THE LISBON COUNCIL - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Project Manager
- Research Assistant
- Research Associate
Alessandro Paciaroni is a research assistant and project manager at the Lisbon Council. He holds a bachelor's degree in international relations from the University of Bologna and a master's degree in public sector innovation and e-governance from KU Leuven, the University of Münster and the Tallinn University of Technology. He previously contributed to lay down the groundwork for the development of a digital infrastructure for a circular economy at TEXRoad and assisted the research on AI policy at the Future of Life Institute.
Job Titles:
- Project Manager
- Research Associate
Alex Borg is project manager and research associate at the Lisbon Council. He previously worked as policy and personal assistant to European Commissioner Helena Dalli, European commissioner for equality. He has served as political officer at the European Union Delegation in Cameroon, a fellow at the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) Child Protection section and an independent consultant collaborating with UNICEF and other renowned children's organisations like Save the Children, ChildFund Alliance and Joining Forces. He holds a BSc in politics and international relations from the London School of Economics and an MSc in violence, conflict, and development from the London School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).
Job Titles:
- Research Associate and Senior Community Manager
Alice Iordache is research associate and senior community manager e at the Lisbon Council. Previously, she worked on international projects in the office of Roberta Cocco, deputy mayor of digital transformation and services to citizens in Milan Municipality. She holds a master's degree in data science and economics and a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Milan.
Job Titles:
- Project Manager
- Research Associate
Anna Pizzamiglio is project manager and research associate at the Lisbon Council. Previously, she worked in the private sector on digital policy issues. She holds a master's degree in European studies from the Institute for European Studies at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and a bachelor's degree in philosophy, international studies and economics from Ca' Foscari University of Venice.
Job Titles:
- Project Manager
- Research Associate
Annalisa Addis is project manager and research associate at the Lisbon Council. She previously worked for the United Nations and has more than 15 years experience in the not-for-profit sector, She holds a PhD in African studies and international development from the University of Cagliari and Ruhr-University Bochum.
Job Titles:
- Adviser and Member of the General Assembly
- Adviser and Member, General Assembly
Audrey Keukens is adviser and member of the general assembly at the Lisbon Council since 2021. She a director and senior advisor at Dröge and van Drimmelen since 2001. Ms Keukens advises companies, governments and professional organisations in the field of public affairs and corporate communication. As part of her work at Dröge and van Drimmelen, Ms Keukens serves as chair of VNO-NCW West, an influential network of entrepreneurs in North and South Holland, and board member of the Friends of the NJO Foundation (Stichting Vrienden van het Nationaal Jeugdorkest). Ms Keukens was previously treasurer of Aikido Netherlands, board member of the Ballons Boven het Loo Foundation and board member for communications and public relations of Hockey Club Hurley.
Besiana Balla is associate director at the Lisbon Council. Previously, she served as research lead and programme manager at Public, a United Kingdom-based digital government consulting firm. She also worked as a lecturer at Science Po on the history of tech revolutions and a venture-capital investor in Berlin. She holds a PhD in economics and innovation from Université Paris 13 and an Erasmus Mundus Master in Economic Policies from Université Paris Cité.
Job Titles:
- Senior Researcher and Head of Statistical Analysis
A graduate of the University of Bucharest, Ms Moise is responsible for data gathering and analysis on an array of projects. Previously she worked in the European Commission's directorate-general for research and innovation and was co-ordinator of the statistical analysis office of the Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research and Innovation Funding (UEFISCDI) in Romania.
David Osimo leads Lisbon Council research on areas as diverse as the data economy, digital government and the future of work as well as pioneering novel collaborative methods for policy research. He previously served as scientific officer in the European Commission Joint Research Centre and as co-founder of two independent startups. He holds degrees from the universities of Milan and Cardiff.
Job Titles:
- Principal Adviser and Member of the General Assembly
Job Titles:
- Senior Research Fellow
- Senior Research Fellow Innovation and Green Transition
Dirk Pilat is senior research fellow at the Lisbon Council. An economist focused on innovation, productivity and the green transition, he previously worked in various roles at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, lastly as deputy director for science, technology and innovation. He is also affiliated with The Productivity Institute in the United Kingdom and the Valencia Institute of Economic Research. He holds a Ph.D from the University of Groningen.
Job Titles:
- Project Manager
- Research Associate
Elena Silvestrini is project manager and research associate at the Lisbon Council. Prior to joining the Lisbon Council, she spent five years leading and designing participation initiatives at Platoniq Creatividad y Democracia, a Spanish non-profit, and co-founded Chayn Italia, an organisation committed to fighting gender-based violence. Ms Silvestrini holds a master of science degree in gender, development and globalisation from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a bachelor's degree in political science and international relations from University Roma Tre.
Job Titles:
- Founder and Managing Director of Paradigmes
- Member of the Governing Body
Elisabeth Grosdhomme Lulin is founder and managing director of Paradigmes et caetera, a research and consulting company. She is a member of the Lisbon Council's governing body since 2021. Ms Grosdhomme Lulin began her career at the general inspectorate of finance (1991-1994). Later, she joined the prime minister's office (Edouard Balladur, then Alain Juppé) and headed the marketing and external communication department of the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (1996-1998). She was a lecturer at the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris (1998-1999) and at the National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts (1995-1999). She served as chair of the executive board of the Aspen France Institute (2007-2010) and is the founder of Futurbulences, a political scenarios laboratory. Ms Grosdhomme Lulin graduated from the Ecole Normale Supérieure (1985), the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris (1987) and the National School of Administration (1991).
Job Titles:
- Human Resources Officer
- HR Officer ( Interim )
Els Brands-Höhner is the human resources officer at the Lisbon Council. She also serves as human resources officer at Publyon, an HR consulting firm with offices in Brussels, Copenhagen, New York and Utrecht.
Job Titles:
- Project Manager
- Senior Advisor
- Senior Advisor, Ukraine and Accession Countries
Evgenia Malikova is senior advisor and project manager at the Lisbon Council. She has over 26 years of project management experience working in the Regional USAID Mission for Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova on economic development programmess implemented in such areas as education, privatization, accounting reform, local governance, business development, trade, investment, and competitiveness. She holds a MBA from the Kyiv International Management Institute and a PhD equivalent in English from Kyiv Taras Shevchenko National University.
Job Titles:
- Project Manager
- Research Associate
- Researcher
Federico Iannuli is project manager and researcher at The Lisbon Council. He holds a Master of Arts in international relations and global conflict in the modern era and a Master of Arts in Latin American studies - both from University of Leiden - and a bachelor's degree in political science and international relations from Catholic University of Milan.
Job Titles:
- Project Manager
- Research Associate
Felipe Taylor Murta is project manager and research associate at the Lisbon Council. He holds a master's degree in development economics and global governance from Grenoble Alpes University (France) and a bachelor's degree in international relations from the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais (Brazil). Previously, he worked on multilateral cooperation activities at the United Nations in Geneva and has been engaged in international projects for science, technology and innovation in Portugal and science and technology diplomacy in Spain.
Francesco Mureddu is a leading analyst on innovation and technology policies with a special focus on digital transformation, big data, artificial intelligence, eGovernment, smart cities, social innovation, future science and citizen science. He holds a PhD in economics from the University of Cagliari and a master's degree in economics from the Catholic University of Louvain.
Job Titles:
- Project Manager
- Research Associate
Jasmin Jabbarpour is project manager and research associate at the Lisbon Council. Previously, she worked as a business consultant in different advisory firms and start-up companies, where she took part in several projects in business strategy and European research. She holds a master's degree in business markets and strategies from the Catholic University of Milan and a bachelor's degree in business from the University of Parma.
Job Titles:
- Principal Adviser and Member of the General Assembly
- Principal Adviser and Member of the General Assembly, the Lisbon Council / Vice - President, Executive Board, Lid College Van Bestuur
Joeri van Den Steenhoven is principal adviser and member of the general assembly of the Lisbon Council. Mr van Den Steenhoven is vice-president of the executive board at the University of Applied Sciences Leiden. Previously, he served as vice-president for systems innovation at MaRS, the world's largest urban innovation hub located in Canada and was CEO and co-founder of Kennisland, a leading social innovation lab based in the Netherlands.
Job Titles:
- Project Coordinator
- Senior Research Associate
Jon Switters is senior research associate at the Lisbon Council, writing and coordinating European funded research and innovation projects. Mr. Switters has over 17 years' experience, starting off his career at PriceWaterhouseCoopers (Spain) working as a business consultant on projects with the Spanish Ministry of Housing, Banco Santander and Telefonica. He has also collaborated with Malaga City Council (Spain) on sustainable development projects and with Funka Nu AB (Sweden) managing research projects on digital accessibility, inclusion and user involvement. He holds a bachelor's degree in European business from the University of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom.
Job Titles:
- Fellow
- Resident
- Senior Researcher
- Senior Researcher and Non - Resident Fellow
Konstantinos Komaitis is non-resident fellow and senior researcher at the Lisbon Council. Dr Komaitis worked 10 years as senior director at the Internet Society, a global non-profit founded by Vint Cerf. He led a series of high-level projects, including the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) transition. Before joining the Internet Society, he worked seven years as senior lecturer at the University of Strathclyde, where he researched and taught Internet policy with a particular focus on Internet governance, intellectual property, trade and cybersecurity. Dr Komaitis is a renowned public speaker and the author of The Current State of Domain Name Regulation, a 2010 book. He holds two degrees from University of Strathclyde, including a PhD and LLM in information technology and telecommunications law and an LLM in international, European and commercial law from the University of Sheffield. He graduated from Aristotle University in Thessaloniki with a degree in law. His work has appeared in Politico, TEDx, The Atlantic Council, Brookings, Slate, TechDirt, EurActiv and The New York Times. He co-hosts the "Internet of Humans Podcast," a podcast dedicated to exploring the Internet.
Job Titles:
- Associate Director for IT and Knowledge Platforms
- Associate Director IT and Knowledge Platforms
Marcello Verona is associate director for IT and knowledge platforms at the Lisbon Council. In this capacity, he is responsible for the development of online policy repositories, monitoring tools and policy dashboards such as the Future of Work policy bank, the European Data Market Monitoring Tool and the Intermediary Liability Evidence Hub. Mr Verona is an experienced software project manager and web and database developer and holds a master's degree in networks for the human resources management from the University of Florence.
Job Titles:
- Senior Fellow for Digital Government
Mike Bracken is senior fellow for digital government at the Lisbon Council. He served as executive director of digital in the United Kingdom government in 2011 and was its chief data officer in 2014. In this capacity, he was responsible for overseeing and improving the government's digital delivery of public services. Mr Bracken is an experienced entrepreneur who has grown several technology companies and occupied most c-suite roles in his executive career in a variety of sectors in more than a dozen countries. Currently, he is partner at Public Digital.
Natalia Oprea is a researcher at the Lisbon Council. She holds a PhD in comparative and European politics from the University of Siena in Italy and a master's degree in public policy from the University of Deusto in Spain.
Paul Hofheinz is president and co-founder of the Lisbon Council. In this capacity, Mr. Hofheinz manages the organisation on a daily basis and is responsible for strategic oversight, including growth, publishing and development. He also maintains a personal research programme, writing, publishing and speaking on topics as diverse as artificial intelligence, the future of work, innovation, startups, the knowledge-economy, human capital, growth-company finance, economic reform and European politics. Previously, Mr Hofheinz worked as a writer and editor at The Wall Street Journal, Fortune and Time magazines and the Central European Economic Review. Mr. Hofheinz holds a master's degree in the government and politics of Russia from London School of Economics and a bachelor's degree in history from Yale.
Job Titles:
- Project Manager
- Research Associate
Senan Khawaja is a research associate and project manager at the Lisbon Council. He has previously worked with the development impact evaluation team at the World Bank in Washington DC. Mr Khawaja is currently an undergraduate senior at Stanford University studying economics and international relations.
Job Titles:
- Project Manager
- Research Associate
Stella Meyer serves as research associate and project manager at the Lisbon Council, covering digital policy and trade. She holds a joint master's degree in Euroculture with a specialisation in transatlantic relations, platform regulation and freedom of speech from Uppsala University and Georg-August University Göttingen.
A graduate of multidisciplinary studies, Stella has developed a deep interest in politics, disinformation and media literacy. Previously, she worked and interned across the private and public sectors in various countries across Europe, the U.S. and Mongolia. Besides her work, Stella is actively engaged in numerous youth organisations focusing on Europe-Asia relations, aiming at bringing more young and diverse voices into the policymaking process.
Job Titles:
- Senior Fellow Digital Government
- Senior Fellow for Digital Government
Tom Loosemore is senior fellow for digital government at the Lisbon Council. He wrote the United Kingdom's first government digital strategy, and served as the Government Digital Service (GDS) deputy director for five years. Outside government, Mr Loosemore has also worked as the director of digital strategy at the Co-Operative Group, as digital strategy lead at OFCOM, and was responsible for shaping the BBC's Internet strategy between 2001 and 2007. Currently, he is a partner at Public Digital.