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MEET OF OUR 2026 SPEAKERS
MARISKA KRET
Professor of Comparative Psychology and Affective Neuroscience
Mariska Kret is a full professor of comparative psychology and affective neuroscience at Leiden University in the Netherlands and member of the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities. Her research focuses on emotions, comparative cognition, and social neuroscience. She is the editor-in-chief of the journal Behaviour. Her research is funded by prestigious and competitive grants and has been published in top journals including Nature, PNAS, and Perspectives on Psychological Science. In 2022, she received an Ig Nobel Prize for her discovery that physiological synchrony plays an important role during blind dates. She engages with the general public through her popular science books, a monthly science column in the newspaper NRC, public lectures, and international media coverage (NYT, CNN, Daily Mail, National Geographic). For her outreach activities, she was awarded the ERC Public Engagement with Research Award 2022 and in 2024 she received the prestigious Mercator Sapiens Stimulus from the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities—a prize of 1 million euros for fundamental science, delving into the deep question of what makes us human. This year, the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) awarded her the Dr. Hendrik Muller Prize for an outstanding contribution to psychology.
MEET OF OUR PREVIOUS SPEAKERS
NINA SCHICK
AUTHOR AND POLITICAL ADVISOR
Nina Schick is an author, advisor and speaker, specialising in how technology is transforming geopolitics and society. Nina is an expert deepfakes and synthetic media, cybersecurity and the geopolitics of technology.
She has advised global leaders including Joe Biden, and Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the former Secretary General of NATO. She has been published in the MIT Tech Review, The Times, UnHerd and TIME. Her debut book, ‘Deepfakes,’ was released in 2020.
Nina speaks seven languages and calls London, Berlin and Kathmandu home.
Nina Schick is an author, advisor and speaker, specialising in how technology is transforming geopolitics and society. Nina is an expert deepfakes and synthetic media, cybersecurity and the geopolitics of technology.
She has advised global leaders including Joe Biden, and Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the former Secretary General of NATO. She has been published in the MIT Tech Review, The Times, UnHerd and TIME. Her debut book, ‘Deepfakes,’ was released in 2020.
Nina speaks seven languages and calls London, Berlin and Kathmandu home.
YUVAL HARARI
AUTHOR & HISTORIAN
Historian, philosopher, and the bestselling author of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, and Sapiens: A Graphic History. His books have sold over 40 million copies in 65 languages, and he is considered one of the world’s most influential public intellectuals today.
Historian, philosopher, and the bestselling author of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, and Sapiens: A Graphic History. His books have sold over 40 million copies in 65 languages, and he is considered one of the world’s most influential public intellectuals today.
ANDREA EVERS
PROFESSOR OF HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY
Andrea Evers is professor of Health Psychology and chair of the Institute of Psychology at Leiden University. She is also affiliated to the Technical University Delft and Erasmus University Rotterdam as Medical Delta Professor Healthy Society. As a clinical psychologist (BIG) and cognitive behavioral therapist (VGCT), she translates insights from fundamental research into applications in practice. She received several prestigious research grants and awards for her work, including the Stevin Prize, the most important scientific award for research with a social impact in the Netherlands. She is also a member of the KNAW (Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences) and the KHMW (Royal Dutch Society of Sciences).
Andrea Evers is professor of Health Psychology and chair of the Institute of Psychology at Leiden University. She is also affiliated to the Technical University Delft and Erasmus University Rotterdam as Medical Delta Professor Healthy Society. As a clinical psychologist (BIG) and cognitive behavioral therapist (VGCT), she translates insights from fundamental research into applications in practice. She received several prestigious research grants and awards for her work, including the Stevin Prize, the most important scientific award for research with a social impact in the Netherlands. She is also a member of the KNAW (Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences) and the KHMW (Royal Dutch Society of Sciences).
HAROON SHEIKH
PHILOSOPHER
Haroon Sheikh is a Dutch philosopher with Pakistani and Surinamese roots. He conducts multidisciplinary research on issues relating to international order and new technologies. His work is characterized by a broad orientation on different fields and schools of thought and a fruitful combination of empirical research and abstraction, orthodox as well as unorthodox thinking.
Sheikh is a senior scientist at the WRR (the Dutch Scientific Council for Government Policy) and he teaches in Amsterdam at VU University.
Haroon Sheikh is a Dutch philosopher with Pakistani and Surinamese roots. He conducts multidisciplinary research on issues relating to international order and new technologies. His work is characterized by a broad orientation on different fields and schools of thought and a fruitful combination of empirical research and abstraction, orthodox as well as unorthodox thinking.
Sheikh is a senior scientist at the WRR (the Dutch Scientific Council for Government Policy) and he teaches in Amsterdam at VU University.
MARIETJE SCHAAKE
DIRECTOR AT STANFORD UNIVERSITY CYBER POLICY CENTER
JEANETTE WINTERSON
WRITER
JARON LANIER
SCIENTIST, MUSICIAN, ARTIST & AUTHOR
NEIL HARBISSON
ARTIST & CYBORG
BINA 48
SOCIAL ROBOT
LUCY MCRAE
BODY ARTIST
DAPHINA MISIEDJAN
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR AT INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL STUDIES
LUCIANO FLORIDI
PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY AND ETHICS OF INFORMATION AT OXFORD UNIVERSITY
FLORIS KAAYK
ARTIST
JULIA JANSSEN
ARTIST, DESIGNER & RESEARCHER
AGI HAINES
DESIGNER
SIR LAWRENCE FREEDMAN
EMERITUS PROFESSOR OF WAR STUDIES
ŠPELA PETRIČ
ARTIST
RUDY VAN BELKOM
DIRECTOR OF THE NETHERLANDS STUDY CENTRE FOR TECHNOLOGY TRENDS
VINCENT ICKE
ARTIST & PROFESSOR OF ASTROPHYSICS
JOANNA BRYSON
PROFESSOR OF ETHICS AND TECHNOLOGY
PETER-PAUL VERBEEK
PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY OF TECHNOLOGY, RECTOR UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM
KAREN LANCEL
ARTIST AND RESEARCHER
NEIL MENDOZA
ARTIST
DAVID LEVY
CHESS MASTER & WRITER
CONSTANT DULLAART
ARTIST
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