- Presentation of the speakers -
Hilde Hardeman
Hilde Hardeman is Director-General of the Publications Office of the EU as of 1 December 2021. Prior to that, she served as Head of the European Commission's Service for Foreign Policy Instruments.
She joined the Commission in 1994 and, since then, she
• held the position of Deputy Head of Cabinet to the Commission's Vice-President for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness;
• headed the Commission President's briefing team;
• and was in charge of the units for relations with Russia, Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus. Hilde Hardeman holds a PhD in Slavic philology and history from the University of Leuven, which she obtained after studies at Leuven, Stanford University and the École des hautes études en sciences sociales in Paris. She was visiting professor at the College of Europe.
Céline Mas
Céline Mas is a communication and neurocognition expert, specialised in evaluation, she has been gearing Occurrence an evidence-based consulting company for 12 years before creating the Return for Society network (an independent network specialised in social impact). Before she was strategic planner for Publicis Group. She has published professional essays on marketing and communication, including the "Communicator" 7,8,9 and is a sought-after speaker on topics in the area of communication. Committed to human rights and gender equality for nearly 20 years, Céline is the probono President of UN Women France and part of the French High Council for Equality appointed by the French Prime Minister.
Anna Van Cauwenberge
Anna Van Cauwenberge is responsible for the quality and successful completion of all communications-related research delivered by the team. This work includes a variety of pan-European campaign evaluation, targeting and segmentation studies which she conducted and supervised for European institutions, bodies and agencies. Anna joined Ipsos EPA in 2021 from the University of Groningen, where she worked as a tenured Assistant Professor in Media and Communications with a specialty in political communication. Her specialisms include citizen engagement, media audiences and audience targeting, campaign testing and evaluation, media effects, and digital literacy.
Bridget Williams
Bridget Williams is responsible for communications targeting, development, testing and evaluation for a range of UK and global public bodies. Her experience in communications research covers academic, client-side, communications and research agency positions, and she works closely with digital, communications and media agencies on design and delivery. Her particular research interests include sensitive issues research, inclusion of vulnerable audiences, and application of advanced statistical techniques in public communications research.
Dominiek Braet
Dominiek Braet is a plain language editor and trainer with over 20 years of experience. He currently works as Head of Digital Transformation and Digital Customer Experience at Euroclear, a global financial services company, after having been its Head of Client Communication and Digital Channels. Mr Braet also shares his experience via speeches and training (also for EU institutions) on communication and plain language topics, with a focus on the relationship between the reader and the writer in every sector, and across all types of communication.
Ewa Kurth
Ewa Kurth focuses on the importance of the performance of EU publications and has a wide experience in the areas of communication, project management and information for different audiences and formats. Prior to joining the Publications Office, Ewa supported the Cabinet of the Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, and worked for the Directorate General for Justice. Ewa holds a master’s degree in German literature and linguistics from the University of Bonn, Germany, and a bachelor’s degree in German studies from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland.
Jessica Martensen
Jessica Martensen works in the Publication performance measurement team at the Publications Office. Before joining the Commission, she worked in the research library of The Leibniz Institute for Educational Media | Georg Eckert Institute (GEI) in Germany where she provided administrative, technical and scientific support, for example in the context of communication campaigns. She is currently a PhD candidate in the field of Modern German Literature at Technische Universität Braunschweig in Germany.