The Conference will feature world-renowned scholars as keynote speakers.
Veronica Boix Mansilla, Principal Investigator at Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Dr. Verónica Boix-Mansilla is a Senior Principal Investigator at Project Zero. An international expert in global and intercultural education, her research examines conditions that enable individuals to understand and take action on the most pressing issues of our times (migration, sustainability, climate change) through personal transformation and quality disciplinary and interdisciplinary work.
Her research portfolio focuses on quality interdisciplinary education and assessment; the development of global and intercultural competence, and the healthy integration of immigrant-origin children and their peers in today’s migration societies. In each case she works closely with educators in schools, museums, policy circles to advance conceptual frameworks and tools able to shift educational mindsets and practices. Verónica’s research integrates insights from learning science, pedagogy, anthropology, sociolinguistics, and philosophy. Her most recent projects Re-Imagining Migration PZ and Languages for Relating invite educators to re-think their practice to prepare our youth for super-diverse pluralist societies.
Verónica co-led the development of the OECD PISA Global Competence International Assessment framework. As well as the AFS framework for Active Global Citizenship, as well as key global and intercultural frameworks at Harvard Project Zero, Asia Society, Council of Chief State School Officers. She works nationally and internationally with institutions such as the OECD, UNESCO, the International Baccalaureate, the DC Public Schools, the National Gallery of Art, National Geographic, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting to advance research-based education innovations for an interconnected world on the move. She has received multiple awards including a Doctorate Honoris Causa from the International University of Catalunya
Originally from Argentina, she brings cultural sensitivity to her work in schools, cultural institutions, youth centers, think tanks, museums, and policy circles.
Angela K. Salmon, Associate Professor of Teaching and Learning, at Florida International University
Dr. Angela K. Salmon is Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education at Florida International University. As a Fulbright Global Scholar at University of Warsaw and The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens she fosters international collaboration to advance education through her research on storytelling. Her research focuses on the interplay between language and cognition reflected on stories and play. She has collaborated with Harvard Project Zero Summer Institutes for 18 years and earned a reputation for building learning communities of practice; she is the founder and leader of the Visible Thinking South Florida initiative. Her research, recognized nationally and internationally, has been featured in esteemed conferences and publications. Her latest book, Children’s Literature Aligned with SDGs to Promote Global Competencies, provides educators with tools to integrate the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals into child-centered learning. Dr. Salmon has also served as Thinker in Residence for the Independent Schools of Victoria in Australia, further extending her impact on global education.
Urzula Markowska Manista, Assistant Professor at University of Warsaw, School of Education
Dr Urszula Markowska-Manista is a researcher in childhood and youth studies concerning children’s rights in education, culturally diverse environments and fragile contexts. She is a PhD, head of the Interdisciplinary Research Center for Intercultural Education and Communication, UW and a member of Research Laboratory on Diversity, UW. She has conducted extensive field research in Central Africa, the Horn of Africa, the South Caucasus, and Europe. She was director and co-director the international MA Childhood Studies and Children's Rights (MACR) programme (Free University Berlin 2016, FH Potsdam 2017-2021) and a guest professor at the Evangelical University of Applied Sciences in Darmstadt, Germany. As a member of the Children and Youth Participation Team at the Ombudsman for Children's Rights RP (2024-2027), she participates in the development of the first national strategy for children and youth participation in Poland.
Maria Adelaida Lopez, International Consultant, Lego Award
Maria Adelaida Lopez is a Colombian artist, early childhood educator and leader, passionate about early childhood culture, art and education as engines of social development.
After living in the United States for almost 14 years, she returned to Colombia to serve as the Pedagogical Director of aeioTU, a role she held until 2016. She led the creation of the aeioTU educational model inspired by the Reggio Emilia educational philosophy, a model that is currently implemented in aeioTU centers and today is an inspiration for thousands of educational organizations that want to improve their service in the social, private and public sector.
From 2017 until 2024 she served as Executive Director at aeioTU, committed to leading this social enterprise that develops the potential of children to transform communities in an innovative and sustainable way and scale its impact in Colombia and the Region. In 2022, Maria Adelaida received the 2022 LEGO® Prize from the LEGO Foundation for her work advocating and championing learning through play in early childhood development in Colombia and Latin America.
She is an international consultant, creating culture and meaningful learning experiences. She is living in San Salvador, El Salvador at the present.
