Dr Fiona Aiken is a Senior Lecturer, Staff tutor in the STEM faculty, School of Environment, Earth and Ecosystem Sciences with the Open University, UK. She is a home worker, living in Northern Ireland. Fiona started out as an Associate lecturer with the Open University in 1993 teaching general Science and Environmental Science modules at all levels. In her current role she manages a team of Associate Lecturers on environmental science modules and is the scholarship lead for her school.

Fiona’s current research interests are in educational research focussing on where improvements can be made to the student experience. One current project is looking at how students can be better supported in using the print resources which are sent to students who can’t access module resources online. A second project is researching the levels of eco-anxiety that students experience on environment modules and developing resources to help students build resilience and address
their eco-anxiety.

Fiona is a peer reviewer for two journals, Open Learning: The Journal of Open and Distance Learning and Higher Education: Skills and Work-based Learning. She has presented at the EDEN workshop in Barcelona in 2018, the EDEN workshop in Dubrovnik in 2022 and the EDEN conference in Dublin 2023. She also regularly attends the online EDEN NAP webinars.

Dr Orna Farrell is Associate Professor of Education, specialising in digital education based in the School of Policy Practice, Institute of Education in Dublin City University (DCU). Orna holds a PhD in Education from Trinity College Dublin.

Previously, Orna was Head of the Open Education Unit at Dublin City University, which provided online programmes to off campus students through the DCU Connected platform. From 2020-21, Orna led the Digital Learning Design Unit, created to support DCU’s pivot to hybrid learning due to the Covid-19 pandemic. From 2017-20, she was Chair of the DCU Connected Online Humanities programmes.

Orna’s research interests centre around digital innovative pedagogy and include online pedagogy, learning design, digital assessment, eportfolio and open education. She has a growing publication record in her fields of interest, including a range of book chapters, journal articles, invited presentations and conference papers. She has published in high ranking journals such as Distance Education, the Journal of Interactive Media in Education, Research in Learning Technology, and the International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education. Orna is a fellow of EDEN Digital Learning Europe.

Vlad Mihaescu has a Ph.D. in educational and technological models of MOOCs and has more than 20 years of experience as a trainer and teacher in areas like multimedia technologies, social media, e-tourism, e-learning, usability, entrepreneurship, programming, soft skills, leadership, and project management. Author of over 50 scientific papers and book chapters published in international conferences and journals, Vlad is involved in several European research projects in the field of eLearning, digital culture, digital entrepreneurship, innovation and tech transfer. He is also an associate professor for UPT. For 15 years, Vlad has been part of the technical support team of the UPT Virtual Campus (Moodle). Since 2020, Vlad has served as a member of EDEN’s NAP (Network of Academics and Professionals), holding the position of Chair of the Steering Committee between 2020-2023. He was an ex-officio member of the Executive Board of EDEN UK from 2020-2022, then being elected as a member of EDEN DLE‘s Management Board from 2022. In these capacities he has been organizing several workshops, webinars, and participating as a speaker or moderator in EDEN events. Vlad was the Local Conference Manager for EDEN’s AC in 2020 and also part of the Local Organization Team of EDEN‘s RW in 2024. Vlad is also the Vice-President of the UPT Senate.

Dr Giedrė Tamoliūnė is a lecturer and researcher at Education Academy, Vytautas Magnus University, involved in European and national scientific and applied projects that focus on different aspects of technology-enhanced teaching and learning, e.g., AI Pioneers, Transparent Assessment for Online Learning by Digitally Competent Professors,Digital micro-credentials in higher education, OER-Codex. Her research interests focus on technology-enhanced teaching and learning in higher education, lifelong learning, open education, and adult education. For the last several years, she has actively researched learning analytics for teaching and learning, micro-credentials, and digital assessment. Since 2015 Giedre has been an active member of EDEN and LieDM (Lithuanian Association of Distance and e-Learning) networks, participating in research events, conferences, and workshops, and presenting her research results.

As a senior specialist at the Innovative Study Institute, Education Academy, VMU, Giedrė creates and delivers teacher training courses for VMU teachers and educators from other formal and non-formal educational institutions. Finally, she works as an independent expert for project selection and report assessment in education for the Lithuanian Education Exchanges Support Foundation.

Inés Gil Jaurena is an EDEN Senior Fellow and member of EDEN Fellows Council Board and the Steering Committee of the EDEN Network of Academic and Professionals (EDEN NAP). She hold a PhD in Education and is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Education at the National Distance Education University (Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia-UNED), Spain. She has been Editor-in-chief of Open Praxis, a scientific journal published by the International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE), in the period 2012-2022. She is a member of the Steering Committee of the UNESCO Chair in Distance Education, based at UNED. She coordinates the CO-Lab teaching innovation group at UNED.