Conference Highlights
Carissa Véliz
Associate Professor of Philosophy, Institute for Ethics in AI at the University of Oxford
Carissa Véliz is a renowned expert in AI, technology and ethics at the University of Oxford and a best-selling author.
She is the author of the highly-acclaimed Privacy Is Power (an Economist book of the year) and the editor of the Oxford Handbook of Digital Ethics. In 2024, the Oxford University press published her book – The Ethics of Privacy and Surveillance.
Her latest, and most far-reaching book yet — Prophecy: Prediction, Power, and the Fight for the Future, from Ancient Oracles to AI (2026) — has received rave reviews and was longlisted for the 2026 FT and Standard Chartered Business Book of the Year Award. In this work, she argues that predictions undermine democracy, eroding privacy and replacing human judgment. Of the book, Roger McNamee (author of Zucked) said, “This is the most important book you will read for years.”
A TED Fellow, Carissa’s 2026 TED talk received a standing ovation. According to Forbes, the most provocative idea from the whole event was from her session.
Carissa has been featured in media outlets such as Wired, the Guardian, New Statesman, Slate, The Economist and El País. Her academic work has been published in The Harvard Business Review, Nature Electronics, Nature Energy, and AI & Society, among other journals.
As a speaker, she is sought after for her expertise on the moral implications of emerging technologies, and her work on the philosophy of artificial intelligence has been particularly influential. Carissa has spoken at many conferences and events, including TEDx, providing insightful commentary and presentations on ethics in AI and privacy. She enjoys engaging with philosophy and ethics as she is dedicated to helping people understand these complex topics in a way that is both informative and accessible.
In the field of technology, Carissa’s research focuses on digital ethics. Her areas include privacy and issues related to artificial intelligence and other moral and political philosophy topics that she is interested in exploring more generally for the philosophical insights they may offer towards understanding today’s society. She has expertise in AI privacy concerns and moral theory, especially around how data collection affects people’s lives, and explores practical implications for policy making, particularly toward social justice and public policy.
Carissa is a member of ‘Women 4 Ethics of AI’ for UNESCO. Their objective is to strengthen the ability of UNESCO’s member states to promote trustworthy AI systems based on their recommendations. She is also a Board member of the Proton Foundation.
As an adviser, Carissa collaborates with public and private organisations as she is passionate about helping people understand the ethical implications of new technologies. She believes that by understanding these implications, we can make better decisions about how to use technology, individually and collectively.
She has been a witness to the UK House of Lords Communications and Digital Select Committee and to the Joint Committee on the Draft Online Safety Bill. In the US, she has advised Congress on matters of privacy. In Spain, she was a member of the Group of Experts who advised on the drafting of Digital Rights Charter, and a member of the High-Level Advisory Panel on Technology and Global Order who wrote the Digital Strategy for Spain at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Carissa is an Associate Professor in Philosophy at the Institute for Ethics in AI at the University of Oxford. In addition to being a professor, she is a Tutorial Fellow at the University of Oxford’s Hertford College. She is the recipient of the prestigious Herbert A. Simon Award for Outstanding Research in Computing and Philosophy.
Annual Debate
The OEB Annual Debate: This House Believes That AI Should Be the Teacher of the Future, Supported by Human Coaches
Annual Debate
The OEB Annual Debate: This House Believes That AI Should Be the Teacher of the Future, Supported by Human Coaches
AI can already explain concepts, adapt lessons to individual learners, generate practice, provide immediate feedback and offer support at any time. At the same time, new models of schooling are beginning to separate academic instruction from the wider human role traditionally played by teachers, with technology taking a greater share of content delivery while adults focus on motivation, relationships, confidence and personal development.
As AI becomes increasingly capable of providing personalised instruction at scale, education faces a fundamental question about who, or what, should take primary responsibility for teaching. The House therefore proposes that AI should be the teacher of the future, supported by human coaches.
Serena Gonsalves-Fersch
Global Talent and Learning Leader/ Advisory Board Member, Shape the Future Consortium
I am Dr. Serena Gonsalves-Fersch, Global Talent and Learning Leader, and the 2024 Colin Steed Award winner for Outstanding Contribution to Learning.
With a doctorate from Middlesex University on the future of learning and talent development in hyper-growth organizations, I have built and led key Talent functions and initiatives including L&D, performance management, succession planning, leadership development, talent identification, DEIB, and corporate universities.
Having been both a client-facing management consultant, and an internal head of Talent functions, I see myself as a consultative problem solver. I have extensive experience in creating, building, transforming, restructuring, managing, and leading Talent, Learning and Engagement strategies that are technology enhanced, business-value driven, and commercially minded. I build and thrive in dynamic environments where creativity and leadership drive impact, and ensure I take teams and organisations along on the journey.
As a Fellow of the Learning and Performance Institute, an advisory board member to start-ups and think-tanks in L&D, a co-founder of Women in Learning & Leadership (WILL) and an industry speaker, I am passionate in both research and giveback to contribute to addressing the global skills gap, studying the relationships between humans and technology in future organisations, creating skills frameworks, and advancing learning and talent innovation.
My expertise also spans impactful and measurable organizational design and development, change management, and implementing talent and learning systems to future-proof workforces.
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Gül Akcaova
Lead Futurist, SURF
Gül Akcaova is the lead futurist at SURF - the cooperative for ICT in (higher) education and research in the Netherlands, and the National Education & Research Network. With a keen fascination for IT innovation in education and research, she explores in her role the potential impact of new technologies and emerging concepts on education and research. Her background in management studies provides her with the ability to approach developments from various angles. Currently, she leads a research project on the use of foresight tools to navigate digital transformation in education.
How To
From Framework to Floor: A Working Session with the AI Strategy Compass
How To
From Framework to Floor: A Working Session with the AI Strategy Compass
Most institutions working on AI in education have no shortage of frameworks. What they lack is a way to move from framework to floor. This session is built around the AI Strategy Compass (AISC) — a six-component institutional framework developed at BUas over three years of practice, recognised at the UNESCO Global Forum on the Ethics of AI in Education (2nd prize, 2025). Participants work through an orientation scan to map their own institution across the six AISC components, exchange findings with peers, and leave with one concrete starting point and a copy of the AISC Implementation Guide.
Ines Springael
Programme Lead CT/AI, Breda University of Applied Sciences
Ines Springael is Programme Lead CTL/AI at Breda University of Applied Sciences (BUas) in the Netherlands, where she leads the institution's AI strategy and coordinates the Centre for Teaching and Learning & AI . She developed the AI Strategy Compass, a framework now used across BUas to guide institutional AI implementation, and led the university's institution-wide AI programme, reaching approximately 7,500 staff and students.
Ines is a co-founder of TLWAI Europe and active in international networks including AIEOU Oxford, where she contributes to work on governance, policy, and systems design in AI and education. She is also part of the IEEE P7023 working group, contributing to the development of the IRIS standard for human-AI interaction readiness.
Rutger Thielen
AI Curriculum Coordinator, Breda University of Applied Sciences (BUas)
Rutger Thielen is AI Curriculum Coordinator at the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL-AI), Breda University of Applied Sciences (BUas), in the Netherlands. He leads a training team and safeguards an institution wide AI curriculum for teachers, researchers and operational staff, working on curriculum governance, learning outcomes and AI competency frameworks.
His work is grounded in the idea that lasting change in education starts with the conditions people learn and work in, not with the content itself. Drawing on systems thinking and organisational learning theory, he positions CTL-AI as a driver of organisational change rather than a purely training focused unit.
Rutger brings over two decades of experience in logistics education, facilitation and lean methodology. He combines this practical grounding with an ongoing academic interest in cognitive modifiability, andragogy and complexity theory, applied to how organisations adopt and adapt to AI.
Patrik Hedljung
AI Catalyst, Scania
Patrik Hedljung is an AI Catalyst at Scania, where he drives the adoption of generative AI across the organisation. With a background in learning, development and leadership, he focuses on the human and organisational conditions needed to turn AI from an individual productivity tool into a shared capability and organisational change. His work explores how organisations can build agency, responsible experimentation and new ways of working in an AI-enabled future.
Masterclass
Learning Myths in Corporate Learning: What Really Works and What Just Sounds Good
Masterclass
Learning Myths in Corporate Learning: What Really Works and What Just Sounds Good
This masterclass cuts through the buzzwords of corporate learning to separate myth from evidence. Participants examine popular ideas like personalised learning, microlearning and self ‑ directed learning, explore why certain myths persist, and connect learning science insights to real workplace practice. The session offers practicaltests,examples andclearcriteria for designing learning that genuinely improves performance rather than chasing trends.
Yvonne Konstanze Behnke
Strategy, Training, Consulting for Corporate Learning, E-Learning Professional
Dr Yvonne Konstanze Behnke, an L&D strategist, scientist, designer and e-teaching expert, has developed learning and development solutions for two decades, integrating strategy, didactics, science, design, and AI for companies and institutions.
She spent eight years researching and teaching psychological, didactic and instructional design foundations of multimedia learning at Humboldt University zu Berlin. Dr Behnke has published over 20 papers and book chapters, sharing her expertise at conferences, corporate events, and workshops. Her book on debunking learning myths is set for release by Haufe in early 2025.
How To
Generative AI for Personalised and Inclusive Learning
How To
Generative AI for Personalised and Inclusive Learning
This hands-on How To explores the new opportunities generative AI creates for personalised and inclusive learning. Participants will discover how AI can expand the ways learners access content, practise, create and take greater agency over their own learning. Using learner personas, we will explore and experiment with AI tools and functionalities that can support different learners and learning situations. Participants will work with prompting and personalised chatbots and experience how vibe-coding makes it possible to rapidly prototype tailored learning tools without traditional programming skills. Throughout the session, we will maintain an explorer mindset: testing what becomes possible while critically considering the human role, AI literacy, privacy, bias, accessibility and over-reliance. Participants will leave with concrete ideas, practical examples and starting points they can adapt to their own educational practice.
Eric Steffann
Educational Developer, Trainer & Consultant, Fontys University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands
Eric Steffann is an educational developer, trainer and teacher at Fontys University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. His work focuses on blended learning, educational innovation and the meaningful integration of emerging technologies in education. With a multidisciplinary background in engineering and teacher education, he combines a practical, design-oriented mindset with pedagogical expertise. At Fontys, Eric develops and delivers professional learning for educators and explores how generative AI can create new opportunities for learning, teaching and educational design. His current interests include personalised and inclusive learning, learner agency, AI literacy and the use of generative AI to create new learning tools and experiences.
Sarah Snep
Educational Developer, Trainer & Consultant, Fontys University
Sarah Snep is an education innovator within the Blended Learning team and an AI specialist at Fontys University of Applied Sciences. With more than 20 years of experience in education, she focuses on translating developments in AI into practical and meaningful applications for teachers and students.
Her expertise includes personalised and inclusive learning, AI literacy, generative AI and vibe coding. A key mission in her work is to help educators take ownership of AI: making conscious choices, remaining critical and using AI purposefully. In her training sessions, she shows how AI can not only enrich education, but also enable educators to design and build their own digital learning activities and applications.
Richard Yonck
Futurist, Intelligent Future Consulting LLC
Richard Yonck is an international keynote speaker, global futurist and best-selling author. For three decades, he’s explored emerging trends and developments with businesses and organizations, including global Fortune 500 companies such as Amazon, Microsoft, Samsung, and Xerox, industry associations, as well as government agencies and NGOs, including UNDP and NATO. Richard’s book, Future Minds explores the nature and future of human and artificial intelligence. His previous book, Heart of the Machine studies the future of the emerging technologies that allow computers and robots to read, interpret, and influence human emotions. Now in its second edition, it’s been translated into multiple languages. His new novel, Mindstock, about the future of AI and media in a post-truth world was published in September 2025. Richard is a regular contributor to the technology news website GeekWire and has been published by and quoted in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Scientific American, Forbes, Wired, Fast Company, BBC News and many others. He’s a member of the Association of Professional Futurists, the National Association of Science Writers and a TEDx speaker.
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Zihern Lee
Artistic Researcher, Independent
Zihern Lee is an artist, educator, and researcher working at the intersection of AI in education, embodied cognition, and artistic practice. Based in Berlin, she has investigated how technology mediates learning and literacy - most recently as a researcher at the Universität der Künste Berlin and Einstein Center Digital Future. She has presented at OEB, EDULEARN24, and the 0. Berliner Symposium on Reading Promotion in the Age of AI. Her practice resists the separation of human agency and technological systems - asking not how AI replaces learning, but how it can be designed to deepen it.
Learning Café
The Employability Reset: Why Universities and Employers Are Redefining Workforce Readiness in the AI Economy
Learning Café
The Employability Reset: Why Universities and Employers Are Redefining Workforce Readiness in the AI Economy
In this Learning Café, participants compare how universities, employers and students now understand “readiness” in an AI ‑ shaped labour market. Small ‑ groups compare where expectations match, where they differ and what may be being missed, using the Readiness Gap exercise to explore changing expectations and the human skills that are becoming more important. The aim is to give participants a more precise way to talk about employability today and practical ideas for strengthening connections between education and work.
Marti Grimminck
Founder & CEO, International Connector
Marti Grimminck is Founder and CEO of International Connector and has spent 20 years studying emerging talent and the future of work. Her work spans employers, universities, governments, and young people, drawing on engagement across 190 countries and programs operating on 300+ university campuses. Working with organizations including Microsoft, Google and IBM, she focuses on how changing talent expectations, AI, and employer needs are reshaping workforce readiness. Marti is the visionary behind Your Big Year® and CareerReady Connect, initiatives designed to help young people build the skills, experiences, and connections needed for a rapidly changing world of work.
Learning Café
Adapting a Playful Mindset. Your Advantage to Greater Trust, Creativity, Safety and Retention in Learning
Learning Café
Adapting a Playful Mindset. Your Advantage to Greater Trust, Creativity, Safety and Retention in Learning
Kelsey Kates shares how to embed a playful mindset into work to drive engagement, safety, collaboration and creativity. Kelsey will share insights on: The five dimensions of playfulness and 8 play personalities – and what it means to be playful at work. Why playfulness is critical for engagement – the neuroscience findings on the benefits of playfulness. Practical ideas on how to infuse playfulness into your work. How to make playfulness authentic – from a little goes a long way to knowing your audience.
Kelsey Kates
Former Global Head of Live Learning Experiences and Faculty Enablement, Google
Kelsey's been awarded multiple Brandon Hall Awards for the design of marquee Google programs - Facilitation Academy, Deliver Like a Boss, and her team's delivery of Google Way of Coaching and Google Sales School. In 2018 she won the Rising Star Award for Analytical Academy, a new multi-course program at Google to train and develop the finest analytical thinkers. As the Global Head of Learning Experiences at Google Kelsey Kates looks after the activation and delivery of 15+ facilitated programs within the Global Business Org for more than 20,000 Googlers, as well as the team's marketing and communication and the enablement and management of their 150+ facilitators. Kelsey has her B.S from the University of Denver and her Masters from Northwestern. She's a marketer turned analyst and now in the corporate learning and development space with a ton of passion for re-imagining great learning and education. She's not afraid to challenge the status quo and believes deeply in changing the world through more impactful and delightful learning experiences that transform how we show up. As a lifelong learner, she's currently pursuing an Executive Certificate from MIT in Neuroscience. Today, Kelsey lives in Dublin with her husband, son and dog.
Ashwin Mehta
CEO & Founder, Mehtadology
Dr Ashwin Mehta is the founder and director of Mehtadology, a strategic consultancy firm for the AI revolution, a thought leader, Management Consultant, and a learning technology leader. He has worked for over 14 years at a senior level across transport, consulting, medical and the pharmaceutical sectors. Ashwin holds an MBA and PhD in learning technology adoption and his experience includes innovation strategy, data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence.
How To
The Six‑Block Sprint: Build Your Learning‑Organisation Plan in 60 Minutes
How To
The Six‑Block Sprint: Build Your Learning‑Organisation Plan in 60 Minutes
Most organisations recognise the importance of learning and adaptation but struggle to translate these ambitions into practical action. This interactive session introduces a simple yet powerful framework based on CEF's Systems for Resilience: Public Institutions as Learning Organisations. Participants will take part in a guided sprint exploring six building blocks of a learning organisation: Governance & Culture, Resources, Partnerships, Knowledge Sharing, Communication about Learning, and Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL). Working individually or in small groups, participants will identify a real organisational challenge, select high-impact actions and develop a practical one-page action plan to take back to their organisation. By the end of the session, participants will have a structured roadmap for strengthening learning and adaptation within their own context, whether they work in the public sector, private sector, education or international organisations.
Jaša Levstik
Facilitator, CEF, Slovenia
Jaša Levstik is a Project Manager and Facilitator at the Centre of Excellence in Finance (CEF), where he designs and delivers learning programmes for public sector institutions across South-East Europe and the EU neighbourhood. His work focuses on organisational learning, capacity development, peer learning, and institutional transformation. He has helped develop CEF's Training of Trainers methodology and supports governments and public institutions in strengthening their ability to learn, adapt, and implement reforms.
Stefaan van Hooydonk
Founder, Global Curiosity Institute, Belgium
Stefaan van Hooydonk is the founder of the Global Curiosity Institute and the author of the bestselling books The Workplace Curiosity Manifesto (2022) and Curiosity (2025). With a career spanning executive roles as Chief Learning Officer at multinational corporations like Nokia, Philips, Cognizant, and Saudi Aramco, Stefaan has lived and worked across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. His mission is to help individuals and organizations build their "curiosity muscle" through research, inspirational talks, and transformative learning experiences. Stefaan’s work is rooted in the belief that curious individuals need curious environments to thrive - especially in times of uncertainty.
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Jennifer Mathes
CEO, Online Learning Consortium
Jennifer Mathes, Ph.D., serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the Online Learning Consortium (OLC). In her role, she sets the strategic direction for the organization and spearheads the development of key projects and programs to benefit OLC members. With over 25 years of experience in both public and private sectors of education, Dr. Mathes has been a staunch advocate for digital learning initiatives. In addition, Dr. Mathes is the author of the ICDE Report Global Quality in Online, Open, Flexible and Technology Enhanced Education: An Analysis of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (2019) and co-editor of the OLC Quality Scorecard Handbook: Criteria for Excellence in Blended Learning Programs (2017). She continues to write and present on key topics in online, blended and digital learning. Dr. Mathes began her academic journey as a faculty member, eventually ascending to the role of Chief Academic Officer. She has also served as a consultant, advising educational institutions on implementing best practices in online education. Her recent work has involved collaborating with higher education associations and institutions internationally to support the global adoption of best practices in online learning. Dr. Mathes earned her Doctor of Philosophy in Education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She also holds a Master of Science in Business Education and a Bachelor of Science in Mass Communications, both from Illinois State University.
Presentation
Beyond the Illusion of Competence: Teaching and Assessing Critical Judgment in the AI-Enabled Classroom
Presentation
Beyond the Illusion of Competence: Teaching and Assessing Critical Judgment in the AI-Enabled Classroom
This session explores how generative AI is transforming translation education and why higher education must move beyond viewing AI as either a threat or a shortcut. Drawing on practical classroom experience, it presents an educational framework that helps students develop critical AI literacy, strengthen translation competence, and collaborate effectively with AI while maintaining academic integrity and human expertise.
Jasmina Nikolic
Associate Professor & Founder, University of Belgrade & Agile Humans
Jasmina Nikolić is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Philology, University of Belgrade, Serbia. Her research explores the intersection of Hispanic studies, oral tradition, translation studies, and artificial intelligence, with a particular interest in AI applications in the humanities and education.