Keynote speakers and panelists

Keynote speakers and panelists

Read more about our keynote speakers and plenary panelists:
 
 

Thursday

 
Pekka Haavisto (FI)
Member of the Parliament of Finland
Speaking at Thursday's first plenary session
 
Pekka Haavisto brings a multifaceted perspective on polarization, shaped by decades of experience in national and international leadership. He has served as Finland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister of the Environment, and Minister for International Development. On the global stage, he has held key roles as the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for the Darfur peace process and as the European Union's Special Representative in Sudan and Darfur.
 
A widely respected and popular politician, Haavisto has traveled extensively across Finland and the world, listening to the concerns, hopes, and lived experiences of people from all regions and backgrounds. His work reflects a deep commitment to dialogue, inclusion, and understanding in the face of societal divides.

Jasmine Kelekay (FI / US)
Speaking at Thursday's first plenary session

Jasmine Kelekay is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Criminology at Howard University (USA) and an affiliated scholar with the Centre for Multidisciplinary Research on Racism (CEMFOR) at Uppsala University (Sweden). Her research is situated at the intersections of sociology, criminology, cultural studies, and Black studies and examines racialization, racism, and anti-racism in the Nordics, with a focus on Sweden and Finland. She is currently working on the second edition of the book Black Feminist Sociology: Perspectives and Praxis for which she is co-editor.

Amos Wallgren (FI)
Speaking at Thursday's first plenary session

Amos Wallgren is an environmental activist and a doctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki. He has been involved in organising numerous popular movements, most notably Elokapina (Extinction Rebellion Finland), and has written about global climate justice in the book Viimeinen siirto – Ympäristöliike Suomessa (S&S, 2021).

Riie Heikkilä

Riie Heikkilä (FI)
www.tuni.fi/fi/ihmiset/riie-heikkila
Speaking at Thursday's second plenary session

Riie Heikkilä is docent of sociology at the Tampere University. Her research has focused on cultural participation and non-participation from the viewpoint of inequality. In the Nordic Foundation conference, she will discuss these topics from a Nordic point of view: how is arts and cultural participation socially stratified, and how can this unequal situation contribute to social and political polarisation?

 

Marcia Harvey Isaksson, photo Karin Björkquist

Marcia Harvey Isaksson (SE)
marcia.se
Speaking at Thursday's second plenary session

Marcia Harvey Isaksson is an artist who's main line of inquiry is our common cultural heritage, using textile techniques as a vehicle to navigate her investigations. She is interested in site-specific narratives, working often with a mix of media, from sculpture to performance. She is the founder and head curator of the Afro-Nordic art platform Southnord, the textile art, crafts and design platform, Fiberspace and sqCircle, a Stockholm-based studio dedicated to telling stories using spatial design, working for example with a large number of museums.

 
 
Nicklas Larsen (DK)
Speaking at Thursday's second plenary session
 
Nicklas Larsen is a leading futures practitioner, educator, author, and public speaker dedicated to strengthening the political and cultural representation of future generations. From the Asian Development Bank to the Philanthropy Europe Association and Parsons School of Design, his work builds imagination infrastructures and equips leaders and learners with the skills to anticipate change, navigate uncertainty, and shape just, transformative futures. As Head of Impact and UNESCO Co-Chair in Futures Capabilities at the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies, Nicklas champions the Institute's mission to democratise and integrate futures literacy across the arts, culture, education, philanthropy, and policy.
 

Friday

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André Støylen (NO)
Speaking at Friday's plenary session
 
André Støylen is CEO of the Amedia Foundation (Amediastiftelsen) and board chair of the Nordic media company Amedia AS. From 2014 to 2024 he was CEO of the Savings bank foundation DNB (Sparebankstiftelsen DNB), Norway's largest philantopic foundation. He has a Master of Science in Business Administration from BI Norwegian Business School, and among other engagements he has been CFO of Norwegian Red Cross, Vice Major for Finance in the City of Oslo, State secretary in the Norwegian Ministry for the Environment and consultant in McKinsey&Co. In 2016 he initiated the purchase of Amedia AS and established the Amedia Foundation to be a long-term owner of the company. 

 Photo: Amedia 

 
Anu Partanen head shot
 
Anu Partanen (FI)
Journalist
Speaking at Friday's plenary session
 
Anu Partanen is the author of “The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life.” Originally from Finland, she has worked as a journalist in the United States and Finland for over two decades. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and The Atlantic. She has been a regular commentator on the BBC and has worked at Fortune Magazine through the Innovation Journalism Fellowship at Stanford University. In Finland she has held many positions ranging from managing editor to columnist, features writer to news reporter, lecturer to on-air commentator. Currently she works as a journalist at Uusi Juttu, a digital news outlet based in Finland.
 
Photo: Heli Blåfield (c)
Laura-Saarikoski-nettiin-vaaka.png
 
Laura Saarikoski (FI)
President and CEO
Speaking at Friday's plenary session
 
Laura Saarikoski is the CEO of the Helsingin Sanomat Foundation that supports journalism, freedom of speech and media literacy. She is also the former Editor in Chief, Premium of the Helsingin Sanomat. She specialized in political polarization as a US Correspondent during President Trump’s first term.
 
Photo: Helsingin Sanomain Säätiö