Monica Burba is the Director of Global Schools Development at Take Action Global, where she works to ensure that climate education reaches students everywhere—especially those whose voices are often left out of sustainability conversations. She partners with schools and funders to build equitable, inclusive programs that make climate action feel tangible and achievable. Whether connecting educators with resources, designing play-based learning experiences, or writing grants to expand reach across 190+ countries, her north star is simple: no one gets left behind. For Monica, inclusion isn't just a nice-to-have—it's how we actually move the needle on climate action.

Passionate about STEM education, space science, and educational innovation, Arpit Dugar is committed to inspiring curiosity, creativity, and future-ready thinking. As the founder of Lab of Future, his vision is to build an ecosystem where curious creators, innovators, and technology enthusiasts can explore, experiment, and thrive through immersive learning experiences. His diverse career spans education, technology, entrepreneurship, and writing, with leadership roles including Head of Business at Next Education (Dubai) and co-founder of Practiceguru.in and UniqueIndianCrafts.com. An accomplished speaker, he has represented India at prestigious international platforms, including the business delegation accompanying the Vice President of India to Qatar, the India Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, the Smart Education Summit in Dubai, and the Ministry of Education in Jordan. His recent recognitions include nominations and awards for innovation in education at the GESS Awards and Global Education Summit in Dubai (2025), along with honors for his contributions to space technology education and teacher training. Beyond education and entrepreneurship, he is also an Indian novelist and author of *Nothing for You My Dear*, *Half-Life*, and other literary works. His interests span educational transformation, space exploration, the origin of life, data analytics, and travel, all driven by a belief that every individual deserves the opportunity to discover their potential and shape the future.

Marialice B.F.X. Curran, Ph.D. is an educational consultant and Community Impact Director for hashtag#SameHere Global, helping schools and organizations worldwide apply research in practical, human-centered ways while advancing inclusive mental health and social-emotional wellbeing across generations, at school, home, play, and work.

Our guest today has spent nearly two decades at JAMK University of Applied Sciences, evolving from a Senior Lecturer into a Head of Department in Service Business, while also working entrepreneurially through Ranger.fi Keski-Suomi. What stood out to me while learning more about his work was this recurring idea: How do we move education beyond classrooms and into real life in a way that actually transforms people? So today, we’ll be talking about leadership, curiosity, student confidence, collaboration, and what meaningful impact in education really looks like.

Jani Torppa is the co-founder and COO of Geeklab, the go-to UA and ASO platform for mobile game studios looking to grow smarter. Since starting the company in 2019, Jani’s been hands-on in making sure things run smoothly, driving the business forward, and working closely with the biggest names in gaming.

Erno Vienonen, Senior LecturerMSc in Information TechnologyErno Vienonen is a Senior Lecturer with a strong background in ICT, telecommunications, and cybersecurity. He combines technical expertise with business insight, having led international teams and development projects with members across Europe and Asia. His work has focused, e.g., on process automation, LEAN practices, and secure ICT infrastructures fulfilling business requirements and risk analysis. His research interests include scalable, business-aligned digital solutions that support innovation and resilience in cybersecurity and cloud environments.

Elliot — Co-founder & CEO of DAIGON Esports, the largest esports ecosystem for international and independent schools.At DAIGON, he helps schools turn students’ love of gaming into after-school clubs, global competitions, and curriculum-aligned leagues — no extra hardware required. Today, they are partnered with leading international school associations (COBIS, BSME, IAPS, TAISI, ISA) and work with hundreds of forward-thinking schools worldwide.For him, esports has always been more than gaming. It’s about belonging, confidence, resilience, and future-ready skills — the things he wished he had access to as a student in the international school system. Now, he gets to help schools everywhere provide that opportunity to the next generation.He is always happy to connect with educators, parents, and partners shaping the future of student life. 🚀A bit more about him:As a French-American third-culture kid, he highly values open-mindedness and adaptability. He is also passionate about the power that education can have to empower students and open opportunities beyond their wildest dreams. He is dedicated to lifelong learning and is constantly exploring how new technologies can help empower us. As a cum laude graduate from Georgetown University, he cherishes the idea of Cura Personalis (caring for the whole person) and empowering others through their passions.Passions and Locations:He is passionate about education, video games, sustainability, international development, politics, social justice, and entrepreneurship.

Destined to be in the industry, Jussi developed his first text-adventure games in elementary school and built his first team in high school. 12 years ago, he co-founded Zaibatsu Interactive – the leading mobile co-development studio in Finland. He’s worked on multiple blockbuster IPs, the latest being Squishmallows Match – a match-3 puzzle co-developed with East Side Games with the beloved brand by Jazwares.

Skyler Scarlett is an award-winning entrepreneur, inventor, and creator of GameClass, the patented platform turning games, sports, TV, and movies into real learning experiences.He holds multiple patents covering technology that transforms entertainment into structured educational content. His work sits at the intersection of AI, machine learning, vision, media, and education, developing systems that detect teachable moments inside gameplay, film, sports, and television.GameClass is building the infrastructure that allows learning to live directly inside the entertainment students already love.Today, GameClass reaches more than 500,000 learners across 13 countries, helping thousands of educators use game clips, sports moments, films, and shows as curriculum-aligned learning experiences. No hardware. No downloads. Just real engagement.Before GameClass, he founded and exited a wellness company and has spoken at leading universities and industry events including Berkeley, Columbia, Yale, GamesBeat, and The Esports Summit, with work featured in Forbes, Inc., and Entrepreneur.Today, he works with game publishers, sports teams and leagues, media companies, banks and financial institutions, corporate training organizations, and entertainment brands to launch branded GameClass experiences that transform their content into educational platforms, community engagement engines, and new interactive viewing experiences.These experiences also create entirely new marketing and distribution channels for partners, powered by educators and student creators generating educational content from the entertainment they already love.

Ridwan Whitehead is interested in how people interact with intelligent systems and how those systems can be designed, evaluated, and improved to genuinely support human goals. His work combines AI, language, and human learning, focusing on large language models, multimodal analytics, and evaluation methods that make AI more transparent and useful.He is trained in education and technology and currently works as a Doctoral Researcher at the University of Oulu. His current research explores large language models and computer vision in the context of socially shared regulation of learning within collaborative learning groups.He enjoys working in teams where ideas move fluidly between design, data, and people. He values seeing how thoughtful technology can enhance learning, wellbeing, and self-understanding. He aims to continue this work in roles that emphasize AI evaluation, human-centered design, and applied research that connects technology with real human impact.