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David Van Reybrouck is an author, historian and archaeologist. As one of Belgium’s and Europe’s leading intellectuals, he is committed to promoting democratic resilience and a comprehensive understanding of history. Van Reybrouck studied philosophy and archaeology at the KU Leuven and at Cambridge and completed his doctorate at the University of Leiden.

In 2010, he published his multi-award-winning book Congo: The Epic History of a People. For Revolusi: Indonesia and the Birth of the Modern World (2022), Van Reybrouck was awarded the Geschwister Scholl Prize in 2023, among other honours. Using archival material, many interviews with contemporary witnesses and personal observations, he conveys knowledge about local histories and perspectives that otherwise receive little attention in Europe, exposing the violent history of European colonialism, which is still largely repressed.

In 2011, Van Reybrouck founded the G1000 initiative, a platform for democratic innovation, civic engagement and participation. His work Against Elections: The Case for Democracy (2016), in which he outlines how deliberative democracy can be further developed, attracted worldwide attention. His proposal to convene citizens’ assemblies chosen by lot met with great interest and triggered a wave of citizens’ assemblies in several European countries. In Germany, the concept of citizens’ assemblies was first tested at the federal level in 2024 with the Bürgerrat Ernährung (Citizens’ Assembly on Nutrition). Van Reybrouck was involved in shaping the world’s first permanent citizens’ assemblies in the German-speaking community of Belgium, in Paris and in Brussels.

David Van Reybrouck was a DAAD scholarship holder in Berlin from 2016 to 2017. He is Honorary President of PEN Vlaanderen and, in this role, is particularly committed to supporting authors who are persecuted in their home countries. In 2025, Van Reybrouck was named Philosopher Laureate of the Netherlands and Flanders (Denker der Nederlanden). This honorary title is awarded every two years to individuals who enrich social debate in the Netherlands and Flanders through essays, opinion pieces, lectures or interviews.

Osman Kavala is a cultural promoter who is committed to intercultural dialogue, artistic cooperation and regional peacebuilding in Turkey. By founding and promoting initiatives in Turkey and Europe, he has played a decisive role in shaping the cultural landscape.

As the founder of Anadolu Kültür, a non-governmental organisation that works at the intersection of art and culture, civil society and human rights advocacy, he has established platforms for artists such as Depo in Istanbul and the Diyarbakır Arts Centre, which enable cross-border collaboration and provide independent spaces for artistic work. His work also focuses on promoting networks between cultural venues in Anatolia and cultural institutions in Europe through programmes such as TANDEM, which supports long-term artistic partnerships, and Spaces of Culture, an arts promotion programme run by the Goethe-Institut. Osman Kavala is a co-founder of the Association for the Protection of Cultural Heritage (KMKD), which works to protect endangered historical sites and artefacts. Through initiatives such as the Armenian Turkish cinema platform and the Armenian Turkish Youth Symphony Orchestra, he has decisively promoted cross-border cultural exchange.

His lifelong commitment to civil society is based on the conviction that art and culture are crucial for dialogue, mutual understanding and the creation of a more just and inclusive society.

Ayşe Buğra is a social scientist, writer, and academic figure from Turkey. She received her PhD in Economics from McGill University. She is currently Emeritus Professor of Political Economy at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul. During her time at Boğaziçi University, she has taught and published in the areas of development studies, social policy, state-business relations, and the socio-economic history of modern Turkey. She was the founding director of Boğaziçi University’s Social Policy Forum research centre from 2004 to 2017.

Buğra’s latest book, Social Policy in Capitalist History: Poverty, Work and Society was published in 2024. Her publications on politics and business include State and Business in Modern Turkey: A Comparative Study and New Capitalism in Turkey: The Relationship between Politics, Religion and Business.

She received the TWAS (World Academy of Science) Celso Furtado Prize for Social Sciences, the Turkey PEN Writers’ Association Duygu Asena Women’s Rights Award, the National Sedat Simavi Award for State and Business in Modern Turkey, and the Boğaziçi University Abdullah Kuran Outstanding Service Award.

She is a member of the Science Academy Society in Turkey. She is also a member of the Advisory Council of the International Karl Polanyi Institute at Concordia University in Montreal.

Li Yuan is a German studies scholar and expert in German as a foreign language. She heads the Faculty of Asian and European Languages, the Institute for German Studies and is responsible for the Centre for Global Competence at Zhejiang University.

Li Yuan received her doctorate from the Technische Universität Berlin and completed a post-doctoral programme there with a Humboldt Fellowship.

She carries out pioneering work in the field of foreign language acquisition research by applying modern methods of empirical data analysis to continuously improve the didactics and methodology of German teaching in China. In addition to the development of innovative formats, the promotion of young talent is at the centre of her work to meet the enormous interest in the subject of German as a foreign language in China. To continuously develop the subject, she organises many training seminars. A research colloquium she initiated promotes exchange between German and Chinese scholars. She also builds bridges between China and Germany and Austria for the DAAD and the programme “Culture and Language” of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research.

Her research and teaching achievements have been honoured several times in China.

Shelly Kupferberg (moderator), born in 1974 in Tel Aviv, grew up in West Berlin. She studied journalism, theatre, and musicology in Berlin. For the past 30 years, she has been a prominent voice in German cultural broadcasting, presenting programmes on culture, literature, and society for ARD, Deutschlandfunk Kultur, and rbb’s radio3.

In addition to her regular live radio shows, she moderates concerts, readings, conferences, and events for cultural institutions and festivals.

Her literary debut, Isidor, was published by Diogenes in autumn 2022 and made it onto the SPIEGEL bestseller list. A theatre adaptation of the book is currently in development at the Burgtheater Vienna, with a premiere scheduled for February 2026, directed by Philipp Stölzl.