Brendan Cahill is the Executive Director of the Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs at Fordham University. For more than sixteen years he has created, directed and taught humanitarian programs to thousands of humanitarian professionals in countries around the globe. He also established one of the first Master’s programs in Humanitarian Action in the world as well as a full undergraduate program in Humanitarian Studies at Fordham University.

Ms. Argentina Szabados took over the position of Regional Director for South-Eastern Europe, Eastern Europe and Central Asia in May 2016. Ms. Szabados oversees the work of IOM Offices in South-Eastern Europe, Eastern Europe and Central Asia and is managing the activities of the Regional Office in Vienna. She leads the formulation of regional strategies, processes and programmes, ensuring that these are in line with the overall IOM policy and priorities, and facilitates communication and coordination within the region. She provides advice to IOM Headquarters on regional migration, migration trends and policy matters as well as governments' migration policies. She is responsible for developing and maintaining external relations and high-level liaison with governmental authorities and diplomatic missions in the region, international organizations, non-governmental organizations and voluntary agencies, regional consultative processes, and other relevant stakeholders, providing support to the IOM country offices in their work with their respective counterparts. Ms. Szabados represents IOM at the United Nations Office in Vienna and is responsible for global liaison with the Vienna-based organizations, such as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Prior to assuming her post in Vienna, she headed the IOM Mission in Germany from 2010 to 2016. In that capacity, Ms. Szabados was responsible for promotion and strengthening of IOM relations with key governmental counterparts at Federal and State level, international organizations, civil society representatives and the private sector. Other duties comprised fundraising for the organization as a whole, advancing the understanding of migration issues, and assisting in meeting the operational challenges of migration management in Germany.

Ms. Szabados joined IOM in 1998 as Chief of Mission in Hungary. She continued as the Regional Director of the IOM Regional Office in Budapest until 2010, where she was responsible for the coordination of 14 IOM missions in Central and South Eastern Europe. Ms. Szabados came to IOM from a career with the World Council of Churches where between 1989 and 1998 she led Emergency Programs covering war zones in former Yugoslavia, Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan. She has received numerous national and international awards; she has written and contributed to many publications and studies on migration and humanitarian aid topics. Since 2007 she is a regular lecturer at Fordham University New York for the MA program in Humanitarian Assistance. She also sits on the Board of the Center for International Humanitarian Cooperation (CIHC), based in New York.

Ms. Szabados was born in 1963. She studied history and languages in Romania and took post-graduate studies in International Humanitarian Assistance at the City University of New York Hunter College. She speaks fluent Hungarian, Romanian, English and has studied French. She has basic knowledge of German and a basic knowledge of Italian. She is married and has three children.

Amy Goodman is the host and executive producer of Democracy Now!, a national, daily, independent, award-winning news program airing on over 1,400 public television and radio stations worldwide.

The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard honored Goodman with the 2014 I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence Lifetime Achievement Award. She is also the first journalist to receive the Right Livelihood Award, widely known as the 'Alternative Nobel Prize' for “developing an innovative model of truly independent grassroots political journalism that brings to millions of people the alternative voices that are often excluded by the mainstream media.” She is the first co-recipient of the Park Center for Independent Media’s Izzy Award, named for the great muckraking journalist I.F. Stone, and was later selected for induction into the Park Center’s I.F. Stone Hall of Fame. The Independent of London called Amy Goodman and Democracy Now! “an inspiration.”

Goodman has co-authored six New York Times bestsellers. Her latest, Democracy Now!: Twenty Years Covering the Movements Changing America, looks back over the past two decades of Democracy Now! and the powerful movements and charismatic leaders who are re-shaping our world. Before than, The Silenced Majority: Stories of Uprisings, Occupations, Resistance, and Hope, and Breaking the Sound Barrier, both written with Denis Moynihan, give voice to the many ordinary people standing up to corporate and government power. She co-authored her first three bestsellers with her brother, journalist David Goodman: Standing Up to the Madness: Ordinary Heroes in Extraordinary Times (2008), Static: Government Liars, Media Cheerleaders, and the People Who Fight Back (2006) and The Exception to the Rulers: Exposing Oily Politicians, War Profiteers, and the Media That Love Them (2004). She co-writes a weekly column with Denis Moynihan (also produced as an audio podcast) syndicated by King Features, for which she was recognized in 2007 with the James Aronson Award for Social Justice Reporting.

Goodman has received the Society for Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi Award for Excellence; American Women in Radio and Television Gracie Award; the Paley Center for Media’s She’s Made It Award; and the Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship. Her reporting on East Timor and Nigeria has won numerous awards, including the George Polk Award, Robert F. Kennedy Prize for International Reporting, and the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award. Time Magazine named Democracy Now! its “Pick of the Podcasts,” along with NBC’s Meet the Press. PULSE named Goodman one of the 20 Top Global Media Figures of 2009.

She has also received awards from the Associated Press, United Press International, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and Project Censored. Goodman received the first ever Communication for Peace Award from the World Association for Christian Communication. She was also honored by the National Council of Teachers of English with the George Orwell Award for Distinguished Contribution to Honesty and Clarity in Public Language.

Mr. Richard Blewitt joined the International Federation of Red Cross and Crescent Societies (IFRC) as Head of Delegation and Permanent Representative to the UN, New York on 1 July 2018.

Before joining the IFRC, Mr. Richard Blewitt served as the United Nations Resident Coordinator and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative for the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten, a post he has held for the last five years.

Prior to this appointment, he was the Chief Executive Officer of HelpAge International for 6 years. During this time, he led HelpAge to win the Hilton Prize for its groundbreaking work on ageing and development.

Mr. Blewitt was active in the World Economic Forum for four years, attending the annual meetings in Davos and giving leadership in the area of social protection and pension reform.

He has also held several key leadership posts with humanitarian agencies such as the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies as Director of Movement Cooperation then Acting Director of Policy and Communications; and the British Red Cross Society as Director of Strategy, Planning, Coordination and IT. He has served as a Consultant Advisor with the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Other key assignments include Save the Children Fund where he was posted in Ethiopia as a Deputy Director, and then Regional Food Security Advisor at the East Africa Regional Office in Nairobi. He also worked for the London Borough of Lambeth, Brixton and the London Borough of Ealing, Paddington in the United Kingdom. He began his career in the Ministry of Education, Wad Medani, Sudan, as an English Teacher.

Mr. Blewitt holds a BSc (Hons) in Management from the University of Surrey, United Kingdom and an MA in Politics and Government from the School of Oriental and African Studies (London University), United Kingdom.

Brian Kelly is the head of the Community Stabilization Unit for the International Organization for Migration. This position is based in Washington, D.C. Prior to this he was the Regional Emergency and Post Crisis Advisor at the IOM Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. He has been with IOM since 2000 and has worked in the Balkans, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Nepal, Iraq, Pakistan, and elsewhere. Specializing in humanitarian operations, community stabilization, and the coordination of relief-and-recovery programming, Mr. Kelly helps governments, the United Nations, non-governmental organizations and the private sector support vulnerable populations and stabilize communities. His publications include an article on the relationship between climate change and displacement in South Asia, a handbook about communicating with disaster-affected communities, and lessons learned from the Libya experience supporting international labor migrants caught in crisis. Before joining IOM, Mr. Kelly worked with the International Rescue Committee and for the Connecticut State Department of Education.

Raul Pantaleo is an Italian architect, born in Milan, he lives and works in Venice and Trieste. Graduated from the IUAV University of Venice. Holds an international certificate in Human Ecology attained through post-graduate studies at the University of Padua. Raul is a project designer and consultant in the sectors of bio-architecture and urban re-qualification; he is currently involved in conducting laboratories in the processes of participatory and communicatory project development. In addition, he is involved with the practice of social communications and graphic design for various Public Administrations and non-profit organizations. Raul Pantaleo is one of the co-founders of “studio TAMassociati”, a practice which specializes in socially oriented projects in critical areas. Some of the current and completed projects include: The Salam Centre for Cardiac Surgery for the Emergency NGO in Sudan, Children surgery centre for the Emergency NGO in Uganda with Renzo Piano; Banca Etica (Ethic Bank) Headquarters in Padua (Italy); healthcare buildings for the Emergency NGO in Darfur, Sudan; also projects in the Central African Republic, Sierra Leon, Rwanda, Afghanistan, Iraq, Kenya and Uganda.

Lorin leads USAID's prize, challenge, and Grand Challenges for Development portfolio which aims to uncover, test, and scale new development and humanitarian solutions. In this role, Lorin works with teams around the world to develop and successfully implement open innovation competitions; leads learning, data capture, and analysis around these competitions; liaises across a network of challenge partners to accelerate the most promising innovations; and manages a portfolio of catalytic innovation grants. Previously, Lorin led engagement and outreach at the U.S. State Department's Office of Global Partnerships and managed the LIONS@FRICA partnership geared towards supporting the start-up ecosystem for young tech entrepreneurs in Africa. In addition, she led communications and knowledge management activities for the United Nations Development Programme's Business Call to Action and USAID's Global Development Alliance. Lorin holds a M.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and a B.A. in Journalism and French from Temple University.

Arriving in London from Barcelona more than a decade ago he co-founded HE.LO with architect Sónia Nunes Henriques. Curious about neglected edges of spaces, communities and society they are focussing on place healing strategies and ephemeral aspects of migration, space and sound. Co-authors: “Spatial Murmuring, migration of spaces and ideas” (Papadakis). Work/papers: Architecture Biennale Venice, “home not shelter” refugee initiative Munich, “Insecurities: Tracing Displacement and Shelter“ MoMA, africanCities Institute urbanNext, ArToll and in London, Cologne, Los Angeles. Working in architecture practices Jean Nouvel in Paris, Enric Miralles, Benedetta Tagliabue in Barcelona, Terry Farrell and CRTKL in London. Master Degree at RWTH Aachen/ETSA Seville. Surveying Tibetan monasteries in Ladakh (with DFG, J.Pieper, A.VanQuaille, H.Vets.). Taught at Architectural Association, University Karlsruhe, Bronnbacher Fellowship.

Johan Karlsson is the Managing Director of Better Shelter, a Swedish social enterprise that develops modular emergency and transitional shelters with a mission to improve the lives of forcibly displaced persons. In 2010, Johan managed a small design and innovation project driven by the belief that sustainable design can transform humanitarian relief. The team developed ideas and designs for new shelter solutions and came to forge ground-breaking partnerships with UNHCR and the IKEA Foundation. In collaboration with engineers, companies and academic institutions, the partners created prototypes that were tested and further developed using the insights and experiences of refugees in Ethiopia and Iraq. To date, more than 30,000 units have been delivered to operations in Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and Southeast Asia where they serve as temporary housing as well as communal infrastructure. Johan has an MFA in industrial design from Konstfack University College in Stockholm and an MBA from Stockholm School of Economics.

Erika is a front-end and data visualization developer for UN OCHA’s Centre for Humanitarian Data. She creates custom data visualizations for the Centre and its partners on issues such as migration, internally displaced persons, and other humanitarian crises with the goal of increasing the use and impact of data in the humanitarian sector. Prior to joining the Centre in 2017, Erika was a Design Technologist for Frog, a global innovation design firm, where she developed user interfaces through code, motion design exploration, and rapid prototyping alongside designers and design researchers.

Duncan Lawrence is the executive director of the Immigration Policy Lab at Stanford University, where he leads a team building innovative tools and evidence to foster the integration of immigrants around the globe. He is a two-time Fulbright recipient and prior to joining IPL he co-founded a Colorado-based data analysis and research-consulting firm that provided services to major foundations and nonprofits. He has led research teams and projects in the United States, Europe, and throughout Latin America and previously worked as a medical interpreter and health advocate in Wyoming. His research has appeared in top journals such as Science and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He received his PhD and MA from the University of Colorado Boulder and his BA from Hamilton College.

Sandra is the Director for Resettlement at the International Rescue Committee. She has been with IRC headquarters in New York since 2016. She has worked in the field of refugee resettlement and processing since 2004. Her past professional experience includes associate director for refugee resettlement & integration at Church World Service, head of resettlement at the RSC based in Turkey as well previous work with RSC Africa based in Ghana, and domestic resettlement with the International Institute of Rhode Island. Sandra also served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco. Prior to working in resettlement, Sandra was an academic focusing on French language and literature. She holds two Master’s degrees, one from Brown University, and one from New York University-in-France. She is fluent in both French and Spanish.

Dr. Jocelyn Kelly in the director for Harvard Humanitarian Initiative’s (HHI) Women in War program, where she designs and implements projects to examine issues relating to gender, peace, and security in fragile states. Dr. Kelly’s work focuses on understanding and preventing gender-based violence and human trafficking in complex crises, with an emphasis on specially examining mechanisms for social cohesion and resilience. She has been conducting health-related research using qualitative and quantitative research methods for over a decade in national and international settings. She has given briefings related to gender and security to the United Nations Security Council, the U.S. State Department, USAID, the World Bank, OFDA, the Woodrow Wilson Center, and the U.S. Institute of Peace. Dr. Kelly’s current research interests include: promoting and measuring GBV risk mitigation in humanitarian emergencies; understanding the continuum of GBV before during and after humanitarian crisis; measuring and promoting social cohesion and community resilience as a pathway to reducing violence; and finding holistic and innovative pathways to promoting trauma healing and community-building after conflict.

Paul Dillon is the Managing Editor of the International Organization for Migration's Media & Communications Division at its headquarters in Geneva. His responsibilities straddle both the news- and community-engagement sides of MCD's global workflow.
A Scottish-born Canadian, Paul gave up the nomadic ski-bum lifestyle in the mid-80s for an 18-year career in journalism, including seven as a freelancer covering conflict, displacement and development issues in Southeast- and Central Asia.
He joined IOM in February 2005 as the Aceh, Indonesia-based post-tsunami Public Information Officer. Since that time, he has managed a wide variety of public information and awareness-raising projects on topics ranging from people smuggling, financial literacy and money laundering to childhood stunting. In 2018 he closed out an eight-year communications effort to assess knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of thousands of migrants and refugees under IOM's care in Indonesia at risk of being exploited by trans-national smuggling enterprises.

Saira Khan is a data analyst for the Signal Program on Human Security and Technology at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI). She primarily uses geospatial tools and analysis techniques to consider the displacement and insecurity of populations in conflict and disaster and has collaboratively worked with the World Food Programme and UNICEF. Prior to joining HHI, she received a M.S. in Geographic Information Science at Clark University and holds a B.A. in Geography and International Development and Social Change at Clark University. Her research interests are in the application of geospatial technologies and data visualization in humanitarian response, including the automation of structure detection and technological applications in the humanitarian sector.

Michael is the Project Coordinator for KoBoToolbox, a humanitarian data collection software, based at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. Prior to working at HHI, he was a graduate student at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where he received a Masters in Design Studies with a concentration in Risk & Resilience. While at the GSD, Michael took courses in humanitarian response, data visualization, mapping, and programming which all culminated into his thesis project, the Visual Response Simulator (ViRS).

Michael's background is in architecture, where he has worked professionally on numerous healthcare and education related projects in resource-limited countries. The projects include the design of a college prep school in central Haiti, on-site hospital facility assessments in West Africa, the development of a prototypical Ebola triage and isolation unit, and the campus design for a global public health university in Rwanda.

Susan Fitzgerald is the design director at FBM and Assistant Professor of Practice at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Since 2014 she has been running a design studio in Havana, Cuba in close collaboration with CUJAE. Her work, with FBM and independently with Susan Fitzgerald Architecture, has been the recipient of many accolades—including the Canada Council for the Arts Professional Prix de Rome, Governor General Medal, the Wood Design Award, the EnRoute Air Canada Award in partnership with the RAIC, Maritime Design Awards, and multiple Lieutenant Governors’ Awards including the Medal of Excellence. In addition, the work has been nominated for multiple Mies’ Crown Hall Americas Prizes (IIT College of Architecture) for the best work in the Americas. Widely exhibited and published, her specific approach to practice was showcased in Elke Krasny’s international exhibition ‘Thinking out Loud: The Making of Architecture’. Susan was made a fellow of the RAIC in 2015.

Charles Newman is a designer, builder and researcher with Unfrastructure Design, LLC. With over 12 years of professional experience, Newman has designed and built hundreds of structures in post-conflict and post-disaster environments. These projects have ranged from the construction of water systems in the rural Democratic Republic of Congo, to the planning of flood protection in the informal settlements of Nairobi, to the design of playgrounds in refugee camps across Central Asia. Newman has written extensively on project service delivery strategies, appropriate sustainability standards, and the value of public space design as a process to support social cohesion and economic development in complex environments. His most recent research investigates the implications of large-scale multinational infrastructure design proposals and the scalability of climate change adaptation. Newman holds a Master of Design Studies in Risk and Resilience from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and a Bachelor of Architecture from the Syracuse University School of Architecture.

Bree Akesson is an Associate Professor at Wilfrid Laurier University’s Faculty of Social Work. Her research program ranges from micro-level understandings of the experiences of children and families to macro-level projects to strengthen social welfare and mental health systems in crisis-affected countries.

Kearney Coupland is a Ph.D. candidate in the Geography Department at Wilfrid Laurier University. Her research interests are informed by her training as a landscape architect and explore how people experience and adapt to changing environments in response to conflict and climate change.

Azra Akšamija is the Director of the MIT Future Heritage Lab (FHL) and an Associate Professor in the MIT Art, Culture and Technology Program. Her artistic practice and academic research explore how social life is affected by cultural bias and by deterioration and destruction of cultural infrastructures within the context of conflict, migration, and forced displacement. The Future Heritage Lab, a research lab and transdiciplinary studio at MIT, operates at the intersection of art and design, heritage preservation, and humanitarian relief to invent creative responses to conflict and crisis. FHL designs pedagogical frameworks, creative tools, and co-creation processes to improve the lives of communities in threat and advance transcultural understanding on a global scale. The Lab’s approach springs from the believe that culture is an essential human need. Since 2016, the FHL team has been working at the Al Azraq Refugee Camp in Jordan, in collaboration with the humanitarian aid organisation CARE and local cultural institutions. Recent projects include the Lightweaver (2017), kinetic lighting devices that were produced in collaborative workshops that can serve as a tool for cross-generational knowledge exchange, recording of memory, and personalisation of refugee shelters. In 2017, FHL curated the Design for a Nomadic World exhibition at the Amman Design Week 2017, in collaboration with the German Jordanian University, showcasing the creative work of displaced Syrians. Supported by the Graham Foundation Grant, the FHL is currently collaborating with a group of 20 young displaced Syrians on a book "1002 Inventions” to document a range of refugee inventions from Al Azraq Camp. This book will accompany the course Design & Scarcity, MIT’s first art & design MOOC, produced in collaboration with MITx and Edraak-Queen Rania Foundation. Apart from FHL, Akšamija’s work has been exhibited in leading international venues, including the Generali Foundation Vienna, Liverpool Biennial, Sculpture Center New York, Secession Vienna, the Royal Academy of Arts London, Queens Museum of Art in New York, Design Week Festivals in Milan, Istanbul Eindhoven and Amman, and the Fondazione Giorgio Cini as a part of the 54th Art Biennale in Venice. In 2013, she received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture for her design of the prayer space in the Islamic Cemetery Altach, Austria.

Ayesha Mukadam was born in South Africa but has strong family roots in India. She is a visual artist and shares a studio with fellow creatives in Cape Town. She is passionate about storytelling, design for social change and collaborating on projects that shape a shift in mindset and heart.

Susan Melsop is an Associate Professor in the Department of Design at Ohio State University. She is a co-founder of the DESIS Lab at OSU and Resident Director of Design Matters in Brazil program. Currently, she serves as University Fellow for Community, Creative Practices, and Engagement initiatives.

Her research includes interdisciplinary/community-based designbuild pedagogy, transformative learning, co-design processes, environmental stewardship, and reflective practices. Her community engaged pedagogy incorporates Theory U for social transformation and inclusive place-making. For this work, she has received numerous awards, including the Ratner Award for Excellence in Teaching, a Faculty Award for Community-Based Scholarship, and an Outreach Award for Diversity and Inclusion.

Susan holds a Bachelor of Science of Architecture from The Ohio State University and a Master of Architecture from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her post-graduate work in East Asian philosophies, Buddhism and hermeneutics of sacred space informs her approach and innovative methods for inclusive, collaborative engagement.

Jessica is a city planner and researcher focused on inclusive urban planning in contexts of migration and displacement. Most recently, she co-authored a major report for the International Rescue Committee titled Urban Refuge: How Cities Are Building Inclusive Communities. Jessica has worked with the IRC, the Feinstein Center’s Refugees in Towns Project and MIT’s Community Innovators Lab, in addition to roles in state and local economic development planning domestically. Jessica received her Master in City Planning degree from MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning where her studies focused on land use planning and spatial analysis of a new refugee housing program in Hamburg, Germany. She was awarded the USAID Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance Fellowship in Humanitarian Shelter and Settlements for her Master’s thesis research. Jessica received her B.A. in Economics and International Relations from Tufts University.

Joana Torres is an architect and the founder of Oficina Design, a non-profit that designs and builds for those who can’t afford it. Oficina Design has developed social impact projects in diverse regions such as Mexico, Haiti and USA. Each project engages the local communities to participate in the design and creation of buildings that are safe and sustainable but also beautiful and contextual. Joana has recently led the project House Louisana in Cormiers, Haiti which received the SEED network award 2018 (Social Economical Environmental Design) for excellence in public interest design. Originally from Portugal, Joana studied architecture in the Technical University of Delft, the Netherlands, and practiced conventional architecture in Rotterdam, Boston, and New York for more than ten years. Since 2016 Joana works full time in social impact design at Oficina Design. Joana is also the program director of Konbit Shelter, a community building program in Haiti run by Heliotrope Foundation.

Jeremy Boy is the data visualization and design specialist at UN Global Pulse, an innovation initiative in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General of the United Nations. His research focuses primarily on visual storytelling, from the role of visualization in eliciting empathy for victims of human rights violations, to cognitive aspects of visualization literacy, and the way people make sense of visual information. He also explores the challenges people face when confronted with information visualizations online, and seeks ways to accelerate their learning through pedagogical and ludic design approaches. Jeremy received his Ph.D. in Information and Communication Sciences with honors in May 2015 from Inria and the École Doctorale Informatique, Télécommunication et Électronique (EDITE de Paris) at Telecom ParisTech. His work was rewarded with two Best Thesis Honorable Mention Awards: the IEEE VGTC VGP Doctoral dissertation award 2015, and the Prix de These Telecom ParisTech. Before that, Jeremy graduated as a Graphic/Multi-Media designer with honors from the art and design school École Nationale Supérieure de Paris (EnsAD) in June 2011.

Lillie is the Learning Manager for the DEPP Innovation Labs, a program supporting four community-centered labs designing local solutions to humanitarian problems in Bangladesh, Jordan, Kenya, and the Philippines. She formerly managed the International Rescue Committee’s Jordan-based innovation lab for solutions for urban displacement. Lillie has worked in the humanitarian sector for ten years, in the United States refugee resettlement program, and in Kenya, Burundi, South Sudan, and Jordan. She is passionate about humanitarian reform and making cartoons. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Johns Hopkins University, and a master’s degree in international education policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She currently lives on a farm in Pennsylvania.

Dr. Mary Stylidi holds a Diploma (BA) in Occupational Therapy from the University of Western Attica. She has also obtained a Diploma in Pedagogics from the Superior School of Pedagogical and Technological Education in Crete, an MA in Human Services from Headway University in USA, an MBA in Disaster Management and a Doctorate of Science in Disaster Psychology from the same University. She also holds an MA in International Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid from the University of Madrid in Spain. She works at the Department of Special Education Personnel of the Greek Ministry of Education, Research and Religion Affairs. Also, she is deployed as an External Expert in United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva and as an International Consultant in the Field of Education, Health and Human Rights in the European Commission. Currently, she conducts her post-doc research in Aleppo, Syria on “Human devastation Syndrome”. In 2015, she became a Regional Commissioner for the Unaccompanied Minor Refugees in Greece on behalf of UNHCR. Also, she is a certified International Rescuer in the Field of Technical Rescue and a Delegate in the International Committee of Red Cross in Geneva.

As the IIHA Humanitarian Design Fellow, Alberto Preato works with designers and humanitarians to research and present innovative design solutions that better respond to the needs of crisis-affected populations. He is responsible for identifying and managing partnerships and speakers as well as implementing the strategic direction of the Design for Humanity Summit.

Alberto Preato is the Senior Regional Program Coordinator at the International Organization for Migration Regional Offices for South America, Buenos Aires. He received a Master’s Degree in Sustainable Emergency Architecture at the Universidad Internacional de Catalunya in Barcelona and holds a Master in Sustainable Architecture at the Università IUAV (Venice, Italy). Alberto Preato has been on the frontline of some of the most challenging humanitarian responses to natural disaster and complex crises. He has been deployed to Mozambique, Colombia, Haiti, Honduras, Vanuatu, Fiji and Niger. At the IIHA, Alberto works with designers and humanitarians to research and present innovative design solutions that better respond to the needs of crisis-affected populations.

Angela Wells is a Public Information Officer for the International Organization for Migration's Department of Operations and Emergencies in Geneva, Switzerland. She is also the co-organizer of the Design for Humanity Summit. Previously, Angela worked as Communications Officer for the Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs and graduated with a Master of Arts in Strategic Communications from Fordham University.