European Young Leaders (#EYL40)

A competitive sailor from Cyprus, Pavlos is an Olympic medallist and the first and only athlete to win an Olympic medal for the country. Following his historic win, he went on to place second at the International Laser Class Association (ILCA) World Championship and then earned the title of World Champion for two consecutive years, as well as European Champion. Pavlos has been recognised as the Cyprus Athlete of the Year seven times. He is a true role model for young athletes and actively supports the sporting community in his country. Ahead of the 2020 Summer Olympic Games, Pavlos launched the #TowardsTokyo campaign to financially support five promising Cypriot athletes in their preparations to qualify for the national Olympics team, four of which were successful in reaching Tokyo.

Elisabeth is an Austrian politician and the current Federal Minister for Sustainability, Agriculture and Tourism in the Austrian government. Previously, Elisabeth was the President of the National Council, the first chamber of the Austrian Parliament, and a Member of the European Parliament from 2009 to 2017, belonging to the European People’s Party Group (EPP), and won the MEP Award for her work in agriculture and rural development in 2014. She currently serves as the Vice-President of the Austrian Farmers Association, and continues to passionately advocate for issues related to rural areas and their development.

Julian Kostov is an award-winning Bulgarian actor and filmmaker. He stars in the People’s Choice Award-nominated hit fantasy series “Shadow and Bone” and was critically acclaimed for his performance in the historic war drama “Another Mother’s Son”. He has landed roles in “A Discovery of Witches”, “Berlin Station”, “Temple” and “The Toxic Avenger”, among other movies and TV series, which have aired on major networks and premiered in movie theatres worldwide. Experienced in filmmaking, Kostov produced “The Dare”, the debut feature film of his Bulgarian-based production and talent management company, JupiterLights Media Group. Notably, he supported casting for Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”. Established to promote original storytelling, JupiterLights also organises workshops for actors and filmmakers to nurture their empowerment and mental health. He also co-founded the Five Oceans production company to bring Bulgarian, Balkan and Slavic stories to international audiences and tackle stereotypes and underrepresentation in the industry. A man of many talents, Kostov holds over 60 medals in swimming, including a bronze medal from the Balkan Games.

Meeri is an internationally renowned Finnish photographer and journalist, admired for her coverage of and portraits on human rights, minorities and empowerment. She garnered significant attention for her work on female genital mutilation in Kenya. This won her the Visa D’or Daily Press Award at France’s most prestigious photojournalism festival, Visa pour l’Image, and the Freelens Award at the Lumix Photo Festival in Hannover. She is also a seasoned documentary filmmaker, focusing her attention on disadvantaged groups such as the ‘Findian’ community in the US or transsexual Mayans in Mexico.

Anna is the Founder and President of the Board of Go Culture, the first professional Polish agency dealing with the implementation and communication of cultural projects. As such she is responsible for promotional campaigns and projects and has planned and dealt with the communication aspects of not only publishing houses, festivals, concerts, social and educational events, but also of well-known international consumer brands. Four of the projects she carried out were awarded the Golden Clip prize in a contest organised by the Public Relations Companies Association for the best public relations campaigns. Anna also runs a café bookstore and independent Big Book Café literary centre in her hometown Mokotów. She is also a lecturer at the Polish Open University and an expert in the field of professional theatre.

Marta is a London-based fintech entrepreneur who co-founded the real time pay start-up FreeUp. She is also an entrepreneur-in-residence at the global GovTech firm PUBLIC.io. Having experienced first-hand the challenges that arise when attempts are made to send money home, she helped co-found the global money transfer platform Azimo, raising over $70mn in funding and gained over 1mn customers. Marta is a frequent public speaker and advocate for responsible leadership and inclusion.

As the Founder of and Chief Testing Officer of Testlio, Kristel leads a professional testing platform that helps software developers by connecting them to the best testers all over the world. The rapidly growing business has already raised more than $6.25mn in investment capital and works with a roster of major US and international clients, including Microsoft, Amazon, CBS and Etsy.

A Danish politician who became Mayor of Holbæk Municipality on her 25th birthday, Christina is the country’s youngest mayor ever, simultaneously tackling age and gender stereotypes. Labelled Denmark’s poorest municipality at the start of her term, Holbæk’s finances have significantly improved under Christina’s leadership, having exercised tight financial management and prioritised previously neglected areas, including primary and lower secondary schools. Her fresh approach to local politics is characterised by greater engagement with the community. She partakes in an ‘internship’ every Tuesday to gain insight into different sectors across the municipality and was recognised for her efforts with the Dialogue Prize at Folkemødet. She previously served as a municipal council member. An established member of the Danish Social Democratic Youth (DSU) and the Social Democrats, she is the former chairman of DSU Holbæk and former deputy to the party association’s main board.

An architect by trade, Gunita Kuļikovska-Ķiesnere is a leading Latvian voice of the sustainable construction revolution. She founded the New Building School at the Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences, which focuses on sustainable and smart construction, timber construction and eco-building, to combat outdated construction practices and encourage a significant paradigm shift in the construction industry. Kuļikovska-Ķiesnere is also the Founder of Vividly App, which operates at the intersection of tech, architecture and urban planning. The company harnesses the power of data, 3D modelling and virtual reality simulations to assist development processes and also contributes to educational and cultural initiatives that work with young people as part of its social responsibility activities. Additionally, Kuļikovska-Ķiesnere gives lectures on digital transformation at the BA School of Business and Finance, mentors various hackathons and leads workshops for young entrepreneurs.

Andreas is the CEO and Co-Founder of KONUX, a company that combines smart sensors and analytics based on artificial intelligence (AI) with the aim of guaranteeing the punctual operation and maintenance of railway networks. While working for corporations like Siemens and BMW, Andreas came to the realisation that many industrial companies were not yet aware of the advantages accompanying the Internet of Things, nor did they know how to properly make use of their data. He managed to raise +$50 million with leading Silicon Valley investors and just a year later, KONUX won the national mobility award ‘Deutscher Mobilitätspreis’ along with the German digital award ‘The Spark’ in 2016. That same year, Andreas was the youngest CEO to be included in the entrepreneur list by the German Capital Magazine.

Inga Lāce is a Latvian curator and the Chief Curator of the Almaty Museum of Arts in Kazakhstan. Her research centres on transnational connections and the legacies of politics of friendship and international solidarity within the realms of eastern Europe and Central Asia. Lāce was the CMAP Central and Eastern Europe Fellow at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and previously held the position of curator at the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art for a decade. She has co-curated exhibitions in Rīga, Kaunas, Ljubljana, Paris, New York, Malmö, Amsterdam and Łódź, among others. Lāce was the co-curator of the Latvian Pavilion of the 2019 Venice Biennale with the artist Daiga Grantina. Her collaborative ‘Portable Landscapes’ project examines the stories of exiled Latvian artists and her ‘(Re)construction of Friendship’ project, which took place in Riga’s former KGB house, focused on the complicated relationship between superpowers and small countries.

Riccardo is a biomedical scientist, whose work lies at the intersection of physics, engineering and medicine. His research investigates the interactions of electromagnetic fields with biological tissue in order to develop new technologies to improve the diagnostic power of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). He has published numerous peer-reviewed journal articles and conference papers. Riccardo also serves as the Director of Training of the NYU Center for Advanced Imaging Innovation and Research (CAI²R). His various honours and awards include the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) I.I. Rabi Young Investigator Award, a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER award, and a Fulbright Scholarship.

Beatrice is an Italian cultural strategist with over 15 years of experience developing urban and social impact programmes. Currently, she is the Director of MUDAC, Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts in Lausanne. She is an advocate of practical creativity for educational empowerment in sustainable futures. Prior to her current role, Beatrice co-founded B/Side Design, an urban and social impact organisation, which worked on the establishment of The Global School, the first independent design and multidisciplinary research institute in China. She has previously served as the creative director for Beijing Design Week, China’s largest and internationally renowned design and architecture event, and worked on the urban regeneration plan of Beijing’s Baitasi historic district. She is also a member of the advisory board for Design Trust in Hong Kong.

Sandor is the Co-Founder and CEO of K-Monitor, a non-profit public funds watchdog based in Budapest. The NGO was founded to improve the current levels of transparency and the rule of law in Hungary. Civic participation and technology driven solutions are among the organizations key instruments. Beside K-Monitor’s tech focus, the organization is also active in anti-corruption advocacy and research. Sandor was contributing to the European Commission’s Anti-corruption Report as the Local Research Country Correspondent for Hungary. One of the recent projects K-Monitor has been working on is redflags.eu, a program that uses algorithmic indicators to analyze risky public procurements.

In addition to his role as Public Affairs Director for Samsung, Jacek is a Member of the Supervisory Board for ElekroEko, which Poland’s largest organisation for the recovery and management of electronic waste and recycling. Jacek spent seven years at CEC Government Relations, the leading independent public affairs agency in Central Europe. In parallel to his corporate career, he has been active in the IT industry as Vice President of the Polish IT and Telecom Chamber and a Member of the Executive Board of Digital Europe. Jacek has also been active in local and national politics: he was a Parliamentary candidate in 1997 and former Advisor to the Minister of Youth and Family Affairs.