EWORA 2026 Conference, 10 June 2026

Sondan D. Feyiz

Rector, Kadir Has University

Prof. Sondan Durukanoğlu Feyiz graduated from the Physics Department of Istanbul University’s Faculty of Sciences in 1989. She completed her Master’s in Physics at the University of Wisconsin (1992), and her Ph.D. at the Physics department of Kansas State University (1999). During her doctoral studies, Feyiz served as a teaching assistant at Kansas State University from 1994 to 1997, as a research assistant at the same university from 1997 to 1999, and as a postdoctoral researcher during 1999 and 2000.  From 2000, she continued her academic career as an assistant professor at Istanbul Technical University, becoming an associate professor there in 2006, and in 2011 she became a full professor at Sabancı University. Between 2010 and 2018, she served as the Vice Rector of Sabancı University responsible for Education, International Relations, Individual and Academic Support and Summer Schools.  She was then appointed as the Rector of Kadir Has University in 2018.

Durukanoğlu Feyiz has held numerous positions such as Member of the Senate Accreditation Committee of Istanbul Technical University (2002-2006); Visiting Scientist at Kansas State University (Summer 2002); Associate Editor in Chief of Istanbul Technical University Bulletin (2002-2007); Visiting Assoc. Prof. of Physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (2007-2009); Senior Researcher at Feza Gürsey Institute (2007-2009) and, co-translator of Introduction to Quantum Mechanics by David J. Griffiths (2010). She served as an Executive Board Member of the Nanotechnology Research and Application Center at Sabancı University (2014-2016), as the Chair of the Quality Assurance and Strategy Committee of Sabancı University (2015-2018).

Durukanoğlu Feyiz, who was the only female in 1991 to receive the Ministry of Education scholarship to study abroad in the field of physics (1991-1995), was also a recipient of the TUBİTAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey) Research Fellow Support Funding (BİDEP scholarship) and

Hanne Leth Andersen

Rector, Roskilde University

Hanne Leth Andersen is Professor at Roskilde University, where she served as Rector from 2014to 2026, and as prorector responsible for education from 2010 to 2014. She holds a Master of Arts
in Romance Philology, a PhD in French Language (UCPH) and has served as professor, director of studies, vice-dean and centre director at Aarhus University, director and professor at CBS
Learning Lab.

Hanne has chaired the educational committee of the Danish Rectors’ Conference, and she is a frequent member of Danish ministry councils, such as in the committee for Quality in Education or
a new Danish grading scale, and she headed the committee for a Danish National Language Strategy for the Danish Minister of Education. She serves international committees such as the International Advisory Board for the Research Council of Norway and the expert evaluation panel for The Academy of Finland for Competitive funding to strengthen universities’ research profiles.

She is President of the international expert committee for the French Government’s investment program on University Program Development, Nouveaux Cursus à l’Université and member of the
jury of the French Excellences Initiative. She has been expert for the Norwegian Quality Assurance Agency, NOKUT, and for the European University Association, EUA, and member of the Danish
Accreditation Council.

Hanne is the author of more than 130 scientific articles and several monographs, with research in the fields of education, university development, quality assurance and development, evaluation
and assessment, and language teaching. She frequently participates in debates and public roundtables. In 2021, she received the French Legion of Honor, and in 2015 the title of Commander of the Order of Academic Palms. She is Knight of the Danish Dannebrog Order. In 2005, Aarhus University Awarded her its Price for Excellent and Innovative Teaching.

Inga Žalėnienė

Rector, Mykolas Romeris University

Inga Žalėnienė is an alumna of Mykolas Romeris University (MRU), Vilnius (Lithuania), where she finished her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Law. After graduation she joined the Department of Law at Lithuanian Savings Bank and worked as legal adviser. In parallel, she lectured the discipline of Family Law at Mykolas Romeris University and started her academic career as university lecturer at MRU. Inga Žalėnienė defended her doctoral thesis "Representation in Civil Procedure (Theoretical and Practical Aspects)" and obtained her PhD in Law, in 2006. She was appointed as Vice-Dean of Law Faculty of Mykolas Romeris University in 2009 and was responsible for the development of education policy, formation and coordination of research groups, organization of scientific project activities, planning and accounting of scientific results. Inga Žalėnienė was appointed as Vice-Rector for Research and International Relations in 2012, then in 2017 as Vice-Rector for Education and Research and since March 2019, she holds the position of Rector of Mykolas Romeris University – was re-elected for a second 5 year term in 2024. In 2022, Prof. Inga Žalėnienė was awarded a honorary title of Dongseo University’s (Republic of Korea) Doctor Honoris Causa. Inga Žalėnienė is a Vice-President at the International Association of Universities (IAU) since 2023 and a member of European Women Rectors Association (EWORA) Board of Directors since 2021.

Birgit Riegraf

Former President, Paderborn University

Prof. Dr. Birgitt Riegraf, born 1961, studied political science, sociology, psychology and religious studies as well as the interdisciplinary supplementary course "Qualitative Methods in Social Sciences" at the Free University of Berlin. She did her doctorate in 1995 at the Free University of Berlin and completed her habilitation in 2004 at the Faculty of Sociology at Bielefeld University. After visiting professorships and interim professorships at the University of Duisburg-Essen, the Technical University Carolo-Wilhelmina in Braunschweig and the Georg-August University in Göttingen, she has been Professor of General Sociology at Paderborn University since 2009. She has been the President of Paderborn University from April 2018 to April 2025.

Research Priorities

Social, justice and state theories, inequality, work and organizational sociology, science and university research, theories and methodologies of women and gender studies

Current Functions, Shortlist:

From 2021, board member of EWORA (European Women Rectors Association)

Since 2021, member of the working group “Research-Oriented Equal Opportunities Standards” of the DFG

Since 2020, Member of the speaker group of the LRK NRW

Since 2020, member of the "Expert advisory committee for cooperation between Qingdao and Germany"

Since 2019, Shandong Province Ambassador of Friendship

Since 2019, Member of the advisory board of the Sino-German Eco Parc Qingdao

Since 2019, chairwoman of the University Alliance (UA) 11+ / German University Alliance

Since 2018, Member of the HRK's Permanent Commission for Organization and Governance

Since 2018, Member of the Board of Trustees of the Johannes Rau Research Association
 

Since 2018, Member of it's OWL's Cluster-board
 

Since 2018, Elected member of the board of the Digital University of NRW
 

Since 2018, board member of the OWL Employment Initiative
 

Since 2018, member of the board of the association "Economy and Science for OWL e.V."
 

Since 2018, President of the University of Paderborn
 

Since 2018, Member of the Board of Trustees of the Heinz Nixdorf Institute
 

Since 2015, board member of the Gender Center of the University of Paderborn
 

Since 2014, member of the executive board of the NRW Research College Light - Efficient - Mobile
 

Since 2010, member of the women's and gender research network in NRW

Current publications, Shortlist:

Riegraf, Birgit (in collaboration with Lena Weber) (2021): FEMEN’s transnational fight for women’s rights: multiple modernities, transnational spaces, and plural gender orders. In: Winkel, Heidemarie and Angelika Poferl (ed.): Multiple Gender Cultures, Sociology, and Plural Modernities, Routledge, 252 S.

Riegraf, Birgit (in collaboration with Beate Kortendiek and Katja Sabisch) (ed.) (2019): Handbuch zur Interdisziplinären Geschlechterforschung, Reihe Geschlecht und Gesellschaft Band 65, Grundlagenwerk mit 168 Artikeln, sowohl in Print-Version als auch Online, ISBN: 978-3-658-12500-4 (Print); 978-3-658-12500-4 (Online), 1566 S.

Riegraf, Birgit (in collaboration with Barbara Rendtorff and Claudia Mahs) (2019): Struktur und Dynamik – Un/Gleichzeitigkeiten im Geschlechterverhältnis, SpingerVS, 185 S.

Riegraf, Birgit (in collaboration with Martina Althoff, Magdalena Apel, Mechthild Bereswill and Julia Gruhlich) (2017): Feministische Methodologien und Methoden. Traditionen, Konzepte, Erörterungen. Lehrbuchreihe zur sozialwissenschaftlichen Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung der Sektion Frauenforschung in der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie Band 2, (2. erweiterte und aktualisierte Auflage) (1. Auflage 2001), Wiesbaden, 442 S.

Riegraf, Birgit (in collaboration with Romy Reimer) (2016): Geschlechtergerechte Care-Arrangements? Zur Neuverteilung von Pflegeaufgaben in Wohn-Pflege-Gemeinschaften, Reihe Arbeitsgesellschaft im Wandel, Weinheim/ Basel, 137 S.

Isabel Capeloa Gil

Rector, Universidade Católica Portuguesa

Isabel Capeloa Gil is the Rector of the Catholic University of Portugal (UCP) and President of the International Federation of Catholic Universities. She is a Full Professor of Culture Studies at the School of Human Sciences. Having grown up in China, she studied in Lisbon (U. Lisbon), Munich (Ludwig Maximilian University) and Chicago and holds a PhD in German Studies (UCP). Previously, she was Vice-Rector for Research and Internationalization (2012-2016) and the Dean of the School of Human Sciences (2005-2012) of the Catholic University of Portugal (UCP). Isabel Gil has been especially interested in researching issues of diversity and conflict and has structured her work around the exploration of the disciplinary boundaries between the arts and other disciplines.
 

She is a passionate advocate of international education and works consistently to develop international research networks, exploring the different ways in which the practice of the arts and humanities is pivotal to advance a more sustainable and intellectually robust global education agenda. Her research is currently published in Portuguese, English, German, French, Italian and Spanish. She is the author of over 182 publications, bridging cultural theory, interarts studies, visual culture, culture and conflict. Her latest books are Hazardous Future: Disaster, Representation and the Assessment of Risk (with Christoph Wulf, New York, 2015) and The Ballets Russes. Modern Times After Dhiaghilev (with PcPinto, Lisbon, 2018) . She was a founding member and is a senior researcher at the Research Centre for Communication and Culture (CECC), where she coordinates the research group Culture, Art and Conflict (CAC). As an international scholar, Prof. Gil has held numerous visiting professorships at prestigious universities such as LMU University, Munich, Hamburg University,Ca’Foscari University, Venice, the Houston School of Film at the National University ofIreland, PUC Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), and USJ (Macao). She was a Visiting Fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg (Berlin) and Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (U. Stanford). Amongst her honours are a Fulbright Fellowship, and DAAD, FLAD and Gulbenkian Scholarships.

 

Isabel Capeloa Gil has been a regular consultant for research foundations such as the Danish Research Council, FAPESP (Brazil), the FCT and FLAD in Portugal as well as the Luso-American Comission (Fulbright). She was an evaluator of the prestigious Excellence Initiative of the Germnan Federal Government and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and is Chair of the Humanities panel at the Danish Research Council.

Isabel Capeloa Gil is furthermore Honorary Fellow at the IGRS, School of Advanced Studies, University of London. In 2018, she became Chair of the Research Leadership Forum of the Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils. She is also a Member of the European Council of Foreign Relations, as well as a member of the Advisory Board of the Gulbenkian Foundation. Since 2016, she has been the President of the Board of the UCP Foundation.

Lucyna Wozniak

Vice Rector, Medical University of Lodz

Professor Lucyna Woźniak, PhD, DSc, graduated from the Technical University of Lodz. After PhD from the Polish Academy of Sciences and a post-doc in Kings College London, she got habilitation (DSc.) from The Centre of Molecular and Macromolecular Studies Polish Academy of Sciences. Professor at the Medical University of Lodz (www.umed.pl) working in the field of medicinal chemistry and molecular biology. Research: diabetes in context of gestational diabetes (GDM) as an early predictor of T2M in women population, metabolomics, lipidomics. Vice Rector for Science and International Affairs, Head of Chair of Medicinal Biology & Department of Structural Biology at MUL, chairwoman of EIT HEALTH INNOSTARS (www.eithealth.eu/innostars) Supervisory Board, and Member of Supervisory Board of EIT HEALTH (www.eithealth.eu). Member of High Level Group on maximizing impact of EU Research and Innovation Programmes (Pascal Lamy Group), and Strategic Innovation Board of EIT HEALTH.

Kerstin Tham

Former Vice Chancellor, Malmö University

Kerstin Tham was vice-chancellor of Malmö University from 2015 to 2024. She previously served as Deputy Vice Chancellor at Karolinska Institutet (KI) in Stockholm. She has extensive experience from research, teaching and academic leadership positions within the field of health sciences.

Professor Tham is professor in occupational therapy (2009) and has a doctoral (phd) degree in Neurology (1998). Her research focuses on aspects of rehabilitation after stroke and the overall aim is to build knowledge, develop and evaluate personcentered health services for people with stroke and their families. Professor Tham has conducted internationally unique research identifying the lived experience of individuals with neuropsychological impairments after stroke, as unilateral neglect, by applying an occupational science perspective. The research has contributed to the development of new models, methods and strategies for rehabilitation after stroke. Professor Tham has extensive numbers of scientific publications and has served as supervisor of 15 doctoral students at Karolinska Institutet.

Professor Tham has led the strategic development of Malmö university which is the youngest university in Sweden. When the Swedish government decided on giving Malmö university the full research university status 2018, she has focused her work on strengthening the research and research education in interdisciplinary research centers and programs addressing complex societal challenges such as sustainable city development, migration and integration, life- and material sciences, internet of things and people and learning for change.

Malmö university has a strong global and societal engagement and has during the years built and extensive experience in widening participation in higher education. Collaboration with different societal stakeholders within public, private and the nonprofit sectors is very important for the further development of the university and professor Tham is therefore involved in several national, regional and local boards.

Pamela Gillies

Former Vice Chancellor, Glasgow Caledonian University

Pamela Gillies, CBE FRSE, is a Professor Emerita in Public Health and former Vice Chancellor of Glasgow Caledonian University where she held the role for 17 years. She currently Chairs the Board of The Circle, a charity founded by Annie Lennox to promote gender equality, women’s economic opportunities and to reduce gender -based violence globally. She also serves on the Research Committee of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland’s National Academy, on the Board of the National University of Science and Technology in Oman and Scottish Chamber Orchestra. She is an elected member of the Academy of Social Sciences, Royal College of Physicians and Faculty of PublicHealth. In her career she has worked with the World Health Organisation on HIV/AIDS prevention; been a Harkness Fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health; established with Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus, the Grameen Caledonian School of Nursing in Dhaka as a social business; partnered the development of the African Leadership University and, as its President, created the first international degree awarding College for the Common Good in New York City. She has served on many Boards including the British Council and RFK UK Human Rights and, with a PhD in epidemiology, has written widely on social action for health and inequalities reduction.