ISSA Conference 2026 Theme and Strands

We are thrilled to announce Dominic Richardson, Managing Director of the Learning for Wellbeing Institute, as a keynote speaker at ISSA Conference 2026!

Dominic has extensive experience in researching family policies and child well-being. For almost a decade, he led two of UNICEF’s global research teams, education and social policy and economic analysis at the Office of Research – Innocenti, where he oversaw work on family cash transfers and cash plus programmes (including gender responsive social protection), social expenditure and ECD policies, the Innocenti Report Card Series, teachers and teaching, development of social and emotional skills, and global research on family policies, child development and well-being. Dominic previously worked with OECD Social Policy Division on a broad range of studies covering childwell-being, evaluating family policies, integrating human services, and social impact investment. Dominic has led or co-authored multiple reports on comparative childwell-being in high-, middle- and low-income countries. Dominic was awarded the 2018 Jan Trost Award (lifetime achievement) for Outstanding Contributions in International Family Studies by the National Council for Family Relations in the United States.

Watch Dominic’s video about the conference format, theme, and why it's important.

Hester works as a senior researcher and professor at the Artevelde University of Applied Sciences, Department Bachelor Pedagogy of the Yound Child and the Research Network People and Society. Her areas of expertise are professionalization, inclusive leadership, working with divers and multilingual families, and integrated working between different sectors, … All her projects in have one thing in common: the quality improvement in ECEC, with a positive impact on all children, parents and society.

Bjorn Martens works as a projects coordinator for the Childcare department of the city of Ghent – Belgium. As a former manager in several (public) childcare centres, his 15 years ECEC experience has both feet in the daily practise of childcare and the life of children and their families. In his current job as a projectmanager he developed a broad view on ECEC research, policy and strategies from a municipalities point of view.

Vicky Cauwels works in the Bachelor’s programme in Pedagogy of the Young Child and the Postgraduate Programme in Leadership at Artevelde University of Applied Sciences. Her work centres on reflection, collective learning and coaching. She developed WANDA, a group reflection method to examine and improve practice, co-founded Xzekoo, and is currently involved in KLEUR!, an Interreg project strengthening leadership, HR strategies and professional development in early childhood education and care in Flanders and the Netherlands.

Alejandra holds a doctorate from Columbia University. She has over 20 years of experience in consulting and research for international organizations such as UNICEF, OECD, RAND Europe, the Dialogue, UNESCO, and the World Bank. Founder of the Center for Early Childhood Studies (CEPI), she also served as an advisor to the National Agency for Quality Education. Currently, she is a visiting faculty at the Early Childhood Center at Tecnológico de Monterrey.

Jerneja Jager, PhD, Petra Zgonec and Mateja Mlinar are researchers at the Educational Research Institute in Ljubljana, Slovenia. They are involved in national and international projects with the aim of ensuring accessible and high-quality education for all children. Their research interests are quality in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), access to quality ECEC for disadvantaged children, and professional development of ECEC staff.

Anuja Kadam is the SIRA Lead at LGT Venture Philanthropy, where she is building India's first integrated nurturing-care collective, mobilizing funders and government around early childhood outcomes from pregnancy to age six. She previously advised nonprofits and funders on strategy and scale at The Bridgespan Group across India and Southeast Asia, and began her career as a strategy consultant at KPMG and Boston Consulting Group. LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/anujakadam

We are thrilled to announce Dominic Richardson, Managing Director of the Learning for Wellbeing Institute, as a keynote speaker at ISSA Conference 2026!

Dominic has extensive experience in researching family policies and child well-being. For almost a decade, he led two of UNICEF’s global research teams, education and social policy and economic analysis at the Office of Research – Innocenti, where he oversaw work on family cash transfers and cash plus programmes (including gender responsive social protection), social expenditure and ECD policies, the Innocenti Report Card Series, teachers and teaching, development of social and emotional skills, and global research on family policies, child development and well-being. Dominic previously worked with OECD Social Policy Division on a broad range of studies covering childwell-being, evaluating family policies, integrating human services, and social impact investment. Dominic has led or co-authored multiple reports on comparative childwell-being in high-, middle- and low-income countries. Dominic was awarded the 2018 Jan Trost Award (lifetime achievement) for Outstanding Contributions in International Family Studies by the National Council for Family Relations in the United States.

Watch Dominic’s video about the conference format, theme, and why it's important.

I am a trained Medical Doctor and seasoned Pediatrician with rank of Ass't professor of pediatrics and child health over 17 years of experience , my professional journey starts at the University, later Chief of Staff for the Office of the MoH and Director MCHN before the current role.Currently, serving as the Deputy CEO,Chief Programs and Research at AfC-ECD dedicated to advancing ECD initiatives aiming to break intergenerational poverty for advancing human capital in Africa.

Claudio de Faria Rodrigues is an Architect and Urban Planner, and Coordinator of Early Childhood Development in Mogi das Cruzes. He has worked for the City Hall since 2001, having served as Municipal Secretary from 2013 to 2024. Since 2021, he has deepened his studies in Public Policy for Early Childhood Development, with further training in Child-Friendly Cities from London LSE Cities. He is the representative of the Urban95 network in the municipality.

David Harris is the executive director of the Children’s Research and Education Institute, a senior research fellow at the Columbia University Center on Poverty and Social Policy and UNICEF Innocenti Global Office for Research and Foresight, an advisory board member of the Harvard University Social Policies for Health Equity Research Center, and an affiliate of the Stanford University Center on Poverty and Inequality. He received a Doctor of Philosophy in Social Welfare from Columbia University.

Mathilde Mathys is Director of Family Policy at the City of Ghent (Belgium). This role was created to underline the importance of transversal and integrated family policy. She works with a policy team and an operational team. Her ambition is to shape policy and services around the needs and life realities of families, rather than around institutional or sectoral silos.

I am currently employed as a PhD researcher (since 2022) at Ghent University. My research focuses on integration within ECEC, specifically at the intersection of childcare and preschool education. A central theme in my work is interprofessional collaboration and how integrated systems shape both professional practices and the quality of provision. This includes examining professionals’ roles, identities, and collaboration practices, as well as broader systemic conditions that enable or constrain integration.

Amy Szymańska is the creator of HiKids, an innovative early childhood development method built on structured learning levels and character-based engagement. She focuses on bridging education, family, and community systems through practical, scalable models. With experience across international contexts, Amy works on developing integrated approaches that align stakeholders around the child’s developmental journey, transforming fragmented services into cohesive ecosystems that support both learning and emotional growth.

Akvile Motiejunaite-Schulmeister is an expert in comparative education policy. At the Eurydice Network—Europe’s hub for comparative education information across 40 countries—she leads the vision and data strategy for early childhood education and care. She holds a PhD in sociology from Stockholm University.

T..W.V. Indigahawala is a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Education, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Has extensive experience across educational planning and management and teacher education within the field of education.She serves as the Research Project Coordinator for the SIPCA initiative, focusing on scaling play-based, peer learning approaches in early childhood education. Her work centres on school readiness, teacher development, and strengthening the link between research, policy, and practice in low- and middle-income contexts.

Abbie Raikes, PhD., MPH, is a professor at the College of Public Health, University of Nebraska Medical Center and Director, Center for Global Health and Development. She also is the Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of ECD Measure. Previously Abbie held roles at the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO) and the Gates Foundation. Abbie has served on several boards, including the Omaha Children’s Museum and ChildFund International.

Henriette Heimgaertner worked as a programme specialist for the Bernard van Leer Foundation responsible for programme development, support and evaluation for countries in Western and Central Europe. In 2008 she became the co-founder of the Berlin Early Years Institute, the first of its kind in Germany. She oversaw the implementation of a quality framework for all 2.700 ECEC centres in the city of Berlin consisting of Internal and External evaluation, as well as policy formulation.

Professor Sharon Goldfeld is a paediatrician and Director, Centre for Community Child Health, Royal Children’s Hospital, and Director, Population Health at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. She has a decade of experience in state government as a senior policymaker in the Victorian health and education departments. Her research program is made up of complementary, synergistic and cross-disciplinary streams of work focused on investigating, testing, and translating sustainable policy relevant solutions that eliminate inequities for children

Atta ul Haq Khaderzai is the Founder of the Youth Association for Development (YAD), Pakistan. A human rights advocate with 25+ years of experience, he specialises in integrating trauma-informed MHPSS into early childhood systems. Under his leadership, YAD has pioneered arts-based healing models for refugee and host communities in Baluchistan, collaborating with global partners like Amna and the MHPSS Collaborative to build resilient, data-driven educational ecosystems.

Naman is an Investment Associate at LGT Venture Philanthropy, where he is building SIRA (सीरा), India’s nurturing-care collective. He has 7 years of experience across early childhood development, foundational literacy and numeracy, AI in education, and public systems. His work includes management consulting roles at Dalberg Advisors, where he supported strategy and scale initiatives in ed-tech and governance, and at Samagra, where he worked with the Government of Uttar Pradesh on FLN. LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/naman6596

Des Cox is an Assistant Principal Officer in the Department of Children Disability and Equality in Ireland. His experience includes managing the development, implementation and coordination of First 5 Ireland’s whole-of-government strategy to improve the lives of babies, young children and their families. He manages the First 5 Implementation Team which leads the co-ordination and monitoring of the strategy, by developing actions and milestones, communicating with stakeholders, and preparing annual reports.

Petr Pabian has worked with infants and toddler for over three decades in families, nurseries and community centres; served as the head the Department of Social Sciences at the University of Pardubice; and currently coordinates advocacy work for the Czech Early Childhood Platform.

Prof Josie Dickerson is a research director for prevention, early intervention and child equity based at Born in Bradford (UK). Josie’s work focusses on building research evidence that ensures that all children reach their full potential. To do so, she works closely with families, stakeholders and decision and policy makers to improve services and the wider early years system.

Dr. Manuel Pérez is a pediatrician and educator with 29+ years teaching Pediatrics and Global Health. He is Director General of the Early Childhood Center, a Tecnológico de Monterrey and Fundación FEMSA initiative advancing early childhood in Latin America. Former Dean of Medicine and Health Sciences (2017-2025), he chaired Universitas 21 Health Sciences Group (2017-2021), serves on the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) Public Health Advisory Committee, and has authored 37+ publications.

Adriana Gidi is Associate Director of the Center for Early Childhood at Tecnológico de Monterrey and Fundación FEMSA. She leads strategy and high-impact initiatives to advance early childhood development in Mexico and Latin America. She served in the Federal Government of Mexico (2010–2015) and as Director of Strategic International Relations at Tecnológico de Monterrey (2019–2023). Adriana holds a degree (International Business) and Master’s (Marketing) and is completing a Certificate in Early Education Leadership from Harvard.

The development of the Derby Integrated Early Learning Hub in Western Australia as a practical example of how vertical coherence—aligning community priorities, state policy and national investment—can be achieved through place-based collaboration.

Monika Rościszewska-Woźniak -a psychologist and trainer specializing in early childhood education and upbringing. For over 40 years, she has worked with parents, teachers, local governments, and non-governmental organizations. Since 2003, she has been involved with the Comenius Foundation for Child Development, where she currently serves as the President of the Board and the Leading Expert. Together with her team, she works on implementing care standards for institutions serving children aged 0 - 3 in Poland

This project explores how organisational structures in the childcare sector can support quality, sustainability, and professionalisation. It examines how proposed organisational models align with everyday practice. Through data analysis and interviews with organisations, the project identified challenges, strategies, and lessons learned. It aims to better understand what makes structures effective and to stimulate reflection and debate on how to strengthen more integrated early childhood systems.

Dadisai Taderera is Head of Partnerships at SmartStart, a national early learning organisation reaching around 200,000 children weekly. She leads strategic partnerships across government and civil society and is guiding SmartStart’s shift from direct delivery towards enabling a broader ecosystem to deliver early learning at scale. Her career has focused on social justice, systems change and cross-sector partnership, including leadership at Ashoka and roles with Mothers2Mothers and the Open Society Foundation for South Africa.

Dr. Mihaela Ionescu is Program Director at the International Step by Step Association (ISSA), where she leads programmatic work focused on strengthening equitable, high-quality and integrated early childhood systems across Europe and Central Asia. She brings more than 25 years of experience in early childhood education and development, spanning research, policy, program design and implementation, professional development, and systems reform. Throughout her career, Mihaela has worked closely with governments, international organizations and civil society, including UNICEF, the World Bank and the European Commission, supporting the development of quality standards, curricula, workforce initiatives and integrated approaches to early childhood services. She has led and contributed to numerous international studies, frameworks, toolkits and policy resources on quality, equity, professionalization and integrated services. Mihaela holds a PhD in Education Sciences from the University of Bucharest.

Sarah Klaus, EdD, is a Senior Global Program Advisor, OneSky and Adjunct Assistant Professor, Georgetown University. Her career spans academia, philanthropy and civil society with a focus on social inclusion and equity in international ECD. For three decades she worked for the Open Society Foundations, including as Director of the Early Childhood Program, developing and scaling innovative programs. Throughout her career she has promoted ECD networks and served as the founding Executive Director of ISSA.

Kateřina Sirotková is trained in social work and social policy and has always been driven by the search for solutions that tackle the root causes of social problems. This path led her to early childhood development, where she now works to connect social policy, practice and systemic change to improve outcomes for young children and their families. She is the Director of the Czech ECD Platform.

Mathilde Mathys is Director of Family Policy at the City of Ghent (Belgium). This role was created to underline the importance of transversal and integrated family policy. She works with a policy team and an operational team. Her ambition is to shape policy and services around the needs and life realities of families, rather than around institutional or sectoral silos.

I am currently employed as a PhD researcher (since 2022) at Ghent University. My research focuses on integration within ECEC, specifically at the intersection of childcare and preschool education. A central theme in my work is interprofessional collaboration and how integrated systems shape both professional practices and the quality of provision. This includes examining professionals’ roles, identities, and collaboration practices, as well as broader systemic conditions that enable or constrain integration.

Amy Szymańska is the creator of HiKids, an innovative early childhood development method built on structured learning levels and character-based engagement. She focuses on bridging education, family, and community systems through practical, scalable models. With experience across international contexts, Amy works on developing integrated approaches that align stakeholders around the child’s developmental journey, transforming fragmented services into cohesive ecosystems that support both learning and emotional growth.

Akvile Motiejunaite-Schulmeister is an expert in comparative education policy. At the Eurydice Network—Europe’s hub for comparative education information across 40 countries—she leads the vision and data strategy for early childhood education and care. She holds a PhD in sociology from Stockholm University.

Hester works as a senior researcher and professor at the Artevelde University of Applied Sciences, Department Bachelor Pedagogy of the Yound Child and the Research Network People and Society. Her areas of expertise are professionalization, inclusive leadership, working with divers and multilingual families, and integrated working between different sectors, … All her projects in have one thing in common: the quality improvement in ECEC, with a positive impact on all children, parents and society.

Bjorn Martens works as a projects coordinator for the Childcare department of the city of Ghent – Belgium. As a former manager in several (public) childcare centres, his 15 years ECEC experience has both feet in the daily practise of childcare and the life of children and their families. In his current job as a projectmanager he developed a broad view on ECEC research, policy and strategies from a municipalities point of view.

Vicky Cauwels works in the Bachelor’s programme in Pedagogy of the Young Child and the Postgraduate Programme in Leadership at Artevelde University of Applied Sciences. Her work centres on reflection, collective learning and coaching. She developed WANDA, a group reflection method to examine and improve practice, co-founded Xzekoo, and is currently involved in KLEUR!, an Interreg project strengthening leadership, HR strategies and professional development in early childhood education and care in Flanders and the Netherlands.

Alejandra holds a doctorate from Columbia University. She has over 20 years of experience in consulting and research for international organizations such as UNICEF, OECD, RAND Europe, the Dialogue, UNESCO, and the World Bank. Founder of the Center for Early Childhood Studies (CEPI), she also served as an advisor to the National Agency for Quality Education. Currently, she is a visiting faculty at the Early Childhood Center at Tecnológico de Monterrey.

Jerneja Jager, PhD, Petra Zgonec and Mateja Mlinar are researchers at the Educational Research Institute in Ljubljana, Slovenia. They are involved in national and international projects with the aim of ensuring accessible and high-quality education for all children. Their research interests are quality in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), access to quality ECEC for disadvantaged children, and professional development of ECEC staff.

Anuja Kadam is the SIRA Lead at LGT Venture Philanthropy, where she is building India's first integrated nurturing-care collective, mobilizing funders and government around early childhood outcomes from pregnancy to age six. She previously advised nonprofits and funders on strategy and scale at The Bridgespan Group across India and Southeast Asia, and began her career as a strategy consultant at KPMG and Boston Consulting Group. LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/anujakadam

We are thrilled to announce Dominic Richardson, Managing Director of the Learning for Wellbeing Institute, as a keynote speaker at ISSA Conference 2026!

Dominic has extensive experience in researching family policies and child well-being. For almost a decade, he led two of UNICEF’s global research teams, education and social policy and economic analysis at the Office of Research – Innocenti, where he oversaw work on family cash transfers and cash plus programmes (including gender responsive social protection), social expenditure and ECD policies, the Innocenti Report Card Series, teachers and teaching, development of social and emotional skills, and global research on family policies, child development and well-being. Dominic previously worked with OECD Social Policy Division on a broad range of studies covering childwell-being, evaluating family policies, integrating human services, and social impact investment. Dominic has led or co-authored multiple reports on comparative childwell-being in high-, middle- and low-income countries. Dominic was awarded the 2018 Jan Trost Award (lifetime achievement) for Outstanding Contributions in International Family Studies by the National Council for Family Relations in the United States.

Watch Dominic’s video about the conference format, theme, and why it's important.

I am a trained Medical Doctor and seasoned Pediatrician with rank of Ass't professor of pediatrics and child health over 17 years of experience , my professional journey starts at the University, later Chief of Staff for the Office of the MoH and Director MCHN before the current role.Currently, serving as the Deputy CEO,Chief Programs and Research at AfC-ECD dedicated to advancing ECD initiatives aiming to break intergenerational poverty for advancing human capital in Africa.

Claudio de Faria Rodrigues is an Architect and Urban Planner, and Coordinator of Early Childhood Development in Mogi das Cruzes. He has worked for the City Hall since 2001, having served as Municipal Secretary from 2013 to 2024. Since 2021, he has deepened his studies in Public Policy for Early Childhood Development, with further training in Child-Friendly Cities from London LSE Cities. He is the representative of the Urban95 network in the municipality.

David Harris is the executive director of the Children’s Research and Education Institute, a senior research fellow at the Columbia University Center on Poverty and Social Policy and UNICEF Innocenti Global Office for Research and Foresight, an advisory board member of the Harvard University Social Policies for Health Equity Research Center, and an affiliate of the Stanford University Center on Poverty and Inequality. He received a Doctor of Philosophy in Social Welfare from Columbia University.

T..W.V. Indigahawala is a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Education, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Has extensive experience across educational planning and management and teacher education within the field of education.She serves as the Research Project Coordinator for the SIPCA initiative, focusing on scaling play-based, peer learning approaches in early childhood education. Her work centres on school readiness, teacher development, and strengthening the link between research, policy, and practice in low- and middle-income contexts.

Abbie Raikes, PhD., MPH, is a professor at the College of Public Health, University of Nebraska Medical Center and Director, Center for Global Health and Development. She also is the Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of ECD Measure. Previously Abbie held roles at the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO) and the Gates Foundation. Abbie has served on several boards, including the Omaha Children’s Museum and ChildFund International.

Henriette Heimgaertner worked as a programme specialist for the Bernard van Leer Foundation responsible for programme development, support and evaluation for countries in Western and Central Europe. In 2008 she became the co-founder of the Berlin Early Years Institute, the first of its kind in Germany. She oversaw the implementation of a quality framework for all 2.700 ECEC centres in the city of Berlin consisting of Internal and External evaluation, as well as policy formulation.

The development of the Derby Integrated Early Learning Hub in Western Australia as a practical example of how vertical coherence—aligning community priorities, state policy and national investment—can be achieved through place-based collaboration.

Monika Rościszewska-Woźniak -a psychologist and trainer specializing in early childhood education and upbringing. For over 40 years, she has worked with parents, teachers, local governments, and non-governmental organizations. Since 2003, she has been involved with the Comenius Foundation for Child Development, where she currently serves as the President of the Board and the Leading Expert. Together with her team, she works on implementing care standards for institutions serving children aged 0 - 3 in Poland

This project explores how organisational structures in the childcare sector can support quality, sustainability, and professionalisation. It examines how proposed organisational models align with everyday practice. Through data analysis and interviews with organisations, the project identified challenges, strategies, and lessons learned. It aims to better understand what makes structures effective and to stimulate reflection and debate on how to strengthen more integrated early childhood systems.

Dadisai Taderera is Head of Partnerships at SmartStart, a national early learning organisation reaching around 200,000 children weekly. She leads strategic partnerships across government and civil society and is guiding SmartStart’s shift from direct delivery towards enabling a broader ecosystem to deliver early learning at scale. Her career has focused on social justice, systems change and cross-sector partnership, including leadership at Ashoka and roles with Mothers2Mothers and the Open Society Foundation for South Africa.

Dr. Mihaela Ionescu is Program Director at the International Step by Step Association (ISSA), where she leads programmatic work focused on strengthening equitable, high-quality and integrated early childhood systems across Europe and Central Asia. She brings more than 25 years of experience in early childhood education and development, spanning research, policy, program design and implementation, professional development, and systems reform. Throughout her career, Mihaela has worked closely with governments, international organizations and civil society, including UNICEF, the World Bank and the European Commission, supporting the development of quality standards, curricula, workforce initiatives and integrated approaches to early childhood services. She has led and contributed to numerous international studies, frameworks, toolkits and policy resources on quality, equity, professionalization and integrated services. Mihaela holds a PhD in Education Sciences from the University of Bucharest.

Sarah Klaus, EdD, is a Senior Global Program Advisor, OneSky and Adjunct Assistant Professor, Georgetown University. Her career spans academia, philanthropy and civil society with a focus on social inclusion and equity in international ECD. For three decades she worked for the Open Society Foundations, including as Director of the Early Childhood Program, developing and scaling innovative programs. Throughout her career she has promoted ECD networks and served as the founding Executive Director of ISSA.

Kateřina Sirotková is trained in social work and social policy and has always been driven by the search for solutions that tackle the root causes of social problems. This path led her to early childhood development, where she now works to connect social policy, practice and systemic change to improve outcomes for young children and their families. She is the Director of the Czech ECD Platform.

Professor Sharon Goldfeld is a paediatrician and Director, Centre for Community Child Health, Royal Children’s Hospital, and Director, Population Health at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. She has a decade of experience in state government as a senior policymaker in the Victorian health and education departments. Her research program is made up of complementary, synergistic and cross-disciplinary streams of work focused on investigating, testing, and translating sustainable policy relevant solutions that eliminate inequities for children

Atta ul Haq Khaderzai is the Founder of the Youth Association for Development (YAD), Pakistan. A human rights advocate with 25+ years of experience, he specialises in integrating trauma-informed MHPSS into early childhood systems. Under his leadership, YAD has pioneered arts-based healing models for refugee and host communities in Baluchistan, collaborating with global partners like Amna and the MHPSS Collaborative to build resilient, data-driven educational ecosystems.

Naman is an Investment Associate at LGT Venture Philanthropy, where he is building SIRA (सीरा), India’s nurturing-care collective. He has 7 years of experience across early childhood development, foundational literacy and numeracy, AI in education, and public systems. His work includes management consulting roles at Dalberg Advisors, where he supported strategy and scale initiatives in ed-tech and governance, and at Samagra, where he worked with the Government of Uttar Pradesh on FLN. LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/naman6596

Petr Pabian has worked with infants and toddler for over three decades in families, nurseries and community centres; served as the head the Department of Social Sciences at the University of Pardubice; and currently coordinates advocacy work for the Czech Early Childhood Platform.

Prof Josie Dickerson is a research director for prevention, early intervention and child equity based at Born in Bradford (UK). Josie’s work focusses on building research evidence that ensures that all children reach their full potential. To do so, she works closely with families, stakeholders and decision and policy makers to improve services and the wider early years system.

Des Cox is an Assistant Principal Officer in the Department of Children Disability and Equality in Ireland. His experience includes managing the development, implementation and coordination of First 5 Ireland’s whole-of-government strategy to improve the lives of babies, young children and their families. He manages the First 5 Implementation Team which leads the co-ordination and monitoring of the strategy, by developing actions and milestones, communicating with stakeholders, and preparing annual reports.

Dr. Manuel Pérez is a pediatrician and educator with 29+ years teaching Pediatrics and Global Health. He is Director General of the Early Childhood Center, a Tecnológico de Monterrey and Fundación FEMSA initiative advancing early childhood in Latin America. Former Dean of Medicine and Health Sciences (2017-2025), he chaired Universitas 21 Health Sciences Group (2017-2021), serves on the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) Public Health Advisory Committee, and has authored 37+ publications.

Adriana Gidi is Associate Director of the Center for Early Childhood at Tecnológico de Monterrey and Fundación FEMSA. She leads strategy and high-impact initiatives to advance early childhood development in Mexico and Latin America. She served in the Federal Government of Mexico (2010–2015) and as Director of Strategic International Relations at Tecnológico de Monterrey (2019–2023). Adriana holds a degree (International Business) and Master’s (Marketing) and is completing a Certificate in Early Education Leadership from Harvard.

Marilia Fernandes is an assistant Professor at ISPA – Instituto Universitário, Portugal, working in developmental psychology and early childhood education and care. Her research focuses on attachment and socio-emotional development, with experience in applied research and early intervention programs. She has participated in research projects involving the design and evaluation of evidence-based interventions in early childhood settings. She is currently involved in the implementation of the VIPP protocol in Portuguese early childhood contexts.

Paola Milani, Ph.D., Full Professor of Social and Family Pedagogy at the University of Padua, Scientific Coordinator of the Research and Intervention Laboratory in Family Education, and National Scientific Director of P.I.P.P.I., the Intervention Program for the Prevention of Institutionalization. Andrea Petrella, Ph.D., researcher in General and Social Pedagogy at the University of Padua. He is a member of the Research and Intervention Laboratory in Family Education since 2016.

Prof Josie Dickerson is a research director for prevention, early intervention and child equity based at Born in Bradford (UK). Josie’s work focusses on building research evidence that ensures that all children reach their full potential. To do so, she works closely with families, stakeholders and decision and policy makers to improve services and the wider early years system.

I have over 20 years of experience managing and implementing social public policies and programmes and over 16 years of experience in the early childhood development field. Before joining the Foundation in 2018, I served as National Coordinator of Chile Crece Contigo (“Chile grows with you”), the comprehensive protection system for early childhood development, at the Ministry of Social Development from 2010 to 2012 and from 2014 to 2018. As Director of Programme Support and Learning, I lead efforts to strengthen programme quality, learning, and impact across a global portfolio focused on improving outcomes for young children and families – overseeing monitoring, evaluation, and learning processes, leading the design and implementation of executive education courses for senior leaders, practitioners, and partners, and building partnerships with academic and technical institutions to translate evidence into effective and scalable action.

Dr. Mihaela Ionescu is Program Director at the International Step by Step Association (ISSA), where she leads programmatic work focused on strengthening equitable, high-quality and integrated early childhood systems across Europe and Central Asia. She brings more than 25 years of experience in early childhood education and development, spanning research, policy, program design and implementation, professional development, and systems reform. Throughout her career, Mihaela has worked closely with governments, international organizations and civil society, including UNICEF, the World Bank and the European Commission, supporting the development of quality standards, curricula, workforce initiatives and integrated approaches to early childhood services. She has led and contributed to numerous international studies, frameworks, toolkits and policy resources on quality, equity, professionalization and integrated services. Mihaela holds a PhD in Education Sciences from the University of Bucharest.

Carolina Maldonado-Carreño is a Full Professor at the School of Education of Universidad de los Andes (Colombia), where she leads work on early childhood education quality measurement and program evaluation. She has been centrally involved in the design and implementation of Colombia's national ECE quality measurement system (IMCEIC) and has used these tools to evaluate scaling initiatives in multiple regions. Her work bridges national policy, research methodology, and practical improvement of early childhood services.

Street Child is an international NGO working to ensure that every child is safe, in school, and learning, particularly in contexts affected by poverty, conflict, and crisis. In Moldova, Street Child supports the development of inclusive early childhood education and childcare services through partnerships with government institutions, civil society organizations, and international agencies, with a focus on workforce development, community-based solutions, and women’s participation in the labour market.

Meg Faure is an occupational therapist with over two decades of clinical experience in infant development and maternal mental health, and the founder of Parent Sense. Her work focuses on translating relational early childhood expertise into scalable digital infrastructure, distributed through medical insurers, NGOs, and government maternity programmes across South Africa, Jersey, and MENA. She is currently partnering with Georgetown University on research into digital support and maternal confidence.

Ellen is the manager of Newbridge Family Resource Centre and has served as Chair of the FRCNF since September 2025. With over 20 years of experience in community development, Ellen brings strong leadership, strategic insight, and a deep commitment to social justice. She holds a Master’s in Family Support and a degree in Addiction Studies and Community Development, equipping her with a strong academic foundation to support her practical work in the field.

Florence Koenderink is an independent consultant in child protection reform and trauma proactive approaches. Florence has almost 20 years of experience in child protection across four continents. She is the author of 10 books and various other publications, including 'Understanding the Trauma of Children from Institutions: A training manual for caseworkers' and 'The Trauma Root of Social Work: Beyond the Trauma Wall'. And launched the Beyond the Trauma Wall Initiative in 2025.

Tove Gant is COO of Parent Sense, working at the intersection of preventative health financing and early childhood support. Her career spans health and risk consulting for South African medical aids and corporates, founding and scaling a multi-site service business, and impact investment. She holds a UCT degree in Economics and Law and Honours in Social Policy and Management, and chairs Happy Heroes, a charity supporting families of children with additional needs.

The development of the Derby Integrated Early Learning Hub in Western Australia as a practical example of how vertical coherence—aligning community priorities, state policy and national investment—can be achieved through place-based collaboration.

currently advise the Sharjah Private Education Authority on Early Childhood Education and Care, supporting the sector through policy, quality improvement, system strengthening, and strategic initiatives aligned with SDG 4.2, moving it toward more equitable, high-quality, and coherent provision. I also serve as a designated early childhood education expert for UNESCO and as a member of the Technical Advisory Group contributing to its 2026 global report, connecting my system-level work with international policy and financing discussions.

H.E. Khawla Al Hosani is Vice Chancellor of Sharjah Education Academy and a distinguished educational leader with over 25 years of experience. She has led national education reform, teacher development, and capacity-building initiatives in the UAE, championing innovation, inclusive learning, sustainable education systems, and professional excellence.

Adriana Gidi is Associate Director of the Center for Early Childhood at Tecnológico de Monterrey and Fundación FEMSA. She leads strategy and high-impact initiatives to advance early childhood development in Mexico and Latin America. She served in the Federal Government of Mexico (2010–2015) and as Director of Strategic International Relations at Tecnológico de Monterrey (2019–2023). Adriana holds a degree (International Business) and Master’s (Marketing) and is completing a Certificate in Early Education Leadership from Harvard.

Joanna Marie Condat is a development and humanitarian practitioner with over 10 years of experience across diverse thematic areas, including mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS), disability and gender inclusion, child and youth empowerment, livelihoods, and community resilience. Her work is grounded in MHPSS, inclusion, and participatory approaches, which she currently brings to her role in coordinating an inclusive early childhood care and development initiative at Save the Children Philippines. She works closely with government, civil society, families, and communities to strengthen more inclusive and responsive systems for young children. Save the Children is a global independent organization for children, working to ensure every child survives, learns, and is protected. Our work focuses on strengthening systems, how policies, financing, and governance are designed and implemented, to deliver integrated and equitable outcomes. We support governments to move from fragmented approaches toward coordinated, evidence-informed decision-making, ensuring resources align with child development needs and that community voices, especially the most marginalized, shape how investments are prioritized and delivered.

Dr. Manuel Pérez is a pediatrician and educator with 29+ years teaching Pediatrics and Global Health. He is Director General of the Early Childhood Center, a Tecnológico de Monterrey and Fundación FEMSA initiative advancing early childhood in Latin America. Former Dean of Medicine and Health Sciences (2017-2025), he chaired Universitas 21 Health Sciences Group (2017-2021), serves on the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) Public Health Advisory Committee, and has authored 37+ publications.

Andrew Russo co-founded the International Association of Family Support Networks, one of seven networks he has established and led in the Family Support and Strengthening field at the local, city, state, national, and international levels. He has more than three decades of experience in the nonprofit social service sector, advancing policy, authoring field standards, training thousands of professionals, and championing the development of Family Resource Centers to support families and children to thrive.

Larry has worked in research and evaluation for 45+ years. In 1984, he established Proactive Information Services Inc. to provide services to the not-for-profit and public sectors. He is recognized for his willingness to share his deep knowledge, particularly in the areas of Indigenous and decolonizing approaches to evaluation. He has worked on projects focussed on early childhood, both in Canada and internationally, including with ISSA on case studies celebrating ISSA’s 10th anniversary.

Linda, a partner in the Canadian company Proactive Information Services Inc., has worked in evaluation and research for 40+ years. She has been a keynote speaker, presented papers and facilitated workshops at many international conferences. She has conducted evaluations across Canada and in numerous countries in East Central and Southeastern Europe, as well as Argentina and Lithuania. She has worked in early childhood education for school districts, governments, UNICEF, Open Society Institute, and ISSA.

Sonja Giese is a social entrepreneur, systems leader, and applied researcher with over 30 years’ experience advancing early childhood development (ECD) and foundational learning outcomes in South Africa. Her work sits at the intersection of measurement science, education innovation, and system reform, with a sustained focus on democratising access to high-quality data so that evidence can inform better programming, policy, and investment at scale. In a context where education debates have traditionally focused on how children finish school, Sonja’s work has helped shift national attention to the earliest years - sharpening focus on how children are starting school and on the systems, programmes, and investments that shape those foundations. Her work underpins the measurement systems now informing early learning programming, national ECD policy, financing, and accountability in South Africa.

Aimee Vachon is a Programme Manager at The Human Safety Net where she co-manages the foundation's portfolio of early childhood development grants in 23 countries in Europe and Southeast Asia. Prior to THSN, Aimee was an ECD specialist working on projects in Uganda, Bangladesh, Egypt and others. She holds an MA in International Educational Development from Teachers College, Columbia University.

Hopolang Selebalo is Head of Policy and Advocacy at SmartStart South Africa. She is a researcher and policy specialist with over 15 years’ experience in South African civil society. Her work focuses on addressing inequality and advancing socio-economic rights through research, policy development, advocacy and collective action. She is particularly interested in how evidence and lived experience can shape public policy, financing and systems. Her current work focuses on advancing equitable access to quality ECD.

Sarah Klaus, EdD, is a Senior Global Program Advisor, OneSky and Adjunct Assistant Professor, Georgetown University. Her career spans academia, philanthropy and civil society with a focus on social inclusion and equity in international ECD. For three decades she worked for the Open Society Foundations, including as Director of the Early Childhood Program, developing and scaling innovative programs. Throughout her career she has promoted ECD networks and served as the founding Executive Director of ISSA.

Dr. Michelle Neuman is a senior fellow at Results for Development and a research affiliate at Yale Inclusion Economics, where she works with governments and partners to improve young children’s development and well-being in low-resource contexts. Her recent research has focused on the early childhood workforce and financing of early childhood care and education. In previous roles with the OECD, World Bank, UNESCO, and USAID, she led global multi-stakeholder initiatives to strengthen early childhood systems.

Sonja Giese is a social entrepreneur, systems leader, and applied researcher with over 30 years’ experience advancing early childhood development (ECD) and foundational learning outcomes in South Africa. Her work sits at the intersection of measurement science, education innovation, and system reform, with a sustained focus on democratising access to high-quality data so that evidence can inform better programming, policy, and investment at scale. In a context where education debates have traditionally focused on how children finish school, Sonja’s work has helped shift national attention to the earliest years - sharpening focus on how children are starting school and on the systems, programmes, and investments that shape those foundations. Her work underpins the measurement systems now informing early learning programming, national ECD policy, financing, and accountability in South Africa.

Andrew Russo co-founded the International Association of Family Support Networks, one of seven networks he has established and led in the Family Support and Strengthening field at the local, city, state, national, and international levels. He has more than three decades of experience in the nonprofit social service sector, advancing policy, authoring field standards, training thousands of professionals, and championing the development of Family Resource Centers to support families and children to thrive.

Larry has worked in research and evaluation for 45+ years. In 1984, he established Proactive Information Services Inc. to provide services to the not-for-profit and public sectors. He is recognized for his willingness to share his deep knowledge, particularly in the areas of Indigenous and decolonizing approaches to evaluation. He has worked on projects focussed on early childhood, both in Canada and internationally, including with ISSA on case studies celebrating ISSA’s 10th anniversary.

Linda, a partner in the Canadian company Proactive Information Services Inc., has worked in evaluation and research for 40+ years. She has been a keynote speaker, presented papers and facilitated workshops at many international conferences. She has conducted evaluations across Canada and in numerous countries in East Central and Southeastern Europe, as well as Argentina and Lithuania. She has worked in early childhood education for school districts, governments, UNICEF, Open Society Institute, and ISSA.

Dr. Mihaela Ionescu is Program Director at the International Step by Step Association (ISSA), where she leads programmatic work focused on strengthening equitable, high-quality and integrated early childhood systems across Europe and Central Asia. She brings more than 25 years of experience in early childhood education and development, spanning research, policy, program design and implementation, professional development, and systems reform. Throughout her career, Mihaela has worked closely with governments, international organizations and civil society, including UNICEF, the World Bank and the European Commission, supporting the development of quality standards, curricula, workforce initiatives and integrated approaches to early childhood services. She has led and contributed to numerous international studies, frameworks, toolkits and policy resources on quality, equity, professionalization and integrated services. Mihaela holds a PhD in Education Sciences from the University of Bucharest.

Carolina Maldonado-Carreño is a Full Professor at the School of Education of Universidad de los Andes (Colombia), where she leads work on early childhood education quality measurement and program evaluation. She has been centrally involved in the design and implementation of Colombia's national ECE quality measurement system (IMCEIC) and has used these tools to evaluate scaling initiatives in multiple regions. Her work bridges national policy, research methodology, and practical improvement of early childhood services.

The development of the Derby Integrated Early Learning Hub in Western Australia as a practical example of how vertical coherence—aligning community priorities, state policy and national investment—can be achieved through place-based collaboration.

currently advise the Sharjah Private Education Authority on Early Childhood Education and Care, supporting the sector through policy, quality improvement, system strengthening, and strategic initiatives aligned with SDG 4.2, moving it toward more equitable, high-quality, and coherent provision. I also serve as a designated early childhood education expert for UNESCO and as a member of the Technical Advisory Group contributing to its 2026 global report, connecting my system-level work with international policy and financing discussions.

H.E. Khawla Al Hosani is Vice Chancellor of Sharjah Education Academy and a distinguished educational leader with over 25 years of experience. She has led national education reform, teacher development, and capacity-building initiatives in the UAE, championing innovation, inclusive learning, sustainable education systems, and professional excellence.

Joanna Marie Condat is a development and humanitarian practitioner with over 10 years of experience across diverse thematic areas, including mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS), disability and gender inclusion, child and youth empowerment, livelihoods, and community resilience. Her work is grounded in MHPSS, inclusion, and participatory approaches, which she currently brings to her role in coordinating an inclusive early childhood care and development initiative at Save the Children Philippines. She works closely with government, civil society, families, and communities to strengthen more inclusive and responsive systems for young children. Save the Children is a global independent organization for children, working to ensure every child survives, learns, and is protected. Our work focuses on strengthening systems, how policies, financing, and governance are designed and implemented, to deliver integrated and equitable outcomes. We support governments to move from fragmented approaches toward coordinated, evidence-informed decision-making, ensuring resources align with child development needs and that community voices, especially the most marginalized, shape how investments are prioritized and delivered.

Dr. Manuel Pérez is a pediatrician and educator with 29+ years teaching Pediatrics and Global Health. He is Director General of the Early Childhood Center, a Tecnológico de Monterrey and Fundación FEMSA initiative advancing early childhood in Latin America. Former Dean of Medicine and Health Sciences (2017-2025), he chaired Universitas 21 Health Sciences Group (2017-2021), serves on the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) Public Health Advisory Committee, and has authored 37+ publications.

Adriana Gidi is Associate Director of the Center for Early Childhood at Tecnológico de Monterrey and Fundación FEMSA. She leads strategy and high-impact initiatives to advance early childhood development in Mexico and Latin America. She served in the Federal Government of Mexico (2010–2015) and as Director of Strategic International Relations at Tecnológico de Monterrey (2019–2023). Adriana holds a degree (International Business) and Master’s (Marketing) and is completing a Certificate in Early Education Leadership from Harvard.

Marilia Fernandes is an assistant Professor at ISPA – Instituto Universitário, Portugal, working in developmental psychology and early childhood education and care. Her research focuses on attachment and socio-emotional development, with experience in applied research and early intervention programs. She has participated in research projects involving the design and evaluation of evidence-based interventions in early childhood settings. She is currently involved in the implementation of the VIPP protocol in Portuguese early childhood contexts.

Paola Milani, Ph.D., Full Professor of Social and Family Pedagogy at the University of Padua, Scientific Coordinator of the Research and Intervention Laboratory in Family Education, and National Scientific Director of P.I.P.P.I., the Intervention Program for the Prevention of Institutionalization. Andrea Petrella, Ph.D., researcher in General and Social Pedagogy at the University of Padua. He is a member of the Research and Intervention Laboratory in Family Education since 2016.

I have over 20 years of experience managing and implementing social public policies and programmes and over 16 years of experience in the early childhood development field. Before joining the Foundation in 2018, I served as National Coordinator of Chile Crece Contigo (“Chile grows with you”), the comprehensive protection system for early childhood development, at the Ministry of Social Development from 2010 to 2012 and from 2014 to 2018. As Director of Programme Support and Learning, I lead efforts to strengthen programme quality, learning, and impact across a global portfolio focused on improving outcomes for young children and families – overseeing monitoring, evaluation, and learning processes, leading the design and implementation of executive education courses for senior leaders, practitioners, and partners, and building partnerships with academic and technical institutions to translate evidence into effective and scalable action.

Prof Josie Dickerson is a research director for prevention, early intervention and child equity based at Born in Bradford (UK). Josie’s work focusses on building research evidence that ensures that all children reach their full potential. To do so, she works closely with families, stakeholders and decision and policy makers to improve services and the wider early years system.

Street Child is an international NGO working to ensure that every child is safe, in school, and learning, particularly in contexts affected by poverty, conflict, and crisis. In Moldova, Street Child supports the development of inclusive early childhood education and childcare services through partnerships with government institutions, civil society organizations, and international agencies, with a focus on workforce development, community-based solutions, and women’s participation in the labour market.

Meg Faure is an occupational therapist with over two decades of clinical experience in infant development and maternal mental health, and the founder of Parent Sense. Her work focuses on translating relational early childhood expertise into scalable digital infrastructure, distributed through medical insurers, NGOs, and government maternity programmes across South Africa, Jersey, and MENA. She is currently partnering with Georgetown University on research into digital support and maternal confidence.

Ellen is the manager of Newbridge Family Resource Centre and has served as Chair of the FRCNF since September 2025. With over 20 years of experience in community development, Ellen brings strong leadership, strategic insight, and a deep commitment to social justice. She holds a Master’s in Family Support and a degree in Addiction Studies and Community Development, equipping her with a strong academic foundation to support her practical work in the field.

Florence Koenderink is an independent consultant in child protection reform and trauma proactive approaches. Florence has almost 20 years of experience in child protection across four continents. She is the author of 10 books and various other publications, including 'Understanding the Trauma of Children from Institutions: A training manual for caseworkers' and 'The Trauma Root of Social Work: Beyond the Trauma Wall'. And launched the Beyond the Trauma Wall Initiative in 2025.

Tove Gant is COO of Parent Sense, working at the intersection of preventative health financing and early childhood support. Her career spans health and risk consulting for South African medical aids and corporates, founding and scaling a multi-site service business, and impact investment. She holds a UCT degree in Economics and Law and Honours in Social Policy and Management, and chairs Happy Heroes, a charity supporting families of children with additional needs.

Aimee Vachon is a Programme Manager at The Human Safety Net where she co-manages the foundation's portfolio of early childhood development grants in 23 countries in Europe and Southeast Asia. Prior to THSN, Aimee was an ECD specialist working on projects in Uganda, Bangladesh, Egypt and others. She holds an MA in International Educational Development from Teachers College, Columbia University.

Hopolang Selebalo is Head of Policy and Advocacy at SmartStart South Africa. She is a researcher and policy specialist with over 15 years’ experience in South African civil society. Her work focuses on addressing inequality and advancing socio-economic rights through research, policy development, advocacy and collective action. She is particularly interested in how evidence and lived experience can shape public policy, financing and systems. Her current work focuses on advancing equitable access to quality ECD.

Sarah Klaus, EdD, is a Senior Global Program Advisor, OneSky and Adjunct Assistant Professor, Georgetown University. Her career spans academia, philanthropy and civil society with a focus on social inclusion and equity in international ECD. For three decades she worked for the Open Society Foundations, including as Director of the Early Childhood Program, developing and scaling innovative programs. Throughout her career she has promoted ECD networks and served as the founding Executive Director of ISSA.

Dr. Michelle Neuman is a senior fellow at Results for Development and a research affiliate at Yale Inclusion Economics, where she works with governments and partners to improve young children’s development and well-being in low-resource contexts. Her recent research has focused on the early childhood workforce and financing of early childhood care and education. In previous roles with the OECD, World Bank, UNESCO, and USAID, she led global multi-stakeholder initiatives to strengthen early childhood systems.

Philip Fisher, Ph.D. is the Diana Chen Professor of Early Childhood Learning and Director of the Stanford Center on Early Childhood. His research focuses on scalable interventions and translating developmental science into policy and programs for children facing adversity. He leads the RAPID Survey Project and has developed widely implemented evidence-based programs including Treatment Foster Care Oregon for Preschoolers and the FIND video coaching program. He has published over 250 peer-reviewed papers.

Mateus Mazzaferro is a Ph.D. candidate in the Developmental and Psychological Sciences program at Stanford’s Graduate School of Education. His research examines how disruptions in early care and education affect the cognitive and emotional development of young children in countries such as Brazil, South Africa, Bangladesh, and the United States. He is a member of the Global Executive Function Initiative and the Academic Leader of Brazil’s Early Childhood Community of Practice.

Jerneja Jager, PhD, Petra Zgonec and Mateja Mlinar are researchers at the Educational Research Institute in Ljubljana, Slovenia. They are involved in national and international projects with the aim of ensuring accessible and high-quality education for all children. Their research interests are quality in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), access to quality ECEC for disadvantaged children, and professional development of ECEC staff.

Mariia Lionenko is a project manager at Rise Ukraine, part of the Rise Alliance for Children, and Deputy Director at a gymnasium in Ukraine. A specialist in primary education and trauma-informed pedagogy, she works to transform traditional educational settings into resilient community hubs. Her work focuses on the Rise methodology, family engagement, and supporting children, caregivers, and educators affected by war and displacement.

Dr. Mihaela Ionescu is Program Director at the International Step by Step Association (ISSA), where she leads programmatic work focused on strengthening equitable, high-quality and integrated early childhood systems across Europe and Central Asia. She brings more than 25 years of experience in early childhood education and development, spanning research, policy, program design and implementation, professional development, and systems reform. Throughout her career, Mihaela has worked closely with governments, international organizations and civil society, including UNICEF, the World Bank and the European Commission, supporting the development of quality standards, curricula, workforce initiatives and integrated approaches to early childhood services. She has led and contributed to numerous international studies, frameworks, toolkits and policy resources on quality, equity, professionalization and integrated services. Mihaela holds a PhD in Education Sciences from the University of Bucharest.

A teacher by training, Marina Matešić holds a PhD in intercultural and equity studies. She has worked in a variety of NGOs, research institutions, and government departments focusing on quality, the social dimension, and equity in education. In 2023, she joined OASBS as programme director, where, together with her colleagues, she also coordinates the REYN (a network of practitioners and stakeholders supporting the education of young Roma children) and TOY4Inclusion Play Hubs (community centres for intercultural and intergenerational learning) initiatives in Croatia. She is a certified trainer in ISSA's Embracing Diversity: Education for Social Justice, IIRP's Restorative Practices in Education, and the Teaching Second Language Students programmes.

Eugenia Volen is Program Officer for Early Education at the Trust for Social Achievement. She leads fundraising to expand program impact and drives advocacy and policy efforts to improve access to quality early education in Bulgaria. Her work advances evidence-based policymaking, focusing on affordability and developmental outcomes, particularly for children from disadvantaged communities.

Irene Caselli is an Italian writer and journalist focusing on early childhood, caregivers and reproductive rights. She leads the Early Childhood Journalism Initiative at the Global Center for Journalism and Trauma and runs The First 1,000 Days newsletter. A former Latin America correspondent, she has reported for outlets including the BBC and The Guardian. She is a 2026 Nieman Fellow at Harvard, examining media coverage of young children and how to improve it.

Desislava Koleva is Early Learning and Care Program Coordinator at the Trust for Social Achievement Foundation, specializing in early childhood education policy, quality, and inclusiveness. She focuses on improving access to quality early education for disadvantaged children, with a focus on Roma communities. As a World Bank consultant she worked on teacher policy analysis and reform supporting the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science in technical advisory processes.

Jane West is a global ECD funder, clinician, supervisor, and program developer who founded and runs the The Two Lilies Fund, a donor advised vehicle for shining a light on innovative ECD initiatives that are trauma-informed and centered by a concern for the wellbeing of all in the EC ecosystem. She speaks often on these topics to groups around the world. She is also an award winning documentary filmmaker.

Nima is Senior Researcher at VBJK (Center for Innovation in the Early Years) in Ghent (Belgium). She works on international research and projects about ECEC, with a focus on professional development, warm transitions, inclusion, family participation, pedagogical documentation. She has a Ph.D from the University of Florence (IT) on the relationship professionals-families in ECEC, and she worked as pedagogical coach for ECEC centres in Tuscany (IT).

Lisandre Bergeron-Morin is pedagogical coordinator in Elmer childcenter in Brussels, Belgium, researcher in Early Childhood Education and Care for University of Liège, Belgium, and speech-language therapist. Her topics of interest are the language development, especially in multilingual contexts, integrated work and collaboration and professional development for early childhood professionals.

Meldy IJpelaar is a Brussels-based professional working with families and communities to create spaces for connection and participation. As Head of Huis van het Kind Noord, she uses play as a way to strengthen social cohesion and bring people and services closer together. Her practice is also shaped by somatic work and her research in Contact Improvisation, where she explores how we relate, attend to attention and move together. This combination informs her way of working across professional and community contexts.

Sally is founding CEO of Start Strong, a new UK early childhood campaigning movement. She has had a varied career in academia, charities and national and local governments in the UK, leading teams to develop and implement interventions for families in the early years, and campaigning successfully to drive policy change.

Ana Oliveira is Assistant Professor of Social Work at the Faculty of Human Sciences, Portuguese Catholic University, and Scientific Coordinator of the Social Sciences area. Her work focuses on social innovation, community-based interventions, and the evaluation of social programmes, particularly in contexts of vulnerability. She has extensive experience in applied research on child protection, residential care, and inclusive systems, contributing to the development of relational and strengths-based approaches in social work practice and education.

Mateja Režek is a researcher at the Educational Research Institute (ERI) in Ljubljana, Slovenia, where she works within the Step by Step Centre for Quality in Education. Her research focuses on professional development of ECEC teachers, quality in education, and social justice. She has been part of the national coordination team for the Primokiz initiative in Slovenia, supporting local authorities in developing integrated early childhood strategies through cross-sectoral action teams and participatory processes.

Prof. Iram Siraj (OBE) has held positions at the Universities of Warwick, University College London, Wollongong and Oxford. She has a doctorate from Warwick University (1995), a masters from Essex University (1986) and three honorary doctorates from Bishop Grossteste, Brighton and Wales universities. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts. She has held 16 visiting professorships in Wales, England, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Norway, UAE and Japan. Iram has co/directed a number of world-first influential studies, including the Effective Provision of Pre-school, Primary and Secondary Education (EPPSE, DfE, 1997-2015), the transformative Researching Effective Pedagogy in the Early Years (REPEY, DfE, 2002), and the Effective Leadership in the Early Years Sector (ELEYS) studies. She has also co-investigated Effective Early Educational Experiences in Australia (E4Kids, Australian Research Council and Victoria and Queensland Governments. 2009-2015). Her recent studies have focussed on evidence-based professional development (PD), RCT interventions looking at the impact of PD on teacher quality and child outcomes e.g. in 90 centres in New South Wales Fostering Effective Early Learning (FEEL, 2018); Researching Effective Environments for Learning (REEL) in 70 centres in Victoria (REEL, 2019); and Using Research tools to Promote Language in the Early Years in 120 primary schools in England (EEF, 2020). Recent, studies include leadership in early education in LMICs (https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/37371 World Bank, 2022); an RCT using MOVERS (40 centres, Victorian Govt), Adult-child Interactions using IT apps (ARC); a British Academy Grant to study the development of refugee pre-schoolers in Malaysia (2019-2023) and an EEF maths intervention in 106 primary schools to improve maths for 4-6 year olds in the UK (EEF, 2020-24). She chairs the Technical Expert Group for the OECD IELS international study (2017-2026). She has an enviable research funding record and over 300 publications with a citation h-index of 77 and an i10-index of 240. Her publications includ three widely-used quality rating measures in the cognitive (ECERS-E 4th Ed. 2010; 2nd Ed ECQRS EC, 2024), social-emotional (SSTEW, 2015; 2nd Ed. 2024) and physical (MOVERS, 2017; 2nd Ed. 2024) domains, they’re currently being used in many countries to improve workforce capacity for staff. As a leading authority of ECEC she has extensive knowledge and influence on policy, practice and research at a national and an international level. She has attracted research funds in the region of £30 million. She has won many awards for her books, articles, impact studies and is a member of editorial boards and key research and professional bodies. In Australia she has advised governments in Victoria, South Australia, NSW and Queensland, recently providing evidence for both the Gillard review of ECEC and the Productivity Commission 2024-24. She is an assessor on the Khalifa Awards which gives 2 annual awards totally $200,000 for research and programmes which have positively impacted ECEC

Diletta Mauri is a researcher at the University of Trento with a background in pedagogy and social work. She is an Advanced Social Worker and holds a PhD in Cognitive Sciences. Her research focuses on children's rights, with particular attention to participation and child protection. She has been involved in several research projects on parenting and the experiences of care leavers.

Karolien Huylebroek and Elke Van Oyen are programme leads in research and service development in the childcare sector in Flanders (Belgium), covering both early childhood (0–3) and out-of-school care (3–12). Their work focuses on innovation in the childcare sector, through practice-oriented research and development trajectories. They collaborate with local actors and policymakers to strengthen integrated systems, with a focus on quality, accessibility, and cross-sector collaboration.

Rositsa Petrova is expert with an extensive experience in the social sphere, deinstitutionalization and social support for families and children. Since 2017 she has been the Executive Director of the Foundation for Children at Risk around the World, currently Rise Bulgaria, part of the international Rise Alliance for Children, where she dedicates her efforts to the reform of early childhood development and early learning through models of active learning and play.

Cristal Palacios is Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) specialist with over 20 years of international experience in humanitarian response, peacebuilding, and trauma-informed practice. As Systems of Care Manager at Amna Refugee Healing Network, she leads programmes strengthening education, health, and community systems serving children and families. Her recent work focuses on Early Childhood Development in Ukraine, supporting multidisciplinary professionals to embed caregiver wellbeing and relational safety within early intervention services.

Joana Alves da Cunha is a researcher working at the intersection of early childhood education, health promotion and participatory systems thinking. Her work focuses on whole-setting transformation in preschool contexts, using Living Labs and social listening to strengthen relational coherence and equity. She is involved in the Social-HEROES project, where she explores how children’s voices and stakeholder collaboration can inform systemic change in early childhood systems.

Mara Lee Durrell is an experienced social impact leader and Executive Director of Rise Alliance for Children. Having led two international NGOs, Mara draws on a career spanning political campaigns, government coalition-building, and classroom teaching to drive systemic change for children. Under her leadership, Rise has grown to serve children across 9 countries and counting, with programs scaling nationally in Ethiopia and influencing early childhood policy in Bulgaria and Ukraine.

We are thrilled to announce Dominic Richardson, Managing Director of the Learning for Wellbeing Institute, as a keynote speaker at ISSA Conference 2026!

Dominic has extensive experience in researching family policies and child well-being. For almost a decade, he led two of UNICEF’s global research teams, education and social policy and economic analysis at the Office of Research – Innocenti, where he oversaw work on family cash transfers and cash plus programmes (including gender responsive social protection), social expenditure and ECD policies, the Innocenti Report Card Series, teachers and teaching, development of social and emotional skills, and global research on family policies, child development and well-being. Dominic previously worked with OECD Social Policy Division on a broad range of studies covering childwell-being, evaluating family policies, integrating human services, and social impact investment. Dominic has led or co-authored multiple reports on comparative childwell-being in high-, middle- and low-income countries. Dominic was awarded the 2018 Jan Trost Award (lifetime achievement) for Outstanding Contributions in International Family Studies by the National Council for Family Relations in the United States.

Watch Dominic’s video about the conference format, theme, and why it's important.

The development of the Derby Integrated Early Learning Hub in Western Australia as a practical example of how vertical coherence—aligning community priorities, state policy and national investment—can be achieved through place-based collaboration.

Save the Children is a global independent organization for children, advancing systems-level change so that every child survives, learns, and is protected. In the Philippines, our work goes beyond service delivery to strengthening policies, financing, and governance for children, particularly through community-led approaches that elevate the voices of families. We facilitate multisectoral partnerships supporting local governments to translate these voices into inclusive policies and coordinated services that reach those most often left behind.

Giulia Cortellesi is Co-Director of ICDI, with over 20 years of experience in programme management, research, and policy development in early childhood education and care, inclusion, and child participation. She has led numerous international initiatives across Europe and beyond, working closely with communities, practitioners, and policymakers. Since 2017, she has coordinated the TOY for Inclusion programme, promoting community-based approaches to early childhood development and meaningful participation.

Denver Swanepoel is a development practitioner in South Africa with over 10 years of experience in the public, private, and non-profit sectors. He is the founder of the Zifumane Foundation, which focuses on early childhood development, youth, and skills development in rural and farming communities. His work centres on building community-based ECD models that strengthen families, support young children, and foster collaboration between civil society, farms, and local stakeholders.

Milena Mihajlović, psychologist with professional focus on improving inclusive education policies, quality and accessibility of education, partnerships between educational institutions and families to jointly create conditions for the well-being of children. She has co-authored several programs and video-materials that empower parents to raise children through love and boundaries without punishment and support their development and learning. The programs are delivered by preschool and school staff following training and with continuous mentoring support.

Arianna Lazzari is Associate Professor at Education Department-Bologna University and independent consultant for the European Commission working group on ECEC. Lucia Balduzzi is Full Professor and vice-director of Education Department-Bologna University. Debora Sanguinato is Programme Coordinator of the ECEC Area at Save the Children Italy. Diletta Mauri is researchers at Competence Centre for Social Work and Social Policy- Bozen University. Francesca Schir is researcher at Competence Centre for Social Work and Social Policy- Bozen University.

Gabriela is a Psychologist and PhD fellow in Reggio Childhood Studies at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (UNIMORE). Her doctoral research explores family-professional relationships in ECEC systems from a Reggio Emilia Approach, multi-stakeholder perspective. Her professional experience includes early childhood intervention, family-centered approaches and interdisciplinary work, having collaborated with Portuguese and European professional development projects for early childhood professionals.

Fabíola de Almeida Rodrigues is an Architect and Urban Planner, working since 2001 at the Mogi das Cruzes City Hall in the development of public projects for facilities and open spaces. Since 2021, with the municipality's entry into the Urban95 network, she has deepened her studies on Early Childhood, with advanced training in Child-Friendly Cities from London LSE Cities, and currently coordinates the Child-Friendly Cities Axis at the Early Childhood Coordination Office.

Sally is founding CEO of Start Strong, a new UK early childhood campaigning movement. She has had a varied career in academia, charities and national and local governments in the UK, leading teams to develop and implement interventions for families in the early years, and campaigning successfully to drive policy change.

Anat Bar, PhD, is a senior manager in the Tirat Carmel Municipality, Israel, overseeing integrated Early Childhood services. With an academic background in education and extensive experience in municipal governance, she leads multi-sectoral initiatives that bridge health, welfare, and education. Her work focuses on institutionalizing innovative developmental models and navigating the complex dynamics between professional policy and local political leadership to ensure long-term stability for children and families.

I obtained a postgraduate diploma in Human Rights from the René Cassin International Institute of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, in 2006. Since 2003, alongside my work as an educator in residential care homes for vulnerable children, I have been involved in international development cooperation. I have contributed to a range of development education and human rights projects, with a particular focus on children's rights, and have collaborated with international NGOs and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Directorate General for Development Cooperation (DGCS). Since 2018, I have worked with Save the Children Italy, contributing to early childhood education initiatives within the Early Years (0-6) Programme Area. In 2020, I helped develop the national Millegiorni Hubs Programme, which I currently coordinates

Eduardo Escallón is an Associate Professor at the School of Education of Universidad de los Andes (Colombia), where he was the founder and first dean of the school. His work focuses on early childhood education quality, professional development, and his commitment to literacy learning as a mechanism for equity. He has collaborated with national and local governments, NGOs, and international organizations on the design, implementation, and evaluation of early childhood programs in Colombia.

Sarah Klaus, EdD, is a Senior Global Program Advisor, OneSky and Adjunct Assistant Professor, Georgetown University. Her career spans academia, philanthropy and civil society with a focus on social inclusion and equity in international ECD. For three decades she worked for the Open Society Foundations, including as Director of the Early Childhood Program, developing and scaling innovative programs. Throughout her career she has promoted ECD networks and served as the founding Executive Director of ISSA.

Ana Maria Bastos is the founder of Descobrir Brincando, an organization dedicated to training early childhood workforce and supporting Parenting Programs. In partnership with the Van Leer Foundation and education, culture and social protection sectors, implemented Bebetecas – Convivial spaces designed for families with young children to foster development across all dimensions. Drawing from a background in health and a specialization in children aged 0-3, Ana Maria's expertise is rooted in training early childhood workforce.

Petr Pabian has worked with infants and toddler for over three decades in families, nurseries and community centres; served as the head the Department of Social Sciences at the University of Pardubice; and currently coordinates advocacy work for the Czech Early Childhood Platform.

Maryna Stoliar is a senior education specialist and PhD candidate at Queen’s University, Canada. Her work focuses on early childhood systems, education policy, workforce development, and education in emergencies. In recent years, Maryna has contributed to national early childhood education reform in Ukraine, including development of professional standards for ECE educators and managers, ECE curriculum updates, and teacher professional development initiatives with Sesame Workshop, which will be presented in this session.

The development of the Derby Integrated Early Learning Hub in Western Australia as a practical example of how vertical coherence—aligning community priorities, state policy and national investment—can be achieved through place-based collaboration.

Save the Children is a global independent organization for children, advancing systems-level change so that every child survives, learns, and is protected. In the Philippines, our work goes beyond service delivery to strengthening policies, financing, and governance for children, particularly through community-led approaches that elevate the voices of families. We facilitate multisectoral partnerships supporting local governments to translate these voices into inclusive policies and coordinated services that reach those most often left behind.

Giulia Cortellesi is Co-Director of ICDI, with over 20 years of experience in programme management, research, and policy development in early childhood education and care, inclusion, and child participation. She has led numerous international initiatives across Europe and beyond, working closely with communities, practitioners, and policymakers. Since 2017, she has coordinated the TOY for Inclusion programme, promoting community-based approaches to early childhood development and meaningful participation.

Denver Swanepoel is a development practitioner in South Africa with over 10 years of experience in the public, private, and non-profit sectors. He is the founder of the Zifumane Foundation, which focuses on early childhood development, youth, and skills development in rural and farming communities. His work centres on building community-based ECD models that strengthen families, support young children, and foster collaboration between civil society, farms, and local stakeholders.

Milena Mihajlović, psychologist with professional focus on improving inclusive education policies, quality and accessibility of education, partnerships between educational institutions and families to jointly create conditions for the well-being of children. She has co-authored several programs and video-materials that empower parents to raise children through love and boundaries without punishment and support their development and learning. The programs are delivered by preschool and school staff following training and with continuous mentoring support.

Arianna Lazzari is Associate Professor at Education Department-Bologna University and independent consultant for the European Commission working group on ECEC. Lucia Balduzzi is Full Professor and vice-director of Education Department-Bologna University. Debora Sanguinato is Programme Coordinator of the ECEC Area at Save the Children Italy. Diletta Mauri is researchers at Competence Centre for Social Work and Social Policy- Bozen University. Francesca Schir is researcher at Competence Centre for Social Work and Social Policy- Bozen University.

Gabriela is a Psychologist and PhD fellow in Reggio Childhood Studies at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (UNIMORE). Her doctoral research explores family-professional relationships in ECEC systems from a Reggio Emilia Approach, multi-stakeholder perspective. Her professional experience includes early childhood intervention, family-centered approaches and interdisciplinary work, having collaborated with Portuguese and European professional development projects for early childhood professionals.

Fabíola de Almeida Rodrigues is an Architect and Urban Planner, working since 2001 at the Mogi das Cruzes City Hall in the development of public projects for facilities and open spaces. Since 2021, with the municipality's entry into the Urban95 network, she has deepened her studies on Early Childhood, with advanced training in Child-Friendly Cities from London LSE Cities, and currently coordinates the Child-Friendly Cities Axis at the Early Childhood Coordination Office.

Philip Fisher, Ph.D. is the Diana Chen Professor of Early Childhood Learning and Director of the Stanford Center on Early Childhood. His research focuses on scalable interventions and translating developmental science into policy and programs for children facing adversity. He leads the RAPID Survey Project and has developed widely implemented evidence-based programs including Treatment Foster Care Oregon for Preschoolers and the FIND video coaching program. He has published over 250 peer-reviewed papers.

Mateus Mazzaferro is a Ph.D. candidate in the Developmental and Psychological Sciences program at Stanford’s Graduate School of Education. His research examines how disruptions in early care and education affect the cognitive and emotional development of young children in countries such as Brazil, South Africa, Bangladesh, and the United States. He is a member of the Global Executive Function Initiative and the Academic Leader of Brazil’s Early Childhood Community of Practice.

Jerneja Jager, PhD, Petra Zgonec and Mateja Mlinar are researchers at the Educational Research Institute in Ljubljana, Slovenia. They are involved in national and international projects with the aim of ensuring accessible and high-quality education for all children. Their research interests are quality in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), access to quality ECEC for disadvantaged children, and professional development of ECEC staff.

Mariia Lionenko is a project manager at Rise Ukraine, part of the Rise Alliance for Children, and Deputy Director at a gymnasium in Ukraine. A specialist in primary education and trauma-informed pedagogy, she works to transform traditional educational settings into resilient community hubs. Her work focuses on the Rise methodology, family engagement, and supporting children, caregivers, and educators affected by war and displacement.

Dr. Mihaela Ionescu is Program Director at the International Step by Step Association (ISSA), where she leads programmatic work focused on strengthening equitable, high-quality and integrated early childhood systems across Europe and Central Asia. She brings more than 25 years of experience in early childhood education and development, spanning research, policy, program design and implementation, professional development, and systems reform. Throughout her career, Mihaela has worked closely with governments, international organizations and civil society, including UNICEF, the World Bank and the European Commission, supporting the development of quality standards, curricula, workforce initiatives and integrated approaches to early childhood services. She has led and contributed to numerous international studies, frameworks, toolkits and policy resources on quality, equity, professionalization and integrated services. Mihaela holds a PhD in Education Sciences from the University of Bucharest.

A teacher by training, Marina Matešić holds a PhD in intercultural and equity studies. She has worked in a variety of NGOs, research institutions, and government departments focusing on quality, the social dimension, and equity in education. In 2023, she joined OASBS as programme director, where, together with her colleagues, she also coordinates the REYN (a network of practitioners and stakeholders supporting the education of young Roma children) and TOY4Inclusion Play Hubs (community centres for intercultural and intergenerational learning) initiatives in Croatia. She is a certified trainer in ISSA's Embracing Diversity: Education for Social Justice, IIRP's Restorative Practices in Education, and the Teaching Second Language Students programmes.

Sally is founding CEO of Start Strong, a new UK early childhood campaigning movement. She has had a varied career in academia, charities and national and local governments in the UK, leading teams to develop and implement interventions for families in the early years, and campaigning successfully to drive policy change.

Ana Oliveira is Assistant Professor of Social Work at the Faculty of Human Sciences, Portuguese Catholic University, and Scientific Coordinator of the Social Sciences area. Her work focuses on social innovation, community-based interventions, and the evaluation of social programmes, particularly in contexts of vulnerability. She has extensive experience in applied research on child protection, residential care, and inclusive systems, contributing to the development of relational and strengths-based approaches in social work practice and education.

Diletta Mauri is a researcher at the University of Trento with a background in pedagogy and social work. She is an Advanced Social Worker and holds a PhD in Cognitive Sciences. Her research focuses on children's rights, with particular attention to participation and child protection. She has been involved in several research projects on parenting and the experiences of care leavers.

Prof. Iram Siraj (OBE) has held positions at the Universities of Warwick, University College London, Wollongong and Oxford. She has a doctorate from Warwick University (1995), a masters from Essex University (1986) and three honorary doctorates from Bishop Grossteste, Brighton and Wales universities. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts. She has held 16 visiting professorships in Wales, England, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Norway, UAE and Japan. Iram has co/directed a number of world-first influential studies, including the Effective Provision of Pre-school, Primary and Secondary Education (EPPSE, DfE, 1997-2015), the transformative Researching Effective Pedagogy in the Early Years (REPEY, DfE, 2002), and the Effective Leadership in the Early Years Sector (ELEYS) studies. She has also co-investigated Effective Early Educational Experiences in Australia (E4Kids, Australian Research Council and Victoria and Queensland Governments. 2009-2015). Her recent studies have focussed on evidence-based professional development (PD), RCT interventions looking at the impact of PD on teacher quality and child outcomes e.g. in 90 centres in New South Wales Fostering Effective Early Learning (FEEL, 2018); Researching Effective Environments for Learning (REEL) in 70 centres in Victoria (REEL, 2019); and Using Research tools to Promote Language in the Early Years in 120 primary schools in England (EEF, 2020). Recent, studies include leadership in early education in LMICs (https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/37371 World Bank, 2022); an RCT using MOVERS (40 centres, Victorian Govt), Adult-child Interactions using IT apps (ARC); a British Academy Grant to study the development of refugee pre-schoolers in Malaysia (2019-2023) and an EEF maths intervention in 106 primary schools to improve maths for 4-6 year olds in the UK (EEF, 2020-24). She chairs the Technical Expert Group for the OECD IELS international study (2017-2026). She has an enviable research funding record and over 300 publications with a citation h-index of 77 and an i10-index of 240. Her publications includ three widely-used quality rating measures in the cognitive (ECERS-E 4th Ed. 2010; 2nd Ed ECQRS EC, 2024), social-emotional (SSTEW, 2015; 2nd Ed. 2024) and physical (MOVERS, 2017; 2nd Ed. 2024) domains, they’re currently being used in many countries to improve workforce capacity for staff. As a leading authority of ECEC she has extensive knowledge and influence on policy, practice and research at a national and an international level. She has attracted research funds in the region of £30 million. She has won many awards for her books, articles, impact studies and is a member of editorial boards and key research and professional bodies. In Australia she has advised governments in Victoria, South Australia, NSW and Queensland, recently providing evidence for both the Gillard review of ECEC and the Productivity Commission 2024-24. She is an assessor on the Khalifa Awards which gives 2 annual awards totally $200,000 for research and programmes which have positively impacted ECEC

Mateja Režek is a researcher at the Educational Research Institute (ERI) in Ljubljana, Slovenia, where she works within the Step by Step Centre for Quality in Education. Her research focuses on professional development of ECEC teachers, quality in education, and social justice. She has been part of the national coordination team for the Primokiz initiative in Slovenia, supporting local authorities in developing integrated early childhood strategies through cross-sectoral action teams and participatory processes.

Eugenia Volen is Program Officer for Early Education at the Trust for Social Achievement. She leads fundraising to expand program impact and drives advocacy and policy efforts to improve access to quality early education in Bulgaria. Her work advances evidence-based policymaking, focusing on affordability and developmental outcomes, particularly for children from disadvantaged communities.

Irene Caselli is an Italian writer and journalist focusing on early childhood, caregivers and reproductive rights. She leads the Early Childhood Journalism Initiative at the Global Center for Journalism and Trauma and runs The First 1,000 Days newsletter. A former Latin America correspondent, she has reported for outlets including the BBC and The Guardian. She is a 2026 Nieman Fellow at Harvard, examining media coverage of young children and how to improve it.

Desislava Koleva is Early Learning and Care Program Coordinator at the Trust for Social Achievement Foundation, specializing in early childhood education policy, quality, and inclusiveness. She focuses on improving access to quality early education for disadvantaged children, with a focus on Roma communities. As a World Bank consultant she worked on teacher policy analysis and reform supporting the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science in technical advisory processes.

Jane West is a global ECD funder, clinician, supervisor, and program developer who founded and runs the The Two Lilies Fund, a donor advised vehicle for shining a light on innovative ECD initiatives that are trauma-informed and centered by a concern for the wellbeing of all in the EC ecosystem. She speaks often on these topics to groups around the world. She is also an award winning documentary filmmaker.

Lisandre Bergeron-Morin is pedagogical coordinator in Elmer childcenter in Brussels, Belgium, researcher in Early Childhood Education and Care for University of Liège, Belgium, and speech-language therapist. Her topics of interest are the language development, especially in multilingual contexts, integrated work and collaboration and professional development for early childhood professionals.

Meldy IJpelaar is a Brussels-based professional working with families and communities to create spaces for connection and participation. As Head of Huis van het Kind Noord, she uses play as a way to strengthen social cohesion and bring people and services closer together. Her practice is also shaped by somatic work and her research in Contact Improvisation, where she explores how we relate, attend to attention and move together. This combination informs her way of working across professional and community contexts.

Nima is Senior Researcher at VBJK (Center for Innovation in the Early Years) in Ghent (Belgium). She works on international research and projects about ECEC, with a focus on professional development, warm transitions, inclusion, family participation, pedagogical documentation. She has a Ph.D from the University of Florence (IT) on the relationship professionals-families in ECEC, and she worked as pedagogical coach for ECEC centres in Tuscany (IT).

Sally is founding CEO of Start Strong, a new UK early childhood campaigning movement. She has had a varied career in academia, charities and national and local governments in the UK, leading teams to develop and implement interventions for families in the early years, and campaigning successfully to drive policy change.

Anat Bar, PhD, is a senior manager in the Tirat Carmel Municipality, Israel, overseeing integrated Early Childhood services. With an academic background in education and extensive experience in municipal governance, she leads multi-sectoral initiatives that bridge health, welfare, and education. Her work focuses on institutionalizing innovative developmental models and navigating the complex dynamics between professional policy and local political leadership to ensure long-term stability for children and families.

Eduardo Escallón is an Associate Professor at the School of Education of Universidad de los Andes (Colombia), where he was the founder and first dean of the school. His work focuses on early childhood education quality, professional development, and his commitment to literacy learning as a mechanism for equity. He has collaborated with national and local governments, NGOs, and international organizations on the design, implementation, and evaluation of early childhood programs in Colombia.

Sarah Klaus, EdD, is a Senior Global Program Advisor, OneSky and Adjunct Assistant Professor, Georgetown University. Her career spans academia, philanthropy and civil society with a focus on social inclusion and equity in international ECD. For three decades she worked for the Open Society Foundations, including as Director of the Early Childhood Program, developing and scaling innovative programs. Throughout her career she has promoted ECD networks and served as the founding Executive Director of ISSA.

Petr Pabian has worked with infants and toddler for over three decades in families, nurseries and community centres; served as the head the Department of Social Sciences at the University of Pardubice; and currently coordinates advocacy work for the Czech Early Childhood Platform.

Maryna Stoliar is a senior education specialist and PhD candidate at Queen’s University, Canada. Her work focuses on early childhood systems, education policy, workforce development, and education in emergencies. In recent years, Maryna has contributed to national early childhood education reform in Ukraine, including development of professional standards for ECE educators and managers, ECE curriculum updates, and teacher professional development initiatives with Sesame Workshop, which will be presented in this session.

I obtained a postgraduate diploma in Human Rights from the René Cassin International Institute of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, in 2006. Since 2003, alongside my work as an educator in residential care homes for vulnerable children, I have been involved in international development cooperation. I have contributed to a range of development education and human rights projects, with a particular focus on children's rights, and have collaborated with international NGOs and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Directorate General for Development Cooperation (DGCS). Since 2018, I have worked with Save the Children Italy, contributing to early childhood education initiatives within the Early Years (0-6) Programme Area. In 2020, I helped develop the national Millegiorni Hubs Programme, which I currently coordinates

Ana Maria Bastos is the founder of Descobrir Brincando, an organization dedicated to training early childhood workforce and supporting Parenting Programs. In partnership with the Van Leer Foundation and education, culture and social protection sectors, implemented Bebetecas – Convivial spaces designed for families with young children to foster development across all dimensions. Drawing from a background in health and a specialization in children aged 0-3, Ana Maria's expertise is rooted in training early childhood workforce.

Karolien Huylebroek and Elke Van Oyen are programme leads in research and service development in the childcare sector in Flanders (Belgium), covering both early childhood (0–3) and out-of-school care (3–12). Their work focuses on innovation in the childcare sector, through practice-oriented research and development trajectories. They collaborate with local actors and policymakers to strengthen integrated systems, with a focus on quality, accessibility, and cross-sector collaboration.

Rositsa Petrova is expert with an extensive experience in the social sphere, deinstitutionalization and social support for families and children. Since 2017 she has been the Executive Director of the Foundation for Children at Risk around the World, currently Rise Bulgaria, part of the international Rise Alliance for Children, where she dedicates her efforts to the reform of early childhood development and early learning through models of active learning and play.

Cristal Palacios is Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) specialist with over 20 years of international experience in humanitarian response, peacebuilding, and trauma-informed practice. As Systems of Care Manager at Amna Refugee Healing Network, she leads programmes strengthening education, health, and community systems serving children and families. Her recent work focuses on Early Childhood Development in Ukraine, supporting multidisciplinary professionals to embed caregiver wellbeing and relational safety within early intervention services.

Joana Alves da Cunha is a researcher working at the intersection of early childhood education, health promotion and participatory systems thinking. Her work focuses on whole-setting transformation in preschool contexts, using Living Labs and social listening to strengthen relational coherence and equity. She is involved in the Social-HEROES project, where she explores how children’s voices and stakeholder collaboration can inform systemic change in early childhood systems.

Mara Lee Durrell is an experienced social impact leader and Executive Director of Rise Alliance for Children. Having led two international NGOs, Mara draws on a career spanning political campaigns, government coalition-building, and classroom teaching to drive systemic change for children. Under her leadership, Rise has grown to serve children across 9 countries and counting, with programs scaling nationally in Ethiopia and influencing early childhood policy in Bulgaria and Ukraine.

We are thrilled to announce Dominic Richardson, Managing Director of the Learning for Wellbeing Institute, as a keynote speaker at ISSA Conference 2026!

Dominic has extensive experience in researching family policies and child well-being. For almost a decade, he led two of UNICEF’s global research teams, education and social policy and economic analysis at the Office of Research – Innocenti, where he oversaw work on family cash transfers and cash plus programmes (including gender responsive social protection), social expenditure and ECD policies, the Innocenti Report Card Series, teachers and teaching, development of social and emotional skills, and global research on family policies, child development and well-being. Dominic previously worked with OECD Social Policy Division on a broad range of studies covering childwell-being, evaluating family policies, integrating human services, and social impact investment. Dominic has led or co-authored multiple reports on comparative childwell-being in high-, middle- and low-income countries. Dominic was awarded the 2018 Jan Trost Award (lifetime achievement) for Outstanding Contributions in International Family Studies by the National Council for Family Relations in the United States.

Watch Dominic’s video about the conference format, theme, and why it's important.

Philip Fisher, Ph.D. is the Diana Chen Professor of Early Childhood Learning and Director of the Stanford Center on Early Childhood. His research focuses on scalable interventions and translating developmental science into policy and programs for children facing adversity. He leads the RAPID Survey Project and has developed widely implemented evidence-based programs including Treatment Foster Care Oregon for Preschoolers and the FIND video coaching program. He has published over 250 peer-reviewed papers.

Joan Lombardi, Ph.D. is Adjunct Professor and Chair of the Leadership Council at the Stanford Center on Early Childhood and Senior Fellow at Georgetown University’s Collaborative on Global Children’s Issues. Over five decades, she has shaped child and family policy as a public servant, researcher, and advisor to UNICEF, WHO, UNESCO, and the World Bank. She served in both the Clinton and Obama administrations and is the author of Time to Care.

Elizabeth is a widely recognized expert on international development and global health issues and has devoted her career to strengthening global commitments and programs addressing the needs of women, adolescents, children, and infants. Before joining ECDAN, she served in senior leadership, management, and technical positions at the World Bank for 17 years. She also worked at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as Director, at Pathfinder International as their Africa Regional Vice President, and as Technical Advisor with USAID in Nigeria. She started her career in academia and served as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University in Global Health.

Moira O’Neil serves as Senior Vice President of Programs at the FrameWorks Institute. In this role, she leads FrameWorks’ efforts to interpret and share communications science with the nonprofit sector so it can more effectively drive social change. Moira manages a team of communications professionals and social scientists who help fields of practice frame social issues in ways that have the proven power to deepen understanding and inspire action. She oversees the team’s efforts to synthesize framing research, teach advocates to apply it to strategic communications, and train sectors to unite around evidence-based framing recommendations. A senior researcher, Moira also directs the organization’s efforts to analyze framing patterns in the media and nonprofit sector and writes in-depth research reports on a wide range of topics, including immigration, child mental health, and housing and homelessness.

Dr. Mihaela Ionescu is Program Director at the International Step by Step Association (ISSA), where she leads programmatic work focused on strengthening equitable, high-quality and integrated early childhood systems across Europe and Central Asia. She brings more than 25 years of experience in early childhood education and development, spanning research, policy, program design and implementation, professional development, and systems reform. Throughout her career, Mihaela has worked closely with governments, international organizations and civil society, including UNICEF, the World Bank and the European Commission, supporting the development of quality standards, curricula, workforce initiatives and integrated approaches to early childhood services. She has led and contributed to numerous international studies, frameworks, toolkits and policy resources on quality, equity, professionalization and integrated services. Mihaela holds a PhD in Education Sciences from the University of Bucharest.

Joan Lombardi, Ph.D. is Adjunct Professor and Chair of the Leadership Council at the Stanford Center on Early Childhood and Senior Fellow at Georgetown University’s Collaborative on Global Children’s Issues. Over five decades, she has shaped child and family policy as a public servant, researcher, and advisor to UNICEF, WHO, UNESCO, and the World Bank. She served in both the Clinton and Obama administrations and is the author of Time to Care.