Andras Beszterczey
Programme Officer, MercyCorps
Andras Beszterczey has over five years of experience working with children and youth in both active conflict, and post-conflict environments. He started in this field in Colombia, volunteering with demobilized paramilitary youth, and then had a brief stint in Serbia and Kosovo, where he worked with the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights on identity politics with minorities in the former Yugoslavia. Over the last three years he has been more closely focused on the issue across the Arab world, first in Lebanon at the American University of Beirut and the Sustainable Democracy Center, and later in Egypt with Ashoka Arab World working with social entrepreneurs. As a Programme Officer at Mercy Corps, he designs programs on youth engagement and conflict management across the region.
John Carr
Senior Visiting Fellow and Online Child Safety Consultant, London School of Economics and Political Science
John Carr writes and consults about internet safety and security. He is one of the world’s leading authorities on children's and young people’s use of the internet and associated new technologies. Based in London John works extensively across the UK and in many parts of the world. More recently John has also been working around issues of digital inclusion, particularly around older people's and grandparents' use of technology. John regularly contributes to TV and radio programs on the subject of online safety and security. He writes for the Huffington Post UK. John was also formerly the internet columnist for Prospect magazine and has written about the internet for The Observer, The Times, The Daily Telegraph, New Statesman, The Guardian and many other journals, both in the UK and overseas.
Keith Towler
Children's Commissioner for Wales
Keith is a respected children’s rights expert with over 25 years’ experience in social work, youth work and youth justice roles. After graduating from Exeter College of Art and Design with a degree in Fine Arts, Keith initially pursued a career in Social Work. A career in youth justice beckoned with a role as Head of NACRO Cymru (the crime reduction charity). He then went on to become NACRO Director of Crime Reduction (England and Wales) in 2001. Prior to taking up the post of Children’s Commissioner for Wales in March 2008, he was Programme Director for the Wales Programme of Save the Children for two years and Chair of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) Monitoring Group for Wales. As the country’s second children's commissioner, he has published reports on child trafficking young carers and looked after children. Keith was also member of the Welsh Government’s national Children’s Safeguarding Forum and a panel member of the Family Justice Review – an independent review commissioned by the Ministry of Justice, Department of Education and the Welsh Government - where he represented children’s interests.
Prof. Dr. Ahmet Yıldızı
Head of the Department of Landscape Architecture, Istanbul Technical University
In 1987, Professor Ahmet Yıldızcı participated in the establishment of the Department of Landscape Architecture in Istanbul Technical University Faculty of Forestry. From then until the present day, Prof. Yıldızcı lectures on Urban Design, Urban Landscape Planning and Design, Introduction to Landscape Architecture and Planting Design. Since 2009 he also lectures and supervises thesis about landscape in Istanbul Bahçeşehir University Urban Systems and Management of Transportation masters program. He has hosted great numbers of conferences, participated in organizational stages of the conferences and refereed at national and international levels. In 2010, he was considered worthy of the Achievement Award for Landscape Architecture Training from the Chamber of Landscape Architects. Also in 2013, hewas awarded the most prestigious award of Landscape Architecture with his project, American Society of Landscape Architects' Honor Award.
Prof. Dr. Haluk Yavuzer
Istanbul Ticaret University, Faculty of Science and Letters, Educational Sciences, Head of Psychology Department
Between 1961 and 1965, Haluk Yavuzer studied and graduated in Pedagogics at Istanbul University, Faculty of Letters and gained his doctorate in the same department in 1971. Following his doctorate, he researched Child Psychology and Education and Guiltiness of Children at London University.
Prof. Dr. Yavuzer is the founder of Parents Schools that aims to educate parents about child development. He has been a senator of Istanbul University for 2 periods and a member of the Board of Directors of Faculty for 6 years.
He has also taken on tasks such as Education Coordinator in Home-based Child Care for 0-6 year olds and the Educating Educators Program, which has been sponsored by The European Union, and is a member of the inspection commission of Tubitak Education and Communication Projects.
