European Young Leaders (#EYL40)

Aziz is a young French entrepreneur, Founder and President of Alliance Transport et Accompagnement, a ‘collective taxi’ company for the region of Paris, and Founder and President of Business Angel des Cités, a social investment fund for the development of Parisian suburban areas. Aziz has published two books in France, the first on the ‘social glass ceiling’ entitled L’ascenseur social est en panne… j’ai pris l’escalier (The social elevator is broken, I took the stairs), and the second, Monte ton BIZ (Create your own business: 10 commandments of the entrepreneur coming from suburbs) on how to become a successful entrepreneur when coming from a under-privileged neighbourhood. He has received several awards from the French government including the Médaille de l’Assemblée nationale (the National Assembly Medal).

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.

Robert Shirkey is the Founder of Our Horizon, a non-profit organization which campaigns for laws to require climate change and air pollution risk disclosures or ‘warning labels’ on gas pumps. His work has been used by advocates around the world to advance the ground-breaking concept in their own communities. A lawyer by trade, Rob previously operated a private practice in downtown Toronto and also has experience as an assistant city solicitor and prosecutor. Robert has given lectures on the subject across North America, as well as Europe, and has featured in media all over the world. He is a recipient of Canada’s 2017 Clean50 Award and was also named a 2016 Agent of Change by the Centre for Social Innovation and Green Shield Canada Foundation. His book, “The Banality of Oil” is to published in 2021.

Max Siedentopf is a German-Namibian multi-disciplinary conceptual artist, who works across video, photography, sculpture, creative direction and more. He founded Ordinary, a quarterly art magazine that reimages ordinary household objects, transforming them into the extraordinary. Siedentopf’s latest artworks also include ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy’, a dark-humoured satirical installation that reflects on society’s delusional positive outlook in the face of major crises, and ‘Toto Forever’, an installation in an undisclosed location in the Namib Desert, which earned him acclaim in Vogue Italy as a “viral artist”. He currently creatively collaborates with Gucci on campaigns, brand image and special projects, having most recently led the creative art direction for the Italian fashion house’s experimental online space Gucci Vault. Siedentopf has directed music videos, even starring in one of them, and was nominated by Campaign Magazine among the top ten directors of 2022. He is also the former creative director and youngest-ever partner of the creative agency KesselsKramer.

Slawomir is the founder and leader of ‘Krytyka Polityczna’ (the Political Critique), the widest Polish movement of left-wing intellectuals, artists and activists, with branches in Ukraine, Germany and Russia. He is also Editor-in-Chief of the daily ‘Dziennik Opinii’ (The Opinion Daily) and The Publishing House and Director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Warsaw. He is President of the Stanislaw Brzozowski Association, running six cultural centres and 25 local centres in Poland, Ukraine, Russia and Germany. Slawomir has written numerous essays and op-eds, mainly devoted to Polish and European politics and culture.

Michal Šimečka is the Vice-President of the National Council of Slovakia and Chair of Progressive Slovakia, a pro-European national political party. Prior to this, he was the first Slovak politician to serve as a vice-president of the European Parliament. The highest-ranked Slovak in the Parliament’s history, Šimečka was responsible for democracy and human rights. He is a former vice-president of Renew Europe and was the rapporteur for a key proposal to introduce a new mechanism for the protection of democracy, the rule of law and European values in member states. A champion of a free, secure and democratic Europe, Šimečka is a Founding Member and Chair of Progressive Slovakia, a pro-European party in Slovakia. Previously, he worked as a senior researcher at the Institute of International Relations Prague, studying European integration and security, and served as an advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. Šimečka began his professional career as a journalist for SME, a Slovak newspaper, and then the Financial Times.

Baiba is an award-winning Latvian classical violinist who performs around the world with prestigious orchestras and renowned conductors. Baiba regularly performs with Berliner Philharmoniker, Boston Symphony Orchestra and London Symphony Orchestra, amongst others. In 2019 she played with Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and Orchestra Symphonique de Montreal and gave her debut with Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in early 2020. An internationally sought-after chamber musician, Baiba commits to the long-established duo with her sister Lauma and tours worldwide with the Skride Quartet. She recently released a recording of Mozart Violin Concertos with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra and Eivind Aadland.

Jakub Skrzywanek, from Poland, is one of Europe’s most exciting theatre artists. His radical work spotlights social and political themes, from the rise of far-right politics, to homophobia, class inequalities and the adolescent psychiatric crisis. He made international headlines with a drama adapting language from Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” to highlight the creeping normalisation of extremist discourse. Uzbek authorities tried unsuccessfully to shut down the premiere in Tashkent of his drama “Underground Girls”, which focuses on the plight of refugee Afghan women. Among Skrzywanek’s most recent works, the “Death of John Paul II” and “Spartacus. Love in the Time of Plague” captured Poland’s top directing award.

Hanke is currently serving as the Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations in the Dutch government. She is a former military officer, former vice-governor at the Province of Utrecht. As a member of the Dutch parliament, Hanke served as the Christian Democratic Appeal party’s spokesperson on health and defence issues, while also focusing on local government, medical law, psychiatry and sports. Prior to her career in politics, Hanke attended the Dutch Royal Military Academy (KMA), where she undertook officer training and specialised as an artillery commander. She went on to serve in Afghanistan as a tank platoon commander, where she was promoted to acting field officer, assisting the Director of Operations of the Land Forces Command Staff. She has also worked in the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations as a senior policy officer and is avid hockey player, who won the Rabobank Premier Division national indoor hockey championship in 2005.

Jens is the Deputy Chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group. He was formally the Federal Minister of Health in the Cabinet of Angela Merkel. He has been a member of the Bundestag since 2002, with responsibility for health policies, and a Member of the CDU/CSU Youth Group. He has gathered his experience in government during his time as the Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of Finance, a post he has held since July 2015. He holds a degree in Banking and Political Science from the University of Hagen, and previously worked as a banker in his hometown of Munster. Jens is a founding member of the ‘Young Member of Parliament’ cross-party group that promotes integration and equality in politics and society.

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.

Tamara served as the minister for public administration, digital society and media in Montenegro, in which role she advocated for public administration reform, digital transformation and the development of e-government services. Prior to this, Tamara was integral to the launch of the Government of California’s Digital Innovation Office, established to improve the state’s digital services. In this capacity, she led the COVID-19 digital response, the Policy Design Lab and the Inclusive by Design initiative. She is also the Co-Founder and former deputy director of the Office of Innovation at the California Health and Human Services Agency, where she was responsible for driving innovation to provide critical healthcare and social services. She has been involved with a number of organisations and programmes, including Alchemist, CivicMakers, Code for America, New America and most recently, Regional School of Public Administration (ReSPA), where she provides support for public administration reform in the Western Balkans.

Bart Staszewski is a Polish filmmaker and fierce champion of LGBTQI+ rights. His “Article 18” documentary details the LGBTQI+ struggle for equality in the country to showcase that the government has failed to introduce legislation that protects same-sex relationships. Staszewski was among the organisers of the first-ever Equality March and went on to establish an association of the same name. He also belongs to Miłość Nie Wyklucza (Love Does Not Exclude), an organisation that fights for marriage equality, and serves as the Co-Founder, CEO and Chairman of the Board at the Basta Foundation, which monitors homophobic and transphobic hate speech in Polish media. Notably, Staszewski created the internationally acclaimed “Zones” photography project to remind politicians of their LGBTQI+ constituents and protest the infamous ‘LGBT-free zones’ in approximately 100 Polish municipalities. He was named an Obama Leader for Europe by the Barack Obama Foundation and among the TIME100 Next rising individuals.

Ivan Štefunko is a Member of the National Council of the Slovak Republic, representing the political movement Progresívne Slovensko (Progressive Slovakia), which he co-founded, in the committees on foreign affairs and on economic affairs. He was also the party’s first chairman. Štefunko used to be a serial entrepreneur and angel investor and has been extensively involved in building the venture capital industry in Slovakia by co-founding Neulogy Ventures, a management company investing public and private funds in early-stage tech companies through a Bratislava-based, 25mn VC fund with more than 36 technology investments. Štefunko previously co-founded Neulogy (now CIVITTA), a Bratislava-based consultancy boutique specialising in R&D management, technology commercialisation and start-up consulting. He has an extensive entrepreneurial background, particularly in deep technology and the internet space. He has also been at the helm of a number of start-up companies with global or regional reach, including Diagnose.me, Pelicantravel.com, Piano Media and GA Drilling.