2015-2016 | OCEANS Network

President

Lithuania

About:

Neringa has studied Bachelor of Creative Industries at VGTU, Lithuania and Masters of Media Culture at the University of Maastricht, the Netherlands. Her academic exchange experience includes Erasmus mobility to a business school EPHEC in Brussels, Belgium and semester at the University of Ulsan in Ulsan, South Korea under the ICI-ECP Education Cooperation Programme of the European Commission.

In addition to her studies, Neringa she did Erasmus training at an independent cinema production company in Spain, received United Nations Development Programme scholarship to intern at an NGO European Network Against Racism and completed a traineeship at the European Commission.

As a human rights activist, she has a strong interest in policies of international development, inclusion and promoting youth empowerment through non-formal education methods, all of which have brought her to OCEANS.

Position:

The President is the primary leader of the OCEANS Network and brings forward the mission and vision of the Network. He has the responsibility to ensure the overall performance and regular operation of the Board Structure, both internally and towards external organizations and partners. Also, he is Board member of the Erasmus+ Student and Alumni Association.

Head of Internal Affairs & Community Development

Giulia Barbanente

Italy

About:

Giulia graduated from the Law Faculty of the University of Bologna in Italy. During her legal studies she went on an exchange to the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, with a scholarship under the ICI-ECP Education Cooperation Programme of the European Commission. She then completed an Erasmus Mundus Master Programme in Law and Economics, studying at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam, at the University of Hamburg and at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research in Mumbai, India. She is currently a PhD candidate in Law and Economics at the University of Hamburg, holding an Erasmus Mundus scholarship. Interested in the field of law and development, Giulia has been an intern at the International Fund for Agricultural Development of the United Nations in Rome.

An OCEANS member since 2010, Giulia has been OCEANS Events Coordinator in 2012-2013.

Position:

The Head and Deputy-Head of this Team lead and coordinate all team activities and namely: legal and statute issues, budget and fund-raising, community engagement, internal organization. Also, they co-organise and participate to the activities of the respective Erasmus+ Student and Alumni Alliance (ESAA) Working Group. The Head of Team is also part of the OCEANS Board, and as such, performs a decision-making role and contributes to the whole strategy of the Network.

Head of IT, Communication & Branding

Jànos Szedelényi

Hungary

About:

János is a computer engineering student of the Budapest Universtiy of Technology and Economics. His specialization is Android development, server applications and education of programming. He studied at the Kyungpook National University for two semesters in 2014.

János joined to the OCEANS Network in May of 2014 and took part in the life of the organisation during the transition period.

Position:

The Head and Deputy-Head of this Team lead and coordinate all team activities and namely: IT development, design, logo, branding, social media and internal communication. Also, they co-organise and participate to the activities of the respective Erasmus+ Student and Alumni Alliance (ESAA) Working Group. The Head of Team is also part of the OCEANS Board, and as such, performs a decision-making role and contributes to the whole strategy of the Network.

Head of Professional Development

Alfredo Ciccarelli

Italy

About:

Alfredo is currently working as Management Consultant in the field of the Wealth Management in a primary Italian company, in the past he has gathered other work experiences within Global companies in the industry of the Consultancy, Luxury and TelCo. He holds a MS in Management Engineering from the University of Bologna, Italy. As an exchange student he attended a full academic year at the University of California, Berkeley choosing courses at Haas School of Business, at the School of Engineering as well as at the Department of Economics. He loves travelling, discovering local cultures, doing karate and many other sports. Professionally interested in the field of Human Resources, Change Management, Politics and Entrepreneurship, he joined OCEANS in 2010 in the very first wave.

Position:

The Head and Deputy-Head of this Team lead and coordinate all the Team’s activities and namely: career support and guidance, fostering business and social entrepreneurship among members, organization of events and professional networking activities. Also, they co-organize and participate to the activities of the respective Erasmus+ Student and Alumni Alliance (ESAA) Working Group. The Head of Team is also part of the OCEANS Board, and as such, performs a decision-making role and contributes to the whole strategy of the Network.

Deputy-Head of Internal Affairs & Community Development

Anna Stief

Hungary

About:

Anna is studying electrical engineering at Budapest University of Technology and Economics. She is finishing her Master degree now. She did one semester exchange at Kyungpook National University in Daegu, in South Korea with the scholarship program of EUKLA. She also got a one semester Erasmus scholarship at the University of Seville in Spain. She is currently working for Ericsson as a software developer intern. She joined OCEANS in 2012 and had been an active member since then. She loves traveling, volunteering and hiking in the nature.

Position:

The Head and Deputy-Head of this Team lead and coordinate all the Team’s activities and namely: legal and statute issues, budget and fund-raising, community engagement, internal organization. Also, they co-organize and participate to the activities of the respective Erasmus+ Student and Alumni Alliance (ESAA) Working Group. The Head of Team is also part of the OCEANS Board, and as such, performs a decision-making role and contributes to the whole strategy of the Network.

Deputy-Head of IT, Communication & Branding

Gabriele Armao

Italy

About:

Gabriele graduated from the computer science faculty of University of Bologna, in Italy, then he completed a master in information security and law.

He also studied his last year of graduate school in the USA, at Indiana University of Bloomingtonm thanks to the Overseas exchange program, and he's been hooked to exchange programs and their potentiality since then.

Right now, Gabriele is working as system administrator in Bologna, Italy, he has experience in building websites and web services, using the most common frameworks (wordpress, joomla, django, ...) and programming languages (php, python, perl, ...), as well as administering all major operating systems and databases.

Gabriele has always been an active part of Oceans Network since the beginning.

Position:

The Head and Deputy-Head of this Team lead and coordinate all the Team’s activities and namely: IT development, design, logo, branding, social media and internal communication. Also, they co-organize and participate to the activities of the respective Erasmus+ Student and Alumni Alliance (ESAA) Working Group. The Head of Team is also part of the OCEANS Board, and as such, performs a decision-making role and contributes to the whole strategy of the Network.

Deputy-Head of Professional Development

Agata Gieroba

Hungary

About:

Agata has been a member of OCEANS since its very beginning. She earned undergraduate degrees in Psychology from universities in the USA and Hungary and then her master's degree in Social Psychology in Poland. Her broad interests include organisational psychology and how to help individuals find career satisfaction and success. In her free time, you will most likely see her reading or running.

Position:

The Head and Deputy-Head of this Team lead and coordinate all the Team’s activities and namely: career support and guidance, fostering business and social entrepreneurship among members, organization of events and professional networking activities. Also, they co-organize and participate to the activities of the respective Erasmus+ Student and Alumni Alliance (ESAA) Working Group. The Head of Team is also part of the OCEANS Board, and as such, performs a decision-making role and contributes to the whole strategy of the Network.

Deputy-Head of Promotion & Capacity Building

Alexandra Coffman

USA

About:

Alexandra (Alex) graduated with BA in history from West Virginia University. She then was accepted into the Atlantis Program where she studied Central and Eastern European Studies in Estonia and Poland. She received her MA in History (with concentrations in Public History and Eastern Europe) from WVU and her MA in International Relations from Collegium Civitas. Alex was the former North American Coordinator of the OCEANS (2012-2014) and assisted with transitional work of OCEANS over the past year. She currently resides in West Virginia, USA doing historic preservation as an AmeriCorps VISTA.

Position:

This team contributes to the organisation of major events that will help promote ESAA, Erasmus+ and OCEANS, e.g. Kick-Off Conferences (High Level events with high ranking stakeholders); pre-departure orientations/trainings and Erasmus+ Ambassadors Training.

Furthermore, they contribute to the content and design of the ESAA magazine and other promotional material such as brochures, gadgets etc. Additionally, they co-organise and participate in the activities of the respective ESAA Working Group.

Head of Membership Management & Internal Affairs

Sunhee Kim

South Korea

About:

Sunhee has been part of Oceans Network since her exchange at Tallinn University in Estonia in 2011. Sunhee has studied Educational Policy. She did another year-long exchange study in the US and a research internship in Finalnd. She reiceived her Bachelor's from Chungbuk National University in South Korea in 2012 and her Master's from the University of Washington in the US in 2015. Currently, Sunhee lives in South Korea, working at a national research institute for vocational education

Head of Policy and Advocacy

Georgiana Mihut

Romania

About:

Georgiana Mihut is the Head of the Public Policy and Advocacy Team of OCEANS. Georgiana is a Research Assistant at the Center for International Higher Education and a doctoral student in the Higher Education PhD program of Boston College. Her research interests concern the impact of university reputation on the employability of graduates, quality assurance in higher education, and international higher education. Georgiana holds an Erasmus Mundus Master in Research and Innovation in Higher Education, a master in Education and Globalization from University of Oulu, Finland and a bachelor in Political Science from Babes-Bolyai University, in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Her OCEANS exchange brought her from Europe to US as part of the Atlantis programme. Georgiana has interned in various governmental institutions including the Swedish Council for Higher Education, the Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education and the Parliament of the Republic of Germany.

Georgiana Mihut became the Head of the Public Policy and Advisory Team in March 2015. Prior to this appointment, Georgiana was an active member of OCEANS since its inception in 2010.

Position:

The Head and Deputy-Head of this Team lead and coordinate all team activities and namely: surveys and research, policy learning and training, and advocacy actions. Also, they co-organise and participate to the activities of the respective Erasmus+ Student and Alumni Association (ESAA) Working Group. The Head of Team is also part of the OCEANS Board, and as such, performs a decision-making role and contributes to the whole strategy of the Network.

Deputy-Head of Policy & Advocacy

Sunhee Kim

South Korea

About:

Sunhee is currently finishing her Master’s degree in Educational Leadership and Policy and a Teaching Assistant at the University of Washington, USA. Her research interest is focused on improving organizational leadership to effectively support student development and professional development in higher education. She has a bachelor in Education from Chungbuk National University, South Korea. She studied at Washington State University, USA and Tallinn University, Estonia, and had a research internship at University of Helsinki, Finland. Preparing her studying abroad in Estonia, she joined OCENAS in 2011 through KOR-EU-Leaders for Global Education (KE-LeGE) program, where she worked as a mobility program coordinator in 2012. She has particular experiences in Education, including teaching and developing curriculums at varied levels in different countries. She is interested in the issues of internationalization, diversity, and identity development in higher education, and currently serving as a diversity ambassador and a graduate student senator at the University to vocalize diverse opinions and promote the equity for all students.

Position:

The Head and Deputy-Head of this Team lead and coordinate all the Team’s activities and namely: surveys and research, policy learning and training, and advocacy actions. Also, they co-organize and participate to the activities of the respective Erasmus+ Student and Alumni Association (ESAA) Working Group. The Head of Team is also part of the OCEANS Board, and as such, performs a decision-making role and contributes to the whole strategy of the Network.

Head of Promotion and Capacity Building

Siamak Tehrani

Australia

About:

Siamak Graduated from a double degree in International Studies and Business from Flinders University in Adelaide Australia. He has undertaken 4 international exchange programs, including the EU-AU global citizenship program at Malmo University in Sweden. He has been involved in OCEANS since the first AGM in Brussels and has served two terms on the board. Siamak currently lives in Canberra Australia working as an Australian Public Servant. Siamak speaks English, French and Persian and due to 6 month immersion in Tianjin China conversational Mandarin. Siamak lives by the motto to serve humanity to the best of his abilities knowing he will only be but a drop in the vast ocean but hoping to cause ripples of understanding, friendship and trust.

Position:

This team contributes to the organisation of major events that will help promote ESAA, Erasmus+ and OCEANS, e.g. Kick-Off Conferences (High Level events with high ranking stakeholders); pre-departure orientations/trainings and Erasmus+ Ambassadors Training.

Furthermore, they contribute to the content and design of the ESAA magazine and other promotional material such as brochures, gadgets etc. Additionally, they co-organise and participate in the activities of the respective ESAA Working Group.

The Board and the Team Coordinators

Get to know the previous Coordinating Boards

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