SPEAKERS
Gautier Chomel
Project manager for EDRLab, backed up by 25 years of experience as an editorial designer, 12 of them dedicated to accessibility, Gautier is also a confirmed trainer who worked for international organizations like WIPO and the Daisy Consortium and has operated éditadapt, a certified training center. His passion for book production technics goes as far as hand printing using 3d matrices during his spare time.
Manuel Lagos Rodríguez
Degree in Computer Engineering from the University of A Coruña. Master's degree in Industrial Computing and Robotics, completed at the same university. Currently, he works as a research support technician in the TALIONIS research group at the University of A Coruña and is a PhD student in Information and Communication Technologies. His lines of research deal with the development and implementation of virtual reality scenarios for active aging and for the rehabilitation of people with disabilities.
Thais Pousada García
Thais Pousada PhD in Health Science by University of A Coruña (2011). She is a graduate in occupational therapy (2003-2006), with a master degree in Health Assistance an Research (2018). In 2016 she got a degree in Nursing.
She is a Professor in the Faculty of Health Science at the University of A Coruña. Her professional experience includes job positions in different organizations and enterprise, and different topics of occupational therapy`s intervention, such as elderly, people with neurological conditions, and, especially people with rare diseases, in concrete, with Neuromuscular Disorders.
She is a member of TALIONIS Research Group (https://talionis.citic.udc.es/) and she is involved in different projects focused on assistive technologies (especially with 3D printers).
Sandra Braddick
Specialist Learning Support Tutor, Weymouth and Kingston Maurward College
Marianna Belvedere
Specialized art historian, heritage education expert, vice president of Spazio Geco Cooperative Society. Curates, together with the other founding members, accounting, planning and fundraising activities. She coordinates an internal working group (MUSEUMS team). She is a partner and vice-president of the Cooperative born in 2018, but since 2013 she has already been coordinating the activities of the association that preceded the birth of the company and has been involved in the development of one of the areas of research and work: digital fabrication at the service of cultural heritage valorization.
Since 2023 she has been fully dedicated to the growth of Spazio Geco, closing important parallel working relationships. Her experience as an expert in heritage education and her years of service in the library field enable her to design innovative, high-content user services capable of “opening” sources to a wide audience. In Geco’s projects, she is responsible for devising the concept behind the enhancement and many other aspects related to creating and displaying content in an accessible sense. Spazio Geco has to its credit numerous interventions in museums, libraries, archives and cultural (and other) institutions of various kinds throughout Italy.
Works range from the conception and realization of entire multimedia and interactive displays (e.g., the one for the Museum of Visconti di Belgioioso, Pavia 2024), playful popular paths with digital points of interest (totems) for in-depth study (MVSA experience at the MVSA, Museum of History and Art Valtellinese in Sondrio, the end result of one of the winning projects of the INNOVAMUSEI 2021 call for proposals), to single elements such as 3D puzzles or multi-accessible tactile maps, development of web apps, websites, writing and production of widespread interactive podcasts related to the storytelling of parks and institutions, interactive tactile closets, AI-powered selfie totems, and more.
As co-curator of the volume History Goes on Stage, on December 10, 2013, she received the Silvia Dell’Orso Award for the best popularization work inherent to the issues concerning the country’s tangible and intangible cultural heritage (archaeological, historical, artistic, architectural, demoethnoanthropological, landscape) for the year.
Nga Huynh
Based in Milan, Huynh To Nga is Vietnamese. She is now working as an open source mapper, landscape architect, and designer. Following a Master's degree in Urban Project Heritage and Sustainable Development (ENSA Toulouse and Hanoi Architecture University), Nga recently received her diploma from Politecnico di Milano's Landscape Heritage Master's program. She majored in Building Architecture for her Bachelor's degree at Hanoi Architecture University.
Applying culture and landscape heritage is her main area of attention.
Doris Rothauer
Doris Rothauer is an art manager, consultant, expert and author supporting and promoting cultural impact through arts and culture. She served as executive director of several renowned art institutions in Vienna, before turning to strategy consulting for Museums with a focus on sustainability and inclusion.
Maela Rakočević Uvodić
Maela Rakočević Uvodić was born on June the 3rd 1977 in Zagreb, Croatia where she attended elementary school and Zagreb Classical Gymnasium. Since 1998 has worked in the City Library of Zagreb first as a library assistant. In 2014 after graduating and gaining her Masters degree in Librarianship at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences works as a librarian-information specialist and since 2023 as a Senior Librarian at Medioteka Central Department, City Library of Zagreb, Zagreb City Libraries.
Her interest in library services and programs for deaf and deafblind persons started with her nation-wide research of deaf people's needs as library patrons for her graduate thesis „Library services for hard of hearing persons“. After graduating she enrolled in a four year Croatian sign language course and became a sign language interpreter for deaf and deafblind. As a coordinator of activities within the project Library with Wide Open Doors, City Library of Zagreb she works on educating and sensitizing children on how to communicate with children with difficulties and persons with disabilities. Since 2016, she has been a member of the Croatian Library Association’s Commission for Adaptation and Accessibility of Library Services. In 2017, she became a member of the IFLA Section Equitable and Accessible Library Services - EALS (formerly known as IFLA Library Services to People with Special Needs - LSN).
Since 2021, she has been the Chair of the IFLA EALS Section and is an advocate for the use of correct terminology for people with disabilities and children with difficulties at the national and international levels. In 2024, the IFLA LSN Section under her leadership changed its name to the IFLA Equitable and Accessible Library Services - EALS. She provides training and lectures on accessibility of library services for people with disabilities and other user groups at risk of social exclusion. She is an author and co-author of numerous national and international papers on accessibility, equity and inclusion.
Jennifer Gallagher
Based in Dublin, Ireland with a background in educational publishing. Currently working as a Content Designer with a focus on universal design. Graduate of MSc in User Experience Design from the Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art Design + Technology. Published researcher in the area of academic reading for third-level students with ADHD and dyslexia.
Virna Rossi
A passionate teacher since 1999, she has worked in all educational sectors and has been a teacher educator since 2009. Her research focuses around the challenges of implementing more inclusive learning design, the use of threshold concepts in learning design and the effective design of assessment briefs. She is the author of an innovative book: Rossi, V. (2023) Inclusive Learning Design in Higher Education. London: Routledge.) and of its companion website: https://inclusivelearningdesign.com/
She is currently writing a book about the PGCert course, a staff development provision typical in UK university for in-service staff.