Speakers

European Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration

European Commission

Since December 2024, Magnus Brunner is the European Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration. Prior to his current role, Mr Brunner served as Austria's Federal Minister of Finance from December 2021 to November 2024. He also held the position of State Secretary in the Ministry of Climate Action, Energy, Environment, Mobility Innovation, and Technology. Earlier in his career, he was a member of the Federal Council for the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) from May 2009 to January 2020.

Politician 

Former MEP

Member of the European Parliament since 2004. President of the European Parliament between 2009 and 2012. Former member of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE). He was the rapporteur for the key regulation on the EU market. Author of important reports.1997-2001 the Prime Minister of the Polish Government. He began negotiations regarding Poland's membership in the European Union. 

Deputy Director-General

European Commission, DG HOME

Since May 2016, Olivier Onidi is Deputy Director-General of the Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs (DG HOME) at the European Commission with particular responsibility over Schengen and Internal Security. In this capacity, he oversees the activities in the fields of Schengen, borders, information systems, innovation, terrorism and violent extremism, organized crime and cybersecurity. Since July 2022, Olivier Onidi is also the EU Schengen Coordinator.

Director of Audit and Innovation

European Commission, DG HOME

Marta Cygan is currently Director of Audit and Innovation Directorate in Directorate-General Migration and Home Affairs in the European Commission in Brussels.  

Before she was Director of Strategy and General Affairs in the same Directorate-General, and in the years 2009-2013 she was Director for Migration, Borders and External Relations in the Justice Liberty and Security Directorate-General.  

Between 2004 and 2009 she was Deputy Head of Cabinet of the European Commissioner responsible for Regional Policy, Danuta Huebner.  

Between 1996 and 2004 she served as First Counsellor in the Polish Mission in Brussels during negotiations of the Accession of Poland to the European Union, then in the Polish Permanent Representation to the European Union in the first year of Polish membership in the European Union.   

In 1993 she joined the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where she worked as Head of the European Law Section in the Legal and Treaties Department.  

Born in Krakow and of Polish nationality, she graduated in Law and Languages from Jagiellonian University in Krakow. She obtained a Diploma in Community Law by the College of Europe in Bruges and in European law and policies by European College in Parma.

Head of the "Analysis and risk assessment" Section at ITCGHQS 

Italian Coast Guard

He is an Italian Coast Guard officer whose skills and experience are related to the maritime domain awareness, safety and security. He held the positions of commanding officer of 3 ITCG off-shore vessels and participated in numerous migration SAR missions and Law enforcement. He is the ITCG representative for EMSA SAR group, NATO White Shipping Picture community, FRONTEX Maritime Intelligence Community & Risk Analysis Network, Shadow fleet contact group, International Security Alliance 

Associate Professor

University of Twente

Funda Atun is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Geoinformation and Earth Observation (ITC) at the University of Twente (UT). Atun coordinates the 'Promoting disaster preparedness and resilience by co-developing stakeholder support tools for managing the systemic risk of compounding disasters' project (PARATUS, 2022-2026). Dr. Atun is the recipient of the Integrated Disaster Risk Management Society (IDRiM) Aniello Amendola 2024 Distinguished Service Award.

Director of Corporate Sustainability

EPAL/ AdVT

Alexandra Cristovao is the Director of Corporate Sustainability Department at EPAL, the largest Portuguese water supplier, managing projects as business continuity, crisis and emergency management, corporate risk, safety and security. She also participates in various professional networks, including the Subcommittee of the National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction and the EU cyber-resilience project, ATHENA, contributing to the resilience of water systems at national and international level.

Professor of Design, Innovation & Society

University of Salford

Caroline L. Davey is Professor of Design, Innovation & Society and Director of the Design Against Crime Solution Centre. Specialising in human-centered, evidence-based design for security, she authored (with Wootton) the book, "Design Against Crime" and leads the EU-funded Engage2innovate (E2i) project. E2i embeds human-centered design within European security R&I. From 2018-21, Caroline led the EU-funded Cutting Crime Impact (CCI) project.

Director, Global Business Development

Ubotica technologies

Matti has 8 years of background within commercial satellite operators in building new business cases and solutions for security and defence, as well as for the civilian industries. He has been liaising with national security & defence organisations and ministries all over the world.

Health adviser on CBRN risks management, Head of the pharmaceutical services

Alpes-Maritimes Fire & Rescue Services (SDIS06)

Denis Josse has been part of the French Army as a pharmacist and researcher (PhD in cellular & molecular biology) in the Toxicology Unit of the Biomedical Research Institute from 1995 to 2012 then moved to the Fire & Rescue Services, in the Alpes-Maritimes, where he is currently in charge of the pharmaceutical Services and of advising the Command on CBRN risk management. Besides, Denis Josse contributes to the education & training of the CBRN emergency responders. He is currently part of the CERIS expert group.

EU Project Coordinator

Laurea University of Applied Sciences

Project Coordinator for the EU Horizon Europe funded project VIGIMARE - Vigilant Maritime Surveillance of Critical Submarine Infrastructure. The aim of VIGIMARE is to strengthen the resilience of Critical Infrastructure Operators against threats to the European submarine Critical Infrastructure. In addition, Johanna Karvonen works as a RDI and EU project specialist in Security research at Laurea University of Applied Sciences, specialising in the resilient infrastructure and maritime security domain.

Associate Professor

Wojskowa Akademia Techniczna

Marcin Kowalski is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Optoelectronics, Military University of Technology in Poland. His research interests lie in computer vision, with a focus on multimodal biometrics, benchmarking, presentation attack detection, multispectral imaging, and automated surveillance. For over 15 years, he has been actively involved in EU-funded research projects. He is currently a member of the CERIS expert group.

Head of Business Unit Technology & Innovation Planning for Public Sector Clients

Fraunhofer Institute for Technological Trend Analysis INT

Isabelle Linde-Frech is a biologist and leads the Business Unit Technology and Innovation Planning for public sector clients at the Fraunhofer Institute for Technological Trend Analysis INT. She is a member of the CERIS expert group under DG HOME, of the German Security Research Expert Group and a Co-Chair of the EARTO Working Group for Security and Defense Research. Isabelle provides expertise in strategic planning support for security related capability development and innovation management.

Vice President of the Management Board for Corporate Affairs

ORLEN S.A.

Mr. Witold Literacki, Vice President of the Management Board for Corporate Affairs and First Deputy President of the Management Board of ORLEN S.A. He is a graduate of the University of Silesia, Faculty of Social Sciences, and holds an MBA from the Lublin Business School in cooperation with the University of Central Lancashire in the United Kingdom. An expert in finance and taxation, he has been professionally associated with the fuel and energy sector for many years. He has gained managerial experience in both international and Polish companies.

Head of Security Business Unit

TEKEVER

She is a member of the Executive Board at TEKEVER and serves as Managing Director of TEKEVER France. With over 20 years of experience in the aerospace sector, Nadia has been deeply involved in satellite-based services, playing a key role in democratizing access to drone and space-derived data for maritime security. She has been instrumental in advancing the use of data fusion and AI-driven services to enhance situational awareness and operational decision-making.

Head of Unit ECHO B3 Prevention and Preparedness Capacity‑Building

European Commission, DG ECHO

Advisor and expert

Swedish National Police

Wenche Medin works as an advisor and strategist for the Swedish Police Authority in the National Operations Department. The main focus is working with capability enhancing initiatives including the implementation of new technologies in policing. Innovation is an essential part of the work and Wenche is the SPOC for the Europol Innovation Lab and will from July 1st be the Chair of the EuCB.

CEO

META Group

Alessia is CEO and Partner at META Group, a leading research accelerator specialising in maximising research impact. With over 20 years of experience, she has worked extensively with the European Commission and currently serves as an SSRI CERIS Expert under DG HOME. 

She is a board member of META Ventures and Ingenium Asset Management, and lectures at university level in Marketing and Innovation. Alessia holds a PhD in SME internationalisation and leads major EU initiatives such as the Horizon Results Booster. 

Deputy Director-General and Director for Societal Resilience and Security at the Joint Research Centre

European Commission, DG JRC

Matthias Oel is the acting Deputy Director-General and Director for Societal Resilience and Security at the Joint Research Centre. Before, he was Director for Schengen, Borders, Visa & Innovation, Director for Migration and Security Funds and Head of Unit for Asylum in DG HOME. His prior roles included Special Adviser in the Cabinet of the European Council President Van Rompuy, Member of Cabinet of Vice-President Verheugen and Director for EU-Affairs in the German Federal Ministry of Interior.

Deputy National Director

Polícia Judiciária

Responsible for Innovation & Development, European Funds, Information and Communication Technologies, Financial Administration and Asset Management. 
Member of CERIS, in the FCT/INFRA Subgroups. 
Founding member of the EuCB and former member of the EuCB Governance Board (2021–2023). LEAR of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). 
Extensive experience in H2020, Horizon Europe (HEU), ISFP, CEF Telecom, and JUST projects. 
National Contact Point for the CERV Programme, representing the Ministry of Justice.

Head of Digital Unit 

Permanent Representation of Poland to the EU

Head of Digital Affairs Unit in the Permanent Representation of Poland to the EU, cyber attaché, Vice-chair of the Governing Board of the European Cybersecurity Competence Centre (ECCC). Responsible for matters relating to cybersecurity, digital identity, trust services, cloud and data protection.

Data Analyst

Centro Nacional de Protección de Infraestructuras Críticas (CNPIC)

Industrial Electronics engineer and member of the Spanish Guardia Civil. He works as an information analyst at the National Center for Protection of Critical Infrastructure (CNPIC), focusing on security, threats assessment, and resilience. Mr. Rico participates in the assessment of safety and resilience levels of national critical infrastructure and supports projects aimed at enhancing the resilience of critical entities.

Head of Crisis Information Centre

Space Research Centre PAS

Space policy and crisis management expert. He is actively involved in several research and development activities and he advises the Polish government and the Polish parliament on space policy matters. Since 2013 he heads the Crisis Information Centre at SRC PAS, which develops space- and UAV-related innovative solutions and provides operational support for crisis management institutions. He has coordinated or overseen over 50 operational activations of information support for crisis situations.

Head of Research and Innovation Unit (deputising)

Frontex

Darek Saunders is the deputising Head of the Frontex Research and Innovation Unit. He is responsible for delivering cutting-edge solutions that address the evolving operational requirements, ensuring that the EBCG can effectively respond to emerging challenges and opportunities. He joined the Frontex Risk Analysis Unit in 2010, and the Research and Innovation Unit in 2018. Darek previously served in the United Nations Security and Safety Service in New York and at the NATO Headquarters in Mons, Belgium. He is a graduate of the Military Academy of Technology in Warsaw and served in the Polish Army as a commissioned officer at both Operational and Strategic levels.

Head of Unit Analysis and Strategic Coordination

EUROPOL

Tamara Schotte leads the Analysis and Strategic Coordination Unit at Europol. Overseeing the coordination, standardization and quality of the analysis products delivered by the Operational and Strategic teams. Her Unit is also responsible for the implementation of a diverse portfolio of initiatives such as EMPACT, and CEPOL projects. The Unit looks after relations with Europol stakeholders and the operational cooperation with key European actors and International Counterparts.

NCP

ANI

Ana Sutcliffe works for the Portuguese National Innovation Agency, and has been the National Contact Point and delegate representing Portugal for the Cluster 3 - Civil Security for Society since the beginning of Horizon Europe. She has a PhD in Physical Oceanography and is a graduate of the Portuguese National Defence Course.