Maarten Vink is Chair in Citizenship Studies and Director of the Global Citizenship research area within the Global Governance Programme at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute. He is also Co-Director of the Global Citizenship Observatory (GLOBALCIT). Vink led the research project "Migrant Life Course and Legal Status Transition (MiLifeStatus)" funded by a Consolidator Grant of the European Research Council (2016-2021). He co-edited the Oxford Handbook of Citizenship (OUP, 2017) and has published on immigrant naturalisation, comparative citizenship regimes, dual citizenship, and Europeanization, among others. Maarten Vink is on leave from Maastricht University where he is Professor of Political Sociology and was one of the founders of the Maastricht Center for Citizenship, Migration and Development (MACIMIDE). He holds a PhD in Political Science from Leiden University (2003).

Ursula von der Leyen was elected as President of the European Commission in 2019. As the head of the European executive, she has defined six headline ambitions for Europe for her mandate: a European Green Deal, a Europe fit for the digital age, an economy that works for people, a stronger Europe in the world, promoting our European way of life, and a new push for European democracy. Before 2019, Ursula von der Leyen was Minister at federal level in Germany for more than 14 years and responsible for family, then labour and social affairs, and later defence.

Christiana Xenofontos holds a BA in Political Sciences from the University of Cyprus, with expertise in International Relations. The last four years she has been working as a Parliamentary Associate at the House of the Representatives in Cyprus, for Demetris Demetriou (MP).

She is a youth expert with several years of involvement in the youth-eco system in Cyprus and in Europe and she served the Youth Rights from different positions and roles. From 2015 to 2019 she worked as a Youth Policy Officer at the Cyprus Youth Council (CYC), which she also served from the elected position of the Vice-President, representing the NGO Cyprus Youth DiplomaCY (2019-2020). She has been an external partner of the Youth Board of Cyprus for Youth Policy and Youth Strategy issues and she is still an active member of the committee regarding the recognition of Youth Worker in Cyprus.

Her cooperation with the European Youth Forum started back in 2016 and she became actively involved in 2018 when she got elected as a Member of the Consultative Body on Membership Applications. In November 2020 she became the first Cypriot, representing the Cyprus Youth Council, who got elected as a Board Member of the European Youth Forum for the term 2021-2022.

In 2022 she was reelected, this time for the position of the Vice-President of the European Youth Forum. Her main portfolio is Youth Participation and Democracy, with focus on the EP elections 2024 and the EU Youth Test.

In May of 2023 she got elected as a member of the Political Office of the Democratic Rally in Cyprus.

Social Media: https://linktr.ee/ChristianaXen