Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences
Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences (INN University) was established 01.01.2017 as a merger between the former Lillehammer University College (first established 1970) and Hedmark University College (established as a merger in 1994). This was approved by the Cabinet of Norway in 2016 and effective from 1st of January 2017. INN University operates on six campuses in south-eastern Norway, and have approximately 13000 students and 950 employees.
Centre for Lifelong Learning (CLL) has 20 employees. CLL offers open courses and study programmes, commissioned teaching, conferences and seminars. CLL includes a production unit which makes learning materials (video, audiovisual presentations, web pages, games and other interactive productions etc.) and e-learning solutions (including LMS, MOOCs). The centre also undertakes research and evaluation in these areas.
Associate Professor Brit Svoen is project manager at Centre for Lifelong Learning, INN University, and member of the research group “Media, Technology and Lifelong Learning”. Her background is in Informatics and Media Education, and she has extensive experience in developing audiovisual learning resources, as well as on-line and campus-based programmes. Before Svoen joined INN University (former Lillehammer University College), she worked for 10 years in the business sector with ICT and multimedia and 5 years as an assistant professor. Brit Svoen is the coordinator for the ReGap research project, and was also coordinator for the previous Advenus project and Lillehammer University College’s project manager for the LIBE project.
Professor Stephen Dobson, guest professor at the Centre for Life Long Learning, INN University, and Dean of Education, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Dobson was born in Zambia (1963), grew up in England and has previously lived for many years in Norway. Prior to entering higher education he worked for thirteen years with refugees as a community worker. His research and teaching interests include assessment, professional development, refugee studies, bildung, inclusion and classroom studies. He has published one collection of poetry. Dobson is fluent in Scandinavian languages and a member of the Teacher Education Expert Standing Committee for the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL). Stephen Dobson is the Chief Scientific Officer for the ReGap project, as he also was for the Advenus project.
Linda Tangen Bjørge, is a Higher Executive Officer at INN University since 2016. She has a degree in Nursing, with further education and background in Emergency Medicine. MSc in International Environmental Health completed at Leeds Beckett University, England, in 2002. International field work in disaster area with World Food Program. Worked with refugees as information Officer and Acting CEO. Will contribute through experience from work with target group, as well as experience from the research team in the previous Erasmus+ project “Advenus” at CLL.
Lars Teppan Johansen is a project manager with focus on graphic design, web, video, interactive and rich media. Lars began working at INN University in October 2007 and has a diverse background within ICT with developing websites, video, photo, audio, animations, prints and interactive media. Lars is keen to adopt new technology into educational models.
John Torstad is office manager at Centre for Lifelong Learning, INN University. His background is from the Tourism and Travel industry and in developing and coordinating new courses at LUC for adults needing further education. John has more than 20 years of experience as a project manager and office manager at Centre or Lifelong Learning. His responsibility in these project is accounting and reporting.
Professor in Education, Yngve Nordkvelle, has been a professor at INN University since 1999. He has published on international education, distance education and media education. His most recent project has been to edit an anthology on international perspectives on Digital Storytelling. Nordkvelle is the chief editor of the international e-journal Seminar.net, an international e-journal about Media, technology and lifelong learning and is the former editor of the Norwegian journal for Higher Education (UNIPED). He has led several expert committees, as served as a convenor of Network 6 in EERA, and has been a visiting scholar at several international prestigious universities. Nordkvelle will in particular contribute to this project with his expertise in design and production of learning resources.
LUMSA University was founded in Rome in 1939 and it is characterized by its openness to the idea of universal human citizenship. LUMSA is one of the most important non-state universities of central Italy, with about 9000 students and 800 teachers and professors; it has three Faculties situated in neighbouring locations, and other branches operating in Palermo and Taranto. The university is located in the historic centre of Rome and in one of the most beautiful and historically rich areas of the whole city. It thus provides its students with the opportunity to avail themselves of the advantages that Rome has to offer. In particular, LUMSA strives to promote an overall education of the person and for this reason, the university devotes especial care to its students and their professional and human education through the employment of constant services of direction and tutoring, and of procedures designed to give full expression to their right to be engaged in study. LUMSA University offers four main subject areas of teaching and research activities: Economics, Humanities, Languages and Law.
Professor Gabriella Agrusti, PhD, teaches Multimedia learning, Educational research methods and Assessment in Education at LUMSA University (Italy). She is a member of the Joint management committee that runs the IEA-ICCS 2016 study on civic and citizenship education in 28 countries in the world. She was senior scientific advisor for the coordination to Lifelong Learning Program KA3 – ICT Multilateral projects, with LIBE – Supporting Lifelong Learning with Inquiry-based Education project (24 months). LIBE project is aimed at design and develop Open Educational Resources for the reconstruction of transversal basic skills (literacy, numeracy, problem solving) in young low educational achievers in Europe). Recent publications include:
G. Agrusti, Marta Pinto, João Caramelo, Susana Coimbra, Stephen Dobson, Brit Svoen, Alex Pulovassilis, George Magoulas, Bernard Veldkamp, Maaike Heitnik, Francesco Agrusti, LIBE e-booklet for educators and teachers, http://libeproject.it/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/LIBE-eBooklet.pdf, DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.2383.592512/2015
G. Agrusti, F Corradi, “Teachers’ perceptions and conceptualizations of low educational achievers: A self-fulfilling prophecy of disengagement for future NEETs”, The Qualitative Report, 20(8), 2015, pp. 1313-1328 (ISSN 1052-0147). Retrieved from http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR20/8/agrusti8.pdf
Valeria Damiani has a PhD in Education, is currently research fellow at Roma Tre University and is member of the research group for the Erasmus+ projects at LUMSA University, Rome. Her research interests include citizenship education, education for global citizenship, teaching and assessing key/ transversal competences and e-learning.
Cittadinanza e identità. Educazione alla cittadinanza globale e identità multiple in studenti di terza media. (2016); Large-scale assessments and educational policies in Italy (2016);
Searching for quality in open educational resources (OERs): an Italian case study (2016, with Gabriella Agrusti).
Elisa Muscillo, Psychologist, psychotherapist, expert in forensic psychiatry and child development, and PhD student in educational sciences. She has always been interested in educational psychology, particularly in risk factors and linguistic skills.
Vincenzo Schirripa is research fellow at LUMSA University (Italy). He teaches History of Childhood and Educational Institutions and Children’s Literature. His early studies concern the history of scout movement, non-violent education and pacifism in contemporary Italy. He also has experience as a freelancer in social workers and teachers training on citizenship education and social issues. Relevant publications include:
2006. Schirripa, Giovani sulla frontiera. Guide e scout cattolici nell’Italia repubblicana (1943-1974), Studium, Roma 2006.
2007. Schirripa, Borgo di Dio. La Sicilia di Danilo Dolci (1952-1956), Franco Angeli, Milano 2010.
2008. Baglio, V. Schirripa, “Tutti a Comiso”. La lotta contro gli euromissili in Italia, 1981-1983, in “Italia contemporanea”, 276, 2014, pp. 448-475.
Valeria Caricaterra teaches Intercultural education at LUMSA University (Italy). Her early studies concern citizenship education, teaching and assessing competences, special educational needs. Recent publications include:“Insegnare per competenze e formazione dei docenti” in Rivista Lasalliana, n° 4/2017
“Valutazione e inclusione: ecco perché sono due facce della stessa medaglia” in Tuttoscuola.com, area Cantiere della didattica, 04/04/2017 https://www.tuttoscuola.com/valutazione-inclusione-perche-due-facce-della-stessa-medaglia/
“L’inclusione è una questione di stile … educativo!” in Tuttoscuola.com, area Cantiere della didattica, 22/02/2017 http://www.tuttoscuola.com/linclusione-e-una-questione-di-stile/
“Il territorio a più dimensioni” in “Geograficamente Laboratorio permanente di ricerca-azione per lo sviluppo del pensiero geografico e del rapporto Ricerca-Didattica”, area di raccordo, approfondimenti, 1/10/2015 http://aiig.it/area-di-raccordo/
Giulia Vertecchi, PhD in urban history, has been research fellow at Sapienza University of Rome, at Iuav University of Venice and at Aix-Marseille University.She has been team member of several national and international projects most of them on the Mediterranean area. Her research interests include: urban history (from antiquity up to know), food history and food security, digital humanities and public history.
Among her publications:
– The Museum of the City: a Way to Visualise Urban History?, in “Built City, Designed City, Planned City: the Museum of the City”, Rome, 2013, p. 93-103.
– Una proposta di ricerca multidisciplinare per l’Europa e il bacino del Mediterraneo, in “Suplemento de RIPARIA”, 1, 2018, p. 3-16 ( http://hdl.handle.net/10498/20280 )
The Association Community Development Institute (CDI) is a sustainable civil society organization that works on building a democratic integrated and multiethnic society through strengthening the capacities of individuals, organizations and institutions. CDI’s experience is based on twenty (20) years work within the community addressing citizens issues and needs and helping in overcoming the challenges. CDI was registered in 2003 as continuation of the work of Youth Information Center that was established in 1996. CDI is focused on the following strategic aims: civil society and democracy development, improvement of quality and standard of living, as well as on institutional and programatic strengthening of the organization.
The variety of different programs, projects and activities that CDI have implemented in geographic area of more than forty (40) municipalities covering more than a half of the population of Republic of Macedonia have positioned the Community Development Institute among the leading Civil Society Organizations (CSO) on a national level. CDI is member of several national and international networks: Coalition of youth organization SEGA, Let’s do it Macedonia!, People’s technique, Y-peer network, Association of Democracy Agencies (ALDA), European Civic Forum, UNITED Against Racism, Coalition for RECOM, PHILIA-Association of multi-ethnic cities of Southeast Europe.
Sreten Koceski is the founder and executive director at Community Development Institute. For more than 20 years, Koceski, MBA, has been involved as a trainer and consultant in the work of local, national, international and intergovernmental and non-profit organisations. Currently he holds the position executive director at the Community Development Institute – Tetovo (www.irz.org.mk), a non-governmental organization established in 1995. Sreten Koceski`s primary focus past 15 years is non-formal education and continuing professional development of the employees in non-governmental organisations, educators and youth workers. He has been involved as a project coordinator and trainer on various EU funded programs for non-formal education, improvement of the inter-ethnic relations and community development, by providing support and training to the civil society organizations, members of the municipal committees for inter-community relations, journalists, and members of the municipal administration. Sreten Koceski is author of several publications, research analyses, policy papers and documentary movies related to inter-ethnic relations and confidence building measures.
Blagorodna Bishkoska is a Project Coordinator at the Community Development Institute, as a graduate in pedagogy at University “Cyril and Methodius” in Skopje, Macedonia. She has several years of experience from work in the NGO sector. Blagorodna has been involved in projects of different topics, and her areas of interests are in particular: education, work with youth, rural development, gender mainstreaming, and social entrepreneurship.
She has been working as a project coordinator on EU funded projects. “Breaking Barriers”, “MUPYME”, and “Dreaming Out Loud”.
The University of Porto, founded in 1911, it’s the second largest university in Portugal and the highest ranked Portuguese university in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (QS World University Ranking 2015/2016), among the 150 best universities of Europe and the world top 400. It has approximately 32,500 undergraduate and postgraduate students, 2,300 academic staff and 1,500 administrative staff. UPORTO provides an exceptional number of courses, covering the whole range of disciplines. It is made up of 14 faculties and a business school, along with 16 libraries and 14 museums distributed over 3 campuses. Currently, UPORTO is involved in 784 projects, from which 465 are nationally funded projects with a focus on S&T research. Internationalisation is also one of the strategic pillars of U.PORTO, allowing the development of existing collaborations, as well as the establishment of innovative cooperation activities.
João Caramelo, Assistant Professor at Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of University of Porto. Holds a PhD in Sciences of Education – Adult Education and Community Development. Between 2013 and 2015, chaired the CIIE’s research group “Innovation, Creativity and Local Development in Education” and integrated the Board of Directors. Has experience in in-service teachers training on formative assessment. His research and publications regard institutional evaluation, learning and literacy, adult education, non-formal and informal education, local development and community work.
Susana Coimbra, Assistant Professor at Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of University of Porto (FPCEUP). Holds a PhD in Psychology – Self-efficacy and resilience during transition to adulthood, focusing on gender and SES differences. Co-coordinates the implementation of a mentoring system at the FPCEUP, aiming to improve academic integration among disadvantaged students. Her research and publications regard self-efficacy in adults and adult education, discrimination of young adults, social competences of young adults.
Ana Costa, Research Assistant at Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of University of Porto. She is currently attending the PhD in Psychology focusing on the role of professionals towards an effective integration and active civic participation of refugees in Portugal. She worked for the last 8 years at APDES coordinating and collaborating in national and European research and intervention projects working with vulnerable communities (drug users in party settings, national and migrant sex workers).
Marta Pinto, Post-doctoral researcher at University of Porto. Holds a PhD in Multimedia in Education, focusing on the use of ICT in teaching and learning practices in Higher Education and information visualization. She is a member of the research group CIIE. Her research and publications are in the areas of e-learning in Higher Education, Adult Education, Online courses for young adults and Technology Enhanced Learning. She is also involved in research about the use of Serious Games in Higher Education. With experience in participating in national and international granted research projects.
Elsa Guedes Teixeira, research assistant at University of Porto. She is concluding her PhD on the idiosyncrasies of poor mothers’ life paths, by intersecting (in)equality of condition dimensions, in order to highlight women’s strategies to cope with or to escape poverty. She holds a MA in Education (Youth and Citizenship) and has been a research assistant at CIIE – FPCEUP. She worked as a sociologist at the Department of Social Action and Inclusion at a Portuguese Municipality for 10 years and she was a trainer at a Vocational School.
Was born in Somalia in 1968, and he has lived in Norway since 1988. With a bachelor of biochemistry, he has worked as a primary school teacher for the last 10 years. He is currently employed by the National Centre of Multicultural Education (NCME) in the project “Flexible education”, at Oslo and Akershus University College, Norway. NCME works with the aim to increase competence, network construction and development projects, in order to promote the inclusion and equal training in kindergartens, schools and adult training institutions.
Dejan Antic is project management specialist with more than 18 years of professional experience including7 years in humanitarian crisis management while working with Mercy Corps, International Executive Service Corps (contracted by USAID) and Booz Allen Hamilton. In addition he is proven specialist in business development with over 11 years in marketing, promotion and technical assistance in the industries of Tourism, Wine, Retail, Agriculture, ICT and Recycling Apparel. Under his direct supervision and management over 18 million USD have been invested in the development of more than 100 businesses in North Macedonia and the region. He is Graduated Economist and holds a Master in Marketing Management.
Cecilia De Chiara is a social worker for JRS Italy – Jesuit Refugee Service in Rome. She holds a Degree in Political Science – international relations with a final research on “economic and social impact of refugees”. Further, she is the coordinator for the job orientation service for refugees and migrants and responsible of the school of Italian language for refugees and asylum seekers. Some of her functions: – skills assessment; creating network of contacts for employment of refugees; orientation training and recognition of educational qualifications; Tutoring for refugee students; teaching Italian language.
Giorgia Rocca has a PhD in Sciences of Education. She is a social worker in Centro Astalli Association – Jesuit Refugee Service in Rome. She focused her research and her activities in health education, health protection and gender issues for forced migrants and victims of intentional violence and torture in SAMIFO Medical Center. She is the coordinator of intercultural mediation service in the Medical Center and for the Reception Centers of the Association.
Fernando C. Pereira. Member and Responsible for the Distance Education program at the Portuguese Refugee Council (CPR). Link: http://www.cpr.pt/
Before the Portuguese Revolution in 1974, and in the years immediately following, he participated in various Political activities, mainly of union scope. In 1980 he volunteered to work in the then “People’s Republic of Mozambique”, being integrated in the Mozambique Nordic Assistance Program, a program of Cooperation of the Nordic countries. He was placed in the Ministry of Agriculture, traveling much of the country to elaborate the exploitation and investment plans of the State Agro-Livestock Companies. Later, integrated a team of elaboration and analysis of projects of integrated rural development. Within a team of “Political-organizational offensive” with FRELIMO, and follows companies and the drama of the people who, under the crossfire of RENAMO and Frelimo, take refuge in neighbouring countries. More than 5 million people (almost half of Mozambicans) cross the border and many are internally displaced. From 1985 to 1988, within the framework of French cooperation, he becomes involved in the preparation and implementation of a Project of Rural National Development.
At the end of 1988 returned to Portugal and continued do various work with ACNUR and, later, CPR, mainly in the area of publications, training and computer assistance. Regarding the work with refugees, highlights the work in camps in the border areas of Macedonia with Kosovo, connecting ACNUR with the Portuguese teams that participated in the Skopje/Lisbon air bridge during the NATO bombings in 1999. Since 2004, has developed interest and training in eLearning, and in in 2006/2007, he prepared the “Moodle” platform for the “eLearning Course for Asylum and Refugees”, and in February of 2008, adapted the platform to complement the classes of Law of the Asylum, taught by the jurists of the CPR at Universities of Coimbra and Catholic of Porto.