Aurora Coordinators

Fanney has a MA in International Studies from the University of Brisbane where she was a Rotary Peace Fellow. Prior to joining the University of Iceland, she held positions in the public and private sector linked to sustainability, such as Specialist at the Prime Minister’s Office, Project Manager at the Nordic Council of Ministers, and Sustainability Specialist at Marel.

Alessandro Arienzo is Professor of History of Political Thought and Political Philosophy at the Department of Humanities at the Università Federico II of Naples. 

Member of the scientific board of the Doctorate in Philosophical Sciences of the Department of Humanities and representative for the area of political and social sciences in the Italian National University Council. He is among the Rector’s delegates for internationalisation. I am currently a member, and vice-chair, of the Higher Education Standing Committee of ETUCE (European Trade Union Committee on Education). Institutional coordinator for the Federico II of the European university network Aurora and the European Universities projects. 

At University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE), Petra Günther is Head of the International Office and Aurora Institutional Coordinator. As Aurora Institutional Coordinator, she has an overview of Aurora network activities and the Aurora EUN project at the university. Often this means finding a balance between the ambitions of Aurora and academic life at UDE. While this may be exhausting and frustrating at times, she considers it a privilege to work with many enthusiastic and motivated international colleagues.

Born in Pla del Penedès (Barcelona) in 1964, Joan Miquel Canals studied Chemistry at the University of Barcelona and completed his PhD in the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV). He has been working as a lecturer at the URV since 1994, where he has been a senior lecturer in Nutrition and Bromatology since 2008. He has also taught subjects in the Bachelor’s Degree in Oenology, the Master’s Degree in Fermented Drinks, and the International Master’s Degree in Wine Tourism Innovation (WINTOUR) at the Faculty of Oenology.

Selma Porobić obtained her PhD in migration studies from Lund University in Sweden and holds academic qualifications from the American University in Cairo, Fordham University in New York, and Oxford University in the UK. She is a globally recognised scholar who has extensively published on educational topics related to human rights and peacebuilding. With significant experience in academic administration, she has provided consultation services to government education and research institutions throughout the UK, Scandinavia, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Western Balkans.

In 2018, Selma became part of the Rector’s Office at Palacký University Olomouc, where she serves as an advisor on the European Universities Initiative and heads the Aurora office as the Institutional Coordinator. She also leads the Aurora Capacity Development Programme for Central and Eastern Europe and the Aurora Karazin University Peace Education Hub in Ukraine. Additionally, she chairs the inter-alliance working group ‘Internationalisation and Global Outreach’ within ForEU4ALL, which unites 28 European university alliances.

Martin Schwell is the Vice-President in charge of European Affairs at Université Paris-Est Créteil (UPEC). He has been a professor of physical chemistry at UPEC’s Faculty of Science and Technology since 2013. He was its Vice-dean for International Relations between 2016 and 2022, and has worked for the international development of his Faculty.

Martin Schwell is an alumnus of the Freie Universität Berlin, where he studied and obtained his doctorate in 1998. He is currently attached to the Laboratoire Interuniversitaire des Systèmes Atmosphériques (LISA). He was head of the LISA Spectroscopy and Atmospheres group from 2011 to 2018. His research focuses on the ultraviolet spectroscopy of molecules of astrophysical and atmospheric interest. He has a passion for scientific events and has organised numerous international schools and workshops.

Post Doc in Social Entrepreneurship Education at the Department of Management, Society and Communication (MSC) at Copenhagen Business School (CBS), Anne-Karen is also Associate Editor Journal of Social Entrepreneurship, Academic co-lead and Institutional Coordinator for the Aurora European university alliance. She is passionate about responsible management, and contributes to social entrepreneurship, sustainability transformation of organisations, and responsible management education. Using qualitative and quantative methods, Anne-Karen researches inter- and transdisciplinary teams towards the sustainability transition of business and society.