Keynote Speakers

Anne Thevenet (French) has been working at the Euro-Institut, Institute for training and counselling on cross-border issues located in Kehl (Germany), since 2005. She holds a diploma in political sciences, and Masters in European studies and in management. As Deputy Director, she is in charge of human resources, contacts with funders and the development of new strategies. Her field of expertise is the coaching of stakeholders and CB groups/teams, the design and delivery of training courses (thematic issues particularly social affairs / intercultural project management / CBC) as well as the design and moderation of workshops and conferences. Moreover, she worked on several projects, which aimed at combining practical and scientific approaches on CB issues. Since 2010, she has coordinated the Transfrontier Euro-Institut Network (TEIN), which brings together 17 members from more than 10 different European border regions as well as 2 associated members. 

Bilal Khalid, PhD in Industrial Business Administration from KMITL Business School, Bangkok, in 2021 and a master's in International Business Management from Stamford International University, Bangkok, in 2017. Dr. Khalid's research interests include the intersections of green innovation technology with digital transformations, leadership, and information technology management. Dr. Bilal Khalid is an accomplished academic with widely cited publication credits in Scopus and Web of Science journals. He is also an editor at Education Research International, Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, and a reviewer for several Scopus journals. 

Carolin Leutloff-Grandits is a Senior Researcher at the Viadrina Center B/ORDERS IN MOTION at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder). Carolin Leutloff-Grandits received her PhD in Social Anthropology from the University of Halle-Wittenberg as the recipient of a doctoral fellowship from the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology and her Venia Legendi (Habilitation) in Social Anthropology from the University of Vienna. She has conducted numerous research projects on borders, inclusion and exclusion, migration and social security, family, gender and generation, as well as temporality and transformation, often in an intertwined perspective, in Croatia and Kosovo as well as in Germany and Austria, funded among others by the Leibniz Excellence Initiative, FWF and the EU's 6th Framework Programme. Key publications include: Translocal Care Across Kosovo’s Borders: Reconfiguring Kinship Along Gender and Generational Lines | BERGHAHN BOOKS, to be published in September 2023 (open access), Migrating borders and moving times. Temporality and the crossing of borders in Europe, Manchester University Press, 2017 (with M. Hurd and H. Donnan) and “We are not just the border of Croatia, this is the border of the European Union” The Croatian Borderland as "Double Periphery" Journal for Borderlands Studies, 2022.

Kateřina Maršíková is an Associate Professor at the Department of Business Administration and Management at the Faculty of Economics, the Technical University of Liberec, lecturing mainly courses in managing human resources. Since 2022 she has been also working as a vice-rector for international affairs at the Technical University of Liberec. Kateřina has been specialising on various aspects in the managing human resources (as digitalisation in HR, knowledge and human capital management, future competencies etc.) connecting the academic field and business environment, often in cross-border and international context. In this field she was involved also a manager of the Erasmus+ KA2 Strategic partnership project (2016 – 2019) related to development of human resources in SMEs in the context of five European regions. As a guarantor of the double degree programme International Management, she has been supporting the extension of professional and intercultural experience of students of this programme. Within her cooperation with the Career Centre of TUL she has been supporting cross-border opportunities for career of students and graduates of TUL. 

Gyula Ocskay, member of the UPC-CESCI Research Group on Border Studies is a political philosopher and regional economist. Since 2009 he has been working for the Budapest-based Central European Service for Cross-Border Initiatives (CESCI) as secretary general. In his position, he coordinates the research, planning, development and knowledge sharing activities of the CESCI team. His main field of research is cross-border governance.

She is the head of the Department of Business Economics at the Faculty of Economics of VŠB-TUO. Her wish and effort is to connect the academic field with the private sphere and industry both at home and abroad. Her areas of professional interest include issues related to SMEs, start-ups, quality management and business economics, including the areas of sustainable and cross-border entrepreneurship, or the 4-day work week.

She sees connections where others grope and always finds effective ways to solve different situations. She is a passionate visionary and a strategist who can look at things with perspective. As a result, she helps many people around her to see opportunities for further development not only on a professional level but also on a personal level.

Since 2003 he has been working as a senior lecturer, associate professor, and full professor at VSB-Technical University of Ostrava, Czechia. Currently, he acts as full professor at the Department of Regional Development, Faculty of Regional Development and International Studies, Mendel University in Brno, Czechia. His research and publications focus mainly on urban and regional development. He has delivered guest lectures in the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Denmark, Poland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Estonia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Hungary, and China. Author/co-author of more than 60 articles and 4 books.

Civil Engineer from the University of Extremadura, national award winner for completing university studies, master's degree in civil engineering for roads, channels, and ports, with a specialization in foundations and structures.

Professor at the University of Extremadura since 1998, recipient of the teaching excellence award in 2023. Member of the Construction Department, where he has served as secretary. Since 2019, he has been the director of the School of Engineering in Cáceres, at the University of Extremadura. His research covers both optimization in civil engineering, energy and communications synergies and circular economy, mainly around constructions processes and its interrelation with other economic fields.

Director of the UEx-Ingenostrum sponsorship chair for the study of renewable energy implementation and emerging technologies in this sector. Additionally, he is involved in the UEx-Gamma Solutions chairs, also focused on renewable energies applied to mobility, and the UEx-Oeste Digital chair.

Professionally, he has served as the president of Tecniberia Extremadura, a regional association of consulting engineering firms, and has led the company Urueña Torrecilla Consultores. He is the author of several Urban Planning plans, wastewater treatment projects, urban and industrial residential developments, solid waste treatment, and linear structures and works.

Dr. Marie France Gaunard-Anderson is Associate Professor at the Department of Geography, University of Lorraine. She is a member of the research center LOTERR (geographical research center of Lorraine) and the « UniGR- Center for Border Studies”. Director of a Master program in Territorial Planning and Defense (1997-2009) and in Territorial Intelligence (2019-2024), she also works as an expert for local and regional authorities (e.g. for the Economic, Social and Environmental Council of Lorraine), above all in territorial planning and economic development. Her research interests are local and regional development especially in border regions and cross-border co-operation in Europe (analysis of Euroregions development process). She has been involved in different European programs (INTERREG IIIC e-Bird - « MOSAME » project, TACIS CBC-ENACT – a project between France, Poland and Ukraine, INTERREG IVA Greater Region, Uni-GR-CBS INTERREG, etc.).

Contact: University of Lorraine, UFR Human Sciences and Arts, Department of Geography, Ile du Saulcy, 57 000 Metz, marie-france.gaunard@univ-lorraine.fr

DSc, Professor Oleh Karyy is the Head of the Department of Management of Organizations, Institute of Economics and Management, Lviv Polytechnic National University (Ukraine). He is a consultant of local self-governments in the field of strategic planning of local development, integration of internally displaced people in local communities. Oleh Karyy is the author of numerous publications in strategic management, territorial marketing, and logistics. His research interests include territorial marketing, regional development, strategic management, city logistics, and support of internally displaced people.