Speakers

Dr. Jos Beelen is Professor of Global Learning at The Hague University of Applied Sciences. He leads a research group that explores internationalisation at home, particularly the skills of lecturers to develop and teach internationalised curricula. Action research is a key method for this research theme. Another research theme is the continuum of internationalisation, from primary to tertiary education. Jos has published a range of articles on the implementation of internationalisation at home, both from educational and organizational and systemic perspectives.
Jos is also a Visiting Professor at Coventry University and a senior trainer for the European Association for International Education (EAIE). From that association he was the recipient of the 2018 President’s Award for his contribution to internationalisation at home.

Robert Coelen is Professor of Internationalisation of Higher Education at NHL Stenden University in the Netherlands, Director of the Centre for Internationalisation of Education (CIE) at the University of Groningen, and Visiting Professor at Research Institute of Higher Education,  Tongji University and at East China Normal University. He currently co-supervises 14 PhD students at the CIE. Prior to these appointments he was Vice-President International at Leiden University, and senior executive on internationalisation at The University of Queensland and James Cook University in Australia, especially focused on the recruitment of international students. He has worked for about 25 years in the field of international education after a successful Australian career in Molecular Virology.

Eva Janebova, Ph.D. serves as the newly appointed Director of the project of the  Institute for Excellence in Internationalization at Palacky University in the Czech Republic. Eva is an international educator with qualifications from Charles University and several international institutions including the University of Minnesota where she was the very first Mestenhauser Fellow in 2018. She has served as academic advisor to the Council for International Education Exchange and the Czech Ministry of Education. She has a record of developing successful international partnerships in Europe and North America, delivering Intercultural communication related courses at home and abroad. Her recent academic work includes Mapping the Dimensions of Inclusive Internationalization (with Christopher J. Johnstone) in edited Suzan Kommers and Krishna Bista, and editing the first ever monothematic issue on International Education in the Czechia Social Education Journal.

Christopher Johnstone is an Associate Professor of Comparative and International Development Education at the University of Minnesota. His research focuses on inclusivity in education, from schools to the internationalization of higher education. Johnstone is the current coordinator of his university's Leadership in International and Intercultural Education (LIIE) low-residency Ph.D. program, designed for scholar-practitioners in the field of international education. He has published over 60 books, journal articles, and chapters, and his recent work has appeared in the Journal of Studies in International Education, Higher Education, and Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad and he recently published the book Considering Inclusive Development Across Global Educational Contexts. In 2018, Johnstone was a Fulbright Specialist in Czechia and currently sits on the National Screening Panel for Fulbright Educational Teaching Assistants who will be placed in Czech Schools.

Professor Martin Kudláček serves as the Vice-Rector for International Relations at Palacký University Olomouc (UP). He is responsible for Confucius Institute and King Sejong Institute at Palacký University. He is coordinator of project AURORA (European Alliances) and is also responsible for project Czech Academic City in Erbil. Previously he worked as Vice-Dean for International Relations at the Faculty of Physical Culture. He is a full professor in kinesiology with specialisation in adapted physical activity. He  served as president of European Federation of Adapted Physical Activity and was founding editor of EUJAPA journal. His professional emphasis in inclusion and disability sport led to his participation in Paralympic Education projects and both European and World Championships in Para-Ice (sledge) hockey. 

Christopher Medalis serves as the Senior Internationalization Advisor at the Institute of Excellence in Internationalization project as well as an international education global programs and strategy expert currently based in New York City.  He has more than 25 years of experience leading strategic international education initiatives, advancing university internationalization, and managing grant programs and academic exchanges on behalf of governments, universities, foundations, and corporations.  He currently is Director of the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs at the School for International Training (SIT) in Vermont, USA. As a consultant, he most recently served SIT as Special Advisor to the President on Student Affairs, and before that as Senior International Advisor in the International Office of Palacký University in Olomouc, the Czech Republic.

Dr. Mikuláš is Head of International Relations Office at Palacký University Olomouc (UP). Previously he worked at two other universities as a Vice-Rector for International Cooperation and Mobility, Vice-Dean for International Cooperation and Public Relations, Erasmus Institutional Coordinator, et al. He defended his thesis at Comenius University, Bratislava, was a recipient of several scholarships and grants (e.g. at the University of Notre Dame, USA; University of Ottawa, Canada, etc.), worked as an investigator on projects funded by the European Social Fund, European Regional Development Fund, OPVVV, and in the recent years he has been participating in the supervision of Erasmus+KA1 activities (KA103 and KA107) at UP. A member of the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences (SVU, USA), Dr. Mikuláš participated and organized several SVU World Congresses. In 2008, he received the SVU Presidential Citation 2008 Award for the Advancement of Czech and Slovak Studies, Worldwide, Fostering Cooperation between the Czech and Slovak Rep., Czechs and Slovaks Worldwide. In 2019, he chaired the UP nomination winning the 2019 EAIE Award for Excellence in Internationalisation for Palacký University Olomouc.

Prof. Mgr. Jaroslav Miller, M.A., Ph.D. serves as the Rector of Palacký University. Twice he has received the prestigious scholarship of the German Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the fellowship of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. In 2008, he was a Fulbright scholar at Georgia College and State University in the United States. During the 2010/2011 he served as a visiting professor at University of Western Australia in Perth. In 2012, the Ambassador of the United States appointed Jaroslav ambassador of the Fulbright Programme in the Czech Republic. He is a member of numerous scientific organizations including the European Association of Urban Historians and the International Commission for the History of Cities and has received many academic and research awards, among others, the R. John Rath Prize for Best Study in Habsburg History and the Best Urban History Monograph Award.

Sabine Pendl is Immediate Past President of the European Association for International Education (EAIE) and Director of the Office of International Relations at the University of Graz , Austria. For more than 28 years she has been active in the field of internationalization.  She has managed international projects and summer schools; has worked as a trainer on the development of joint degrees and the management of an international office; has authored numerous articles on internationalization topics such as benchmarking and teaching in English; and has participated actively in conferences around the world. In addition, she was President of the Utrecht Network twice and currently acts as auditor for the German Rectors’ Conference for their internationalization project.

Leona Stašová is a Vice-Rector for International Affairs at the University of Hradec Králové. Previously, she worked as a Vice-Rector for Creative Activities, Vice-Dean for Science and Research at the Faculty of Education and a Head of the Department of Social Pedagogy at the same university. Her professional background is in social pedagogy; she deals with education in contemporary family and socialization of children and youth in a postmodern and global society. She has a long-lasting experience in university education and research. Furthermore, regarding her graduation in Sociology and Demography, she has an intensive interdisciplinary background. She has written numerous books, chapters, and journal articles and she has published her recent works with the Springer Nature. In her university positions, she has developed various international cooperations and partnerships, and she has significantly contributed to the internationalization of university study programmes and research activities. 

Hanneke Teekens brings more than 30 years of experience to the field of international education, as a teacher, writer, speaker and program director. She retired as member of the board of Nuffic, the Netherlands Organisation for Cooperation in Education, where she was among many other things responsible for the Erasmus program. She worked in many parts of the world and was a frequent speaker at international conferences and seminars. In 1990 Hanneke and a group of colleagues from the Hogeschool van Amsterdam started a large scale project in Central Europe to prepare teachers in universities for cooperation in the European education programs. Charles University was an active participants. In 1999 she was a member of the first special interest group in EAIE that developed the idea of Internationalisation at Home (I@H. An important point of interest in her ideas about Internationalisation is the role of the teacher and curriculum development. Currently she coordinates a large program for teachers in technical secondary schools in Rwanda.

Jakub Tesař is the head of the Higher Education Department at DZS – Czech National Agency for International Education and Research since 2018. His department administers Erasmus+ in higher education sector and the agenda of incoming students in the programmes of governmental and inter-governmental scholarships. Through the Study in the Czech Republic initiative, it also promotes Czech higher education abroad and supports internationalisation of Czech higher education institutions. Previously, Jakub worked in the J. W. Fulbright Commission where he was responsible for the management of the EducationUSA center. Jakub received his Master’s degree at Prague University of Economics in 1998.

Gayle Woodruff is the founding director of curriculum and campus internationalization for the University of Minnesota system where she established the Mestenhauser Legacy Initiative, the Internationalizing the Curriculum and Campus conference, and co-founded the Internationalizing Teaching and Learning Faculty Cohort Program. She provides leadership for initiatives aimed at faculty development, campus internationalization, and the evaluation and assessment of internationalization. She is principal investigator on The Study of the Educational Impact of International Students in Campus Internationalization. Previously she directed Minnesota’s innovative study abroad curriculum integration initiative and was the co-founder of the Multicultural Study Abroad Group. Gayle has published on numerous topics in international education. Her work has appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education and Inside Higher Education. Gayle is the recipient of NAFSA: Association of International Educators’ Marita Houlihan Award for Distinguished Service to International Education and the University of Minnesota’s John Tate Award for Excellence in Academic Advising. During her career at Minnesota, she also worked in multicultural affairs and taught in the Minnesota Studies in International Development Program - Ecuador.