Welcome to MCC Budapest Summit on The Economic Consequences of the War

Dr. Aisi Li lives in Budapest and teaches at Nazarbayev University Graduate School of Education (NUGSE), Kazakhstan. Before the relocation, she was an Assistant Professor at NUGSE between 2014 and 2022. Aisi holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Sichuan University, China. She then studied for an MSc in Comparative and International Education at the University of Oxford, followed by a DPhil in Educational Studies. She specialises in internationalisation of higher education and educational leadership from a comparative perspective. Her projects take a special interest in the internationalisation of higher education in Kazakhstan and the implications of China’s Belt and Road Initiative on higher education in Central Asia.

Rodrigo Ballester is the Head of the Center for European Studies at the Mathias Corvinus Collegium in Budapest. He holds a law degree from the San Pablo University in Madrid and a Master’s degree in European Law (LL.M) from the College of Europe in Bruges (2002). Former EU official, he spent 16 years in Brussels, both in the European Parliament and the European Commission, notably as member of staff of the Hungarian Commissioner Tibor Navracsics (2014-2019). Since 2010, he is a visiting professor at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (Dijon campus) where he teaches European Law. He extensively publishes in the press (Le Figaro, Atlantico.fr, ElDebate.es, El American, Newsweek, Mandiner, Index) and appears on radio (Radio France, Kossuth Radio) and TV shows (El Toro TV, Hir TV). He has been active in denouncing the dangers of cancel culture and woke ideology. Father of three.

He is currently a visiting researcher at St. Paul's College, University of Manitoba, Canada. Previously he was Head of the Université de Saint-Boniface (Winnipeg) and Dominican University College (Ottawa). He is the author of The Clever Body and In Vivo: A Phenomenology of Life-Defining Moments. His latest book on the relationship to play will be published by McGill-Queen's University Press in 2022. He holds a master's degree in theology and a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Laval, Quebec City. Before his academic career, he was an Olympic-level water polo coach and player. He is a consultant for the MCC Leadership Academy.

Dr. Alka Sehgal Cuthbert is an educator, academic, author, and Director and Head of Education for the campaign Don't Divide Us. She holds a PhD in Philosophy and Sociology of Education from the University of Cambridge. She is also an educational advisor and writes regularly on education for both public and academic publications.  She is co-editor and contributor of What Should Schools Teach? Disciplines, Subjects and the Pursuit of Truth (UCL Press). 

Anthony Malcolm Daniels, also known by his pen name “Theodore Dalrymple”, is an author, journalist, social critic, and physician. Daniels is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor at the magazine City Journal. He is an author of many genres: travel guides, literary and social critical essays and multiple books. Such as Our Culture, What’s Left of It: The Mandarins and the Masses, Spoilt Rotten: The Toxic Cult of Sentimentality, and Life at the Bottom. He has written regularly for The Spectator, the British Medical Journal, Quadrant (Sydney), Revista Oeste (Sao Paulo), the New Criterion and the New English Review. 

She is currently Dean of Education Faculty of Hacettepe University, Ankara, Türkiye. In 1991, she completed her Phd from Division of Educational Administration, Supervision, Planning, and Economics in Hacettepe University. Since 2003 she has been working as a professor. She worked as visiting scholar in Texas A&M,USA and Lancaster University, UK. She has worked in many national and international projects as member of project team project coordinator on education of refugees, women, vocational training. She has been founder of International Symposium of Chaos, Complexity and Leadership. She is one of rare academicians in Turkey who interests in “chaos, complexity, quantum leadership” since 90s. Also, she is author and editor of books on complexity theory from Springer, World Scientific, Apple Academic Press related with O comparative education policies, research methods, organizational intelligence & stupidity and wisdom, leadership, migration, fuzzy logic, children at risk, women and peace studies, social media, plasma leadership, quantum leadership, women leadership model. Also, she is the president, board member and founder member of the International Science Association in Türkiye (ISCASS). She is editor in chief of different national and international journals which focuses on leadership and education.

Antonio Fernández-Cano (1952). Nationality: Spanish. Doctor in Philosophy and Educational Sciences from the University of Granada (Spain). Professor-Chairman in the area of Research Methods and Diagnostics in Education. Currently retired but with forty-nine years of teaching and research experience at various educational levels. His areas of research interest are: research evaluation, scientometrics in education, doctoral theses, and educational research methods. Member of various national and international associations and agencies.

Richard Fodor is a researcher of MCC Learning Institute, certified high school teacher of history and English language, assistant lecturer at Péter Pázmány Catholic University. His field of research includes history didactics, digital pedagogy, reform pedagogy and civic education.

Professor Frank Furedi is an internationally renowned sociologist, author and media commentator. He is an emeritus professor of sociology University of Kent in Canterbury and author of more than 25 books, which have been translated into 16 languages. His studies have been devoted to an exploration of cultural developments in western societies. In recent years he has published several studies on the impact of the culture wars on family life, socialisation, education and public life. For example, in Populism and the European Culture Wars: The Conflict of Values Between Hungary and the EU (2017) and 100 Years of Identity Crisis: The Culture War Over Socialisation (2021) he dealt with the politicisation of culture. In his book, Why Education Isn't Educating (2009), he analyses why education is moving further away from its real purpose and what are the challenges of education in the 21st century. Furedi regularly comments on radio, television and the global media. In his free time, Frank pursues his love of mountain sports. His favourite place in the world is White Hart Lane, home ground of his team Tottenham Hotspurs. He is extremely excited about the launch of MCC Brussels because he believes a new institution is needed to challenge the conformist intellectual and cultural narrative that prevails in the EU bubble. He believes that MCC Brussels will provide a home for European intellectuals and policy makers who are committed to upholding and developing further the values that underpin the many European cultures.

Dr. Angela Gandra holds a law degree from the University of São Paolo (USP) and a Ph.D. from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS). With a keen interest in advancing her expertise she completed the Advanced Management Program at IESE Business School, further enhancing her skills in leadership and management. She has made significant contributions to the academic community through her research work at Harvard University. Her intellectual pursuits have earned her memberships in both the Brazilian Academy of Philosophy and the International Academy of Economy and Law. Furthermore, she serves as a partner at Gandra Martins Law, as well. Dr. Gandra holds the esteemed position of Legal Director and International Relations at the Federation of Agriculture of São Paolo. She is member of the Board at the Political Network for Values and Representative of the Geneva Consensus Declaration in Brazil. Additionally, she previously served as the National Secretary for Family between 2019 – 2022.

Mike Gonzalez is the Angeles T. Arredondo E Pluribus Unum Fellow at the Heritage Foundation. He writes on a variety of subjects, including critical theory, critical race theory, education, and foreign policy. He spent the better part of two decades as a journalist, clocking 11 years with the Wall Street Journal. He joined the administration of President George W. Bush and worked in the State Department’s European Bureau. In his first foreign assignment, Gonzalez was arrested and expelled from Panama by Manuel Antonio Noriega. The following year, he traveled with the Mujahideen in Afghanistan. Today, he devotes nearly all his time to defending the US and the West in general from systemic overhaul and cultural genocide.

Gonzalez is a widely experienced writer and public speaker. He has written for National Affairs, The American Interest, Foreign Policy, The Claremont Review of Books, City Journal, Quillette, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Time.com, The Hill, Forbes.com, USA Today, The Guardian, The National Interest, the Daily Signal, National Review and others. Gonzalez has appeared on Fox, MSNBC, PBS, the BBC, CNBC, NPR, C-SPAN, The Voice of America, Television Española, Canal Plus, as well as many other networks and stations in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. He is an independent weekly columnist.

Gonzalez holds a bachelor's degree in communications from Boston’s Emerson College, and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Books: BLM: The Making of a New Marxist Revolution, published by Encounter Books in 2021. https://www.amazon.com/BLM-Making-New-Marxist-Revolution/dp/1641772239

The Plot to Change America: How Identity Politics is Dividing the Land of the Free, published by Encounter Books in 2020. https://www.heritage.org/the-plot-change-america

A Race for the Future: How Conservatives Can Break the Liberal Monopoly on Hispanic Americans, published by Random House’s Crown Books in 2014. http://www.randomhouse.com/book/228486/a-race-for-the-future-by-mike-gonzalez

Forthcoming This Year: NextGen Marxists: Their Assault on America and How to Defeat It

PhD in Biochemistry from the National University of Asunción, Member of the Staff of the Health Sciences Research Institute of the National University of Asunción, Research stay at the Institute of Agrochemistry and Technology of Valencia of the Higher Council for Scientific Research of Spain, Speaker at national and international conferences, especially on Drug abuse, Neuroeconomics, Culture and Education. Minister of Culture of Paraguay from 2016 to 2018, Vice Minister of Education of Paraguay 2018-2022, President of the Inter-American Commission on Culture of the Organization of American States (OAS) 2019 and President of the Cultural Diversity Committee of UNESCO 2020. Honored by the Italian government with the Order of Knight of the Star of Italy

Carlos Hoevel is Doctor in Philosophy (Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina) and he has an MA in the Social Sciences (University of Chicago). He is professor of History of Political and Economic Thought, Philosophy of Education and Philosophy of Economics at the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina (UCA). He is the Director of the Center of Studies in Economy and Culture and of the Journal Cultura Económica (UCA). He is professor of Social Philosophy at the Saint Thomas Aquinas University (UNSTA) and of Methodology of Science at UCEMA University. 

Marco González is a lawyer from the P. Universidad Católica de Chile and obtained an MBA from the University of Chicago. He has been Professor of Economic Legislation at the Faculty of Law of the P. Universidad Católica de Chile since 2003, and also in the Faculties of Economics and Engineering. Between 2019 and 2023 he served as Director of the Law School at the same University. He has been Director of prestigious foundations and is currently Executive Director of Fundación Docere, an entity that is responsible for eleven schools throughout Chile, with more than 10,500 students enrolled. He is married to Marlene Busse and has six children.

After almost 20 years teaching English, unusually in schools ranging from the highly selective, private sector to challenging, inner-city state schools, Joe was seconded by the UK’s Department of Education from his teaching post at the City of London School. The second half of his career has been in business, and he held senior consultancy roles at Digitalbrain, RM and EDT before working independently for a range of national and international business and NGO clients. He was a columnist for TES between 2015-19 and has published books on John Donne, Shakespeare and Milton. His book, The Point of Poetry, was published by Unbound in 2019.
Follow Joe on X/Twitter: @joenutt_author

Till Kinzel (1968) received his Dr. phil. (2002) and Habilitation (2005) from the Tech­nical University of Berlin. He has published books on Allan Bloom (Platonische Kulturkritik in Amerika; 2002), Nicolás Gómez Dávila (5th ed. 2023), Philip Roth (Die Tragödie und Komödie des amerikanischen Lebens, 2006) and Michael Oakeshott (2007). He has co-edited volumes on imaginary dialogues in English and American Literature and Philosophy (2012, 2014) and audionarratology (2016), as well as books on Edward Gibbon in Germany (2015) and a number of important representatives of the enlightenment in Germany such as Johann Joachim Eschenburg (2013), Johann Arnold Ebert (2016), Johann Joachim Christoph Bode (2016) and Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Zachariä (2018). Most recently, he has published Johann Georg Hamann. Zu Leben und Werk (2019), a translation of Sir Walter Scotts essay on E. T. A Hoffmann (2022) as well as an essay on Voltaire and Brunswick (2023).

I graduated from the Faculty of Social Sciences of Corvinus University of Budapest with a BA degree in Communication and from the Faculty of Law and Political Science of Eötvös Loránd University with an MA degree in Political Science. In 2012, I was an Erasmus student at the University of Salzburg, where I studied political science, and in 2017, I studied Hungarian youth organizations in Transylvania at the Babeș-Bolyai University on a CEEPUS scholarship. I defended my PhD thesis in 2021 with summa cum laude at the Doctoral School of Political Theory of Pázmány Péter Catholic University. In my dissertation, I examined the institutionalization of Hungarian youth organizations in Transylvania from the perspective of minority nation-building. My research interests include youth, the educational and labor market situation of young people, international mobility and the issue of national minorities.

I joined the Center for Sociology at the MCC School of Social Sciences and History and the Institute for Youth Research in the autumn of 2021 with the aim of contributing to a better understanding of the mindset and lifestyle of the young generation.

Balazs Koren, with nearly two decades of experience as a mathematics teacher, is deeply engaged in integrating technology into the classroom. Recently, his focus has been on the possibilities of how AI can be used in favour of education. His professional journey extends beyond teaching at a secondary school; he also imparts his knowledge at Eötvös Loránd University, involved in mathematics teacher training. A co-founder of a former EdTech startup, Balazs actively advises other startups and works with the Hungarian EdTech Coalition as their professional lead. In his current role at Yettel Hungary, he spearheads the ProSuli EdTech program. Additionally, he dedicates his Saturdays to lecturing in the MCC Fit program.
His involvement in the education sector is further highlighted by his participation as a judge in various national and international robotics competitions and his role as a coach for competing teams.

He graduated in English History from Eötvös Loránd University in 1981. In 1993 he was awarded a Candidate of Philosophy, he habilitated in 2002.

He taught at the Madách High School until 1986. Between 1986 and 1991 he edited the philosophy journal Világosság. In 1991 he became a lecturer at the Budapest University of Economics (from 2003 Corvinus University of Budapest), in 2002 head of the Department of Political Science, and after its reorganisation into an institute, its director. From 2016 to 2021 he was Rector of Corvinus University of Budapest.

He was a Fulbright Scholar at Louisiana State University in 1997 and a Széchenyi Professorship Fellow between 1999 and 2003. He was Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Nézőpont Foundation from 2010 and of the Századvég Foundation until 2016.

His research interests include political philosophy, epistemology of political knowledge, theories of democracy, and the Hungarian political science tradition of the 20th century, especially between the two world wars.

He was awarded the István Bibó Prize by the Hungarian Political Science Association in 2003 and the Gold Medal of the Corvinus University of Budapest in 2009.

Since 2018 he has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation for Research in Central and Eastern European History and Society.

Mr. Péter Lánczi, an Alumnus of Mathias Corvinus Collegium, has been the Acting Director of Leadership Academy at the MCC. As Deputy Director General of MCC for over the last six years, has also had a responsible role in the set up of the Transylvanian MCC. He received his undergraduate degree in Applied Economics from Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) and earned his MA degree in Economics at the Central European University. He spent an exchange semester at the Otto Friedrich University in Bamberg, Germany, taking part in the European Economic Studies program. In his current role, he aims to sustain and further improve the MCC for the next generations of students.

A strategic communications professional with nearly 30 years of practical experience working in multinational companies and 12 years in self-employment. Over the last 10 years, she has managed communications and government relations for major companies such as Siemens, Mercedes-Benz Manufacturing, and Heineken.

Since September 2022, she is a lecturer at Mathias Corvinus Collegium, head of the Corporate Communications Workshop, and mentor at the Leadership Academy.

She is a member of the Board of the American Chamber of Commerce since 2020.

She is convinced that the responsibility of business communication is constantly growing, making good "interpretation" between stakeholder groups increasingly important.

Dr. Martin Luteran is an educational entrepreneur in Slovakia and is the founding rector of the Collegium of Anton Neuwirth, an educational institution serving yearly about one thousand students of every age group . The Collegium is dedicated to classical liberal arts education within the Catholic tradition.

Dr. Luteran previously studied in the United States as a Witherspoon Fellow in Washington, D.C. After receiving his master’s degree in law at Comenius University in Bratislava, Dr. Luteran studied human rights, ethics, and jurisprudence with Professor John Finnis at Oxford University where he earned a second master’s and doctor’s degree in law at Lady Margaret Hall. Dr. Luteran has given lectures and taught seminars on natural law, moral philosophy and education to high school and university students in the Slovak republic and around the world.
 

Ram Madhav is an Indian politician, social leader, author and thinker. Dr Madhav is the President of India Foundation (IF), a New Delhi-based Think tank and the Chancellor of Aurora University. In over a decade of India Foundation’s existence, Dr Madhav has been the curator of major annual global and national multilateral initiatives like the Indian Ocean Conference, the Dharma-Dhamma Conference, ASEAN-India Youth Summit and Counter Terrorism Conference involving heads of nations and leaders of governments besides academics, scholars and public spirited individuals. Most recently, Dr Madhav has been instrumental in ideating the Religon-20 Forum (R20) as part of India’s presidency of the G20.

Previously, Dr Madhav has served as the National General Secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) during 2014-20 responsible for handling the political affairs of Jammu & Kashmir, Assam and other North-Eastern states of India.

A renowned author and thinker, Dr Madhav has authored several books in English and Telugu that include “The Hindutva Paradigm – Integral Humanism and the Quest for a Non-Western Worldview” ; “Because India Comes First: Reflections on Nationalism, Identity and Culture” and “Uneasy Neighbours: India and China after 50 years of the war”. His most recent book “Partitioned Freedom” explores the untold history of India’s partition in 1947 and the birth of Pakistan. Widely regarded for his contributions in the field of strategic thinking, political philosophy and India’s foreign policy, Dr Madhav has travelled widely and addressed forums like the Valdai Discussion Club in Russia, R20 Forum in Indonesia, Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Halifax Security Forum in Canada, Sochi Eurasian Integration Forum in Russia, BRICS Political Forum in China, and the World Peace Conference in Thailand.

He was able to create Hungary's first (and so far only) scientifically proven effective relationship training, the Ring Cure, which has enriched the relationships of tens of thousands of people worldwide since 2004. The Ring Cure book has become one of the largest selling relationship books ever published in Hungarian. In recognition of his scientific work and his impact on society, in 2018 she was awarded the Kopp-Skrabski Prize named after Maria Kopp and her husband.

He launched a live video series called "Couple-Moments" during the time of the coronavirus to give couples the ammunition to successfully live through quarantine. He also conducted one of the first quarantine studies involving 1,255 people, looking at what makes the difference between couples who successfully cope with the crisis and those whose relationships go downhill under the pressure. The results of the research were summarised in a book entitled "Storm-resistant love". The book has become the official book for Marriage Week 2021.

Dr Calum T. M. Nicholson read Social Anthropology at Trinity College, University of Cambridge, was awarded an MPhil in Migration Studies from St Antony’s College, University of Oxford, and holds a PhD in Human Geography. He has conducted original research that reconsiders how we understand the societal implications of climate change, notably in the context of its relationship to human migration and international development.

A former Parliamentary researcher and development consultant, Dr Nicholson teaches courses at the University of Cambridge on international development, international migration, and the politics of climate change. At Cambridge, Dr Nicholson also teaches a well-received course on the political, cultural, and historical significance of social media, which he is currently turning into a book.

Anthony O'Hear, OBE. Professor of Philosophy, University of Buckingham. Author of many books and articles on philosophy. For 25 years was Director of the Royal Institute of Philosophy, London, and editor of its journal 'Philosophy'. Has advised several UK governments on education. A collection of his articles on education, 'In Defence of Liberal Education: Philosophy and Controversies' has just been published. He was appointed OBE in the British New Year's Honours List in 2018.

Leonardo Orlando is PhD in Political Science and International Relations from Sciences Po Paris, was Postdoctoral Researcher in Cognitive Science and Evolutionary Psychology at École normale supérieure de Paris, and holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Philosophy from Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. He has been a Research Fellow at the Center for International Studies of Sciences Po Paris (CERI), at the French Institute for Research in Africa (IFRA-Nairobi) and at Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET, Argentina), as well as Visiting Scholar at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, at the University of Oslo and at the University of Economics in Bratislava. He was Lecturer in France, at Sciences Po Paris and at Sorbonne, and Assistant Professor in Argentina, at Universidad de Ciencias Empresariales y Sociales (UCES) and at Universidad Argentina de la Empresa (UADE). His research focuses on biological and evolutionary approaches to political behaviour. Currently he’s studying the collapse of the higher education system and how this affects society and jeopardises the future of the West.

Ákos has been conducting physical and digital self-defense trainings for primary and secondary school children, teachers and parents all over the country for years. The Digital Self-Defense project was created to provide teenagers with a skill-level knowledge that will help them move more safely in the digital space, recognize and are able to avert dangerous situations. Ákos holds a degree in economics specializing in international communication.  He also holds a qualification as a military melee instructor and a Level 3 Close Protection Officer degree from Buckinghamshire New University and Longmoor Security in England.

Ákos is currently invited to several schools to hold digital self-defense trainings for children and teachers alike. In Zalaegerszeg he also holds thematic physical self-defense seminars and trainings, and conducts strategic communication projects in the field of healthcare. In his educational methodology, he successfully uses the accelerated learning methodology adopted from the military elite training.

One of Ákos's important educational principles: "Children should not be controlled, but rather given effective, usable, skill-level knowledge. We can't stand by them 24/0, so we need to make sure they are able to protect themselves both offline and online."

Edoardo C. Raffiotta is a Professor of Law at the University of Milan Bicocca. He is also a Fellow at the Public Law and Policy Program of the University of California at Berkeley and Legal Advisor to the Italian Data Protection Authority. He holds a J.D. from the University of Catania (2004) and a Ph.D. in Constitutional Law from the University of Bologna. He was a Professor of Law at the University of Bologna (from 2011 to 2021). His main areas of interest are constitutional law, administrative law, and comparative law. He has published numerous articles and books: on the exercise of executive powers during a state of emergency comparing European and US constitutional systems; on economic governance and the role of public powers during financial crises; on fundamental rights protection; and on legal and administrative regulation in the tech field. Prof. Raffiotta’s fellowship at Berkeley’s Public Law and Policy Program is concentrated on Tech Law and Cybersecurity. The study focuses on the legal effect of artificial intelligence applications, following trends in legal regulations within the EU and the US.

Author, Consultant, and Speaker with a wealth of experience in academia, curriculum development, and educational consulting. A dedicated professional committed to enhancing educational practices and preparing young minds for the future.He is professor at the Academica University of Applied Sciences, Amsterdam, Netherlands and fellow at the Royal Society of Arts. Mr. Martin is the author of the following books among others: Curriculum Revolutions: A practical guide to enhancing what you teach, Trivium 21c: Preparing young people for the future with lessons from the past.

Patricia Santos Rodriguez is a tenured Reader of Philosophy of Law and Politics at the Law School of San Pablo CEU University. Currently, she is based in Brussels, where she is implementing and organizing the International CEU Universities Office for the EU. Additionally, she collaborates with the Spanish newspaper El Debate as the Editor in Chief of the correspondence team in Brussels, covering EU affairs.

She has a keen interest in Comparative Law, EU freedoms and fundamental rights, as well as current EU social policies. Much of her published work reflects her personal approach to connecting theory and practice in relation to various human rights issues, including freedom of education, religious freedom, freedom of expression, sustainability, and biojuridics. She also emphasizes the importance of engaging in dialogue with different philosophical approaches or schools, studying history, and understanding the specific sources and foundations of law.

In terms of her academic background, she has been appointed as a Guest Professor for research stays at several prestigious institutions, including the University of Oxford (Institute of Comparative Laws, 2012), University College London (Faculty of Laws, 2013), University of Edinburgh (Faculty of Law, 2013), and University of Birmingham (Faculty of Law and Arts, 2014). She has also been awarded two Erasmus Teaching Scholarships, first at InHolland University (Faculty of International Relations, Rotterdam, 2012) and second at Pazmany Peter Catholic University (Faculty of Law, Budapest, 2018).

Lastly, she takes pride in being the founder and executive officer of the Legal Pro Bono Clinic at her Law School, where she has successfully completed 26 pro bono projects with the participation of professors, students, and law firms.

Ralph Schölhammer is Assistant Professor of International Relations at Webster University Vienna. His main research interests are in political theory and international relations, focusing on the power of culture, values and ideologies to influence state behaviour. He has written and published on the interaction between culture and identity and how this affects the formation of social capital and social cohesion.

In addition to his academic work, he is a regular commentator on world affairs for national and international broadcasters, including Sky News Australia and The Hill TV, and writes regularly for newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Unherd, Spiked, the Jerusalem Post, the Washington Examiner and the American Spectator.

János Setényi was born in Budapest in 1961. He studied at the ELTE Faculty of Humanities and participated in a training program at the University of Helsinki. He graduated as a historian, he received his doctorate degree in education at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

He became a researcher at the Institute for Educational Research, an innovative intellectual and research center of educational democratization. He is a generalist in all sectors of education, his main field of interest is in issues related to policy-making. He has developed a strong international professional network. He has regularly worked on projects for the OECD, the Council of Europe and the EU DG Employment over the last 25 years. Through his ongoing consultancy work, he has gained extensive experience in education development in the Balkans and the post-Soviet region.

In 1995, he founded one of the first for-profit educational consultancy companies in Central Europe, Expanzió Consulting Ltd. Since the turn of the millennium, his interest has focused on evaluation, from policy level to institutional and even training program level. He is a founding member of the Hungarian Evaluation Society. In the last decade, he has turned his interest towards digitalization, learning industry innovations and disruptive technologies, and his research focuses on new system integration models for traditional schooling.

His previous activities in higher education were restrained and focused: he is an honorary university professor; he has courses in colleges for advanced studies. He is a proficient speaker of the English and Finnish languages and an intermediate speaker of the Russian and Mandarin Chinese languages. He has been a Chen-style taijiquan practitioner and disciple for twenty years.

Dr. Mikolaj Slawkowski-Rode is Assistant Professor in the Department for Philosophy of Culture at the Institute of Philosophy, University of Warsaw as well as Research Fellow, and tutor in Philosophy at Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford. His PhD thesis, written under Prof. Sir Roger Scruton in Oxford, and Prof. Zofia Rosinska in Warsaw, was nominated for the Ministerial Prize for the best research undertaken nationwide in 2016 in Poland. Since 2018 he is a visiting lecturer at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at The University of Buckingham. Mikolaj Slawkowski-Rode is also a founding member of the Humane Philosophy Society and organizer of the Humane Philosophy Project. His recent publication is a collection of essays Meaning of Mourning: Perspectives on Death, Loss, and Grief.

Bonnie Kerrigan Snyder is a former K-12 educator, school counselor, and teacher educator. She has worked in public and private institutions in the United States and launched the K-12 initiatives at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education in Philadelphia. She believes in ethical, balanced instruction. Dr. Snyder is a frequent presenter at education conferences, a co-founder of the Terra Firma Teaching Alliance, and the author of "Undoctrinate: How Politicized Classrooms Harm Kids and Ruin Our Schools." She resides in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, USA.

Barry Strauss is Bryce and Edith M. Bowmar Professor in Humanistic Studies at Cornell University, and the Corliss Page Dean Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He is the author of “The War that made the Roman Empire: Antony, Cleopatra, and Octavian at Actium”, “Ten Caesars: Roman Emperors from Augustus to Constantine”, and a range of other best-selling books. His books have been translated into twenty languages. He is co-founder and Director of Cornell’s Program in Freedom and Free Societies. He completed his Doctorate at Yale University and his Bachelor’s degree at Cornell.

Gareth became a high school teacher in the 1990s after reading physics at Liverpool University. He has also spent time as a national newspaper journalist and has run his own public-relations business. His educational roles have included head of physics at one of the country’s leading grammar schools, and teaching at the innovative East London Science School and Michaela Community School. Gareth helped to set up the Physics Factory, a flagship project of the Mayor of London to boost physics teaching. He has also taught English and Mathematics to workplace apprentices. He now works as an education advisor within online education, with particular concern for what is unique about schools. He is organiser of the Education Forum of the Academy of Ideas. He is a co-author of the book ‘What Should Schools Teach? Disciplines, subjects and the pursuit of truth’ published by the UCL Institute of Education in 2017, and writes regularly on education for the national press. He can be found on X.com @stickyphysics

Ferenc Sullivan is an international relations analyst. He graduated from Corvinus University of Budapest and currently works at the Youth Research Institute, part of the MCC network, in Budapest. He has previously worked for the Rákóczi Association, the Friends of Hungary Foundation, and Nézőpont Institute, a conservative political think tank in Budapest. Sullivan’s chief areas of interest include Central European politics and history, the situation of Hungarian minorities abroad, as well as the politics of the United States and global security policy. His translations have appeared in the Hungarian political and cultural quarterly Kommentár.

Enikő Szakos, Educational researcher at the MCC Learning Research Institute and Director of Education Development at Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, is dedicated to addressing the ongoing changes and challenges in education and learning.  She focuses on educational policy, -trends and daily challenges in school affecting children, parents and teachers. Within the research of higher education, she places special emphasis on teacher training and the consequences accompanying changes in the management of the institutions. In addition, she studies the integration of technological innovations and draws attention to the use of traditional educational tools in her writings and lectures.
As an educational development manager, Enikő guides the comprehensive reform of the university's curriculum, contributing significantly to reshaping the educational paradigm. 
Her practical experience as a teacher provides a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities in both rural and urban educational institutions.

Zoltán Szalai has been the Director General of Mathias Corvinus Collegium for over 10 years. He is Editor-in Chief of the Hungarian weekly newspaper Mandiner. He holds postgraduate degrees in German Language and Literature, earning his PhD summa cum laude in Cultural Studies.Dr. Szalai spent his university years in Budapest, Pécs, and Heidelberg. He obtained his degree in German Literature and Language at Eötvös Loránd University. He continued his studies at the University of Pécs, where he received his MA degree in Human Resources Advisory. In 2016 he obtained his doctorate degree with summa cum laude at Eötvös Lorand University. He studied on scholarship in Heidelberg, Munich, Frankfurt and Leipzig. He has taught regularly, authored and edited numerous books and studies in Hungarian, German, and English. Dr. Szalai is married, with two children.

Dr Nicholas Tate is a historian who has worked for many years at a senior level in education in a range of countries. He was chief executive of England’s national body responsible for the school curriculum and testing from 1994 to 2000, overseeing the introduction of a new national curriculum and attracting controversy through his emphasis on the role of the curriculum in shaping national identity. In this role he was a chief adviser to secretaries of state for education from both main political parties. From 2000 to 2005 he was a member of France’s Haut Conseil de l’évaluation de l’école, an advisory body to French ministers of education. From 2003 to 2011 he was director-general of The International School of Geneva, a bilingual school with 4000+ students. He became involved with the International Baccalaureate during this period, remaining a member of its Board and Chair of its Education Committee until 2015, while simultaneously working as executive chairman of a global group of independent schools operating across four countries.

He has written and spoken extensively on educational issues, contributing to education journals, symposia and the press. A major theme in his recent writing has been the need to combat a prevailing liberal ideology whose egalitarianism, relativism and cosmopolitanism have made it difficult for a ‘conservative’ voice in education to be heard. His books 'What is Education For?' (2014) and 'The Conservative Case for Education. Against the Current' (2017) look at how major thinkers from Plato onwards might help in this task.

Jeremy Wayne Tate is the founder and CEO of the Classic Learning Test, a new alternative to the SAT and ACT, and a national leader in the revival of classical education. He has been featured on Fox News, MSNBC, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Inside Higher Ed, and the New York Times. Prior to founding CLT, Jeremy served as Director of College Counseling at Mount de Sales Academy in Catonsville, Maryland. He received his Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education from Louisiana State University and a Masters in Religious Studies from Reformed Theological Seminary 

She is a lawyer from the Universidad de los Andes in Chile and holds a Master's in Law from the University of St. Thomas in the United States.
Formerly, she served as the Executive Director at Acción Educar, a think tank dedicated to discussing and proposing public policies in the field of education. She actively participated as a member of various expert councils convened by the Ministry of Education, advising on issues related to early childhood, school, and higher education. This involvement included contributing to the implementation of programs during the pandemic to ensure the continuity of educational processes and the reopening of schools. She also addressed challenges related to attracting students to pedagogy in the face of a teacher shortage. Additionally, she played a key role in discussions on financing policies and quality assurance in higher education.
Currently, she is the Research Director at the think tank IdeaPaís, dedicated to encouraging youth participation in public services and the analysis of public policies, with a particular focus on areas such as social vulnerability, family, and politics. Through IdeaPaís, she has actively participated in Chile's constitutional processes over the past four years.
Due to her contributions to public discussion, she was selected among the 100 young leaders of Chile in 2020 and honored as a woman leader in 2022.

Stuart Waiton is a Sociology and Criminology lecturer. He also writes for several newspapers on issues associated with the criminalisation and over-regulation of everyday life.

His research interests include the politics of antisocial behaviour, the changing nature of politics beyond left and right and the construction of ‘hate crime’. He is also interested in early intervention and its role in crime-related social policy and the ‘policing’ of families. This and other work relates to ideas about ‘governing vulnerability’ within a ‘therapeutic culture’. Finally, he is interested in risk/fear and the ideas of moral and amoral panics.

He is  the author of Scared of the Kids, and The Politics of Antisocial Behaviour: Amoral Panics. His most recent book is Snobs’ Law: Criminalising Football Fans in an Age of Intolerance.

Joanna Williams is a Visiting Fellow at MCC. She began her career teaching English in secondary schools before joining the University of Kent as lecturer in Higher Education and Academic Practice in 2007. She was the director of the University’s Centre for the Study of Higher Education until 2016. Joanna left academia to become Head of Education and Culture at Policy Exchange. Most recently, she has set up her own think tank, Cieo, which has a particular focus on democracy, education and citizenship.
Joanna is the author of How Woke Won (2022); Women vs Feminism (2017); Academic Freedom in an Age of Conformity (2016) and Consuming Higher Education, Why Learning Can't Be Bought (2012). She co-edited and contributed to Why Academic Freedom Matters (2017) and has written numerous academic journal articles and book chapters exploring the marketization of higher education, the student as consumer and education as a public good. Joanna is a columnist for the online magazine Spiked and writes regularly for The Times, The Telegraph and The Spectator.

Karl Wöber is Full Professor and Founding President of MODUL University Vienna. He acquired his PhD from the Vienna University of Economics and Business. As a founding member of MODUL University Vienna, Karl was responsible for developing the university’s accreditation proposal and for developing several curricula in the areas of tourism management, public governance, new media technology, and sustainable development. He is the chairman of the Austrian Private University Conference, the leading network of currently 19 private higher education institutions in Austria and a representative of private higher education in the General Assembly of the Agency for Quality Assurance and Accreditation Austria.

Roland Wöller is a German politician (CDU), who has been a member of the Saxon State Parliament since 1999. He was Minister of State for the Environment and Agriculture from 2007 to 2008, Minister of State for Culture and Sport from 2008 to 2012 and Minister of the Interior of the Free State of Saxony from 2017 to 2022. From 2006 to February 2015, he was a professor of economics and environmental economics at the Dresden University of Applied Sciences. 

Yao Hongjie, senior research fellow, the Director of the Institute of Education History, China National Academy of Educational Sciences. He has published more than 30 papers in core journals such as Journal of East China Normal University (Education Science Edition) and Education History Research. 5 monographs, co-authors and 5 decision service achievements written as the main author have been adopted by educational administrative departments at or above the provincial or ministerial level. Among them, his representative works are: On the Examination of Beijing Shi Shunzhi School in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China (Study of Education History, 2017, No.1); Foundation: Education of the Republic 1949 (Jiangxi Education Press, 2019). Presided over a number of key scientific research projects, such as "Special Research of the Historical materials of the revolutionary base", "Research on major Educational Events and Activities of the Founding of the Communist Party of China". Now he is also the vice president and secretary-general of China Local Education History Research Association.