Prof. Tapio Varis (Professor emeritus) has worked in many functions throughout his career, among others as Chair of Professional Education at the University of Tampere, as UNESCO Chair in Global E-Learning, as a member of the European Commission Media Literacy Expert Group and as Rector of the University for Peace (created by the UN) in Costa Rica. He has authored approximately 200 scientific articles on topics like global peace, new media and cultural identity and continues to contribute to print and broadcast media.

Lee Hibbard is a Senior Fellow at DiploFoundation. He is also an administrator in the Bioethics Unit of the Council of Europe, based in Strasbourg, France. For the last ten years, Lee has been responsible for developing European human rights norms on the challenges posed by the Internet, in particular regarding freedom of expression, the public service value of the Internet, children’s right to be forgotten, responsibilities of Internet companies, privacy, and other areas. Lee has also coordinated the Council of Europe’s policy on Internet governance. This included the preparation of the organisation’s Internet Governance Strategies for 2016-2019, 2012-2015, and developing partnerships with Internet companies.

Alexandre Le Voci Sayad is a journalist, educator, and writer specializing in media, education, and technology. He directs ZeitGeist, an innovation hub, and consults for UNESCO on media literacy. With a Master’s in AI and Ethics from PUC-SP, he is pursuing a PhD in AI policies at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. A columnist and TV host, he has contributed to major media outlets and authored over twenty books, including Artificial Intelligence and Critical Thinking (2023). With over two decades of experience, he focuses on digital literacy, misinformation, and education.

Letitia has an academic background in Physics, Computer Science, and a PhD in Computational Linguistics. She currently conducts AI research at Aleph Alpha building and training interpretable AI models by design. Previously, she benchmarked and interpreted model internal processes and explanations. Letitia runs the “AI Coffee Break with Letitia” YouTube channel where she breaks down complex AI concepts. Topics range from newest research results in natural language processing, computer vision, to the broader societal impact of AI.

Maarit Jaakkola, a Doctor of Social Sciences in Journalism, is Co-Director of Nordicom and an Associate Professor at the University of Gothenburg, as well as an Adjunct Professor at Tampere University. Her research bridges media, culture, and learning, examining the connections between professional and non-professional media production, public pedagogy, and cultural studies, with a focus on Nordic comparative research.