Degrowth, Solidarity economy, Urban planning

ANGELOS VARVAROUSIS is an urban planner and researcher based in Athens and Barcelona whose work revolves around the topics of #degrowth, the commons, solidarity economies, self-organization, migration and alternative lifestyles. He is currently employed by the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA) and he coordinates a research project on Commons and Social Movements while he also teaches the relevant course at the Master Program on Political Ecology, Degrowth and Environmental Justice. Angelos has worked with major international institutions such as the European Commision, the British Council, the Onassis Cultural Foundation and the Oslo Architecture Triennale. He is developing the theoretical framework of "Liminal Commons" in order to understand and theorise temporary #commoning experiences in the contemporary world. Angelos is also an activist, musician, dancer, and carpenter.

The future is networked local: can we revive our rural and mountain regions through artisan entreprenurial activity and experiential education for a new generation of eco-entreprerial leaders?

Vera Petkanchin is part of the team of Junior Achievement Bulgaria for more than 10 years. She’s devoted to promoting the importance of green entrepreneurship (creating businesses, which have the generation of positive impact on the environment at the heart of their business model, across the entire product/service life cycle), as well as to developing educational tools enabling teachers and students to get practical insights on what a sustainable business is like. She’s excited about sustainable agriculture, the future of mountain regions and the revival of the villages in Bulgaria.

Creative writing, Social justice, Philosophy and Social anthropology

Will Buckingham is a writer and philosopher, and one half of the Wind&Bones project, running projects across the world in writing, creativity and social justice. Will has been teaching both writing and philosophy for over two decades. He is the author of over ten books, including A Practical Guide to Happiness: Think Deeply and Flourish (Icon Books 2017) and Lucy and the Rocket Dog (Knopf 2018). He is currently researching a book about hospitality and the art of welcoming strangers, called Hello Stranger: Stories of Connection in a Divided World (Granta, forthcoming 2020). Will has worked and lectured in universities and higher education institutions in Indonesia, Myanmar, China, Bulgaria, France and the UK. He has a PhD in philosophy and an MA in anthropology. He gets excited by thinking about how writing can change the world, and by exploring how to put ancient philosophical traditions to work in the twenty-first century, to help transform our lives for the better. There’s more information about Will’s work on his personal website.

Еthical finance, Solidarity economy and how to implement it locally

Jason NARDI is an Earth inhabitant born in Florence, Italy. He also happens to have a US citizenship, thanks to his mother. An activist since youth, he has worked and campaigned for many different causes and is a member of several civil society networks and organisations. An advocate for social justice, ethical finance and communication rights, he is an active member of the International Council of the World Social Forum, has been organiser for Terra Futura (Italian yearly event on Social solidarity economy with more than 50’000 participants) and has co-created Zoes.org – the first Italian social network for SSE. With a background on Communication and media (Princeton University, USA and a Master’s degree at the University of Florence), he has been director of the Italian center of Oneworld.net – Unimondo (www.unimondo.org). Since 2015, Jason is general delegate for RIPESS - Solidarity Economy Europe network (ripess.eu) and is part of the RIPESS Intercontinental board of directors. Recently he’s worked on an app to map European SSE initiatives and on a game on Ethical Banking with the Banca Etica Foundation. In his hometown, Florence (Italy), he’s promoting the CSA Community Supported Agriculture network and Solidarity Economy District. He’s also a trainer on Solidarity Economy topics and co-founded Solidarius in Italy (solidarius.it), a research-consulting organisation to help develop solidarity economy networks, part of a Brasilian based international network (Solidarius.net). In his free time, Jason enjoys walking in nature and bike-riding, acro-yoga and playing the clarinet in a street band.

Creative writing, Gender and LGBTQ equality

Hannah Stevens writes short stories, creative non-fiction and children’s books. She has a PhD in Creative Writing and her short stories have been widely anthologised and featured in literary journals. Her first book-length collection, In Their Absence, is soon to be published by Roman Books. She is one half of the Wind&Bones project and has taught creative writing workshops in a wide range of settings in the UK, Greece, Bulgaria, Taiwan and Myanmar. Hannah has years of experience working to advocate for LGBTQ+ communities and is particularly interested in further developing work in the areas of LGBTQ+ and gender.

Nature preservation and exploration aficionado, Writer and visionary

Alternative living and mountain escape. Search for the lost knowledge of living simple and nature connected life. Ways to preserve this knowledge, promote it and adapt it to challenging new reality. How allelopathy, knowledge of herbs and observation the dynamics of wildlife can teach humanity to make the right steps towards its survival. Creating alternative life networks and sources of information. Brief presentation of the website – www.ograbvane.com

Social Innovation, Sustainable Social Business Models, and Energy Access for the Financially Poor  

Bhushan is a social entrepreneur from India who aspires to provide clean, affordable and reliable energy products and services to underserved households and micro-enterprises who do not have access to electricity and is a firm believer in the potential of innovative market-based solutions in tackling this challenge. 

He founded Piconergy in India which designs and develops high impact energy access projects along with creating clean, affordable, and reliable energy products for the underserved, wherein the idea is to catalyze the socio-economic development of these households through access to electricity. Piconergy has impacted thousands of people across India. 

Bhushan also served as a visiting lecturer on Social Entrepreneurship at several universities in India.

Starting August 2019, Bhushan has moved to Sofia, Bulgaria for the long term, and he is keen on collaborating with social entrepreneurs from this region to work on high impact, and innovative projects serving Bulgaria/Eastern Europe.

Art studies, Digital art, Socio-cultural projects, Rural & art

Galina Dimitrova-Dimova is an art specialist, curator and an organizer of cultural projects. She has a Master degree on Art studies at the National academy of fine art (1994-1999) and a PhD on the same discipline (2016-2019). A lecturer in the Master program for digital art at NAFA. Her work areas include art in public spaces, digital art and socio-cultural projects. She's a co-curator and organizer of the International festival of digital art DA fest since 2009; a co-founder of DA Lab foundation (2018); coordinator of projects in Credo Bonum foundation (2011-2019) and a curator of its gallery space (2013-2015). She's been a curator of the festival for public art in Zapaden park (Sofia, 2012-2014) and a leader of the artistic project of Center for media arts Interspace (Sofia, 1999-2008). Galina has implemented curator projects with Bulgarian and foreign artists and organizes forums and conferences on broad spectrum of topics related to contemporary art and culture. She organizes trainings of debutant artists and is a co-author of documentaries and experimental movies. She lives with her family in a village in Bulgaria and is an ambassador of the richness and health a rural living could offer to the contemporary lifestyle.

Artist, Curator, Cultural producer

István Szakáts works as an artist, curator, and cultural producer. He has been advocating for empowerment through culture, socially engaged art and active citizenship for more than 20 years. He is president of the AltArt Foundation and member of the Directors Board of Fabrica de Pensule (space for contemporary arts) in Cluj, Romania. As a multimedia artist, István has co-designed and produced a series of works including Samples – a sequel of mixed reality performances in public space on citizen rights, empowerment and reappropriation of public space, included in the programmes of several European Capitals of Culture (Istanbul, Pécs, Mons). He has taught various media related disciplines at the Cinema, Media and Television Department of the Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca and the Sapientia University from 2005-2015. István holds a university degree in Fine Arts (2003) and Computer Sciences (1992). His current worldy interests include guitar playing, advaita philosophy and guerrilla military theory / practice.

Rural areas, Intergenerational connections, Founder of Ideas Factory Association

The trust in the power of the “problem environment” to be an incubator for unique social innovation is the air that I breathe and the water that I swim in. I’m probably addicted to the radical thesis that the course of our human evolution depends on the unleashing of the creative potential. And maybe now is the exact time to redefine the word “development” and to orient it towards human happiness. I work as a “catalyst” and a „fuel” for small ideas and imaginative people with extraordinary potential for social change. I’m a strategic communicator by profession, a lover of shared visions, lecturer, trainer, blogger and traveler. Co-founder of Ideas Factory, as well as others similar crazies like the Time Shop and Changemakers Academy. In my pocket I always wear … a red clown nose.