Organisers

Hans and Margriet Noot have four children. Hans works with the Seminaries and Institutes of Religion, overseeing programs in Belgium and the Netherlands, Poland, Ireland, the Czech Republic, the Balkans, and all of Eastern Europe. He holds a Masters Degree in Organizational Behavior from BYU. He spends his free time as a member of the Board of Directors of Human Rights Without Frontiers, and the director and chair of other human rights organizations.

James Faulconer is a Senior Research Fellow at the Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, Brigham Young University. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Wheatley Institution. His academic interest is the philosophy of religion and Latter-day Saint theology. He has written or edited a number of books, the most recent being Mosiah: a short theological introduction and Thinking Otherwise: Theological Explorations of Joseph Smith’s Revelations. He and his wife Janice have four children and thirteen grandchildren, and live in Provo, Utah, USA

Louise Paulsen is the Founder & CEO of By Women, For Women, a non-profit that seeks to amplify the voices, stories and impact of women. Louise has a background in politics, research and non-profit management. She has previously worked for international non-profits in Denmark, USA, Belgium and the UK. She holds an MSc in Organisational Behaviour from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a BA in Political Science from Brigham Young University. Louise is a native of Denmark.

Christian Euvrad is the Former Director of the Paris LDS Institute of Religion, holds an MA in Philosophy from the University of Paris, a master’s in sciences and theology of Religions from the Catholic University of Paris, and a PhD in Religious Studies from the École Pratique des Hautes Études. He is involved in post-doctoral studies in Religion at the National Center for Scientific Research in Paris. He is the author of a book on Louis Bertrand, one of the first converts to Mormonism in France in 1850. Currently he is working on a 2-volume book on the History of the Church in France. He is married to Marie-Françoise and they are the parents of two boys.

Fred Axelgard is currently a senior fellow at the Wheatley Institution at BYU where he help organize global events like the EuroSeminar. He is also the working group coordinator for the G20 Interfaith Forum which seeks to provide faith-based inputs to the annual G20 summit meeting. His graduate degrees are in international relations from the Fletcher School at Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts. He had a 35-year career in Washington, DC, that focused on Middle East politics. He is a former bishop and served a mission in Beirut, Lebanon.

Tony Brown is a professor of Russian at Brigham Young University where he teaches courses in Russian language and culture. In addition, he directs academic internship programs in Russia, the Baltic States, Germany, Poland, and Central Europe. He and his wife, Emily, are the parents of four children: Andrew, Hannah, Christian, and Sofia.

Michelle Graabek is a PhD researcher at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy in the department of History & Civilization. She studies the intersection of migration, religion and gender, with a focus on Scandinavian Latter-day Saint and Lutheran communities. Michelle Graabek has a BA in Archaeology from the University of Reading, and an MA in Cultural Heritage Studies from University College London. Prior to starting her PhD Michelle worked in the cultural heritage sector in England for several years, managing education and events programmes at various historic houses.

Eric Hachenberger stems from Austria. After serving his mission in Barcelona, Spain, he moved to Hawaii, to study peacebuilding and conflict resolution. He currently lives with his wife and baby daughter in Germany and works as an account manager and culture advocate at doTERRA Europe.

Ondřej Neulinger from the Czech Republic. After his graduation from the University of Ostrava in Information Systems served a full-time mission in Canada, Calgary. Recently Ondrej was married in Scotland where he works in the IT industry as Business Intelligence Developer.

Phil is a law graduate, with an interest in religion, civil liberties, and human rights. After working in insurance law, Phil moved on to international shipping and logistics consultancy, working in the USA in 2016. Phil was heavily involved in UK politics from 2015 - 2020, being elected chairman of the local association for his political party, which meant he was regularly found in London representing Lancashire in national political meetings. Phil has a wealth of knowledge of both local and national politics, and how they interact with voluntary organisations.

Erinda Nela was born in Tirana, Albania. Erinda has a bachelor's and a science master's degree in History from the University of Tirana. She holds a master's degree in Diplomacy and Foreign Policy from the U.F.O University in Tirana, Albania. She also has a degree in Accounting and Finance from the Agricultural University of Tirana. Upon graduating from the University of Tirana she was active in student politics and elected senior class president in 2003. In 2014 Erinda started working as a financial accountant, and in 2018 she became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.