department at Vinnova, Sweden’s innovation agency and national contact organisation for Horizon Europe. She oversees Sweden’s National Contact Point (NCP) system for Horizon Europe and works closely with other government agencies to coordinate national participation in the EU framework programme. At Vinnova, she leads a multidisciplinary team that provides strategic advice, national information services, and support to stakeholders across academia, industry, and the public sector.
Her role also includes European‑level policy engagement, supported by staff based in Brussels who advance Swedish priorities and strengthen connections between national and EU research and innovation ecosystems. Through this combined national–European perspective, Jenny contributes to building stronger institutional capabilities and fosters more coherent and strategic approaches to Sweden’s participation in EU framework programmes.
Jesper Christian Mørch
Jesper Chr. Mørch is Library Director at the University of Agder (UiA), Norway, and Chair of the NUAS Library Group. He also leads UiA’s AI Core Team, which works to ensure a coordinated and strategic approach to the use of artificial intelligence across research, education, and administration. Jesper holds a degree in History from the University of Copenhagen and has previously worked at the University of Copenhagen Library and the Royal Danish Library.
Joakim Cao
Joakim Cao is a qualified Career guidance counsellor with master’s degrees in both Education and Work Science. He works as a Career and Academic Adviser at the Faculty of Engineering (LTH), Lund University. He is also involved as an educational developer in a digitalisation in Career Guidance project through www.digicao.nu and www.vagledarlabbet.se.
Kenneth Nielsen
Kenneth Nielsen, Senior Security advisor UiO Kenneth is a former Army officer from the Recon Cavalry and has served in several operational units at home and in international operations. He has further worked in several countries as an advisor and instructor in the prevention and management of school- and mass shootings. In this capacity he has co-developed the SARTOV-program (a holistic approach to threats and violence in the education sector). The program is both shared with the national resource website sikresiden.no and in the university sector in Norway.
Since 2015 Kenneth has worked as senior security advisor at UiO, with threat assessments, resilience, incident and crisis management.
Kimmo Tuominen
Kimmo Tuominen has served as National Librarian and Professor at the National Library of Finland since July 2022. He has extensive experience in library leadership and national information services, previously serving as University Librarian at Helsinki University Library, Director of Jyväskylä University Library, and Head of Reference and Archival Services at the Library of Parliament. His research focuses on information practices, information literacy, digital libraries, and Open Science. He has held several elected positions in Finland and internationally.
Kiki Flesche Kleiven
Kikki Kleiven is Head of Department Earth Science at University of Bergen & Director of the Bjerknes Centre. She is a dedicated communicator of climate knowledge and she is being used as an expert in the field in several national media. Kikki Kleiven will share some of her experiences – as an expert on climate and about the harassment she has received as a result of speaking out about climate change in the media.
Kristian Levring Madsen
Kristian Madsen is Head of Advertising and Media Training at University og Copenhagen.
The unit works to strengthen external communication from research environments and thus increase the value of the knowledge developed in research, through media and message training and advice on communication – primarily targeted at researchers and research environments. The unit also provides support to researchers on SoMe. From his earlier employment at the Department of Sport and Nutrition, Kristian also has extensive experience in foundation collaboration, press and crisis management, and communication related to health, research, food, physical activity and nutrition.
Kristina von Oelrich
Kristina von Oelrich is Head of Sustainability at KTH Royal Institute of Technology and leads the KTH Sustainability Office, a team of five professionals working to integrate environmental and sustainability perspectives across the university’s operations, education, and research support.
She has a background in law with a specialization in environmental law and brings more than 25 years of experience in sustainable development, working across both the public and private sectors. Earlier in her career, she served as a lecturer at Mälardalen University and later worked at the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, where she was involved in assignments related to the United Nations. She is actively engaged in several national and international networks on sustainability, and within NUAS she leads the Sustainability Group.
Lisa Redin
Lisa Redin is a Sustainability Controller at the University of Gothenburg. She has extensive experience in the field of sustainability and has, for many years, worked as a Sustainability Strategist at Umeå University and in the public sector. Within the framework of the Swedish Higher Education Institutions’ Climate Network, Lisa has led the focus group responsible for developing the guidance document on Sustainable Buildings and Premises. She will present a section of the guidance addressing how higher education institutions can plan their work on circularity and the reuse of furniture and building materials.
Magnús Smári Smárason
Artificial Intelligence Project Manager at University of Akureyri
Maibrit Kallehauge Brask
Senior Manager at Deloitte
Maj Schian Nielsen
Maj Schian Nielsen is a Senior Research Librarian at the University of Agder, Norway, and serves as AI Coordinator for Education. She holds a PhD in linguistics, with a research background in multilingualism and foreign language teacher education. Her current work centres on the pedagogical integration of artificial intelligence in higher education, combining her expertise in didactics, critical AI literacy, and academic development to support teaching, assessment, and learning practices.
Maria Sjölund
Maria Sjölund works at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU). She is an archivist and information specialist and has been employed at SLU since 2017 and has worked as an archivist since 2014. She began working with information security and continuity planning in 2020 and has developed it ever since.
Mikkeline Thomsen
Mikkeline Thomsen is Partner at Os & Data. The Os & Data team are experts in the best and worst of online communities having studied and supported them for several years. They are behind two nation-wide mappings of verbal attacks and hate speech based on 130m posts and comments from Denmark’s digital public debate.
Ole Kjærgaard
Ole Kjærgaard is Data Center Manager at i2 – Intelligent Infrastructure, part of the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). He is responsible for the operation and development of national data center services, including secure hosting environments and the Danish Internet Exchange (DIX). His work centers on robust digital infrastructure, operational security, and high‑availability services.
Peter Bruun Nielsen
Peter Bruun Nielsen is Deputy Director of AU IT at Aarhus University, where he has led major digital transformation initiatives since 2015. With a background in political science, he plays a key role in shaping information security strategy across the Danish university sector. He also chairs the national university information security committee, contributing to sector‑wide cybersecurity coordination and governance.
Susanna Kokkinen
Susanna Kokkinen is the manager of Aalto University Records Management Team. Besides managing Aalto University Archives’ collections, Aalto University Records Management Team is responsible for guiding University’s records management, related system infrastructure (RDMS, decision workflows & meeting management, digital signature, digital preservation & asset management system) and integrations from these to university’s other key systems. Susanna has worked for nearly 20 years with archives, information management and records management and she is also active in different associations related to archives & records management (e.g. Finnish Business Archives Association; Nordic Universities Administrative Association NUAS’ section for Archives & Records management; ICA section on Architectural Archives SAR.)
Tangui Coulouar
Tangui Coulouarn is Head of Development and International Engagement at DeiC and works closely with DKCERT. He holds a PhD and has extensive experience with European research infrastructures, network security, and cross‑border digital services. His work includes development of advanced monitoring systems, secure network architectures, and participation in major European collaborations such as GÉANT.
Thamar Melanie Heijstra
Professor Thamar Melanie Heijstra is a sociologist at the University of Iceland whose research focuses on working life, organizational culture, and employee wellbeing. Her work explores how workplace structures, power relations, and social dynamics shape people’s experiences and health at work. She has contributed extensively to research on gender equality, working conditions, and wellbeing in academia and other workplaces.
Thomas Buchvald Vind
University Director at University of Southern Denmark
Tore Tungodden
Tore Tungodden is university director at the University of Bergen (UiB), Norway. He has held various leading administrative positions at the university, at the department and faculty level, and at a research institute. Tungodden has also been chairman of the board of the national university paper Khrono. His leadership is marked by strategic orientation, extensive knowledge of the higher education sector of Norway as well as a long-term engagement with the development of UiB. Tungodden earned his cand. polit degree within Social Sciences at UiB.
Victoria Sjöbom
Victoria Sjöbom is Head of HR at Mid Sweden University, where she works at the intersection of organizational development, security culture, and crisis preparedness. She contributes to the university’s internal security structures, including personnel‑related security processes and resilience planning. Her work supports the human and organizational dimensions of cybersecurity and risk mitigation.
Wilhelm Widmark
Wilhelm Widmark is the Library Director of Stockholm University, Sweden, since 2012. He is also the Publisher of Stockholm University Press. Since 2020, he is Senior Adviser for Open Science to the President of Stockholm University. He has a Master of Arts in Literature and a Master of Arts in Library and information science from Uppsala University. Wilhelm is active in the Open Science movement in Sweden and Europe. He is the vice-chair of the Swedish Bibsam consortia and chair of the Swedish Rectors conference coordination group on Open Science. He is also a member of European University Association´s Expert Group on Open Science and former Director of European Open Science Cloud Association.