Speakers

Stay tuned — Mina Jack's bio will be uploaded shortly!

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João is a Portuguese activist from Porto. João started doing non-profit youth work in 2014, working in core projects and events, and over time moving towards an HR leadership role at an international student association. In IGLYO, João is part of the membership engagement working group, and mainly contributes to HR-related board tasks.

In addition to IGLYO, João is a Board Member of rede ex aequo, a Portuguese LGBTI youth org, and is responsible for the educational project and local LGBTQ chapters. João also oversees the development of the two ultraperipheral regions of Madeira and Açores, along doing institutional rep. work.

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Ósk is an Icelandic activist, peer educator, feminist and event facilitator. She has been at the forefront of several major NGOs in Iceland, and specialises as an international networking officer. Since her teen years, she has been an active volunteer in Icelandic society and organised various campaigns, protests, and fundraisers for students, queer youth, and asylum seekers.

Ósk identifies as a pansexual cis woman and is the President of the Queer Icelandic Student Association. Ósk’s favorite pastimes are working out, reading, embroidering, swimming, and dismantling the patriarchy.

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Ophélie is a French activist based in Brussels. She identifies as pansexual and was nominated by the French organisation Bi’cause. She works as a project coordinator to promote active political participation in Europe and beyond, and is involved in various networks promoting democracy values and civic engagement, including the participation of youth in politics. She is also an active volunteer at GRiS (Groupe d'Intervention Scolaire), where she gives LGBTQI+ rights workshops based on personal testimony in schools across Belgium.

As she grew up in the countryside, Ophélie wishes to bring more visibility to the youth LGBTQI+ community in rural areas, and in general she aims at creating stronger connections between the community and other overarching topics such as youth rights, citizenship and the rule of law.

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Miha has been actively involved for years with local LGBTQI communities, mainly working on projects that are based on cultural and artistic expressions, health and advocacy, and community awareness. The main focus of his work is on culture, advocacy, and projects that help and enhance building safe and open community spaces for LGBTQI people.

Miha's experiences are diverse due to his involvement with other NGO working in advocacy, as well as with cultural programmes which focus on creating different cultural platforms and projects for the wider community. Miha strongly believes that this is one of the most important pillars of creating a new and empowering society.

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Ralu Baciu is a non-binary transmasculine activist from Romania. He has been an LGBTQ+ activist for five years, focusing on the trans, neurodivergent, and disability rights movement and community organising: from creating safe spaces for queer neurodivergent people and guiding trans people in their transition, to advocating and campaigning for trans and neurodivergent rights and identities.

Ralu is very passionate about trans rights and disability rights, and believes that true equality and liberation can only be accomplished through intersectionality. Besides their activism, Ralu is an English teacher and loves writing poems in his free time.

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Spyros is a queer social scientist with a great passion for human rights. His work centres on gender and sexuality, displaced populations, childhood and youth, and education. He previously worked for Colour Youth – Athens LGBTQ Youth Community as a Project Manager, focusing on safe inclusive school environments as well as the access of LGBTQI+ people in Greek public services and health services.

He has also worked with refugees, coordinating and delivering soft skills trainings, and currently works in the field of DEI. In his free time, Spyros loves reading books and studying academic theory.

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As our Executive Director since March 2022, Bella is managing the IGLYO Secretariat and overseeing the daily operations of the organisation. Before IGLYO, Bella was the CEO at ShoutOut, an organisation working on LGBTQI equality in schools in Ireland.

Bella’s focus is on youth issues, and she is passionate about the power of education in tackling discrimination. She also loves knitting, and she’s the greatest fan of her dog Mervin, who now became the famous IGLYO office mascot.

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Petra is a 32-year-old pansexual activist from Croatia. Her work at IGLYO includes Membership engagement, events for the community, and external engagement. Petra has a rich 10-year experience in LGBTQI activism, working professionally in NGOs, with experience and skills in internal collaborative processes: governance, engagement, events, public speaking, administration and finances.‍

Petra has a wide range of volunteer experience with youth, refugees, green organisations, and human rights in general. She also loves her cat Kyra, camping in the islands, as well as marching and drumming in the streets in protests along with her collective Drum ‘n’ rage.

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Lucille came in as admin assistant in March 2021, and quickly started managing the finances and operations. She is responsible for overseeing the finances, the office and supporting the director in HR, legal compliance and organisational development.

When not at work, Lucille loves cycling, climbing, surfing, building projects, she is fund of animals and very much into cooking and eating.

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Toryn Glavin is a professional trans advocate and activist who has worked in a variety of professional and voluntary roles across the LGBTQI+ sector at both national and European levels over the last decade. She most recently held the role of Operations & Development Manager at Outhouse LGBT Community Centre in her native Dublin, having previously worked for 4 years at Stonewall in the UK as Trans Communities Manager.

Before this she worked for the Transgender Equality Network Ireland, and she previously sat on the board of Transgender Europe from 2016 to 2019 as well as IGLYO’s own board from 2020, until her appointment to this role in late 2023. Toryn believes fundamentally in the power of inclusion and representation in our movement. Alongside her work for trans communities, she has a personal investment in the liberation of fat, working class, disabled and autistic queer folk.

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A queer activist with LGBTQI youth at heart, Jeremy handles IGLYO's comms in all aspects and oversees the management of network-related tasks. He previously worked as the Comms and Membership Manager of the International network for contemporary performing arts (IETM), and managed the comms of the EU performing arts project Perform Europe. Jeremy also volunteered for four years at Le Refuge Bruxelles, a Brussels-based emergency shelter for LGBTQIA+ young people and asylum seekers in need.

Outside of work, Jeremy indulges in creative writing, loves his cats Robert and Odile, and is a big-time video games player.

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Chougher Maria was born and raised in Aleppo, Syria. She is currently the president of Voices of Young Refugees in Europe (VYRE) and the Migrant and Ethnic Minorities Officer at the Rainbow Project Northern Ireland. She has extensive experience as a youth worker and is a member of the Advisory Council on Youth of the Council of Europe. She recently obtained a M.Phil. degree in Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation at Trinity College Dublin, as a recipient of the prestigious Government of Ireland International Education Scholarship.

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Chougher Maria is a peacebuilder and an advocate for refugee rights and LGBTQ+ people, working to raise common concerns and strengthen capacities, in order to contribute to more inclusive societies in Europe, the Middle East and beyond.

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Purity is a trans woman and trans rights activist, social scientist, model, and actress. She is the co-founder of the Refugee Trans Initiative in Kenya, and a co-founding member of Rainbow Refugees Sweden.

Passionate about advocating for BIPOC trans immigrants in Europe, she also leads a BIPOC trans support group in Sweden. “We deserve better and I believe that it’s a beautiful world if we win together”, says Purity.

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Doug is an accomplished activist, speaker, and researcher on LGBTQI+ and human rights issues. As a human geographer, Doug is skilled at providing critical analyses of sociopolitical phenomena through an intersectional feminist and decolonial lens. They have experience working with multilateral and international organisations such as IGLYO, ILGA World, and the Equal Rights Coalition, in addition to local and community groups in Europe, North and South America.

Through their work and actions, Doug advocates for the undoing of harmful and unjust systems of power that work to marginalise, disenfranchise, and dehumanise individuals and communities across the world, reimagining futures of hope and mutual care.

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Gina Halpin is Head of Information and Inclusion with Youth Work Ireland and is a member of the National Management Team. She has over 20 years’ experience of working in the youth work sector and has a Masters Certification in Leadership in the Non-Profit sector.

Gina’s work focuses on practice and resource development in the areas of inclusive youth work including young refugees, LGBTQI+ young people, climate justice, sexual health and mental health. She also develops and leads advocacy, communications and information campaigns with and for youth people.

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Caleb believes that inclusion within sport is paramount to ensuring all of society is offered equal opportunities to receive the positive effects that sport has to offer. He will be holding a workshop at the conference in order to discuss this topic area in more detail with a specific focus on trans inclusion within sport.

Caleb has been an Artistic Swimming Coach for 4 years and so the workshop will mainly focus on the aquatic disciplines however what is discussed can be applied to any sport.

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Konrad is the Community Development Worker in Gay Project. A former Mr Gay Ireland, Konrad was also previously the Chairperson of MTU Cork LGBT* Society where he led the ‘Dragging Up The Past’ project. This project captures the history of drag in Cork through a pop up exhibition, online exhibition, and a documentary.

Konrad also previously worked on costume design, staging and choreography with drag acts such as Daisy Dripps (Alternative Miss Cork Winner and 1st Runner Up at Alternative Miss Ireland 2009), Letycha Le’Synn, Rubylicious, and Miss Bliss. At present Konrad co-facilitating Drag School with Mia Gold, the worlds first drag college programme.

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