Speakers

Tawakkol Karman

Tawakkol Karman, a Yemeni journalist, was the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize from the Arab world. She shared the award with two Liberian women, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Leymah Gbowee, for their non-violent efforts to promote peace and their struggle for women’s rights.

She led several protests against the dictatorial regime of President Saleh, calling for democracy and freedom of speech. She founded the organisation Women Journalists without Chains, and was imprisoned and persecuted on account of her active engagement.

Tawakkol Karman came forward as a courageous leadership figure during the Arab Spring in 2011 and was praised for her efforts to promote reconciliation between Sjia and Sunni Muslims and between Islam and other religions. Like Iranian Shirin Ebadi, Peace Prize laureate for 2003, she maintained that Islam is no obstacle to the full acceptance of women in every sphere of society.

Read more here.

Dmitry Muratov

Dmitry Muratov started out as a journalist for Soviet newspapers. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, he and other journalists co-founded the newspaper Novaya Gazeta, which soon became a leading advocate for democracy and freedom of expression in Russia.

The Soviet Union’s last leader and the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Mikhail Gorbachev, supported the newspaper financially and became co-owner in 2006. Mr Muratov has been editor-in-chief for most years since 1995.

Under Mr Muratov’s leadership, Novaya Gazeta has criticised the Russian authorities for corruption, electoral fraud and human rights violations. Six of the newspaper’s journalists have been murdered because they wrote critical articles on Russian military operations in Chechnya and the Caucasus. The best known of them is Anna Politkovskaya. As editor-in-chief Mr Muratov has on several occasions criticised Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the government’s use of military force, both in and outside Russia.

Read more here.

Saul Perlmutter

Saul Perlmutter grew up outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After studying at Harvard University, Perlmutter received his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley in 1986. He conducted his Nobel Prize-winning research at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Perlmutter is a co-founder of the Supernova Cosmology Project and a Professor of Physics at the University of California, Berkeley.

The universe’s stars and galaxies are moving away from one another; the universe is expanding. Up until recently, the majority of astrophysicists believed that this expansion would eventually wane, due to the effect of opposing gravitational forces. Saul Perlmutter, Brian Schmidt, and Adam Riess studied exploding stars, called supernovae. Because the light emitted by stars appears weaker from a larger distance and takes on a reddish hue as it moves further from the observer, the researchers were able to determine how the supernovae moved. In 1998 they reached a surprising result: the universe is expanding at an ever-increasing rate.

Read more here.

Anders Tegnell

Tegnell is the former State Epidemiologist in Sweden and the Deputy Director, as well as the head of the Department of Public Health Reporting, at the Public Health Agency. He currently serves as a senior adviser at the agency. Prior to this position, he was responsible for a department at the National Board of Health and Welfare that focused on knowledge management and the development of guidelines and recommendations across all areas of the Board’s responsibility.

He has been involved in public health and communicable disease control in various capacities since the early 2000s and developed the pandemic plans in Sweden, among many other subjects. Additionally, he has been actively engaged in managing health threats, starting with the Ebola outbreak in Zaire in 1995.

Tegnell is an MD, specialist in infectious diseases. He obtained his PhD from Linköping University and has a master’s degree in epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Epidemiology. He has published approximately 80 scientific papers.

Martin Schibbye

Martin Schibbye is a Swedish freelance journalist and editor-in-chief at the reportage site Blankspot, a crowdfunded digital platform for long form journalism, reported from around the world with the goal to tell the stories that do not get told: Putting the overlooked corners of the world under the looking glass.

Schibbye is author of “438-days” about his time in an Ethiopian jail and ”The search for Dawit” about Eritrea and the jailed colleague. Last year he won the The Swedish Grand Prize for Journalism for ”Cards of Qatar.” Stories about migrant workers.

Iann Lundegård

Iann Lundegård is an associate professor in science education at Stockholm University, where he teaches in areas related to science education and education for sustainable development. His research interest lies in educational philosophy associated with high school students’ deliberations and meaning making on sustainable development. With a background as a teacher at all levels of the school, Iann has gained experience, and over the years, he has undertaken numerous assignments for the Swedish National Agency for Education.

Emma Frans

Emma Frans is a doctor of epidemiology, a researcher at the Karolinska Institute, and a science writer for Svenska Dagbladet. On social media, she has managed to establish a significant platform by effectively and humorously conveying critical thinking and a scientific approach. She is also a frequent guest on Swedish TV and radio.

In 2017, Emma Frans published the book “Larmrapporten – Att skilja vetenskap från trams” (The Alarm Report – Distinguishing Science from Nonsense), which educates readers in a pedagogical manner on how to navigate the jungle of information that surrounds us daily. The same year, she received the Stora Journalistpriset (Great Journalism Prize) in the category of Voice of the Year and was also named Educator of the Year 2017. Recently, Emma was appointed by the government as a democracy ambassador, a role aimed at promoting, anchoring, and defending democracy in Sweden. At the end of 2018, her second book titled “Sant, falskt eller mittemellan” (True, False, or In Between) was released. In this book, Emma Frans provides scientifically grounded answers to big and small questions about everything from health to love; as usual, it’s both entertaining and pedagogical while remaining accurate. Through all the examples, the reader receives another lesson in scientific thinking and gains an understanding of how credible and reliable different research methods truly are, while also confirming or debunking a good number of myths.

Ahmed Abdirahman

Ahmed Abdirahman is a Swedish community leader and entrepreneur, best known as the founder and CEO of Järvaveckan, a platform that promotes political dialogue and social engagement.

He is a co-founder of The Global Village Foundation alongside Caroline Berg, Chairman of Axel Johnson, Sven Hagströmer, Chairman of Avanza and Creades, and Stefan Ränk, founder and CEO of Einar Mattsson. The foundation is the owner of Järvaveckan.

Ahmed’s leadership and contributions to society have gained international recognition. He has been appointed as a President Obama Leader and as a European David Rockefeller Fellow at the Trilateral Commission. In addition, he serves as a member of the Nordic Council of Ministers’ expert group on integration.

He has served as a member of the municipal council’s Agenda 2030 council in Stockholm and is currently a member of the expert council for the Crown Princess Couple’s Foundation. On July 1, 2023, he was appointed by the Swedish government to serve as a member of the Swedish Institute’s board of trustees.

Ahmed has received several prestigious awards for his work and has initiated and authored several reports and surveys that critically examine and highlight issues related to political, economic, and social inclusion in Sweden. His reports and surveys serve as a resource for policy developers, researchers, politicians, community and business leaders, and the public, underlining his commitment to improving societal development in Sweden.

Ahmed holds a bachelor’s degree in international studies from Marymount Manhattan College in New York, a degree he obtained through a Courtney Ross scholarship. He is also an alumnus of the “Future Leaders Invitation Program” run by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Born in Mogadishu, Somalia, Ahmed moved to Sweden in 1998 as refugee. He was a summer host on Swedish Radio on July 1, 2018

Pär Johansson

Pär Johansson is a theater producer, director, screenwriter and founder of the Glada Hudik Theater, a theater where actors with and without intellectual disabilities perform on the stage side by side. The theatre started in 1996 and today is known both nationally and internationally after several tours in both Sweden and the USA. Pär is also one of Sweden’s most popular lecturers speaking on the issue of how people with intellectual disabilities can develop themselves despite their challenges. He has received H. M. the King’s Medal (Sweden) for his significant contributions in the field of leadership. He also received the Driving Spirit title for the year 2016 at the Swedish Heroes Gala and the Grand RBU award (the Swedish Association for Disabled Children and Young People) in 2020. His autobiography, entitled In the Head of a Normal Disabled, was published in 2012.

In 2020, the successful film ‘Catwalk’ was released in cinemas. Apart from being a part of the film, Pär has also directed it.

Sara Bengtsson

Sara Bengtsson is a cognitive neuroscientist and associate professor in Psychology at University of East Anglia, UK. She uses functional brain imaging to study neural processes related to learning, with a particular focus on how confidence, self-image, and motivation influence learning processes. She is undertaking original interdisciplinary studies in collaboration with researchers in Education with the aim to create experimental situations that mimics the classroom. She teaches classes on cognitive bias, cognitive control, and stereotypical thinking.

Ahmed Badr

Ahmed M. Badr is an Iraqi-American author, poet, and social entrepreneur working at the intersection of creativity, climate action, displacement, and youth engagement. He is author of While the Earth Sleeps We Travel: Stories, Poetry, and Art from Young Refugees Around the World (Andrews McMeel), featuring a foreword by actor and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Ben Stiller. WTESWT was selected as the 2022-23 First-Year Common Reader for the University of Delaware. Ahmed is the Director of the Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Public Policy at Wesleyan University. He is the youngest senior staff and faculty member in the University’s 192-year history.

On July 25, 2006, Ahmed’s home in Baghdad was bombed by militia troops. He and his family relocated to Syria, where they lived as refugees for over two years before receiving approval to move to the United States. As a teen, Ahmed founded Narratio, an organization and online platform that activates, supports, and highlights the creative expression of displaced young people through fellowships, workshops, publishing, and partnerships. In the summer of 2019, Narratio launched an annual storytelling and leadership Fellowship for resettled refugee youth in partnership with the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Over the past five years, work by 80 Narratio Fellows has reached 2.5 million individuals worldwide. In 2020, Ahmed began a storytelling and strategy consultancy with the World Bank’s Connect4Climate initiative. For this role, Ahmed co-hosted #Youth4Climate Live, a nine-episode series highlighting youth climate leaders in conversation with government ministers, institutional executives, and civil society. The series and the #Youth4Climate campaign reached over a billion people across 130 countries. Ahmed’s work has been exhibited at Juilliard, Harvard Divinity School, Yale Law School, UNICEF House, Christie’s, World Bank Headquarters, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, among others. Ahmed received a BA in Anthropology from Wesleyan University and a Master’s in Education from Harvard University. He is a winner of the 2022 Echoing Green Social Innovation Showcase, and the recipient of a Regional Murrow Award, the Adrian Cheng Fellowship from Harvard Kennedy School, and the Social Innovation Fellowship Fund award from Harvard Business School. He is a National Geographic Young Explorer, and serves as one of 17 UN Young Leaders for the Sustainable Development Goals in the Office of the UN Secretary General’s Envoy on Youth.

Brice Nordquist

Brice Nordquist is Dean’s Professor of Community Engagement and Associate Professor of Writing & Rhetoric at Syracuse University. He works through ethnographic and participatory research and public arts and humanities projects to study and support students’ movements across contexts of learning and stages of education. Nordquist is the managing director of Narratio and the co-founder of the Narratio Fellowship. He is also the founder and director of Syracuse University’s Engaged Humanities Network, which seeds, supports, and fosters exchanges across publicly engaged research, teaching, and creative projects in pursuit of more inclusive, interconnected, and just communities and institutions.

His book, Literacy & Mobility (Routledge, 2017), received the 2019 Conference on College Composition and Communication Advancement of Knowledge Award. He is also the co-author of Economies of Writing (Utah State, 2017) and numerous articles.

Anuki Sturua

Paulin Bergqvist

Paulin Bergqvist is the Project Manager of the national work that Glada Hudik Theatre runs in Swedish schools with the Children Are Not Born With Prejudices project. She provides lecture material for teachers all over Sweden. Utilizing her curriculum, students have the unique opportunity to discuss values, people´s differences and similarities, and human relationships. “I am a woman with no fancy degree,” says Paulin, “but with a big heart. Sometimes, all it takes to change society for the better is if we just dare to be kind to each other. This way, we get a more open society and one which is accepting of everyone.”

Anna Persson

Anna Persson is a researcher in ecology and environmental science at the Center for Environment and Climate Science (CEC), Lund University. Her background is in conservation biology and her research deals with how biodiversity and ecosystem services are affected by land-use and climate change, with a focus on pollinating insects, pollination, and human-nature interactions.

Persson holds a PhD in Animal Ecology from Lund University, and a BSc in Landscape planning from the Swedish Agricultural University (SLU). She is a member of the strategic research area BECC (Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate).

Lina Hällström

Lina Hällström works as a pedagogue at the Nature School in Lund, which is a public resource with a mission to support and promote school development. Lina has over 10 years’ experience working with outdoor education and providing training to teachers and students in the fields of natural sciences and sustainable development.

Lina’s background is in environmental and climate science, ecology and nature conservation. Lina is also a trained folk high school teacher.

Jenny Damgaard

Jenny Damgaard is Club manager of FC Rosengård. Passionate about sustainable elite sports development and working with social initiatives where sports is used as a tool for change. FC Rosengård is a football club from Malmö that stands on two equally important pillars, one sporting and one social. The club allocates and invests equal resources in both its sporting activities and its social initiatives.

All of the social initiatives are based on the identification of a need or challenge in society that they aim to bring about positive changes for.