National Coordinators in Europe and beyond

Austria NC

Akkaladevi Sharath Chandra

Sharath Chandra Akkaladevi, PROFACTOR GMBH, Robotics and Automation Systems, Steyr-Gleink, 4407, Austria

Sharath Chandra Akkaladevi earned his M.Sc with Distinction from Alpen-Adria Universität in Klagenfurt, Austria, specializing in Information Technology in 2012. During his internship at Robert Bosch from May 2011 to October 2011, he contributed to the field of Intelligent Driver Assistance Systems with a focus on Human Gait-Phase Recognition. In 2012, he transitioned into the role of a Researcher at Profactor GmbH, where he delved into the realm of Robotics and Assistive Systems. He currently holds the position of Scientist at Profactor GmbH, specializing in Robotics and Automation Systems. His focus on Human-Robot Collaboration reflects a keen interest in the seamless integration of robots into human environments. Additionally, his work in Activity Recognition and Novel Robot Interfaces highlights innovative approaches to programming robots. From March to May 2024, he served as a Senior Fellow at the Brussels Institute for Advanced Studies (BrIAS), contributing to the Sustainable Robotics program with a focus on human–robot collaboration in industrial contexts.

Albania NC

Alketa Bajrami

Organisation: Scientix Ambasador 2017-2019, Hundred Ambassador, etwinning Ambassador 2019, Global Maths Ambasadors 2017-2018, 2018-2019, Leading Teacher Code Week 2017-2018, 2018-2019, 2019-2020

For 17 years I have been teaching math in high schools and a teacher training center. Robotics is the future of basic education for everyone, because it touches on problem solving in daily life and it responds to a need of my students’ future professions. This is also my vision, to share the experience and to try expand the Robotics network in Albania, both in the training of teachers, students and stimulating the organisation of events in our region.

Romania NC

Ana-Maria Stancu

Organisation:E-Civis

#technology4all
Starting from the belief that no one should be left behind in the technology race in Romania, as part of the European Robotics Week, we tried to bring robotics and new technologies to different environments. We organized events in informatics and mathematics high schools – were the pupils knew about the technologies but never seen them before; and we also organized events in rural areas for children from vulnerable groups – to show them the potential and teach them to dream. In both settings the visit was a total success and the participants were extremely excited. This is why for the next editions we will make things better and bigger!

Romania NC

Andrei Dumitriu

Organisation: University of Bucharest

Adjunct Professor @ University of Bucharest, Founder of Unibuc Robotics which includes 3 laboratories: “Introduction to Robotics & IoT”, “Robotics and AI” and “3D Printing”. Actively involved in the educational community in Romania, encouraging and helping schools to increase performance and modernize their curriculum. Working on promoting robotics in high schools and academia while searching for European research partners @ University of Bucharest.

Andrew Csizmadia

Andrew is a respected computing academic, educator and researcher with over 40 years in prompting computing science education. He is currently the UK Bebras Competition Manager and employed by the Raspberry Pi Foundation. Previously, he has worked with British Computer Society, Cisco Systems and Birmingham Newman University amongst others. Andrew’s expertise includes computing pedagogy and engaging learners of all ages with computer sciences through challenges and competitions.

Bulgaria NC

Angel Angelov

Organisation: Sava Dobroplodny Secondary School, Shumen, Bulgaria

Albania NC

Anisa Fejzo

Organisation: Kongresi i Manastirit “Junior High School in Tirana

Portugal NC

Bruno Moura Ferreira

Organisation: Comuniteia

Austria NC

Clara Fischer

Organisation: TU Vienna

France NC

Cyril CHARTRAIRE

Organisation: Délégation Académique au Numérique Educatif de Versailles (DANE Versailles) – Rectorat de Versailles

Greece NC

Dimitris Alimisis

Organisation: EDUMOTIVA -European Lab for Educational Technology

Dr. Anca Georgiana Rusu

Dr. Anca-Georgiana Rusu is the Program Manager at Innovation Booster Robotics, Community Manager at EPFL Robotics, and Executive Director of the Swiss Robotics. As the EPFL focal point for robotics, Anca Rusu leads efforts to build a robust Swiss Robotics Community through initiatives like the Innovation Booster on Robotics and the creation of a Swiss Robotics Association. In this role, she coordinates EPFL Robotics Laboratory visits, promotes research to international media and scientific channels, and supports outreach events. Additionally, Anca oversees the Innovation Booster Robotics program, leading fundraising efforts, developing program strategies, and organizing key robotics events in Switzerland. Furthermore, she provides support for EPFL robotics education initiatives, ensuring equal opportunities and promoting the robotics master and doctoral programs through various communication channels.

With over six years of experience as a project manager at EPFL’s International Risk Governance Center, Anca has led interdisciplinary research endeavors focusing on the risk governance of emerging technologies. Anca holds a Master’s degree in Social Sciences, specializing in communication and culture, from the University of Lausanne. Dr. Rusu also holds a PhD from Paris Dauphine University, where her research centered on the role of organizational communication in emerging technologies, specifically in the realm of artificial intelligence.

Serbia NC

Dušan Milić

Organisation:Serbian electronics and robotics Association

Greece NC

Eleftheria Karagiorgou

Organisation: University of the Aegean

Turkey NC

Erol Sahin

Organisation:Middle East Technical University

Tunisia NC

Fatma Bouaziz

Organisation: Computer sciences teacher at Ali Ennouri middle school, Europe Code Week Ambassador, CoSpaces Edu Ambassador etc.

Italy NC

Fiorella Operto

Organisation: School of Robotics

Educated in Philosophy, she designed a successful scientific book series, I Dialoghi (www.direnzo.it). In Genoa, Itay, she collaborated with the laboratory CNR-Robotlab (Underwater Robotics), promoting awareness and understanding of the emerging science of robotics, and took part in the founding of the association Scuola di Robotica. In 2000 she co-founded the non-profit organization Scuola di Robotica (School of Robotics) together with roboticists and scholars of the humanities. She is the School of Robotics  ViceChair today. Operto contributed to the definition and development of Roboethics (Ethical, Legal, and Societal Issues in Robotics). She is a member of the High-Level Advisory Committee of the ECWT (European Centre for Women and Technology), and a consultant and member of The Open Roboethics Initiative. She is the Italian representative for the European Robotics Week and a member of the Executive Board of the Foundation for Responsible Robotics.

Belgium NC

Francis Wyffels

Organisation:Ghent University and Dwengo

Cyprus NC

George Georgiou

Organisation: NOVATEX SOLUTIONS LTD

Cyprus robots collaborated with the ERW coordinators from Estonia, and organised the Cyprus ROBOTEX challenge competition (held last June) with more 224 Robots competing with each other! 

Serbia NC

Gorica Njegovanović

Organisation: Primary School “Mihajlo Pupin”, Belgrade Primary Teachers ‘ Society

Sweden NC

Gunnar Bolmsjö

Organisation: Linnaeus University Växjö Sweden

Albania NC

Hatixhe Bilibashi

Organisation: Albanian ICT Academy

Founder of Albanian ICT Academy, the first  Innovation Center in Albania for Digital Education in early age and University Lecturer. With over 18 years of experience in the ICT field, I am bringing extraordinary expertise in Software Development, Innovation, Management, as an ICT Startup Consultant and I am author of some scientific publications. I have a long experience as Project management for innovative technologies. I hold both Bachelor Degree and Scientific Master in Computer Science from the University of Tirana. I have completed my studies for FOSS Moodle platform and OJS platform in University of Zagreb, Croatia. I have participated as juror and mentor in many startup activities and ICT competitions in Albania. From 2014, I am Codeweek Ambassador for Albania and National Manager for NASA Space Apps Challenge. My passion is to bring new innovation technologies in my country and help developing the ICT ecosystem in Albania.  

Belgim NC

Hubert Baudouin

Organisation: Scientastic ASBL, rue de la Jonchaie 23 bte 43, 1040 Brussels, N° entreprise BE0451017732, tel +3227321336

Morocco NC

Imane Bouzoubaa

Organisation: TECHNO Future Morocco – Ajial Events

Hungary NC

Imre Paniti

Organisation: Institute for Computer Science and Control, Research Laboratory on Engineering & Management Intelligence

In the frame of the European Robotics Week our Institute opened its doors to preschoolers. 

The Netherlands NC

Inge Rehorst

Norway NC

Ingrid Schjolberg

Organisation: NTNU

Croatia NC

Janko Radigović

Organisation: Croatian Robotics Association

Germany NC

Jenny Huch

Organisation: KUKA

Luxembourg NC

Jose-Luis SANCHEZ-LOPEZ

Organisation: University of Luxembourg

Slovakia NC

Jozef Svetlík

Full Professor at Technical University of Košice (Department of Manufacturing Machinery; Faculty of Mechanical Engineering)

Professional focus:
Construction of modular production facilities, Methodology of design and construction with CAD support, Additive production, Industrial design

Finland NC

Jyrki Latokartano

Organisation: The Robotics Society in Finland

Denmark NC

Kathrine Viskum Rasmussen

Organisation: DTI/Teknologisk Institut

Belgium NC

Keshav Chintamani

Organisation:imec vzw, Belgium

Keshav is a senior researcher at imec’s IDLab in Ghent, Belgium. He obtained a PhD on human-centric augmented reality (AR) systems for the NASA space station robots. Since 2010, Keshav has worked on ESA, FP7 and H2020 projects including space and security robotics, wearable AR and VR systems. He built a multi-robot command and control system for search and rescue robotics in the FP7 ICARUS project, which was successfully used at Eurathlon 2013 and 2015. In 2015, he successfully tested mobiPV, an astronaut crew support system based on the Google Glass at the International Space Station. His current interests are in IoT- and cloud-enhanced robotics at IDLab.

Poland NC

Krzysztof Walas

Organisation:Poznan University of Technology

Latvia NC

Līga Ūdre

Organisation:Transport and Telecommunication Institute

Spain NC

Loreto Susperregi

Organisation: IK4 Tekniker

Luxembourg NC

Madhumalti Sharma

Denmark NC

Marianne Andersen

Organisation:CoInsights, CEO and Founder

Luxembourg NC

Marina Stephanova

Organisation: MICSE Luxembourg

Slovenia NC

Marko Munih

Organisation:University of Ljubljana, Faculty of electrical engineering

The hybrid robotic wheelchair developed at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering University of Ljubljana allows traversing most common obstacles found in urban and rural environments, such as stairs and ramps, by utilizing both wheeled and tracked propulsion. The team behind the wheelchair won a bronze medal at the Cybathlon competition. 

Czech Republic NC

Martina Kupilíková

Organisation: Center of Robotics in Pilsen

Croatia NC

Matko Orsag

Organisation: The Laboratory for Robotics and Intelligent Control Systems  
University of Zagreb, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing

Turkey NC

Mehmet Efe Tiryaki

Assist. Prof. Dr. M. Efe Tiryaki received his B.S. degree in mechanical engineering and physics from Middle East Technical University, Ankara, in 2016, and his M.S. degree in robotics from ETH Zurich in 2018. He then completed his Ph.D. work on “MRI-powered Magnetic Microrobotics” at the Max-Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems and ETH Zurich in 2023. Since 2025, He has been an Assistant Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the Middle East Technical University. His research focuses on autonomous medical robotic systems and the development of novel magnetic actuation and tracking methods for minimally invasive medical operations.

Latvia NC

Mihails Savrasovs

Organisation: Transport and Telecommunication Institute

Denmark NC

Morten Nielsen FAB

Organisation: TEK Innovation / University of Southern Denmark

Bulgaria NC

Nayden Chivarov

Organisation: European Polytechnical University, Pernik, Bulgaria

Bosnia and Herzegovina NC

Neven Savanovic

Organisation: NSRobotics

ITALY NC

Nicolò Monasterio

Nicolò Monasterio is a project manager and trainer at Scuola di Robotica (Genoa, Italy).

Trained directly within Scuola di Robotica, he works on national and EU-funded projects focused on educational robotics and STEM outreach for schools and communities.

Nicolò has extensive experience designing robotics contests and delivering hands-on training in augmented and virtual reality technologies for both students and teachers.

Sweden NC

Ove Leichsenring

Organisation: Swedish Industrial Robot Association SWIRA

Portugal NC

Paulo Menezes

Organisation: University of Coimbra

Norway NC

Pavan Kumar Sriram

Organisation: Digital Norway

Senior project Manager @Digital Norway, joint master’s in computational mechanics through prestigious Erasmus Mundus scholarship, (PhD) in Operations Management, NTNU, Norway. Actively engaged on European research and innovation projects (FP7, H2020) including TRINITY – advance robotics for agile production and RODIN a pan-European Robotics network. Working on accelerating innovation through robotics among Norwegian SMEs.

UK NC

Peter Marshman

Pete is a respected expert with over 15 years of experience in promoting computer science education and self-efficacy among girls. He’s an EU Code Week Ambassador and has worked with prestigious organizations like BCS, the BBC, Hodder Education, the Royal Society, and more. Pete’s expertise covers teaching computer science at various levels.

France NC

Philippe Roussel

Organisation: FFC Robotique (Fédération Française des Clusters de la Robotique – French Federation of Robotics Clusters)

Finland NC

Pia Engström

Organisation: City of Riihimäki

Montenegro NC

Rade Grujičić

Organisation: NGO “Nauka i Tehnika” (Science and Technics)  

With the initiative and support of NGO “Nauka i Tehnika” (Science and Technics) and its founder, prof. Marina Mijanović Markuš PhD, Montenegrin teams for the first time took part in various regional and European robotics competitions. Over the past six years, the organization has helped the participation of Montenegrin university students at the worldwide competition “Robot Challenge”, as well as the preparation of primary and secondary school students for the national and European FLL and FTC competitions. 

Spain NC

Ricardo Muñoz Cabello

Organisation: Prodel

We are at the gates of a new robotic revolution.

By the 2020s-2030s, robots are expected to land massively in multiple production sectors, beyond industrial. Robotic technologies are already integrated into industry, agriculture, medicine and assistance, transport, security, energy, environment, leisure, education, etc. In addition, robots are very complex machines that involve the work of numerous professionals and companies.

The Spanish Robotics Technology Platform, HispaRob, is a forum in which the different actors involved in the development, promotion and integration of robotic technologies in all areas of our society converge.

The overall objective of the Platform is to contribute to the positioning of Spain as one of the world leaders in robotics, promoting initiatives aimed at the development of innovative, marketable and useful robotic products and services for society.

Objectives

• Coordination of initiatives to connect research efforts with new commercially innovative products with an added value for our society.
• To promote new business ventures in robotics.
• To promote new joint research projects.
• To increase visibility of Robotics as a solution for some of various social environments challenges.
• Strategic analysis of future robotics applications and business opportunities.

• To be an open network for businesses, universities, R&D centers, end users and, also, public institutions interested in robotics.
• To help our associates increase their internationalization opportunities.
• Coordination with International robotics organisations.
• Contribute to generate new employment and wealth by increase the possibilities for the creation of new tech companies.

Albania NC

Rovena Hoxha

Organisation: Scientix Ambasador 2017-2019; Hundred Ambassador; eTwinning Ambassador 2017-2019; Leading Teacher Code Week 2017-2018, 2018-2019, 2019-2020

Greece NC

Spyridon Blatsios

Organisation: University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece

Greece NC

Stamatis Papadakis

Email: stpapadakis@gmail.com

Organisation: 5th General Lyceum of Heraklion, Crete, Greece

Twitter: @stpapadakis 

Facebook: www.facebook.com/stpapadakis 

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/stamatis-papadakis

Croatia NC

Tomo Sjekavica

Organisation: Dubrovnik-Neretva county and City of Dubrovnik Association of Technical Culture, Informatics club Futura

Bosnia and Herzegovina NC

Valentina Vidović

Organisation: Primary school “Kiseljak”, Kiseljak

Lithuania NC

Virginijus Baranauskas

Organisation:Kaunas University of Technology, Faculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering

Kaunas University of Technology Faculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (KTU EEF) has joined the initiative by inviting Kaunas regional community to visit KTU EEF robotics laboratories. KTU has greeted more than 160 visitors from different schools, who had the exiting opportunity to vitness achievements of robotics in a few hours during the laboratories tour.

Poland NC

Wojciech Giernacki

Organisation:Poznan University of Technology

Turkey NC

Zehra Sayin

Organisation: The Ministry of National Education of Turkey, Directorate General of Innovation and Educational Technologies 

Experience: Computer Education and Instructor Design, PhD Student at Hacettepe University, Turkey. Computer Science (ICT) Teacher, Head Teacher Trainer on behalf of MoNE. Code Week Leader on behalf of Ministry of Education of Turkey Online Learning Designer. Online Event Manager and Coordinator. Computer Science and Coding Curriculum Development Team Member in Turkey. Previous work experience: eTwinning Turkey National Support Servis Member (2015-2018), FCL Ambassadors (2016-2018), iTEC Project Technical Coordinator (Completed in 2014).

Israel NC

Zvi Shiller

Organisation:Israeli Robotics Association