European Young Leaders (#EYL40)

Alina Șerban is an award-winning Romanian Roma actress, playwright and director, whose work promotes social justice by tackling sexism, racism, homophobia and other forms of discrimination. Named Best Actress by the German Actors Guild for her leading role in “Gipsy Queen”, the film is one of three in which Șerban starred that highlighted the experiences of Roma women. A pioneer of Roma feminist political theatre, her play “The Great Shame”, which addresses the taboo topic of Roma slavery, became the first play by a Roman woman director to be included in a Romanian state theatre’s permanent repertoire. Șerban also made her debut as a film director with “Letter of Forgiveness”, the first film about Roma slavery written from a Roma perspective.

Heïdi Sevestre is a French glaciologist, specialising in glacier dynamics, tropical glaciers and ice shelves in Antarctica. She aims to make scientific knowledge more accessible and motivate concrete, effective climate action. Sevestre is the Deputy Secretary of AMAP, an Arctic Council working group that coordinates research on climate, pollutants, contaminants, and human and ecosystem health in the Arctic. Her research on glacier surges, which was featured in Science magazine, strengthened our understanding of climate change’s impact on glaciers. Sevestre regularly leads scientific expeditions to polar and high mountain regions and was notably awarded the inaugural Shackleton Medal for the Protection of Polar Regions.

A human rights lawyer from Serbia, Jovana Spremo is a fierce advocate of the rule of law and the protection of fundamental rights, whose work focuses on supporting the EU negotiation process. As the Advocacy Director of YUCOM, she leads the development and implementation of advocacy strategies aimed at promoting its research and policy recommendations on the rule of law and human rights. Spremo coordinates the Working Group for Chapter 23 of the National Convention on European Union, which deals with Serbia’s policies related to judiciary and fundamental rights, and monitors access to justice pertaining to the Belgrade – Pristina dialogue.

Anders Storgaard is a Member of the Frederiksberg City Council. A social conservative, he aims to make his municipality Denmark’s greenest through sustainable wood construction, CO2 tax and green urban development and infrastructure policies. Storgaard is also a consultant for renewable energy at Green Power Denmark and a radio host on the talk radio channel, 24syv. He contributed to the push for Denmark to drop an eighth bidding round for North Sea oil and increase CO2 taxes, while serving as the national chairperson of Conservative Youth, a Danish political organisation.   

A pioneering businessman from Luxembourg, Tobias Stüber is the CEO of Flibco, a digital company specialised in the niche of airport to city transportation. He is an expert in change management and digital transformation, who champions progressive working models to boost productivity and employee motivation. Stüber was the first CEO in the country to successfully implement a four-day, 32-hour work week that maintains a full-time salary. Under his leadership, Flibco has expanded with new connections to 12 airports, with plans to become Europe’s leading digital sales platform for airport shuttles. In addition to his role as CEO, Stüber has successfully worked as a strategical and digital consultant for election campaigns in German national and regional levels.

A household name and ‘the face of the EU’ for many Estonians, Johannes Tralla is a journalist at Estonian Public Broadcasting. As the host of the “Esimene studio”, “Välisilm” and “Aktuaalne kaamera” news programmes, Tralla plays a key role in explaining what is happening in Brussels at the EU level to audiences at home. Travelling by motorbike and later motorhome, Tralla has taken viewers on journeys across EU member states for three seasons of “Johannese lähetamine”, a travel show that offers insights into what citizens expect and hope to gain from the EU. He is currently working on the new show “Mis värvi on majandus” that delves into the green transition and digital economy. Previously, he worked as Estonian Public Broadcasting’s EU correspondent in Brussels.

Ousman Umar is an activist, who settled in Spain five years after leaving his village in Ghana at the age of 12 and embarking on a life-threatening journey across the Sahara Desert by foot and the Mediterranean Sea by dinghy. Steadfast in the belief that education is the key to societal change, Umar founded NASCO Feeding Minds to reshape the paradigm of humanitarian aid by empowering individuals through the provision of technological equipment and ICT education in his home country. Since 2012, over 66,000 students in 58 schools have passed through the programme, and 17 ICT learning centres are now active in Ghana.

One of the world’s prime technology experts in generative AI and visual effects, Chris Umé has taken the industry to a whole new level as Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Metaphysic, the leading generative AI company for photorealistic content at internet scale. Blending a mastery of VFX techniques with evolving AI models, Umé’s creativity was the driving force behind the ground-breaking live television moment that shocked audiences when Elvis Presley was brought back to life on America’s Got Talent, and is now taking Tom Hanks and Robin Wright through time in Miramax’s Here. Prior to the launch of Metaphysic in 2021, he gained experience at DeepVooDoo and Medialaan. He was also the lead creator on South Park’s Sassy Justice series and several world-famous commercial production campaigns.

Aleksandra K. Wiśniewska is a Polish politician, political scientist and humanitarian, serving as a member of the Civic Coalition political alliance in the national parliament. Prior to politics, she specialised in humanitarian response to war-driven crises. Following Russia’s re-invasion, Wiśniewska led evacuation of Ukrainian orphanages to Poland and served as the Head of Mission for INTERSOS in Ukraine. Wiśniewska has notably also served as the Head of Mission for Polish Humanitarian Action in Yemen in response to cholera and COVID-19 outbreaks. Earlier, she worked for RNVDO in Iraq, at UNDP in Turkey and Jordan in response to the Syria crisis,and volunteered and conducted field research on human rights in refugee camps across Europe.

The first-ever woman to lead the LDP, Monika Zajkova is the youngest party president and the second youngest national parliamentarian in North Macedonia. Zajkova is rebuilding trust in politics by overcoming gender stereotypes in patriarchal societies. She sits on the parliamentary committees regarding European affairs, foreign policy and equal opportunities for women and men. As a Delegate to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Zajkova is the Special Representative on Youth Engagement. Previously, she has served as the cabinet chief to the minister of local self-government and as the president of the LDP’s youth wing.