Keynotes and Panels

Antonella Poce

Antonella Poce is presently full Professor in Experimental Pedagogy at the department of History, Heritage, Education and Society of the University of Roma Tor Vergata where She teaches Experimental Pedagogy, Educational Research Methodology, Museum Education. From December 2020 to February 2023, she was full professor in the same subject at the Dept. of Education and Humanities, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, where she chaired the INTELLECT International Research Centre for Research into Heritage and Museum Education, Well-being and Teaching Technology. She still coordinates the following joint (UNIMORE/UNIROMATRE) degrees: annual postgraduate course “Museum Education ” and biennial post graduate course “Advanced Studies in Museum Education”. Her research concerns innovative teaching practices in higher education at national and international level. She is EDEN (European Distance and E-learning Network) senior fellow and presently member of the managing board. She coordinates national and international research groups within European project frameworks, and she has been chairing international academic committees dealing with assessment and distance learning. She used to be a member of the AEA- Europe Council Board (since 2012 to 2016) where chaired the Professional Development Committee (since 2013 to 2016). In 2011, she was elected member of the EDEN (European Distance and E-Learning Network) – NAP (Network of Academics and Professionals) Steering Committee. She chaired the EDEN NAP SC from 2017 to 2020. She has been a member of ICOM (International Council of Museums) since 2003 (CECA Committee for Education and Cultural Action since 2003 and UMAC Universities Museums and Collections since 2019 so far). She is author of different publications of national and international relevance on the topics of innovation, assessment, and use of technology in teaching and learning, in the context of heritage experiences.

Vijay Kumar

Vijay Kumar is Senior Advisor to VP Open Learning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology http://web.mit.edu/vkumar/www/ .
Vijay has been providing leadership and strategy for sustainable technology-enabled educational innovation at MIT for the past 26 years, most recently as the Founding Executive Director, J-WEL (Abdul Latif Jameel World Education Lab), and Associate Dean for Open Learning. He is a member of the Faculty Advisory Committee of MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) and served as the Executive officer for MIT’s Council on Educational Technology. In his prior roles at MIT as Senior Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education, Assistant Provost and Director of Academic Computing, as well at other institutions, Vijay has been responsible for strategy development, launching and leading units engaged in the effective integration of information technology and media services to enable educational change.
Vijay was the Principal Investigator of O.K.I (Open Knowledge Initiative), an MIT-led collaborative project to develop an open architecture for enterprise educational applications.
Vijay’s research and his advisory engagements include assignments with UNESCO, India National Knowledge Commission, Open University of Catalonia, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Qatar Foundation International, Hewlett Foundation, EDC, as well as initiatives in Latin America and the Massachusetts STEM Council. He co-leads CLIx, the Tata-MIT initiative to advance educational quality and access in underserved Indian schools; the MIT-Woodrow Wilson partnership for teacher preparation; the NSF supported MIT-Haiti initiative for strengthening STEM education, and “Fly-By-Wire”, a US DOE project to addressing the learning needs of differently prepared students, at scale.
In 2013, he was awarded an honorary professorship by Tianjin Open University. He was also named the Exxon Mobil Chair for Technology Enabled Learning at the University of Qatar, 2014
Vijay received his Ed. D from the University of Massachusetts. Amherst and both his M.S. in industrial management and B.Tech in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, which recognized him as a distinguished alumnus in 2011.

Jens Brandenburg

Jens Brandenburg has been a Member of the German Bundestag representing the Rhine-Neckar region since 2017. In the Parliamentary Group of the Free Democratic Party, he was the spokesperson on study, vocational training, and lifelong learning as well as spokesperson on the Study Commission “Vocational Training in the Digital Work Environment” until 2021. In December 2021, he was appointed Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of Education and Research.
He studied political science and economics at the University of Mannheim and completed his Ph.D. at the Graduate School of Economic and Social Sciences. Prior to becoming a Member of the German Bundestag, he worked for a global management consulting firm.

Anant Agarwal

Anant Agarwal is chief platform officer of 2U, founder of edX, and professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT.
Since launching edX in 2012, Agarwal has guided the organization’s vision to expand access to high-quality education for everyone, everywhere. Today, he leverages his expertise in building powerful online learning platforms to drive edX’s growth as one of the world’s most comprehensive free-to-degree online learning marketplaces, under parent company 2U.
As the first educator to teach an edX course on circuits and electronics from MIT, Agarwal drew 155,000 students from 162 countries. He remains a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT today. Previously, he served as the director of CSAIL, MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.
Agarwal is a successful serial entrepreneur, having co-founded several companies including Tilera Corporation, which created the Tile multicore processor, and Virtual Machine Works. He has received multiple accolades over the years for his pursuit of great educational innovation. He won the Maurice Wilkes prize for computer architecture and MIT’s Smullin and Jamieson prizes for teaching. He is also the 2016 recipient of the Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize for Higher Education, which recognized his work in advancing the MOOC movement. Additionally, Agarwal is a recipient of the Padma Shri Award from the President of India and was named the Yidan Prize Laureate for Education Development in 2018.
A pioneer in computer architecture, Agarwal is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a fellow of the ACM. Scientific American selected his work on organic computing as one of 10 World-Changing Ideas in 2011, and he was named in Forbes’ list of top 15 education innovators in 2012.
Agarwal held a Guinness World Record for the largest microphone array, is an author of the textbook “Foundations of Analog and Digital Electronic Circuits,” and in his spare time he hacks on WebSim, an online circuits laboratory. He holds a Ph.D. from Stanford and a bachelor’s from IIT Madras.

Kathy Pugh

As SVP Partnerships, Kathy leads a team dedicated to developing long term partner relationships, delivering exceptional service and growth within her portfolio. Prior to becoming a part of 2U, Kathy was the founding executive who built edX’s partnership and learner success strategies and operations and the organization’s content strategy.

Prior to joining edX, Kathy held leadership positions at Core Security, Charles River Development and Advent Software where she was responsible for global account management and services, growth and customer success. When she is not at edX, Kathy enjoys time with her family, any and all racquet sports and spending time outdoors. She holds a B.A. in economics from The College of the Holy Cross.

Catherine Mongenet

Catherine Mongenet is professor in Computer Science. From 2009 to 2012, she has been vice-president of the University of Strasbourg in charge of the digital strategy. In May 2013, she was appointed Policy Officer at the French Ministry of Higher Education in charge of the digital strategy. Since September 2015, she is the CEO of “France Université Numérique”. The objectives of this public organization are to manage the FUN MOOC platform and its evolutions, to develop new partnerships and activities, especially in the context of life-long learning education and continuous professional development. 

George Ubachs

George Ubachs is Managing Director of EADTU and responsible for the development and support of the EADTU network, policies and execution of its goals in online, open and flexible higher education. He is coordinator of international academic cooperation networks on networked curricula, virtual mobility, e-assessment and quality in online education. He is further coordinator of the European MOOC Consortium (EMC), representing the Common Microcredential Framework (CMF) and the E-xcellence movement on quality assurance in online, open and flexible education

Shizuka Kato

Shizuka Kato is an Analyst in the OECD Directorate for Education and Skills, currently leading work on micro-credentials. She specialises in higher education policy and has previously worked on projects examining the emergence of alternative credentials, digital transformation and labour market relevance and outcomes, as well as the review of several European higher education systems. Prior to joining the OECD, she worked for Waseda University in Tokyo, facilitating the institution’s faculty and student mobility and international cooperation in the International Affairs Division.