ECIE Biographies

Below are the ECIE Biographies of the Conference and Programme Chairs, Key Note Speakers and Mini-Track Chairs.

Conference and Programme Chairs

Stephanie Buisine is Research Director at CESI, and leads innovation research at LINEACT laboratory. Her career has taken her from technological innovation issues (ex: Human-Computer Interaction) to the methodological and strategic dimensions of innovation (ex: Creativity, Prospective on future needs), up to organizational innovation. Through innovation, her research aims to support self-determination of users, designers and collaborators.

Muriel Davies first studied engineering and management and then started a career working for 14 years in the textile industry on several plants as both a supply chain and quality manager. She then joined CESI in 2009 as a pedagogical manager, and then LINEACT CESI 8 years ago as a researcher. Today she conducts research on culture and organizational innovation with the current socio-environmental challenges as structural framework.

Keynote Speakers

Olivier Hamant is a biologist and a Director of Research at INRAE (the French institute for research on agriculture, food and environment) at Ecole Normale Supérieure in Lyon. He is also a Director of the Michel Serres Institute where he contributes to several projects in the fields of art, science and education around the existential issues of the Anthropocene. He has published approximately 100 scientific articles on biophysics and plant development. His research topic has also shed a new light on the question of the robustness of living organisms. In 2022, he published “La Troisième Voie du Vivant” (“The Third Way of Life”, Ed. Odile Jacob) soon to be translated into English.

Mini Track Chairs


Nasser Abouzakhar is an entrepreneur and the director of Anzar Property Investment Limited, which was founded in 2017. He is the author of the book Real Estate Investment: In the Pursuit of Building Income producing Assets to Grow Your Wealth. Nasser is a TEDx speaker, award-winning author, and a regular guest on the BBC TV channel for over 100 live TV interviews, including the Homes Under the Hammer TV show. Between 2004 and 2019, he worked at different universities in the UK as an academic, teaching and researching different technology-related subjects. Nasser has a good understanding of the property investment business and finances. He has firm relationships with professionals in banking, legal, accounting, and real estate valuation, assisting with his responsibility as the company director. He leads a highly professional and experienced property management team.

Dr Nikolaos Apostolopoulos, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in European Policies in Sustainability and Entrepreneurship at the University of Peloponnese. He also acts as scientific advisor at the Labour Institute of General Confederation of Labour (INE/GSEE) in Greece. He is co-editor of the edited volumes entitled: “Universities and Entrepreneurship: Meeting the Educational and Social Challenges”, “Entrepreneurship and the Sustainable Development Goals and Entrepreneurship”, “Institutional Framework and Support Mechanisms in the EU”.

Slava Baranovskiy is a serial tech entrepreneur, international speaker, startup mentor, guest lecturer and researcher. He is a founder of Eligent Club (community of tech startup founders in the UK/EU), founder and programme director of Eligent Accelerator (online 6-month programme for socially-driven tech startups). Currently, he is a PhD candidate at the University of Liverpool (UK), and his research interests are socially driven startups, virtual accelerators, and entrepreneurial ecosystems. More info: slavabaranovskiy.com

Antonia Hoffmann is a doctoral student at the Chair of Management Accounting at the School of Management of the Technical University of Munich. Her research focuses on sustainability management in SMEs. In particular, she is dedicated to circular economy in SMEs, focusing on craft enterprises. She focuses on the role of strategic orientation, cooperation and digitalization.

Dr Alexandros Kakouris, PhD, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in entrepreneurial learning and education at the Departmnt of Management Science and Technology of the University of Peloponnese and at the Hellenic Open University. He holds PhD in Physics, PhD in Entrepreneurship and a MSc in Adult Education. His special interests concern: fostering entrepreneurship and innovation to science graduates, context-aware entrepreneurship, support of youth entrepreneurship through teaching and counselling as well as nascent entrepreneurship, transformative and experiential learning. He is on the editorial board of International Journal of Management Education.

Marco Lamas holds a Post-Doc in Education (Entrepreneurship), PhD in Education (Entrepreneurship) and Bsc in International Relations.He is a Senior Professor at ISLA – Polytechnic Institute of Management and Technology where he Leads the Business and Innovation LAB (BIL). Marco is also aResearcher, member of CEI and CEOS.PP, both from ISCAP -P.Porto and also member of the Research Centre of ISLA-IPGT.  He is a Founder member of SHINE - Scaling Higher Education Innovation for Europe (https://shine-project.eu/).

Dr.Sc. (Tech.) Matti Muhos is the Professor of Growth Management, Renewing Business and Digitalization and the Director of the University of Oulu Kerttu Saalasti Institute. Muhos holds the title of Docent in Technology Business, with a special focus on innovative starting and growing business in the IT industry, at the University of Jyväskylä. His research is focused on growth management, industrial engineering and management, technology business and international business. He participates in the editorial processes of several international journals as an editor, associate editor, guest editorand on both editorial and advisory boards.

Carlos Miguel Oliveira has a Ph.D. in Management. He is a Coordinating Professor and Director of the School of Management at ISLA – Instituto Politécnico de Gestão e Tecnologia. He is editor-in-chief of the Management in Review Journal and a collaborating member of CEOS.PP – Centre for Organisational and Social Studies. In recent years, he has published several articles in journals and conferences. He is a reviewer in some journals in the management area.

Dr. Martti Saarela serves as the Development Manager at the Micro-Entrepreneurship Centre of Excellence (MicroENTRE) at the Kerttu Saalasti Institute of the University of Oulu, Finland. He holds a doctorate in industrial engineering and management (Ph.D. in Tech) and also possesses a Master of Laws and a Master of Science in Economics. His primary research interests include the development of micro-enterprises, public business services, start-ups, eHealth business, public procurement, and regional development. In recent years, he has been involved in numerous projects focusing on digital development in SMEs.

Prof. Dr. Augustinus van der Krogt is Professor in social business and digital transformation management. Next to lecturing he undertakes research on entrepreneurship, internationalisation, fintech, machine learning and digital business strategies. He currently focuses on research on the impact and challenges of Twin Green and Digital innovation by SMEs.


Dr Andreas Walmsley, PhD, is Associate Professor in Business at Plymouth Marjon University. He conducts research in entrepreneurship, especially entrepreneurship education, graduate entrepreneurship and responsible entrepreneurship. He is on the editorial boards of the journals Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy and the International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research.

Dr Birgitte Wraae, PhD, is an Associate Professor in Entrepreneurship at the Department of Finance and Administration, Faculty at UCL University College, Odense, Denmark. Her research interests are in entrepreneurship, especially entrepreneurship education: identity formation, emancipation, and employability. She excels in doing research in connection with the entrepreneurial learning space. She has recently published a book on the entrepreneurial learning journey.

Workshop Facilitators