Edward do Bono

Edward de Bono is considered by many to be the leading authority in the field of creative thinking and the direct teaching of thinking as a skill. He is the originator of the formal creative thinking tools of lateral thinking, the Six Thinking Hats, the Cognitive Research Trust (CoRT) and Direct Attention Thinking Tools (DATT). These methods are widely used in both educational and organisational settings.

Edward has written over 70 books with translations into 40 languages and has been invited to lecture in 58 countries. His instruction in thinking has been sought by many of the world's leading corporations including IBM, Microsoft, BT, Nokia and Siemens. He has been included by a group of academics in South Africa as one of the 250 people who had most influenced humanity in the whole course of history. He has been selected by a leading Austrian business journal as one of the 20 visionaries alive today. He was nominated by Accenture, a leading consultancy company, as one of the 50 most influential business thinkers today.

Edward holds an M.D. (Malta), M.A. (Oxford), D.Phil. (Oxford), Ph.D. (Cambridge), D.Des. (RMIT) and LLD (Dundee). He has had faculty appointments at the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, London and Harvard, was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford and is a Visiting Professor at the University of Malta.

Sandra M. Dingli

Sandra M. Dingli is Director of The Edward de Bono Institute for the Design and Development of Thinking at the University of Malta. As a Senior Lecturer she delivers interactive lectures on creativity and innovation, foresight, the Edward de Bono thinking techniques, philosophy of mind and philosophy of artificial intelligence. The Institute was initially set up in collaboration with Professor Edward de Bono in October 1992.

In 2004 Sandra designed and launched a new postgraduate degree, a Master of Arts in Creativity and Innovation. Sandra has organised five International Conferences on Creative Thinking at the University of Malta. Five books with selected proceedings of the International Conferences have been edited by Dr Sandra M. Dingli and published by the University of Malta Press

Leonie Baldacchino

Andreas Braun

Roy Fewster

Roy Fewster was a Divisional Director with a major UK public limited company (plc) and has been the managing director of several companies during his corporate career. He has direct experience of general management and business development achieving business growth through start-up ventures, acquisitions and organic methods. More recently he has experienced life as a private entrepreneur, making the transition from employee to entrepreneur and working full-time running his own medium-sized service business which he acquired by putting together an MBI (management buy-in) deal.

In 2003 Roy turned his attention towards developing an academic career and is currently pursuing his research interests in the field of entrepreneurship. He teaches entrepreneurship at master’s level at the University of Teesside and is active as a consultant on strategic enterprise development in the SME sector. His specific research interests are in the areas of entrepreneurial behaviour, positive psychology and corporate entrepreneurship.

Ted Fuller

Ted Fuller is Professor of Entrepreneurship and Strategic Foresight. He joined Teesside Business School in 2002 from the University of Durham where he was Director of Foresight. He has published extensively on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurship, focusing on the creation of better futures for enterprises. Ted is currently Head of the Business School at the University of Lincoln, UK.

Ted's research includes anticipatory management, new technology and enterprise sustainability. He is a member of the international advisory board of Futures: Journal of policy, planning and futures studies. Publications include refereed papers in International Small Business Journal, Journal of Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, Futures Journal, and Emergence. He has worked with Government departments and many leading corporate organisations on SME policies and is on the international advisory board of the Finnish Futures Academy as well as various policy groups in the North East of England.

Sirkka Heinonen

Sirkka Heinonen works as a Professor of futures studies at the Finland Futures Research Centre (FFRC). Her fields of expertise include futures studies, philosophy of technology, the future of cities, rural areas and regions, future of living and working, telepresence and ambient intelligence, technology foresight, information society, sustainable development, innovations and social media. Before the FFRC she worked at VTT (Technical Research Centre of Finland) for several years, first as a Senior Research Scientist (1997-2001) and then as a Chief Research Scientist (2001-2007). She is an Adjunct Professor at the Turku School of Economics.

Sirkka has written several research reports and scientific articles in refereed journals as well as papers on national and international conferences. She has given lectures at several universities and is a frequently invited futures research expert both for the government and the private sector. Her work as a Visiting Research Fellow in Japan at the National Institute for Research Advancement (NIRA) required comprehensive familiarisation with the field of futures studies on the global level.

Juha Kaskinen

Juha Kaskinen has been the Director of the Finland Futures Research Centre (FFRC) since May 2005. In 2004-2005 he worked in the FFRC as a Coordinator of International Affairs and earlier as a Senior Researcher (1999-2002). During the years 2002-2003 Juha was employed by the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities, where he was responsible for research projects on futures studies.

Juha's fields of expertise include future studies, environmental sociology, indicators, expertise studies, theory of planning, regional and local business policy and local and regional development and innovation policy.

Jyrki Luukkanen

Jyrki Luukkanen works as a Research Professor at the Finland Futures Research Centre (FFRC), where he manages the environmental research group. His core competencies are energy policy, climate policy, development studies, sustainability indicators and indicator analysis. Before the FFRC he worked for several years at the University of Tampere as an Acting Professor of Environmental Policy (1998-1999) and as a Senior Lecturer of Environmental Policy (1992-1998). In addition he is an Adjunct Professor in the Turku School of Economics.

Jyrki has written about 120 international and national publications, mainly in the field of energy and environmental research. He has been a director of about 40 international and national research and development projects in Finland, Europe and in the developing countries.

Dana Mietzner

Dana Mietzner finished her studies in business administration and worked for a marketing company for three years. At present, she works as a researcher and project manager at the Centre of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Potsdam in Germany. Her research interest lies in strategic foresight with a special focus on scenario building and planning. Dana leads a research project, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Research and Education, which is focused on the development of a "New-Market-Intelligence” tool, which supports Biotechnology companies in their strategic foresight and internationalisation process.

Brenda Murphy

Born in Dublin and educated in Ireland, Brenda Murphy read for her doctorate at Goldsmiths’ College, University of London. She has been a full time lecturer at the University of Malta since 1994, where she supports student research (undergraduate and postgraduate) and runs academic and practical study-units in Media and Cultural Studies. Her research areas include constructions of identity/consumption of advertising, Diaspora, and gender and the media. Brenda is active in EU projects on gender and the media and is advisor and trainer to government bodies, the Broadcasting Authority, the Employment and Training Corporation (ETC) and to private agencies. She is a member of EON, an EU network on equality in the media, and is a member of ECREA (European Communication Research and Education Association).

Shirley Pulis Xerxen

Ms Shirley Pulis Xerxen obtained a Master of Arts in Creativity and Innovation from the University of Malta in 2006 and a postgraduate Diploma in Education (Administration and Management) in 2005 after having read for a B.Ed. (Hons) degree. Shirley currently lectures at the University of Malta on thinking systems and innovation, creativity in education, entrepreneurship and educational leadership. She is currently reading for a Phd in Management Studies at the University of Exeter, UK with a focus on organizational culture and its impact on creativity.

Shirley’s work experience includes eleven years teaching in Maltese State schools and she regularly provides workshops and training in thinking systems with diverse local and international organizations from the private and public sector. On a European level, Shirley has been involved in a number of EU projects related to the dissemination and development of creativity. Shirley was selected in 2000 to design the thinking skills programme that is currently being implemented in local state schools. Shirley’s research interests include creativity in education and creative organizational culture.

Pirjo Ståhle

Pirjo Ståhle works as a Research Professor at the Finland Futures Research Centre (FFRC). Her main area of specialisation is the capability of organisations and societies for renewal and innovation. Pirjo is often mentioned as a pioneer of Finnish knowledge management: She was the country's first-ever Chief Knowledge Officer (Sonera 1998-2001), first Professor of Knowledge Management (Lappeenranta University of Technology 2001-2007) and her book on knowledge management (together with M. Grönroos) was the first Finnish book on this subject. In 2006 Pirjo was invited to become a founder member of the New Club of Paris, an international forum dedicated to knowledge society issues.

Pirjo has published several books and over 100 articles in popular and scientific publications and has given numerous lectures and presentations on themes related to organisational renewal, innovative management, and knowledge-intensive economy.