From the Slovenian Embassy in London:
On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Slovenia’s statehood and marking the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of this year, we are cordially inviting you to the second in a series of four conversations titled “Slovenia’s 30 years of Statehood: Experiences & Visions”.
Building a Resilient Nation: Lessons Learned
State Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, H.E. Jelko Kacin
and Chairwoman of Slovenke@VTIS, Ms Bojana Selinšek in conversation
Tuesday 25 May 2021 at 6.00pm BST
Online
Register interest HERE
The event will address the range of challenges we are confronted with, such as pandemics, economic shocks, security threats and political changes. It will look at how the continuous occurrence of these events is becoming the ‘new normal’, testing the limits of the coping capacities of the individuals, countries and institutions. In other words, testing their resilience
Jelko Kacin is State Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister acting as the national logistics coordinator for the mass vaccination campaign against Covid-19. During the Slovenian Independence War, he was the Minister for Information and Minister of Defence from 1994 until 1997. He was also elected to the National Assembly of Slovenia twice (in 1996 and 2000), and served both terms as a Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. He was a member of the Slovenian delegation to PACE and one of the first Slovenian observers in the European Parliament, as well as a member of the Convention on the Future of Europe. As a Member of the European Parliament he sat on the EP’s Committee on Foreign Relations, and was especially active on the Western Balkans affairs. As a president of the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia party, he was also a member of the bureau of the ALDE. Between 2015 and 2019 he served as the Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Slovenia to NATO. At the outbreak of Covid-19 in spring of 2020, he was appointed as the official spokesperson for the Government of Slovenia.
Bojana Selinšek is a Project Manager at Kheiron Medical Technologies, where they develop deep learning solutions for early and accurate cancer detection and are recognised for their exemplary standard of clinical rigour and trials in frontier science of AI in healthcare. By securing grant funding and managing key projects and partnerships, Bojana is bringing strategically important opportunities to accelerate the development, testing and evaluation of the most promising AI technologies. Prior to Kheiron, Bojana worked for several years in managing clinical trials for Oxford University and UCL. Bojana is passionate about improving healthcare and in general strives to leave a positive impact in the society. In line with this passion, she is also leading and contributing to many projects and initiatives at VTIS (society connecting Slovenians educated abroad) with the ambition to improve the exchange of knowledge and best practices between Slovenians abroad and their homeland. She also established Slovenke@VTIS group with the mission to empower women and address topics related to gender equality.
The series titled “Slovenia’s 30 years of Statehood: Experiences and Visions” celebrates our country’s achievements, and is aimed towards creating and discovering new visions for the future.
In a series of debates (online, hybrid events or in-person events, Covid-19 permitting) taking place throughout the year, it addresses topics connected with Slovenia, our partners and friends, and current world affairs. Each debate features two main speakers, based in Slovenia and the UK respectively, each with their unique experience and future vision.
We cover a range of topics from current political, developmental, environmental and economic challenges, focusing on how to increase resilience of our communities and effectively tackle pertinent crises like pandemics, how to manage climate change and economic renewal based on a green and digital transition, as well as education, innovation and artificial intelligence.
Organized by:
