Elena Asciutti

European University Institute, Italy

Elena Asciutti is the Coordinator for External Relations at the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence, Italy. She is a senior higher education and international cooperation professional with extensive experience in building partnerships across Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America. Her work brings together universities, governments, philanthropic foundations and international organisations to promote academic collaboration, institutional capacity building, researcher mobility and socially impactful initiatives.

She holds a PhD in Social Sciences from the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa, Italy. Throughout her career, Elena has worked at the intersection of international higher education, strategic partnerships and sustainable development, supporting institutions in developing international collaborations and initiatives that connect academic excellence with broader societal challenges.

Fluent in Italian, English, French and Spanish, Elena brings significant international and intercultural experience to her work, combining strategic vision with a human-centred approach to partnership building.

Beyond her professional activities, Elena is also a passionate storyteller and the creator and host of Diffusione Fiaba, a multilingual radio programme produced at RadioCavolo.org, the EUI’s researcher-led web radio, exploring folktales and oral traditions from around the world. Through this work, she explores the potential of storytelling in academia as a way of making knowledge more accessible, engaging and meaningful, while creating space for diverse voices, lived experiences and forms of collective wisdom.

: elenaasciutti

Hemant Kumar

TSH - Talent foundation, Netherlands

Hemant is the Programme Manager at TSH Talent Foundation, where he leads the Changemaker Scholarship Programme, an initiative focused on expanding access to higher education and creating opportunities for talented young people from diverse socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. He also oversees efforts to measure, evaluate, and strengthen the impact of the Foundation’s programmes. With a background in social entrepreneurship in India, Hemant brings extensive experience in education, sustainability, social impact, diversity, and community development. Throughout his career, he has designed and managed programmes in collaboration with philanthropic foundations, corporations, government entities, and community stakeholders. His experience includes building cross-sector partnerships and facilitating the merger of a social enterprise, significantly expanding its reach and impact. Hemant holds an MSc in Prosperity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship from University College London (UCL), where he specialised in coalition-building for social impact. His work is driven by a commitment to education equity and to breaking down socio-economic and cultural barriers that prevent individuals from accessing opportunities and fulfilling their potential.

: hemantkumar24

Karen de Man

Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands

Karen has worked passionately in internationalization in higher education in various roles since the start of her career. She rejoined EUR in 2020 as International Alumni Relations Officer and transitioned to the EUR – International Office as Senior International Relations Officer in 2023.

She enjoys inspiring students to expand their horizons and developing programmes to support incoming and outgoing students focusing on topics such as housing, community engagement, and wellbeing. Recently, talent retention was added to her portfolio and she is excited to expand EUR's services and policies on that topic. She also values highly exchanging knowledge and experiences with colleagues across the globe.

: karendeman