About

Meet the EYL40 Class of 2025!

The EYL40 Class of 2025 brings together a diverse group of leaders shaping Europe’s future. Among them are afemale refugee turned AC Milan footballer andmedical doctor, a Michelin-starred chef, pioneering tech entrepreneurs revolutionising the energy sector, politicians from all levels of government and national parliaments, a barrister and bestselling author, a Saami rights activist, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, an astronaut, and cultural icons using art and theatre to confront societal challenges.


Distinct leadership for a new era 

This cohort of leaders comes at a critical moment for Europe. From accelerating climate action to navigating the implications of artificial intelligence, tackling polarisation to redefining competitiveness in a green and digital economy, their work addresses the most pressing issues of our time. Together, these European Young Leaders’ (EYL40) passion, diversity of backgrounds and innovative thinking create the right formula for generating fresh ideas to build a more forward-thinking Europe. 

Our European leaders are scientists, artists, journalists, entrepreneurs and economists. They represent a new, embracive vision for Europe’s future – one where diversity strengthens leadership and drives progress. Their thinking is not bound by local and multilateral institutions, traditional political frameworks or bureaucracy. They provide alternative perspectives to EU decision-makers and challenge the status quo. Our Europe is larger than the EU’s physical borders. Our Europe stretches from the United Kingdom to the Western Balkans, Ukraine and Moldova. 

EYL40 help take Europe out of Brussels. In their own countries, cities and communities, EYLs play an essential role in reconnecting people with and rebuilding trust in politics by engaging a wider community around key policy issues. They are facilitating citizens’ participation in a more inclusive, sustainable and forward-looking Europe. 

Looking ahead: a bold vision for Europe’s future 

The impactful work of the EYL40 Class of 2025 reflects our commitment to fostering dialogue, sparking action and bridging gaps between policy ambitions and practical outcomes. These leaders are not just reimagining Europe’s future – they are actively building it. 

Learn more about them, their projects and achievements, through profiles of the EYL40 2025 cohort. 


Tune in to the EYL40s on Friends of Europe’s podcasts

Policy Voices | Are we alone in the universe?

Leading view

Policy Voices | Are we alone in the universe?

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Policy Voices | AI & Democracy: Empowering informed citizens

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Policy Voices | AI & Democracy: Empowering informed citizens

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Policy Voices | A glaciologist and a greentech entrepreneur on a mission to fight climate change

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Policy Voices | A glaciologist and a greentech entrepreneur on a mission to fight climate change

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Policy Voices Podcast | Keeping the human in the loop: How to make a success story of AI in health

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Policy Voices Podcast | Keeping the human in the loop: How to make a success story of AI in health

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Meet the EYL40

Photo of Ūla Ambrasaitė
Ūla Ambrasaitė

Publisher and curator, founder of LAPAS Books and 2025 European Young Leader (EYL40)

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Lithuanian publisher Ūla Ambrasaitė has been on a mission to produce books that bring authors and readers together in a living social network. She founded the LAPAS publishing house in 2013 with a focus on architecture, humanities, arts and literature, providing opportunities for young authors and creating books that enrich the space around them. Ambrasaitė is a Board Member at the Lithuanian Publishers Association. In 2013 she founded the EDIT Street Art Festival, the first of its kind in Lithuania. As curator and director, Ambrasaitė attracted top international artists to the festival in Vilnius and Klaipeda. She continues to curate while exploring creative financial and philanthropic investments in cultural enterprises.

Photo of Maud Caillaux
Maud Caillaux

Co-Founder of the Green-Got Bank and 2025 European Young Leader (EYL40)

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Maud Caillaux is Co-Founder of Green-Got, a French neo-bank that channels funding towards the green transition. Customers get ecological bank accounts where savings contribute to ocean clean-up, re-forestation, sustainable agriculture, renewable energies and other environmental projects. The goal is to empower all savers to make money while investing in transition. “No longer will a single cent go to finance fossil fuels,” affirms Caillaux. Founded in 2020, Green-Got is expanding rapidly, with €100mn under management and transactions totalling more than €1bn. The bank went international by moving into Belgium in 2023 and, in November 2024, raised €5mn in 148 minutes during a record-breaking crowdfunding drive.

Photo of Min-Sung Sean Kim
Min-Sung Sean Kim

General Partner at NGS Capital and 2025 European Young Leader (EYL40)

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Min-Sung Sean Kim is a General Partner at NGS Capital, a Berlinbased venture capital fund, where he focuses on identifying and scaling transformative ventures in healthcare and cybersecurity. He is also the co-founder of 2hearts, a platform dedicated to empowering young European digital talents with migrant backgrounds. Kim’s international investment experience ranges from early-stage to late-stage. In his career, he was responsible for the Berlin office of the Samsung Catalyst Fund and helped in creating AllianzX , a corporate venture capital fund dedicated to late-stage investments in proven digital growth companies. Kim is passionate about building bridges in venture capital and beyond, creating opportunities for people, ideas, and innovation to thrive.

Photo of Louis Linster
Louis Linster

Michelin-starred Chef and 2025 European Young Leader (EYL40)

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Louis Linster was proclaimed 2024 Luxembourg Chef of the Year by the Gault&Millau guide, and he holds a Michelin star for his restaurant in the village of Frisange, south of the Grand Ducal capital. “His knack with sauces is second to none, as is his flair for presentation and plating,” says the Michelin guide. Cooking is in Linster’s DNA. His mother Léa Linster is a culinary legend: the first – and so far, only – woman to win France’s Bocuse d’Or contest for the world’s top chefs. Following her retirement, Louis Linster took over the restaurant, which still bears his mother’s name, serving up modern-French cuisine with Asian influences.

Photo of Taavi Madiberk
Taavi Madiberk

Co-Founder and CEO of Skeleton Technologies, Board Member of European Innovation Council and 2025 European Young Leader (EYL40)

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Estonian entrepreneur Taavi Madiberk is CEO of Skeleton Technologies. He was just 21 when he co-founded the company, a global innovation leader in high-power energy storage. Skeleton produces supercapacitors and its SuperBattery to decrease CO2 emissions, stabilise grids, power AI data centres and accelerate the electrification of the planet’s largest industries. It is the only European energy storage company producing its supercapacitors and high-power batteries using its own patented material called ‘curved graphene’, based on widely available low-cost materials sourced in Europe. Skeleton’s customers include Siemens, Hitachi Energy, Honda Racing, Skoda Electric and the European Space Agency. Its new plant in Germany is the world’s largest supercapacitor factory. Madiberk is also a Board Member at the European Innovation Council.

Photo of Liel Maghen
Liel Maghen

Italian-Israeli Cross Cultural Entrepreneur and 2025 European Young Leader (EYL40)

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Born in Israel to an Italian mother and Libyan father, Liel Maghen has spent years exploring his identity, which has led him to his active involvement in peace building activities in the Middle East. After co-directing the Israel/Palestine Centre for Research and Information (IPCRI), a partnership-building NGO and think tank, he co-founded Elham – the Day After, bringing together Israeli and Palestinian artists to sow seeds of hope in a shared future. Maghen also acts as a consultant on programmes across the Middle East promoting community building, intercultural dialogue and non-violent communication. In 2022, he was awarded the IIE Victor J. Goldberg Prize for Peace in the Middle East. He is currently making his first feature-length documentary to inspire hope in the war-torn region.

Photo of Amélie Matton
Amélie Matton

Senior Advisor to the Board at Ecosteryl and 2025 European Young Leader (EYL40)

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Amélie Matton is the current Senior Advisor to the Board, and until recently CEO, of Ecosteryl, a world-leading medical waste management service based in Mons, Belgium. An experienced leader with a demonstrated history in the environmental services industry, Matton also has a strong background in the financial, operations and international trade sectors. At the head of a company, in a once male-dominated industry, now operating in more than 65 countries, this environmental engineer is passionate about women not having to make concessions in order to become leaders in business. Among her accolades, Matton is a member of Belgium’s 40 under 40, was nominated at the Manager of the Year 2023 edition and was part of the first Belgian list of Inspiring Women in Tech.

Photo of Joanna Patsalis
Joanna Patsalis

Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Direct Kinetic Solutions, and 2025 European Young Leader (EYL40)

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Joanna Patsalis, from Cyprus, is Co-Founder and COO of Direct Kinetic Solutions (DKS), a startup working on the cutting edge of Radioisotopic Power Sources (RPS) – batteries that run off tiny bits of nuclear material. “We bring nuclear power to the palm of your hand by combining the persistence and reliability of a power plant with the convenience and mobility of a battery”, Patsalis says. The company works to commercialise this revolutionary energy source that is light-weight, safe, powerful and just-about everlasting. DKS works closely with US government agencies including the Department of Defense, National Science Foundation and NASA to make this groundbreaking technology an everyday reality. The company has raised $17mn in non-dilutive and private funding, placing it on the top 100 list of the highest-funded MBA startups of 2024.

Photo of Erblin Ribari
Erblin Ribari

Chief Financial Officer at dua.com and 2025 European Young Leader (EYL40)

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Kosovo-based Erblin Ribari is Chief Financial Officer at dua.com, an app that seeks to transform the dating industry, providing a lifestyle platform that focuses on establishing meaningful connections through shared culture and origins. Starting out as a dating app for Albanians, dua.com has gone global, with more than 5mn registered users and a market cap of over $50mn. Its ambitions go far higher: dua.com aims to cut global loneliness by half over the next 10 years. The 2008 financial crisis sparked Ribari’s commitment to making change, driving him to take leadership roles in multimillion-dollar projects across tech, finance and government furthering economic development and global connectivity.

Photo of Marija Ručevska
Marija Ručevska

General Partner at Outlast Fund, Co-Founder of Helve, Member of the Board at TechChill, and 2025 European Young Leader (EYL40)

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From her base in Latvia, wearing many hats, Marija Ručevska has been a driving force behind the Baltic tech scene for a decade. She is the General Partner at the Outlast Fund, launched in 2024 to back pre-seed and seed stage startups in the Baltic and Nordic region, to support bold founders with the grit and vision to build ventures that outlast the rest. Ručevska is also partner and co-founder of Helve, which she helped set up in 2016 to bring startup-style innovation to the wider corporate and public sectors. She continues as Member of the Board at TechChill, one of northern Europe’s biggest annual tech conferences, drawing over 300 startups and 250 plus investors.

Photo of Jan-Willem van Putten
Jan-Willem van Putten

Co-Founder of the School of Moral Ambition and Training for Good, 2025 European Young Leader (EYL40)

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Jan-Willem van Putten is a Dutch social entrepreneur and policy expert. He is co-founder of both The School for Moral Ambition and Training for Good, which focus on priming a new generation of leaders to confront pressing global challenges and make a lasting impact on society. Through his work, he strives not only to talk about a better world, but also to take action towards one. As Fellowship Director at The School for Moral Ambition, van Putten manages programmes that empower individuals to drive change in sustainable food production and tobacco industry control. Training for Good works to equip young European policymakers and journalists to recognise and reduce risks from emerging technologies.

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Selection process

 

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS/NOMINATIONS FOR THE EYL CLASS OF 2026 – IS NOW OPEN

 

The European Young Leaders (EYL40) programme is a unique, inventive, and multi-stakeholder programme that aims to promote a European identity by engaging the continent’s most promising talents in initiatives that will shape Europe’s future. 

The European Young Leaders represent a new generation of European leaders from all over the continent and various backgrounds, including politics, business, civil society, academia, arts, science, and the media. 

The programme acts as a forum for those who have already established themselves at the forefront of their professions to meet, discuss and collaborate with their counterparts from other fields of expertise. Previous candidates include government ministers, CEOs, Michelin-starred chefs, international film directors and high-profile journalists. 

Since the launch of the programme, we have gradually taken steps to ensure the diversity and exceptional quality of its selection process. We have made sure that its comprehensive and competitive nature ensures the identification and selection of remarkable individuals. 

We aim to select 40+ European Young Leaders of diverse backgrounds to enable a broad exchange of ideas, creating the basis for a new generation of engaged European leaders. 

SELECTION CRITERIA 

  • Candidates must be between 30 and 40 years of age (born on or after 1 January 1986). 
  • Candidates must be a national of an EU member state, Moldova, the UK, Ukraine or of one of the 6 Balkan states currently on the path towards EU integration (Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia). 
  • Candidates should have established themselves at the highest levels of their chosen profession or be on track to do so. 
  • Candidates must be committed to serve society at large through noteworthy contributions and have demonstrated a record of significant achievements and outstanding professional experience. 
  • Candidates are also evaluated based on their ability to contribute to the enrichment of the programme as a whole. 
  • Candidates are required to be fluent in English as it is the working language of the programme. 
  • Candidates must commit to participating in at least one of the two EYL seminars during the programme year, usually scheduled for March and September. 

Please click HERE for the Selection Guidelines 2026 that will give you an idea of the process and will provide you with link to nomination/application form.  

Please note that the deadline for the nominations/applications is Monday, May 5, 2025.

Should you have any questions or need any additional information, please do not hesitate to contact us at eyl40@friendsofeurope.org. 

We look forward to receiving your applications and nominations. 

* References to Kosovo here are used without prejudice to positions on status and are in line with UN Security Council resolution 1244/99 and the International Court of Justice Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.

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