Dr Carla Luís is the coordinator of VotedHR – Elections, Democracy and Human Rights, at CES – Coimbra. VotedHR works closely with electoral agencies, workers and electoral stakeholders, providing support and building sectoral knowledge. Carla works and teaches in the area of Electoral Observation, Electoral Justice, among others. Carla has carried out work in the area of Elections and Democracy, with international and national institutions, as International IDEA, ODIHR-OSCE, UNDP, and others. Member of the International Advisory Board of The Electoral Integrity Project, where she has also been a visiting researcher in 2015. She is a board member of the Portuguese National Electoral Commission since 2010 and a BRIDGE certified trainer. Latest publications: Luís, Carla (2021), Free and Fair Elections to Electoral Integrity: Trends, Challenges, and Populism, in Walter Leal Filho et al (org.), Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer.
Prof Mary Hickman is Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Irish Studies at London Metropolitan University. She established the Irish Studies Centre at London Met in 1986, where she was also Director of the Institute for the Study of European Transformations, 2002-2012. She was a Professorial Research Fellow at Centre for Irish Studies, St Mary’s University, London, 2012-2016. She has written widely on migration and diaspora, especially about the Irish in Britain and the USA. She is co-author of Migration and Social Cohesion in the UK (Palgrave 2012) and co-editor of Women and Irish Diaspora Identities (Manchester University Press 2014). She is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and Chair of Votes for Irish Citizens Abroad (VICA).
Dr Wojciech Kostka is an alumni of the University of Silesia in Katowice, where he received his Ph.D. in Political Science, and of the University of Nottingham, where he received his LL.M. in. Public Procurement Law and Policy. He works as a Procurement Coordinator at the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) – the EU Agency based in Dublin, Ireland. At the same time, he is a guest lecturer at the University of Silesia where he lectures on EU Public Procurement Law and other EU-related subjects.
He is deeply involved in the life of the Polish diaspora in Ireland as a board member of Forum Polonia and Polish-Irish Educational Association. The main area of his interest and actions he is involved in relates to the social and political participation of the Poles in the receiving communities across Ireland.
Ms Tina Strandberg, M.Soc.Sc, has served as Executive Director at the Finland Society since 2016. The Finland Society is an expertise and service center for expatriate Finns, promoting issues of Finns living overseas. Over the next few years, the Finland Society will focus on developing services for expatriate Finns, increasing expatriates’ inclusion in decision-making and building channels and services to support their return to Finland. Strandberg is also editor-in-chief for the magazine Suomen Silta (Finland Bridge). She has also published many articles and statements on Finnish expatriatism.
Mr Régis Trannoy hold a Law degree from the Catholic University of Louvain (2001) and a Diploma of Complementary Studies in Public Affairs (2002) from the same university. He has been actively involved in the organization of elections in Belgium since 2007. Currently, he is General Councilor and Head of the Elections Unit at the Federal Public Service Interior. Within this unit, Mr Trannoy ensures that the legal aspects of the organization of elections are reconciled with the technological and “security” aspects of the software used for elections in Belgium, while also supervising the simplification and rationalization of the administrative and legal processes of the unit.