Experts

"Based on my knowledge of internationalisation and the expertise gained within ACA, I will be able to lead the work on the further elaboration of the PROFFORMANCE tool when it comes to internationalisation and I could possibly support the newly introduced digitalisation pillar, particularly regarding topics lying at the intersection of internationalisation and digitalisation such as virtual experience for internationalisation at home or blended mobility. I can also support activities related to the development of training courses on internationalisation for teachers and I am eager and fully capable to promote the PROFFORMANCE tool on various occasions."

Angeliki Psychogyiou is an EU funding and grants specialist, with considerable experience in higher education and vocational education and training sectors. She has been working at ACA since 2021. Her main focus is on digitalisation and sustainability in international higher education, conducting both project and policy related work. 
Angeliki’s main areas of professional and personal interest are international cooperation, mobility as a foster agent for European identity, digitalisation, inclusion and social responsibility of educational institutions.

Silke Preymann is a project manager of the Erasmus+ funded projects EnhanceIDM! (Enhanced Programme Leadership for Inclusion and Diversity Management in Higher Education) and ENTRANTS (Enhancing the transition of non-traditional students). She is working as a researcher in the Department for Higher Education Research and Development at FH Upper Austria with a focus on change and change management at universities (e.g. the implementation of the social dimension/the introduction of measures in the field of diversity management and inclusion).

"Being a part of the previous PROFFORMANCE team, I feel competent and motivated to improve the tool we have already created and, thus, to additionally upgrade my knowledge and experience in this area. Besides, I would really like to participate in promoting our previous achievements across organisations and countries, regardless of the type and duration, since no tool is valid enough if not used and if not understood properly."

Renata Šamo graduated in the English Language and Literature (Minor: Spanish) from the Faculty of Philology, University of Belgrade, then received her master’s and doctor’s degrees, both in Philology, from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb. At present, she is a Professor at the Faculty of Humanities in Pula, where she heads the newly-founded English Department, along with being the Vice-Dean for Research and International Cooperation. Before that she used to teach at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, and the Faculty of Teacher Education in Zagreb, as well as at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Rijeka. Her research interests include psycholinguistics, second language acquisition (SLA), educational linguistics, (critical) discourse analysis, and more recently geolinguistics, language landscape, and language philosophy. She has presented many papers at conferences, seminars and workshops in Croatia, around Europe and in the U.S.A. (e.g. University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, University of Geneva, Georgetown University (Washington, DC), Harvard University) to be later released by a range of national and international publishers (e.g. Multilingual Matters, Peter Lang, Springer, Bulzoni Edittore, etc.). Her publications also include one research book (another one in press); in addition, she co-edited one research volume. Renata Šamo is a member of the editorial board of one national journal, as well as a member of the scientific council of one international journal. Besides her affiliation with different academic and professional associations in Croatia, she is a member of the International Association of Applied Linguistics (AILA). Renata Šamo lives in Pula after moving from Zagreb in late 2019, but she passionately loves travelling across the world. Never stop challenging yourself is probably the best wording that can be used to describe Renata Šamo professionally and privately; that’s her real-life credo!

Marina Diković is assistant professor of pedagogy at the Faculty of Educational Sciences Juraj Dobrila University of Pula. Her research interests include didactics (curriculum), intercultural pedagogy, human rights education, and citizenship education. She is head of the Pedagogical competences teaching program. She actively participates in domestic and international scientific conferences, and is the author and co-author of numerous papers in the wider field of pedagogy.

Daliborka Luketic is an associate professor at University, with scientific and teaching experience in Pedagogy (education science). Lots of rich experience in international projects and teacher training systems. 

Jan Beseda, PhD, is a senior researcher at the Centre for Higher Education Studies and holds the position of Head of the National Centre for Distance Education. Additionally, Jan serves as the Director of the Czech Association of Professional Tertiary Education. His primary areas of expertise include leveraging ICT in education, ensuring quality in higher education, and fostering competency development. Jan is also renowned for his role as the primary organizer of the international DisCo conference, focusing on the integration of ICT in education. Furthermore, he actively participates in several influential working groups, such as EURASHE Quality Assurance Community of Practice, and has been involved in numerous international projects.

Sandi Rizvić is a Classical Archaeology student at the University of Copenhagen, where he also studies ancient cultures and languages.
For more than 7 years, he has been active in student representation and higher education policy from his local union all the way to the European and global through ESU and Students Organising for Sustainability International. At a young age, he became involved in the international work of the Danish National Students’ Union, DSF, eventually becoming the International Officer in DSF.

In DSF, he was involved in internal and organisational development and management, as well as external representation on international issues. Over the years, he has also worked hard to improve access to education for marginalised groups, such as refugees in Denmark and to combat the barriers faced by international students.

Areas of responsibility:

• - Equality within ESU and in HEIs all over Europe,
• - Social Dimension,
• - Ukraine, especially in regards to equality

Anca Greere holds a PhD in Linguistics/Translation Studies and is habilitated in the Romanian context. She has been an active academic for over 20 years and hold a full professorship coupled with the role of director of a master's programme affiliated with a European Commission network. She ha led/contributed to a variety of national and international projects with a view to developing the European Higher Education Area and have designed and delivered training for multiple quality assurance agencies, universities and the European Commission. 

Dr. Irine Darchia is an Associate Professor in Classics at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (TSU) since 1996 and Higher Education Reform Expert (HERE) of Tempus/Erasmus+ National Office Georgia since 2009. 
Dr. Irine Darchia studied Georgian and Classical Philology at TSU (Georgia) and Modern Greek Language and Culture at National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (Greece). She did her Internship at the Universities of Jena and Saarbrucken (Germany), defended her dissertations (equivalent to PhD and Habilitation) at TSU (Georgia). Dr. Irine Darchia teaches classics at TSU (Georgia), but as a visiting professor she has delivered courses and public lectures at the universities of Germany, Greece, France, Italy, Norway and Denmark. She has coordinated and participated in international projects on Classics and Higher Education Development under DAAD, Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, Ministry of Development of Greece, SRNSF, Tempus, Erasmus+, OSGF, MCA Georgia, World Bank, etc. 
Since 2005 Dr. Irine Darchia has served as a Head of Quality Assurance Service and Vice-Rector of Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Rector’s Adviser at National Defence Academy, TSU and University of Georgia, Vice-Rector of East European University, Head of Higher Education and Science Development Department of the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia. She is an authorization and accreditation expert at NCEQE (Georgia), SKVC (Lithuania) and AIKA (Latvia). Dr. Irine Darchia is a member of International Advisory Board of National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance (Ukraine).   

Lali Giorgidze has worked in external QA of higher education that covers QA of internationalisation of higher education and QA of online/blended T&L. She is one of the members of the BFUG working group on Teaching and Learning (representing Georgia) which works on the development of specific recommendations for policymakers for translating into practice Rome Ministerial recommendations on T&L. As part of her current studies in Sweden, she focuses on sustainability and particularly on how HEIs contribute to the achievement of SDGs 2030. 

Frank Linde has many years of experience in developing and delivering workshops for teaching personnel in HE. This includes didactics in general and especially workshops on D&I. Insofar he will support this valuable project in the area of inclusion and partly also digitization.

Vilmos Vass is habilitated Associate Professor of Education Science and a teacher of Hungarian language and literature, history and pedagogy. He has been teaching in schools and universities for 41 years. He is a board member of several national and international associations. Between 2004 and 2010 he was a member of the EU Key Competences Cluster. In 2003 and 2007, he was the head of the revision on the National Core Curriculum and the Implementation Board. He is member of the Editorial Board of 14 national and international journals. He now works at the Budapest Metropolitan University, Hungary. He is the author or co-author of nearly 200 Hungarian and English language publications. His research areas and recent publications are on learning-centred curriculum theory and creative knowledge transfer. 

Language pedagogy and language educational technology specialist.
Head of ICT Research Center and university associate professor at the Department of German Language and Literature of the Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary. She received her PhD in 2004 and her habilitation in 2019.
Her research and teaching areas are linked to language learning methodology and learning and teaching with digital technologies (EdTech), particularly in foreign language teaching and teacher training, but more recently in higher education as well.

Areas of work covers higher education and adult learning sector

Systemic development of national Digital Competence Framework
Planning and implementation of European Social Fund projects of digital competence development for citizens 

Making policy analysis on the effect of digitalisation in education and labour market
Creating a digital competence framework based on the EU DigComp initiative
Consultancy in DigComp-based e-learning development

Consultancy in the development of digital competence measurement tools 

Supporting the internationalization of Hungarian higher education institutions

Dr. Ruaidhri Neavyn is currently employed as an advisor on Higher Education Policy with the Higher Education Authority and the Department of Education and Skills in Ireland. He contributes to the development of current and emerging policies and strategies relevant to the development of Higher Education in Ireland. Currently he is engaged in projects in the areas of skills and enterprise engagement, system governance & performance and internationalisation.Prior to this he served as president for over 11 years with two Institutes of Technology in Ireland, namely the Waterford Institute of Technology and the Institute of Technology Carlow. He has also served as an expert advisor for the OECD and EU and is currently a member of the Portuguese advisory council on higher education.

Bárbara Gabriel holds a Ph.D in Mechanical Engineering, with graduate studies on Electronic Engineering and Telecommunications, extensive experience on teaching/learning in Higher Education Institutions and expertise in the business sector. Currently, she works as a researcher in the field of innovation, entrepreneurial teaching and learning, engineering education, and nanoengineering applied to Manufacturing for Circular Economy and Innovative Technology for Intelligent Cities.

Since 2019, Bárbara Gabriel is Deputy-Director of the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Aveiro, being responsible for the strategy of Internationalization and Cooperation of the Department, particularly in the outreach of its educational and research offers. She is also the contact point and key link between the Department (and University) and the European Commission.

Since 2015, Bárbara Gabriel is the Coordinator of the Science and Engineering Education (SEE) Group in the University of Aveiro, conducting R&D related to methodologies for engineering teaching & learning. She carries active research on the profile (skills and competences) of higher education teachers for Society’s needs and demands, namely regarding innovation, competitiveness and most important, citizenship. Within this field, she was responsible of the creation and implementation of the Excellence in Engineering Education initiative (E3@UA) at the University of Aveiro.

Bárbara Gabriel is the coordinator of the European Erasmus+ project THEI2.0 (Towards HEInnovate 2.0: From assessment to action), and the TANDEM+ Project (Transformation, Acceleration, Networking, Development, Entrepreneurial education and Mentoring+), within the HEI Initiative promoted by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). She was also a member of the panel of experts of the European project Evaluation of Entrepreneurship Education Programmes in Higher Education Institutions and Centres (EEEPHEIC). 

Bárbara Gabriel is an expert and facilitator of HEInnovate, an initiative of the European Commission's DG Education and Culture in partnership with the OECD. 

Jelena Parojčić is an experienced HE professor, proactive lifelong learner believing that academic staff and students need empowerment for the challenges of uncertain times, and a bookworm.

Dragica Trivic is engaged in the further development of assessment and self-assessment tools as well as training for teachers.

Branka Milenkovic's experience and expertise are predominantly in the area of internationalization and digitalization, with additional interest in the areas of inclusion and sustainability. Over the years of her professional teaching and research development, she has been involved in the fields of applied linguistics, ELT and Academic writing. Besides teaching and researching in these study fields she has been involved in various international projects pertaining to the development of internationalization and Academic writing and these areas have inspired her teaching practice, institutional involvement and research interests. She is mostly stimulated by engaging in contemporary teaching practice, relevant and innovative methods of teaching and learning, contributing to institutional development and establishing and maintaining international cooperation for mutual support and growth in the field. Therefore, her incentive in being a part of this project is in sharing experience and knowledge and supporting institutional development to align with the European standards of higher education.