Mayor of Amsterdam

Mr. Van der Laan (Dutch Labour party) has been mayor of Amsterdam since July 2010. Prior to this, he was minister for integration and housing. Mr. Van der Laan graduated cum laude in law from Amsterdam’s Vrije Universiteit in 1983. He co-founded the law firm Kennedy Van der Laan, specialising in legal liability. He was also a board member of the Dutch public broadcasting corporation.

Deputy mayor of Amsterdam

Andrée van Es is a member of the Green Left party. She is currently alderman for diversity and integration in Amsterdam’s city council. She was a member of the House of Representatives for the Pacifist Socialist Party and the Greens. Her responsibilities as deputy mayor (since 2010) are employment, income, participation, diversity and integration.

Mayor of Rotterdam

Mr. Aboutaleb has been the mayor of Rotterdam since January 2009. A member of the Labour party, he previously served as state secretary for social affairs and employment. He is the first mayor of a large city in the Netherlands who is of Moroccan, Muslim and immigrant descent. His educational background is in telecommunications. He started his career working for major Dutch television broadcasters.

Chairperson of the education, culture and sports committee, Riga city council

Ms. Aldermane is a member of Latvia's First Party/Latvian Way (Liberal). In 2009 she was elected to the Riga City Council and became chairperson of the education, culture and sports committee. Prior to this, Ms. Aldermane was the head of the Latvian Naturalisation Board. She was one of the first in Latvia to receive the Public Harmony Award for special merits in bringing Latvia’s ethnic groups closer together. She has been a state secretary and deputy minister at the ministry of education and science.

Conference moderator

Ali Al-Jaberi (1984) is an experienced moderator, consultant and communication trainer. He is a former winner of the Dutch National Debating Championship and was previously ranked one of Europe's top public speakers. Al-Jaberi draws from experience as a former TV correspondent and media spokesperson. He has taught public policy at The Hague University and political science at the University of Amsterdam. Al-Jaberi has worked as a moderator and trainer in over fifteen countries. He is fluent in English, Arabic and Dutch. (http://www.debatingskills.com/)

EUROCITIES secretary general

Paul Bevan has been secretary general of EUROCITIES since November 2008. Previously, he was chief executive of the South East England Regional Assembly, which he founded and developed as the strategic planning, housing and transport authority. Paul has over 25 years experience in local government service management, city planning, economic development, regeneration and partnerships. Paul holds a masters in comparative politics and a postgraduate diploma in town planning.

Deputy mayor for education and culture, Budapest

Mr. Csomós is a politician in Hungary’s governing Conservative party. He has been deputy mayor for education and culture of Budapest since October, 2010. From 2006, he has been member of the general assembly of Budapest, after being municipal representative of Budapest’s District XV (1998-2002). Before entering politics, he taught mathematics and philosophy. Mr. Csomós graduated in 1987 at the faculty of mathematics and Philosophy of Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest.

Deputy mayor of Nantes

Karine Daniel is deputy mayor for international relations and European affairs. She is member of the French Socialist Party. She is active in numerous European networks including EUROCITIES, for which she chaired the culture forum from 2008 to 2010. She holds a PhD in economics and is director of a social sciences research laboratory at the Grande Ecole for Agriculture in Angers where she also teaches at masters level.

Berlin state secretary for integration and employment

Born in Iran, Mr Dilmaghani studied international relations, political science and philosophy in Lyon and Frankfurt. He worked at the German Federal Treasury and the Chancellery. From 2009 to 2011 Mr. Dilmaghani was head of communications and marketing at the European School of Management and Technology, Berlin. He was appointed state secretary for integration and employment in December 2011.

Councillor, Istanbul

Engin Tayyar Erçağ is a member of the Istanbul Municipal Assembly. After graduating from Istanbul Technical University as a civil engineer, Mr. Erçağ became partner and director of an engineering and contracting company and is currently the co-president of Kumburgaz Sports Club.

Commissioner of integration, Barcelona

Mr. Esteve holds a degree in philosophy from the University of Barcelona and a degree in education from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. He was one of the leaders of the Catalan Teacher’s Labour Union USTEC and he is member of the Liberal CDC (Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya) party. In 2011 he was appointed commissioner of immigration in the municipality of Barcelona.

Member of the committee for integration, Copenhagen

Ms. Færch is a Danish Socialist. She is member of the employment and integration committee of Copenhagen city council. She holds a bachelor’s degree in public administration from Roskilde University and has been active in several major grassroots initiatives, including the Association for Church Asylum.

Vice mayor for social affairs, labour market and economy, The Hague

Mr. Kool is a Dutch politician for the Labour party and has been a vice mayor for the city of The Hague since 2006. His academic background is in journalism (Utrecht School of Journalism) and political science (University of Leiden). He started his career working at several Dutch radio stations and newspapers and afterwards started his own communications and media consultancy.

Vice mayor for labour market, high education, innovation and participation, Rotterdam

Beginning her political career at national level, Korrie Louwes (Social Liberals) worked for several Dutch ministries before becoming vice mayor of Rotterdam in 2010. She has a doctorate in history from the University of Leiden. She is a former director of the Dutch ministry for social affairs and employment.

Coordinator of family and social services, Madrid

Carlos María Martínez Serrano was appointed coordinator of family and social services at the city of Madrid in January 2012. He was previously administrator of the District of Arganzuela in the city of Madrid.

President of the Greek Forum of Migrants

Mr. Ahmed was elected President of the Greek Forum of Migrants in March 2010. After entering the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens - School of Philosophy, he specialised in training and supporting migrant labour relations issues. He has extensive experience in journalism. He has worked since 1983 in several newspapers and he is a member of the Foreign Journalists' Union of Greece. He has compiled and edited the ‘Guide for migrants’.

Vice mayor of Tampere

Mr. Parviainen has been a Green party representative of the Tampere City Council and the city's Board of Directors since 2009. He is also chair of the Green Council. Mr. Parviainen holds a bachelors degree in engineering, a bachelor’s degree in network communication and a master’s in interactive media from the University of Tampere.

Deputy mayor of Helsinki

Mr. Sauri is a Finnish psychologist and a Green League politician. He became famous in Finland during the late 1990s for hosting a popular radio show Yölinja (‘Nightline’), helping callers with their various personal problems. Mr. Sauri attended the Helsinki University, receiving his bachelor's degree in 1975, his first master’s degree in 1977 and second master’s degree in 1980. In 1990 he got his PhD from the Brunel University in London.

EUROCITIES migration and integration working group chair

Mr. Sanahuja became the director responsible for immigration and integration in Barcelona in 2005. He has chaired EUROCITIES working group migration & integration since 2009. Mr. Sanahuja holds a degree in economics and a master’s in public management from the Universidad Autónoma of Barcelona - UAB. He also holds a degree in transport economy and environmental sociology from the Erasmus University in Rotterdam. Mr. Sanahuja regularly publishes articles on immigration, integration and family reunification.

Member of European Parliament

Ms. Sargintini is a Dutch politician (Greens) and has been an MEP for the European Greens since 2009. Before becoming an MEP she was the chair of the GroenLinks party of Amsterdam. From a young age Ms. Sargentini was politically aware, taking part in politically motivated demonstrations. Her educational background is in history at the University of Amsterdam.

Vice chair of the Oulu city board

Ms. Takkula is a Finnish politician from the Centre Party. She has been the vice chair of the Oulu’s city board since October 2010. Before this she was a member of the city council for eight years. She also represents the city board in the committee for education and in the committee of employment. Professionally, she has 26 years of experience in from the social welfare sector.

Vice president for the committee for international relations, Rennes

Ms Vadillo is a French Socialist politician. She is the vice president for international relations in Rennes Metropole. She has been a member of the council since 1995, where she has been in charge women's rights and social affairs. She is regional councillor for the Brittany Region (since 2004) and vice president for tourism and heritage since 2010. Ms Vadillo is a Spanish native and came to France at the age of five.

Chairman of commission for citizenship, governance, institutional and external affairs (CIVEX), Committee of the Regions

Mr. Van den Brande is a Belgian politician for the Flemish Christian Democrats. With a PhD in law from the University of Leuven, Mr. Van den Brande practiced for 18 years before commencing his political career in 1988. He was a federal minister of labour market and employment and later minister-president of the Flemish government for seven years (1992-1999). He was elected president of the Committee of the Regions in 2008 for two years after holding the vice presidency from 2006-2008.

Councillor, Istanbul

Yalçın Yönet is a Turkish politician of the AKP (Party for Justice and Development). He is a member of the Istanbul Municipal Assembly. He graduated from Trakya University before starting his career as a deputy inspector for a private company in 2000. In the meantime, he completed a graduate program in production and marketing at Marmara University in 2002. He continued his career as an inspector and a regional manager. Now he runs his own restaurant. He is married with one child.

Paul Scheffer is a Dutch author. He was a professor at the University of Amsterdam from 2003 to 2011 and is now professor of European studies at Tilburg University. He published the article ‘The Multicultural Drama’ that ignited the controversial debate about integration and immigration in the Netherlands in 2000. His 2007 book ‘Het land van aankomst’ was published in English in 2011 as ‘Immigrant Nations’, and deals with the overlaps between multiculturalism in the Netherlands and immigration to the Netherlands. The central idea of this book is that immigration always has been and is a process of alienation for both the newcomers and natives.

Professor of political theory, Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona

Han Entzinger studied sociology in Leiden, Rotterdam and Strasbourg and is now Professor of Migration and Integration Studies at Erasmus University Rotterdam. From 1986-2001 he held a position as Professor of Social Sciences at Utrecht University. Earlier, Entzinger worked inter alia for the International Labour Organisation in Geneva and for the Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy. He has published extensively on migration, integration policies and inter-ethnic relations and has acted as a consultant on these issues to various governments and European organisations.

From 1994-2002 he was President of the Research Committee on Migration of the International Sociological Association. He now serves on the advisory boards of several research institutes, such as the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI), the International Institute for Social Studies (ISS) and Netherlands Statistics, all in The Hague, and the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin.

Halleh Ghorashi is professor of managing diversity and integration at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. She is the author and co-author of several books and has published many articles on topics such as identity and cultural diversity. Her most recent publication is ‘Muslim Diaspora in the West: Negotiating Gender, Home and Belonging’ (together with H. Moghissi, Ashgate 2010). Currently her research focuses on the narratives of identity and belonging of migrants, along with exclusion and inclusion in the context of growing culturalism.

Rinus Penninx has been professor of ethnic studies at the University of Amsterdam since 1993 where he founded the Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies (IMES). From 1999-2009, he was European co-chair of International Metropolis. In 2004, he coordinated the Network of Excellence IMISCOE (International Migration, Integration and Social Cohesion in Europe). In 2009 he founded its independent follow up: the IMISCOE Research Network, for which he continues to work. Most of his present research work is on immigrant organisations, on migration and integration policies at the EU level and on local integration policies.

Baukje Prins is Associate Professor of Citizenship and Diversity at the Hague University of Applied Sciences. She studied Dutch language and literature and philosophy at the University of Groningen and wrote her PhD on situated knowledge and the Dutch minorities discourse at Utrecht University in 1997. Before her appointment in The Hague in 2009, she taught social and political philosophy at the universities of Amsterdam, Maastricht and Groningen. She was a co-editor of academic journals in philosophy and migration studies, and has publications in the areas of cultural studies, feminism, political philosophy, ethics, and ethnic and migration studies.

Sawitri Saharso is professor of intercultural governance at the University of Twente (Enschede). She is an associate professor at the Department of Sociology of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, where she studied sociology and wrote her PhD (1992) on the identity of migrant youth in the Netherlands. Her research fields include the governance of migration, religious diversity and citizenship within a European comparative perspective, the comparative study of European integration policies, gender, migration and health, and gender and education.

Marleen Stikker studied philosophy at the University of Amsterdam. As 'mayor' of the 'Digital City' (DDS) in Amsterdam, she developed the first European free gateway and virtual community on the internet in 1993, a place where citizens, organisations, companies and publishers made their first steps onto ‘the electronic highway’. In 1994 Stikker founded ‘Waag Society’, a medialab, developing creative technological applications for societal innovation.

Afke van Rijn has an educational background in technical computer science from the Technical University of Delft, from which she also obtained a PhD. Ms. van Rijn studied linguistics and linguistic philosophy and business administration too. She spent her professional career mainly within national ministries, first working for the Dutch ministry of economic affairs and since 2008 for the ministry of interior and kingdom relations. She was director for safety and security until January 2012 when she became director of the integration and society department.

Arthur van Schendel works for the city of Amsterdam as programme manager for diversity. This programme aims to increase the diversity of its workforce. The focus is on women and migrants, especially in leadership positions. He began his career in the arts world as a bookseller, theatre manager and in arts marketing, running the Cooperative Amsterdam Arts Marketing Organisation. He was also the artistic director for the Dutch participation in EXPO 92 in Seville.

Gloria Wekker is a social and cultural anthropologist (MA: Universiteit van Amsterdam 1981, PhD: UCLA 1992), specialising in gender studies, sexuality studies, African American studies and Caribbean studies. In April 2006, Columbia University Press published The Politics of Passion; Women's Sexual Culture in the Afro-Surinamese Diaspora for which she received the Ruth Benedict Prize of American Anthropological Association (2007).

Director general of home affairs, European Commission

Mr Manservisi, an Italian national and law graduate, joined the European Commission in 1983. Since then, he worked in the DGs for Agriculture and Development, after which he served in the cabinets of four commissioners. He served as director general of DG Development from 2004 to 2010. In July 2010, he became the director general for home affairs.

Robert S. Lynd professor of sociology, Columbia University, USA

Centennial visiting professor at the London School of Economics, Saskia Sassens also co-chairs the Committee on Global Thought. In addition, she writes and updates books, including A Sociology of Globalization (W.W.Norton 2007), Territory, Authority, Rights: From Medieval to Global Assemblages (Princeton University Press 2008) and the 4th edition of Cities in a World Economy (Sage 2011). Her books are available in twenty-one languages.