Here are the biographies of the speakers at the conference on Wednesday, October 7

PANEL 1 - Valoritation of diversity in cities' cultural policies

Franco Bianchini is Professor of Cultural Policies and Cultural Planning at Leeds Metropolitan University in Leeds, England, and a member of the Founders Council and the Advisory Board of Fondazione Fitzcarraldo in Turin. He has worked on issues related to the development of urban cultural strategies as a teacher, researcher and consultant with the Council of Europe, the English Arts Council and many local authorities and universities in most European countries, Australia, Japan and Colombia.In June 2001 he was appointed by the President of the European Parliament as member of the international jury that awarded Cork, Ireland, the title of European Capital of Culture.

Francesca Lionetti is part of the Cultural Policy, Diversity and Intercultural Dialogue Division of the Council of Europe, which aims to promote the inclusion of underrepresented groups in the media, in local policies and the economy. She previously worked in the organization "Jewish and the City" , the first Jewish Festival co-organized by the City of Milan and the Jewish community.
She studied Economics and Management of Cultural Heritage as well as being in possession of an MBA in Economics and International Institutions at Bocconi University, where she also worked for the Research Centre on Mediterranean Relations.

Daniel de Torres Barderi is an expert in policies on diversity management  and intercultural strategies for the Council of Europe and several cities and organizations such as the ""Organización de Estados Iberoamericanos "(EIO), he is also director of the "Spanish Network of Intercultural Cities "(RECI).
He is co-founder of Imacity, a consultancy organization focused on cities' global development by using and promotong a multidisciplinar and transversal approach.
Between 2007 and 2011 he was the Commissioner for Immigration and Intercultural Dialogue for the Barcelona City Council.
Dani is a strong advocate of creativity applied to all sectors and positions as well as multidisciplinar approaches.

Jude Bloomfield is a former university lecturer in Political Science at University College London (UCL), and now a poet (Jude Rosen), translator and researcher in Urban Cultures, Policy and Citizenship. She has been research associate of Cultural Policy and Planning at Leeds Metropolitan University, specialising in policies to create an intercultural public sphere using narrative research methods. She worked as researcher and methodology advisor to the 'Comedia-Rowntree project The Intercultural City'.For the Council of Europe’s Intercultural Cities Programme she did a study on the role of intercultural centres in diversifying public space, in particular their contribution to participatory safety strategies in three of the ICC network cities.

Giorgia Boldrini is an expert on culture and creativity for the development of the territory, works at the Economic and Promotion Department of the Municipality of Bologna.
Since 2010 she is also responsible for the project Incredibol! 

PANEL 2 – Media & migration: a metter of points of view?

Raffaella Cosentino is a professional journalist since 2008, freelance reporter, filmmaker, author of documentaries including "EU 013 L'Ultima Frontiera". She has made inquiries on social issues, mainly immigration, human rights and mafias. She works as a freelance with the BBC, L'Espresso group, Internazionale, the news agency Redattore Sociale and Il Fatto Quotidiano. Specializing in Media Diversity, the representation of minorities at risk of discrimination in the media, she has also overseen the site www.questionedimmagine.org for RedattoreSociale, which aims to highlight questionable practices and strengths in the selection, installation and presentation of images on sensitive issues.

Barry Malone is an online editor with Al Jazeera English. He worked for Reuters from 2007 until 2013. He has lived and made reportages in East Africa and the Horn of Africa (mainly Ethiopia and Uganda), and has also reported extensively from Iraq, Libya and other countries in Africa and the Middle East.
His stories focus on politics, foreign policy and development.

Daniel Adamson is a freelance writer who works with international NGOs and with various media.
After nearly a decade in the Middle East (Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, West Bank) he has an extensive knowledge of the history and culture of the Arab world.
He also worked in the field of alternative tourism in the Middle East. From Asia to Latin America he reports the struggle for drinking water and sanitation facilities of the poorest communities in the world. He writes the special for the BBC and the Guardian, often focusing on unknown stories from the Middle East.

Mauro Sarti is a professional journalist and professor of Journalistic Communication at University of Bologna. He is responsible for the correspondence office of Emilia-Romagna press agency Redattore Sociale. He is a member of the executive board of Ilaria Alpi association that promotes the premium television journalism.

PANEL 3 – Human trafficking vs search for a better tomorrow

Alexandra Malangone works as a lawyer and researcher at the Human Rights League NGO, which is an implementing partner of UNHCR in the Slovak Republic. She is responsible for projects on monitoring access to asylum procedures in detention facilities for irregular migrants, for legal advice to unaccompanied minors and is also committed to creating a network of lawyers to provide legal advice and representation to victims of trafficking. Her professional experience includes working for OSCE in the Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings Office in Vienna in 2005. From 2006 to 2009 she was National Project Officer for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Bratislava

Margherita Romanelli
The project Migra - Safe is a program for the protection of Cambodian migrants, especially women and children, in order to reduce and eliminate the exploitation of work and human trafficking. The relative proximity of the provinces of Banteay Meanchey, Battambang and Siem Reap to the Thai border and the limited employment opportunities in the area make local population vulnerable to risks related to irregular migration, including human trafficking and exploitation work. Therefore, it is essential to raise awareness among potential migrants on safe migration practices and risks of irregular migration.

Julia Zelvenska is responsible for co-ordination of ELENA network, a forum of over 500 asylum law practitioners across Europe, on behalf of ECRE Secreteriat. She also works on a number of projects focusing on legal developments and is in charge of ECRE's litigation activities. She joined ECRE in 2004 and has worked on several projects aimed at improving the protection of the rights of refugees and other displaced persons in Eastern Europe, promoting the rule of law and improving the national asylum systems. Before she joined ECRE, Julia worked as a counselor, providing legal assistance to persons in need of international protection and vulnerable citizens of Ukraine.

Gabriele Guazzo currently works as Project Manager and Researcher at "Cittalia"  for which he developed and coordinated projects and services of different EU programs. He is an expert in integrated urban sustainable development and is also an author of several research papers and studies with a specific focus on issues related to welfare and integration.
Since 2006 he is a member of the Italian Society for International Organization (SIOI).

PANEL 4 - Migration and right of asylum: what is happening at europe's doorstep?

Dimitri Bettoni, born in Bergamo in 1984, lives in between his hometown and Istanbul, tossed about by the love of travel and nostalgia for the orobic valleys. He graduated in Letters from the Statale of Milan University and then in Journalism at the University of Verona, he spent a year studying in Istanbul with the Erasmus program. Upon his return to Italy he started working with the Balkans and Caucasus Observatory, first as a trainee, now as a correspondent from Turkey. He spent a few months in Israel and Palestine where he worked sporadically with the Jerusalem Post Magazine, the Radio Voice of Israel and the website of travel and culture The Culture Trip.

GVC has been working in Lebanon since 2006 in the post-emergency and reconstruction phase that followed the last conflict with Israel, later starting a more developmental phase of intervention. When the Syrian crisis forced hundreds of thousands of people to cross the border with Lebanon to find assistance, GVC intervened in support of the refugees in the Bekaa Valley.
After the outbreak of the war in Syria, more than 1.2 million refugees arrived in Lebanon from 2011. In this situation, GVC has intervened in northern Lebanon to ensure support. The interventions of first aid are integrated  to support activities that enhance development opportunities for the Lebanese people.

Debora Del Pistoia, Viareggio, 1984. She graduated in International Relations and Languages and specialized in International Cooperation. After various experiences of research and work in South Africa and Morocco, from 2012 she is located in Tunisia where she serves as the country responsible for the NGO COSPE, working on projects related to access to rights, to support community radio and alternative media and the strengthening of women's associations. She is referent for Tunisia for the online magazine "Osservatorio Iraq – Medio Oriente  e Nord Africa". She intensely studied the media transition process, the dynamics of civil society and gender movements and migration issues concerning the conditions of refugees and asylum seekers in the Mediterranean.

Barbara Schiavulli is a war journalist. Mainly she is interested in the Middle East. She followed the second Intifada, the conflict in Kashmir, Afghanistan, Haiti and Iraq. In her report combines the news with the complaint of crimes against humanity