Barcelona Winter School - 2025 Speakers

Winter School Speakers

Oriol Amat

Professor of Financial Economics and Former Rector, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, ES

Oriol Amat studied at Autonomous University of Barcelona (PhD in Business Administration and Bachelor’s degree in the same speciality), at ESADE (Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and MBA) and at the Stockholm School of Economics (International Teachers Programme). He has had visiting appointments at international universities, such as Linköping University (Sweden), Massey University (New Zealand), Université de Montpellier (France) and Diego Portales University (Chile).

As a professor at UPF since 1992, he has always been interested in the four main dimensions of academic life: research, knowledge transfer, teaching and management.

His lines of research include the analysis of the success factors of organisations, transformation processes and the ethical aspects of finance. He has directed more than fifteen theses and is the author of scientific articles and more than forty books. Some of his books have been translated into several languages (French, English, Portuguese…). He also collaborates and is a member of the editorial board of several international scientific publications.

In the field of service in higher education, he has had different responsibilities at UPF. He has been rector of UPF (2021-2023), dean of the UPF Barcelona School of Management (2018-2021), director of the Department of Economics and Business (2003-2005), vice-rector for Economics, Information Systems and Services (1997-2001) and, specifically in the teaching field, he was director of the Centre for Teaching Quality and Innovation (2006-2011).

Arnold Boon

University Director, Copenhagen Business School, DK

Arnold Boon is since 2022 the University Director at Copenhagen Business School. He is a strategic leader with solid management skills and experience from higher education and research institutions. He previously was University Director and member of the Senior Management Team at Aarhus University. He is responsible for the University administration, including finance, HR, it and digital transformation, student administration, research support and compliance. He is also responsible for real estate and campus development at the university. He has more than 18 years of experience with financial management and a wide experience in leading major change projects, digital transformation, continuous process improvement and organisational changes. He has an extensive network in higher education in Denmark and in Europe.

Earlier positions include Faculty Director at the University of Copenhagen at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences (2006-2015), Chief Financial Officer at the Danish Institute of Food and Veterinary Research (2004-2006), Head of Budget department at the Danish Agency for Food, Fisheries and Agri business (2002-2004), Executive Officer at the Danish Agency for Food Fisheries and Agri business (2000-2002), Executive Officer at the Institute of Agricultural Sciences (1999-2000) and Researcher at the Danish Institute of Agricultural and Fisheries Economics (1991-1998).

Angela Clark

Head of Recruitment, University College London (UCL), UK

Angela Clark is a seasoned HR and talent management professional with over 25 years of experience in talent acquisition, organisational design, and HR transformation across financial services, technology, and higher education. As the Head of Recruitment at University College London (UCL), she leads a team of 28, driving strategic recruitment initiatives that enhance hiring efficiency, improve workforce diversity, and deliver substantial cost savings. Under her leadership, UCL has successfully reduced its time-to-hire by more than 50%, improved its recruitment service delivery through technology integration, and significantly increased applications from underrepresented groups.

Prior to UCL, Angela held senior talent leadership roles at Cognizant, Equiniti Group, NEST Corporation and Deutsche Bank where she spearheaded global hiring strategies, implemented recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) models, and led large-scale international workforce integration projects. At Cognizant, she played a pivotal role in scaling graduate and apprenticeship recruitment, optimising contractor management, and driving efficiencies that reduced cost-per-hire by 37%. Her expertise in international recruitment frameworks, contingent workforce strategies, and employer branding has positioned her as a thought leader in talent acquisition within complex, global environments.

Angela is passionate about leveraging data-driven talent strategies to support business transformation and international expansion and she will share insights on building scalable, inclusive models that align with organisational growth in an increasingly globalised talent market.

Paul Greatrix

Past President, HUMANE, UK

Dr Paul Greatrix was the Registrar at the University of Nottingham, a post he held until the end of 2024.

As Registrar he was responsible to the President and Vice-Chancellor for the academic administration of the University. As well as being Secretary to the statutory bodies of the University and a member of the University Executive Board, the Registrar manages the provision of a broad range of professional services for prospective students, current students and staff.

Prior to joining the University of Nottingham he held a number of roles at the University of Warwick including Acting Registrar. Before joining Warwick in 1998 he was at the University of East Anglia for six years, where he worked on quality matters, and Staffordshire University.

Paul read English Language at the University of Edinburgh, and holds a PhD from the School of Education at the University of East Anglia.

He was Chair of the HUMANE General Assembly for a period before being elected to the HUMANE Board in 2021. From October 2023 to December 2024, Paul was the President of HUMANE. Paul was also Honorary Secretary of AHUA, the Association of Heads of University Administration in the UK until the end of 2024.

Paul used to blog regularly on Wonkhe but now has his own blog, Wonderful HE, and continues to try other things with podcasting.

Nigel Healey

Consultant, Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) and Associate, ICHEM, University of Bath, UK

Dr Nigel Healey is a researcher and consultant in higher education. His research interests are the internationalisation of higher education, transnational education and higher education management. He has served in senior academic management roles at the University of Limerick, Fiji National University, Nottingham Trent University, the University of Canterbury and Manchester Metropolitan University, and was Jean Monnet Chair at the University of Leicester.

Professor Healey has a strong commitment to internationalisation and to putting internationalisation at the heart of the student experience. His research interests are in the internationalisation of higher education, and particularly the management of transnational education partnerships.

Ben Matthews

Associate Director of Global Engagement, Lancaster University, UK

Ben Matthews is the Associate Director of Global Engagement at Lancaster University, where he leads international partnerships, global reputation initiatives, and student mobility programs. Under his leadership, Lancaster has expanded its Transnational Education (TNE) programs to Germany, Malaysia, China, Indonesia, and Ghana. Today, one-third of Lancaster’s student population completes their studies overseas.

Committed to widening participation, diversity, and inclusion, Ben is passionate about empowering students to become global citizens through transformative education. His work prioritises sustainability, leveraging digital tools, and promoting cross-cultural understanding to foster equitable and impactful partnerships.

Ben’s strategic and hands-on approach has significantly enhanced Lancaster’s global reach and reputation through TNE, online education, and innovative engagement initiatives.

Iryna Nikolayeva

Senior Manager, Learning Planet Institute, FR

Iryna Nikolayeva is a Senior Product Manager in EdTech and climate education activist. For the last years, her focus has been on a web app that fosters innovation in education, mainly for sustainability. She is working on products for project-based, collaborative learning experiences. These products use artificial intelligence to facilitate collaboration, mentoring, and learning. She combines user-centric design, data-driven decision making, cross-functional teamwork, and applied machine learning to create impactful experiences for thousands of students worldwide.

Iryna is helping to improve the design of these tools, to strategically prioritise and organise the development of future features, to create a user community across the LPI and elsewhere, and to search for partners. She is closely working with the testers and the first users of the tool, as well as with all the members of the digital platform team.

Iryna is an engineer by training and received a Ph.D. in systems biology from the LPI, then she used data analysis to improve studying experience in Sorbonne University and to do research on feedback in adaptive learning software.

Iryna is a former sAvanturiers mentor and a facilitator for the Climate Collage association.

Jean-Marc Ogier

Ex-president EU-Conexus, La Rochelle University, FR

Jean-Marc Ogier was President of the University of La Rochelle between 2016 and 2024. He previously served as Vice President in charge of the institution’s digital policy since 2005. Jean-Marc Ogier is also a member of the CPU Board of Directors.

Jean-Marc obtained a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Rouen in 1994 and an HDR (Habilitation à directeur des recherches), also from the University of Rouen, in 2000.

He was appointed Lecturer at the IUT of Lannion in 1994 and is responsible for continuing education there. In 1998, he was transferred to the Faculty of Science. In 2000, Jean-Marc Ogier directed the DESS GEII (Master’s Degree in Information Systems Engineering) in Rouen.

From 2001, he was a university professor at the University of La Rochelle. He directed the IUP (University Institute of Technology) in Computer Engineering in La Rochelle from 2002 to 2004. Promoted to first-class professor in 2007, he created, directed, and reformed the Icone Master’s in Information Systems Engineering from 2008 to 2012. In 2012, he became a professor of exceptional class.

He has directed the L3i laboratory since 2011. He has also been responsible for the university’s CPER Numeric since 2014 and continued to do so until 2020.

Jean-Marc has been appointed Director General of the CESI Engineering School, effective the end of January 2025.

Nannette Ripmeester

Founder & CEO of Expertise Labour Mobility, NL

Nannette Ripmeester is director of Expertise in Labour Mobility (ELM). ELM specialises for over 25 years in customising solutions for international labour mobility for study and work purposes. Together with her team, Nannette works under the motto of ‘making mobility work’ for clients in the higher education, corporate and government sector. She is considered an expert on global mobility trends and how to enhance the connection between recent graduates and their future job opportunities.

Nannette holds an MA degree from the University of Amsterdam and combines her role for ELM with her work as Director Europe & North America for i-graduate – a leading benchmarking organisation responsible for running the International Student Barometer (ISB) under 4M students worldwide. More recently, she has become involved in the employability initiative CareerProfessor.works, supporting students’ intercultural and employability skills through a gamification app.

Her love for global mobility and bridging the gap between education and the world of work was ignited when she worked for 7 years at the European Commission where she was responsible for setting up the EURES database on living and working conditions and regional labour job market in the EU Member States.

Karen Stanton

Interim President and Vice-Chancellor, University of the Arts London, UK

Professor Karen Stanton is the Interim President and Vice-Chancellor, University of the Arts London, UK. Previously she was Vice-Chancellor at Bishop Grosseteste University, Vice-Chancellor at Solent University and prior to that Vice-Chancellor at York St John University. Professor Stanton was Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Glasgow Caledonian University and has also held positions at King’s College London and at the Universities of Nottingham, Birmingham and Sheffield Hallam.

Her previous areas of responsibility have included Director of the Centre for e-Research, a 4* rated research team based at King’s College London, responsibility for GCU’s overseas campuses in New York, Oman and Bangladesh and as a member of the United Nations Alliance-UK. She was Chair of the Cathedral’s Group and Vice Chair of GuildHE until December 2019. Prior to her academic career Professor Stanton worked as a researcher for the BBC and the Home Office.

Professor Stanton has over 20 years of academic leadership experience having dedicated her career to enhancing and advancing life and career opportunities through education, with a particular commitment to widening access and support for all. She is Chair of Southampton Connect.

Karen Vandevelde

HR Director, University of Antwerp, BE

Karen Vandevelde is the HR Director at Antwerp University since 2018, after a long career as research policy advisor at Ghent University (2006-2018). She oversees the implementation of HR policies as well as their operational processes, including recruitment & selection, career development, appraisal & rewards systems and academic leadership. She represents Antwerp University in the HR Working group of the Flemish Rectors’ Conference (VLIR), in the Research Policy working group & Academic Careers working group of YERUN, and in the formal national negotiation committee of the government, union representatives and institutions.

Many of her pet projects are to be situated at the intersection of research policies and HR policies. She has taken on the role of Advisor or Expert in a number of working groups for the Flemish Council for Science and Innovation, the Flemish Royal Academy of Science and the Arts, the OECD (Careers of Doctorate Holders project), the European Commission (DG RTD) and a number of consultancy-led projects related to research policy, HR and researchers’ careers.

Karen is committed to making universities a great place to work, despite the increasing pressures on academics in terms of career insecurity, competitive funding acquisition, leadership challenges and work-life balance. In order to keep challenging her own career choices, she enjoys being a mentor in the postdoc career mentoring programmes of Antwerp University as well as Ghent University.

Karen holds a MA Degree from Ghent University (1996) and a PhD Degree in Arts (2001) from the National University of Ireland, Galway.

Kirsty Walker

Vice-President (External Engagement), UCL, UK

Kirsty Walker is UCL’s Vice-President, External Engagement. She took up the role in August 2022 following a successful and wide-ranging career in political communications and journalism, including spending nearly 13 years as a political correspondent based in Westminster. In her role as Vice-President, External Engagement, she leads UCL’s central student recruitment, marketing, communications, media, social media, public affairs, events and digital experience teams.

During her reporting career, she covered many world-changing events and travelled with successive British Prime Ministers reporting from places such as Iraq, Afghanistan, the White House and the Kremlin. Kirsty is an experienced broadcaster and has appeared as a political commentator on BBC, ITV, Sky and LBC.

After leaving journalism, she worked for Westminster-based communications agency iNHouse Communications before joining the civil service as Head of Strategy and Communications, and then Secretariat Director, for the Social Mobility Commission alongside former chair the Rt Hon Alan Milburn. She joined UCL in June 2018 to lead media relations and develop the university’s senior political engagement strategy, including setting up a new public affairs team in 2021.

Kirsty is also a Humane Winter School alum, having attended the school in 2020.

Winter School Panel

Nadine Burquel

Winter School Director and Director General of HUMANE, BE

Nadine is the Director General of HUMANE. She works closely with the Chair and the governing bodies on HUMANE’s strategic developments. She manages the HUMANE Office to offer the membership an attractive portfolio of professional development and networking activities. She has been involved with HUMANE since its foundation in the mid-nineties, until December 2022 as Executive Director of the three residential schools (the Barcelona Winter School, the Berlin Summer School and the Asia School).

Nadine has extensive director level experience, having worked with multiple international non-profit organisations, university networks and international boards. She has wide knowledge of leadership, governance and management in higher education institutions, and the global trends in the higher education sector. As EFMD Director of Business School Services she was responsible for a wide portfolio of large global events and communities of practices, interacting with business schools and universities in the wider Europe, North and Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Australia, the Middle East, the Gulf, as well as North and South America. More recently in Maastricht University she was strategic adviser to the leadership of the School of Business and Economics, advising on international accreditation, the internationalisation strategy, and delivering societal impact.

She has significant experience with EU (higher) education policy and programmes since the early days of the Erasmus programme. She has a strong track record of EU projects, leading large EU-funded European university networks and providing technical assistance to the European Commission. She is high level EU policy expert, working at system level in Brussels and beyond, carrying out capacity building and evaluations of EU interventions, having worked with EU Delegations in many countries.

Rodrigo Cetina Presuel

Associate Dean of Education and Academic Affairs, UPF – Barcelona School of Management, ES

Rodrigo Cetina Presuel is the Associate Dean for Education and Academic Affairs, the Coordinator of the Masters in Public and Social Policies and a Senior Lecturer at the the Barcelona School of Management at Pompeu Fabra University (UPF-BSM). He holds a PhD in Communication Law and Policy from the Complutense University of Madrid, and a Master’s in International Law from IEB/ISDE as well as a Bachelor´s degree in Law.

Before joining UPF-BSM he was a Researcher at the Institute for Global Law and Policy at Harvard Law School and served as Executive Director of the RCC at Harvard University. He has held several international faculty, research, and teaching positions, among others at Harvard University, New York University (NYU), Emerson College, Lasell University, and at the City University of New York (CUNY).

Rodrigo conducts research related to freedom of expression and communication rights, particularly into how private entities are shaping the digital public sphere through the policies that govern social platforms and the methods and practices they use to enforce these policies, including the use of artificial intelligence, human moderators, and lobbying. He also explores the interactions between private entities that regulate speech and how governments are responding to the challenges of regulating expression and content as well as policies and practices related to surveillance, privacy and the use of personal data and the enforcement or regulation aimed at protecting fundamental rights online.

He has recently published two volumes, the Handbook of Communication Rights, Law and Ethics (Wiley, 2021) and Blockchain, Fintech and the Law (Tirant lo Blanch, 2022).