TRANSCEND Final Summit Agenda
10th September
Venue: Le Bouche à Oreille, Rue Félix Hap 11, Brussels
09:00 - 09:30
30 min
Registration & Coffee
09:30 - 09:35
5 min
Opening
Welcome and Introduction by TRANSCEND Coordinators Georgina Anderson and Selby Knudsen (Trilateral Research)
09:35 - 9:50
15 min
Welcome Speech
By the TRANSCEND Project Officer, Natalja Miolato, (EU – REA)
09:50 - 10:10
20 min
Keynote Speech 1
“Societal Acceptance of Security Technologies” by Filippo Giacinti (DG HOME)
10:10 – 10:30
20 min
Keynote Speech 2
“Why Citizen Engagement Matters in Security Research” by Raluca Csernatoni (Carnergie Europe)
10:30 – 11:00
30 min
Coffee Break
11:00 – 11:15
15 min
TRANSCEND Toolbox
Presentation of the TRANSCEND Toolbox: ”Unlocking Voices: Practical Methods to Engage Citizens in Safety and Security Innovation” Marc Steen (TNO)
11:15 – 12:15
60 min
Youth Engagement in FCT
Panel Discussion; How can we build meaningful dialogue with young people to shape inclusive security policies?
Ilias Marraha (Mechelen Municipality)
Vivian Gravenberch (DISSS)
Luc Van Der Taelen (SCLP)
Didier, Demelin (SCLP)
Francien Baijanova (TNO)
Facilitator: Bamba Niang (Efus)
12:15 – 13:30
75 min
Lunch
13:30 – 15:00
90 min
World Café
A hands-on experience of a World Café: a workshop method that promotes active and creative participation. This is an example from the TRANSCEND Toolbox. Michael Friedewald (Fraunhofer) and Marc Steen (TNO)
15:00 – 15:20
20 min
Coffee Break
15:20 – 15:50
30 min
Sharing Experience on Citizen Engagement
Experiences from Danka Foitik Schmidt (Austrian Red Cross) & Ronald van der Wal (Netherlands Police Academy)
15:50 – 16:35
45 min
Security Technologies in the context of Border Security: CSOs Intervention Opportunities
Panel Discussion: How to better involve CSOs in the development and deployment of security technologies in the context of border security?
Sarah Chander (Equinox)
Sheba Najmi (Tech for Change / Code for Pakistan)
Facilitator: Bruno Oliveira Martins (PRIO)
16:35 – 16:45
15 min
Wrap-Up
Wrap up by TRANSCEND Coordinators Georgina Anderson and Selby Knudsen (Trilateral Research)
FINAL SUMMIT SPEAKERS
Natalja Miolato
Project Officer at the Research Executive Agency
Ms. Natalja Miolato is Project Officer at the Research Executive Agency, where she is responsible for the management of Horizon Europe projects within Cluster 3: Civil Security for Society. Ms. Miolato brings over eleven years of professional experience within the institutions of the European Union. She has previously served at the European Union Delegation to Trinidad and Tobago, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR), and the Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA). She has also held positions in the private sector, further strengthening her multidisciplinary expertise. Her professional background encompasses a wide range of thematic and cross-cutting areas, including security, energy, environment, climate, policy and regulatory development, project management, public procurement, finance, communication, and international relations.
Filippo Giacinti
Policy Officer at DG HOME – European Commission
Filippo Giacinti joined the Security Research and Innovation Unit of the European Commission’s Directorate General for Migration and HOME Affairs (DG HOME) in March 2025, taking over the role of coordinator of the Strengthening Security Research and Innovation (SSRI) destination of Horizon Europe – Cluster 3. Before joining the Commission, he worked in the private sector, supporting clients in identifying and accessing relevant funding opportunities in the field of security and defence, mainly in the framework of the Horizon Europe and European Defence Fund programmes.
His main areas of expertise include exploitation, innovation uptake and the design and implementation of co-creation strategies with practitioner end-users.
Dr Raluca Csernatoni
Research Fellow at Carnegie Europe
Dr Raluca Csernatoni is a Research Fellow at Carnegie Europe in Brussels, Belgium, where she specialises in European security and defence, with a focus on emerging and disruptive technologies. At Carnegie Europe, she is a Team Leader and Senior Research Expert on new technologies for the EU-funded project, EU Cyber Diplomacy Initiative – EU Cyber Direct (EUCD), and led Carnegie Europe’s research project on ‘The EU’s Techno-Politics of AI’. Csernatoni is currently a Professor on European security and defence, focusing on new technologies. At the CSDS, she is a Senior Researcher on digital technologies for the EU-funded project, ‘Indo-Pacific-European Hub for Digital Partnerships: Trusted Digital Technologies for Sustainable Well-Being’ (INPACE). She is also a Co-Leader of the ‘Governance of Emerging Technology’ Research Group with the Centre on Security and Crisis Governance (CRITIC) at the Royal Military College Saint-Jean, Canada.
Source: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raluca-csernatoni-phd-562b1510/
Illias Marraha
Head of Department, Social Prevention, City of Mechelen
Illias Marraha is known for his creative and dynamic approach to problem-solving. He thrives in environments that foster innovative thinking and encourage visionary solutions. A strong believer in the value of diverse teams, he understands that such teams are key to creating a space for outside-the-box ideas. Illias is highly committed to the projects he leads, ensuring that he sees each initiative through to completion. Constantly seeking new challenges, he strives to push boundaries in both his professional life and personal development, always avoiding conventional paths in favour of growth and progress.
Vivian Gravenberch
Founder and Director of Research & Marketing, Dutch Institute for Safe and Secure Spaces (DISSS)
Vivian Gravenberch is an environmental criminologist who specialises in understanding how both social and physical environments influence individual behaviour. Her work revolves around the idea that by studying the spaces people occupy, we can gain valuable insights into their lives. Vivian is driven by the challenge of identifying the broader connections between environments and individuals, as well as knowing when to focus on the finer details. Her goal is to create safer, more secure spaces by understanding the relationship between people and the environments in which they live.
Didier Demelin
Chief Commissioner of the Brussels West Police Division
Didier Demelin is the Chief Commissioner of the Brussels West Police Division, where he currently serves as Director General for territorial policing. With over three decades of experience in the Belgian police, he has developed a strong expertise in community policing, particularly in complex urban areas such as Molenbeek-Saint-Jean. His approach focuses on identifying hotspots and fostering close collaboration with local authorities, partners, and residents in vulnerable neighborhoods. In 2021, he published a book on “multiple community policing,” inspired by the research of Professor Marleen Easton, exploring how community policing principles can be applied in a hyper-diverse society.
Luc Van Der Taelen
Policy Advisor at Standing Commission of the Local Police VCLP-CPPL
Luc Van der Taelen is a senior policing and security expert with over 40 years of experience in Belgium and abroad. He has served in Molenbeek as Director of Community Policing, contributed to EU missions in Kosovo and Palestine, and advised the Belgian Federal Police on counter-terrorism. He currently works as a strategic advisor at the Standing Commission representing the local police in Belgium.
Francien Baijanova
Scientist Innovator at the department of Human Behaviour & Collaboration in the Defence, Safety & Security (DSS) Unit of TNO.
Francien Baijanova is interested in holistically approaching complex societal problems and applying behavioural insights into practical interventions to drive resilience, innovation and systemic change. She believes that research should be conducted with people, and not merely about them, and that meaningful societal progress emerges through collaboration, mutual respect, and constructive win-win dialogues. Even in the most difficult circumstances, she believes that we can learn from – and support – those that seem very different from ourselves, by living according to Stephen Covey’s principle: “Seek first to understand, then to be understood”.
Bamba Niang
Programme Manager, EFUS
Bamba follows the themes of Crisis Management and Technologies. Prior to joining Efus, he worked for Expertise France, the French public agency in charge of technical cooperation for international development and solidarity projects, a subsidiary of the French Development Agency. He holds two Masters in International Relations and in Strategic and Military Sciences from the University of Turin, as well as a Masters in International Politics and Transition Analysis from the University of Lyon 2 Lumière. He also had a short career as an officer in the Senegalese army with training at the Military Academy of Modena in Italy. He is an athlete specialised in the 400m sprint.
Marc Steen
Dr Marc Steen, Senior Research Scientist at TNO, expert in Responsible Innovation and Participatory Design
Michael Friedewald
Senior Research Fellow and Consultant at the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI)
Michael Friedewald is a Senior Research Fellow and Consultant at the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI) in Karlsruhe. He leads the “Digitalisation in Business and Society” research group. His research focuses on privacy, data protection, and cybersecurity.
Danka Foitik Schmidt
Division Health, Operations and Social Welfare
Danka Foitik Schmidt is from Division Health, Operations and Social Welfare, department National Disaster Management & Research at the HQ of the Austrian Red Cross, has a Master Degree in Psychology and Social Studies and she is a graduated psychotherapist in CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy). Further, she is engaged in different research projects covering innovation in security research, disaster management, PCP & CBRN context for more than 20 years. She accompanies the initiative “Team Österreich – managing spontaneous volunteers” from its start in 2007.
Dr Ronald van der Wal
Netherlands Police Academy
Dr Ronald van der Wal works at the Netherlands Police Academy. He is an expert in local policework and has been involved in the development and implementation of the Allies Approach (‘Bondgenoten’), which involves collaboration between the police and various local residents and stakeholders, e.g., community centres, sports clubs, and schools.
Sarah Chander
Sarah Chander is an advocate and organiser working within racial and migrant justice, feminist and queer movements. Sarah is Director of the Equinox Initiative of Racial Justice, a queer, racialised led organisation with a vision for creating societies of care and protection. Equinox works to shift policies and resources in the European Union away from policing, punishment, borders and surveillance and toward systems protection and social provision.
Sheba Najmi
Founder and Executive Director of Tech for Change
Sheba has 20 years+ of experience in creating and leading UX & Product Design teams and products. She is passionate about leveraging human-centered design principles and practices to build impactful and inclusive web and mobile products as well as about designing designers and leading organizations to create meaningful impact in the world.
In addition to her role leading UX, Sheba is also a civic tech entrepreneur as the Founder and Executive Director of Tech for Change, a non-profit organization whose flagship initiative, Code for Pakistan, harnesses the power of people and technology to address public and social needs in communities around the world.
Bruno Oliveira Martins
Senior Researcher at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO)
Bruno Oliveira Martins is a Senior Researcher at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), where he co-leads of the Security & Technology Research Group. His main research interests lie on the intersection between technological developments, security practices, and societal change. He is also an associate editor of the journal Security Dialogue and a member of the UN Global Network of Experts on the Protection of Vulnerable Targets against Terrorist Attacks.
Georgina Anderson
Research Manager at Trilateral Research and TRANSCEND Project Coordinator
Georgina is a research and evaluation specialist with over twenty years’ experience managing complex, multi-sectoral research projects and policy reviews internationally. With an academic background in demography, health, anthropology, and communications, she is well versed in fostering citizen and civil society engagement for the development of metrics and tools to support strategic planning and policy development.
