We are pleased to announce that the new EDEN Network of Academics and Professionals Steering Committee has been confirmed from May 2020 for a three-year period. Every three years, the NAP membership elects members of the Steering Committee to foster the EDEN NAP activities.The following candidates have been assigned to serve as NAP Steering Committee members for the next three years:
Francesca Amenduni
University Roma Tre, Italy
https://www.linkedin.com/in/francescamenduni/
Francesca Amenduni is a PhD Student in Education, Culture and Communication at Roma TRE University (IT). She  has developed her expertise in the e-learning field both as practitioner and researcher at national and international level. She carried out research on blended learning and her current PhD project regards semi-automated assessment of Critical Thinking short essays and open-ended answers. Part of her research has been developed at the Educational Testing Service in Princeton (NJ, USA) where she spent a term period as visiting student, funded by the Italian Minister of Education and Research (MIUR) through the “Leonardo da Vinci” scholarship. She has been working as researcher in several European projects in the field related to MOOCs, Open Education, and Digital Skills.

Igor Balaban
University of Zagreb, Faculty of Organization and Informatics, Varasdin, Croatia

Igor Balaban is Associate Professor at FOI, Vice-dean for science, international cooperation and projects, and Head of Laboratory for advanced technologies in e-learning. He was actively involved in a dozen of European and national projects, and coordinated several of them. He authored and co-authored 50+ scientific and professional papers and cooperates with European Commissions’ Joint Research Centre as an external expert for DigCompOrg & DigCompEdu frameworks and SELFIE tool. He organized and conducted dozens of workshops, talked at more than 20 conferences, and was invited speaker at some of them. He is also a reviewer for several highly respected journals such as Computers & Education, International Journal of ePortfolio and International Journal of Information Systems. His main field of interest is technology supported learning with special focus on adaptivity and personalization in learning environments and digital transformation of educational organizations. He also has a traceable scientific record in assessing the successful implementation of information systems.

Orna Farrell
National Institute of Digital Learning, Dublin City University, Ireland

Dr. Orna Farrell is Assistant Professor and Programme Chair of DCU Connected Humanities. Orna is currently Chair of DCU Connected Humanities,  the Humanities programmes are online open access undergraduate degrees aimed at adult students. Orna holds a BA (Hons) in Arts, an  MA in  History and a Higher Diploma in Secondary Teaching from University College Dublin, and a Phd in Education from Trinity College. Orna’s doctoral study explored online students learning experiences with eportfolio.

Inés Gil Jaurena
UNED, Spain

Mohammad Sameer Hasan
Universal Institute of Professional Management, India

Dr. Mohammad Sameer Hasan is an alumnus of Kiit University as well Indian Institute of Management, Ranchi. He is trained in Project Management and recently earned honorary doctorate degree’s from Institutes based in Malaysia and Brazil. He has been associated with Enactus, an international non-profit where he trained the trainers as an Advisory Board member. He is an Administrator of Education Ministry at International Parliament as well a Community Leader of Coursera.community. He worked as Mentor/Course Manager for Fundamentals of Project Planning and Management from University of Virginia, Critical Perspectives on Management from University of Pennsylvania and right now working as Mentor/Course Manager for specialization on Improving Leadership and Governance in Non-profit Organisations from SUNY, Construction Management Specialization from Columbia University, Leading People and Teams Specialisation from University of Michigan, Business Strategy Specialization from UVA, Business Foundations Specialization(Project) from University of Pennsylvania, Foundations of Management Specialization from IESE Business School, Leadership in 21st Century Organizations from CBS. He also works as an Advisory Board Member of PGDP program in Construction Management and Infrastructure Development from KIIT University. He also worked as Board Consultant for Enactus Worldwide Board, Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences and also mentored more than hundred non-profit board projects. He is also an ‘Ambassador’ of Global Peace Chain.

Vlad Mihaescu
University Politehnica Timisoara, Romania
https://www.linkedin.com/in/vladmihaescu/
Vlad Mihaescu has a PhD in educational and technological models of MOOCs and has more than 10 years’ experience as a trainer and teacher in areas like multimedia technologies, social media, e-tourism, e-learning, usability, programming, soft skills and leadership. Author of over 25 scientific papers and book chapters published in international conferences and journals, Vlad is involved in several European research projects in the field of eLearning. He is also a lecturer for UPT.

The EDEN Executive Committee delegate in the new NAP Steering Committee will be Alfredo Soeiro (University of Porto).
Alfredo Soeiro
EDEN Executive Committee member, EDEN EC delegate, NAP Steering Committee, EDEN Senior Fellow,
University of Porto, Portugal

https://www.eden-online.org/about-us/governance-and-management/

EDEN congratulates to and welcomes all professionals in their new positions in the NAP Steering Committee.