Marina is the Director of Member Relations for Europe and the UK at ISEP Study Abroad, a non-profit organisation with the mission to break down financial and academic barriers to make study abroad accessible for all. Marina holds an undergraduate degree from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, a master’s degree from Universidad Antonio de Nebrija in Madrid, and is currently pursuing her PhD at the Centre for Higher Education Internationalisation (CHEI) of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milano (Italy). Marina has more than 22 years of experience in higher education internationalization spanning roles in Spain, Finland, and Morocco. She has served as a member of EAIE Leadership and as a Board member of CHEI. In her most recent position, she managed international strategy and operations as the Director of International Relations at Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona-Spain. Marina also created the SUCTI (Systemic University Change Towards Internationalisation) Project, an award-winning* training course designed to empower university administrative staff on internationalization. She trains and presents at conferences internationally and has been recognised with the EAIE Rising Star Award and the SGroup IMPACT Award. (*SUCTI has been awarded the Good practice label by the European Commission, the EAIE President’s Award in 2019 and the AIEA Innovative Excellence in Internationalization Award in 2024.)

David L. Di Maria is Associate Vice Provost for International Education at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), where he leads institutional strategy for global engagement while overseeing a diverse portfolio of international programs, projects and initiatives. He also serves an International Education Leadership Fellow within the Department of Educational Policy and Leadership at the University at Albany, a faculty member for the Association of International Education Administrators’ Leadership Academy for New Senior International Officers and an inaugural faculty member for the American International Recruitment Council’s Professional Certificate Program in International Student Recruitment and Enrollment Planning.

Prior to his position at UMBC, Di Maria was Associate Provost for International Programs at Montana State University, Director of International Programs and Services at Kent State University and Assistant Director of International Student and Scholar Services at St. Cloud State University. As a scholar-practitioner, he often presents, publishes and consults on critical issues affecting international education administration.

Di Maria is a member of the American Council on Education’s Commission on Internationalization and Global Engagement, the Association of Public and Land-grant University’s Commission on International Initiatives, the American International Recruitment Council’s Board of Directors and NAFSA: Association of International Educators’ International Education Leadership Knowledge Community. He holds a BA and MEd from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He earned a doctorate from the University of Minnesota, where his research focused on campus services for international students.

Patrício Langa is a Sociologist and Professor of Higher Education at the Institute for Post-School Studies (IPSS), University of the Western Cape (UWC), Cape Town, South Africa, and Distinguished Professor and formerly Vice-Rector’s adviser for Strategic Planning at Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM), Maputo Mozambique. He is a DAAD Research Fellow at the Forum Internationale Wissenschaft, University of Bonn, Germany. Prof. Langa coordinates the IPSS Doctoral Program in Higher Education Studies (DPHES) at the IPSS. He coordinates an international consortium on Comparative Higher Education, Policy, and Innovation Studies (CHEPIS) between IPSS/UWC, UEM, and KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, offering a Doctoral Degree and Post-Doc Mentorship Program. Prof. Langa has been an affiliated Scientist and Visiting Professor of Sociology, Science, Technology and Innovation Studies, and Policy at various universities, including the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in the United States of America, Boston, Massachusetts; Lisbon Autonomous University; and Danube University Krems in Austria, respectively. He holds an Honours degree in Sociology from Eduardo Mondlane University, a master’s degree in Higher Education Studies from the University of Cape Town, and a PhD in Sociology and Education with a major in Higher Education Studies from the University of Cape Town. He was the first Executive Director for External Evaluation in the National Council on Higher Education Quality Assurance and Accreditation in Mozambique (CNAQ). He currently serves on the board of Non-Executive Directors.

Prof Langa founded and was Director of the Centre for Higher Education Studies and Development (CESD) in Mozambique. He is also the founder of the African Consortium of Higher Education Researchers (ACHER) in Ghana. Prof Langa is one of three founding trustees of the well-established African Minds Publishing and founding President of an international African-based agency that promotes global academic mobility and studies abroad programs dubbed STAN-Global. He is also the founding member and Current President of the Mozambican Sociological Association (A.M.S.). His research interest is at the intersection of sociology, Higher Education, Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy Studies (HESTIP). He has published in both Sociology and HESTIPS journals.

Dr Miguel Antonio Lim is Senior Lecturer in Education, Research Excellence Framework (REF) Coordinator, and Co-Convenor of the Higher Education Research network at the Manchester Institute of Education at the University of Manchester. He has previously worked in research and management of international education roles at Aarhus University (Denmark), the London School of Economics, and Sciences-Po Paris. He leads research networks and projects for a variety of organisations including the Asia Europe Foundation, the ASEAN Secretariat, the British Council, the German Academic Exchange (DAAD), and the Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE), among others.

His research interests include internationalisation of higher education, East Asian and transnational higher education, university rankings and performance metrics. He engages with policy makers and university managers in international higher education across the world but particularly in Southeast Asia. More information about Miguel’s work is available online.

Francisco Marmolejo is since February 2020, Education Advisor of Qatar Foundation, providing support and advice towards the enhancement of the overall education strategy of QF and its unique eco-system of innovative education. Previously (2012–20), he worked at the World Bank, where he served as the Global Higher Education Coordinator, based in Washington, DC., and more recently as Lead Higher Education Specialist for India and South Asia, based in Delhi. From 1995 to 2002, he served as founding Executive Director of the Consortium for North American Higher Education Collaboration, a network of more than 160 universities mainly from Canada, USA and Mexico, based at the University of Arizona, where he also worked as Assistant Vice President, Affiliated Researcher at the Center for the Study of Higher Education, and Affiliate Faculty at the Center for Latin American Studies. Previously, he has been American Council on Education Fellow at the University of Massachusetts, Academic Vice President of the University of the Americas in Mexico, and International Consultant at OECD in Paris. He serves or has served on governing or advisory boards and committees at a variety of universities and organizations, including the International Association of Universities, the American Council on Education’s Commission on International Initiatives, NAFSA, World Education Services, AIEA, CHEA, the Lumina Foundation for Education, and the Centre for Internationalisation of Higher Education at UNICATT-Milan. He has received honorary doctorate degrees from his Alma Mater, the University of San Luis Potosi, and the University of Guadalajara in Mexico.

Liviu Matei is a professor of higher education and public policy, and Head of the School of Education, Communication and Society at King's College London. He founded the Global Observatory on Academic Freedom, the Yehuda Elkana Center for Higher Education, and the Global Teaching Fellowships Program. His primary areas of expertise include academic freedom and university autonomy, governance, funding, internationalization of higher education, quality assurance, and history and politics of higher education.

He taught at universities from Europe and the U.S, consulted extensively in higher education for international intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, public authorities, and universities from Europe, the U.S., and Asia.

Dr Terhi Nokkala is a Senior Researcher at the Finnish Institute for Educational Research (FIER), University of Jyväskylä. Her research focuses on the interplay between higher education policy, technological developments, organisational parameters and networks, and individual experiences in various aspects of higher education, with specific interest in internationalisation, research collaboration and university autonomy. Prior to joining the FIER in June 2010, Terhi Nokkala worked as a Research Fellow at Centre for Research in Social Simulation at the University of Surrey with research related to research collaboration networks. Terhi received her PhD in Higher Education from the University of Tampere in 2007.

Lewis Purser is Director (Academic Affairs) at the Irish Universities Association, where he works with the Vice-Presidents Academic/Registrars' group, and also supports other groups including the admissions officers, access managers/directors, international officers, quality officers, heads of teaching and learning and heads of student services.

From 1998–2005 Lewis was Programme Manager at the European University Association. A graduate of Trinity College Dublin and of the Graduate Institute of Development Studies at the University of Geneva, he worked from 1989–1998 with various higher education institutions in Hungary, Romania and Bosnia-Herzegovina, and with several United Nations agencies in educational, health and social fields.

Dr. Dawn Wood is a leading international educator with over 25 years of experience in international education leadership. She is well-published in the area of inclusive internationalization, education abroad and intercultural experiences. Dr. Wood completed a Ph.D. in Higher Education Internationalization at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan, Italy where her research focused on how interculturality impacts low-income, first-generation, technical and rural students. Dawn serves as the Dean of Global Learning at Kirkwood Community College and has held international education leadership roles at a variety of institutions and organizations.

Dr. Wood has experience living and working abroad in both Denmark and the Czech Republic and has travelled extensively throughout the world as part of her roles. She has served as a leader, mentor, and consultant and has presented at many international conferences including NAFSA, AIEA, WFCP, Phi Beta Delta, Professional International Educators Roundtable, StudyIowa, and Community Colleges for International Development and Global Education Network.She has served as a NAFSA and Forum on Education Abroad leader in many roles.  

Renée Zicman is Executive Director of the Brazilian Association for International Education FAUBAI, which brings more than 200 higher education institutions members. She has been Professor in the School of Social Sciences (1980-2017) as well as Director for International Affairs (1994-2012) at the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo PUC-SP. She has served as Vice-President of the Franco-Brazilian Centre of Technical and Scientific Documentation (2010-2015) and member of the Academic Committee of the Latin American Memorial Foundation. Representing FAUBAI, she has been co-founder of the Latin American Initiative for the Internationalization of Higher Education INILAT, a space for dialogue and exchange between associations and networks from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. Professor Zicman developed many national, regional and international activities being involved in a variety of programmes and projects in the field of internationalization of higher education. She studied History and Architecture in Brazil and in France. She has published books and articles on Internationalization of Higher Education, including a chapter at The Bloomsbury Handbook of The Internationalization of Higher Education in The Global South. She has been appointed Knight of the Order of the Legion of Honor, the highest French decoration, and she is the recipient of the Order of Academic Palms from the Government of France (Knight and Officer).