Celebratory reception

Veronika is Head of Brussels Office of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Since April 2019 she has worked closely with EU institutions and Brussels-based stakeholders on addressing global environmental challenges. Before joining UNEP she worked for Charles University in Prague, as director of  international relations and partnerships (2014-2018). In this capacity she was also leading preparations for the establishment of one of the first European University Alliances – 4EU+.
Prior to that Veronika held different management positions at the Czech Ministry of Environment (2000-2014), director, director general and first deputy minister, responsible for a number of areas including international relations, EU legislation, sustainable development and national environmental policy. She was involved in the preparations for the accession to the EU (2000-2004), EU membership (2004) and co-ordination of the first Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU in the field of environment (2009).

Maria Leptin is a developmental biologist and geneticist who is the President of the European Research Council (ERC). After her studies in mathematics and biology, Maria Leptin carried out her PhD research at the Basel Institute for Immunology. She then moved to the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, became a group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Tübingen, and professor at the Institute of Genetics, University of Cologne. 
Before her appointment as ERC President, Leptin was the Director of the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) in Heidelberg and a research group leader at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory. She is an elected member of numerous scientific academies and an Honorary Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, a Foreign Member of the Royal Society and an international member of the US National Academy of Sciences.

Ludovic Thilly is a Full Professor of Physics at the University of Poitiers and, since 2012, has served as Vice-Rector in charge of European Strategy and the EC2U Alliance. A member of the Coimbra Group Executive Board since 2015, he was elected Chair in June 2017 and has been re-elected twice since. His current mandate runs until 2028.
Professor Thilly is the Coordinator General of the EC2U European University Alliance and co-coordinator of FOREU4ALL, the community of practice bringing together the 65 selected European University Alliances. He continues to teach and supervise PhD candidates. His research focuses on the deformation mechanisms of (nano-)materials. He has co-authored more than 80 publications in international peer-reviewed journals, including four book chapters, and has delivered over 60 invited lectures at international conferences and institutions.

Alina Ujupan is an EU civil servant and has 20 years of professional experience in the domain of European affairs. She currently leads the Cabinet of Roxana Mînzatu, European Commission Executive Vice-President for Social Rights and Skills, Quality Jobs and Preparedness.
Previously, she was Member of Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager (2019-2023), covering Research and innovation, Digital taxation and skills, Budget and European Green Deal. Earlier, she was Member of Cabinets of Commissioner Mariya Gabriel (2017-2019) and Commissioner Dacian Ciolos (2010-2014), covering policy reforms, implementation, and negotiation in the agricultural and digital policy fields, respectively. She was also the Head of the New European Bauhaus Unit under the “Fair and Sustainable Economy” directorate of the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. She obtained her PhD on negotiation processes in EU decision‐making with the University of Ulster (Northern Ireland). She also obtained an MSc in Research Methods from the Nottingham Trent University (United Kingdom), a Bachelor’s Degree with Honours in Politics from the same institution and a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Babeș‐Bolyai University (Cluj-Napoca, Romania).