EUROPEAN FORUM

Director General for Family Diversity and Social Services at the Spanish Ministry of Social Rights and Agenda 2030. With over 20 years’ experience in social policy, she has held senior roles in Móstoles City Council, Fundación Pilares, RAIS Foundation and Fundación Pluralismo y Convivencia. She holds degrees in Social Work and Anthropology, and executive training in leadership and social innovation.

As Spain’s head of the European Social Fund, Ángel Mª García Frontelo oversees over one billion euros in annual investments in employment, education, and social inclusion initiatives. His work directly strengthens European cohesion policies and supports innovative projects—such as those led by Acción contra el Hambre—aimed at driving systemic and sustainable change.

PhD, is the director of the Agirre Lehendakaria Center for Social and Political Studies (UPV-EHU), Scientific Director of the Work4Progress program (La Caixa Banking Foundation), a member of COTEC's 100 members, and coordinator of the group of experts supporting the launch of the new Social Innovation Competence Centers promoted by the European Commission in all member states. Previously, he was an advisor to the Presidency of the Basque Government, an associate professor at the Montreal Interdisciplinary Research Center (CIRM-McGill University), and a Senior Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace.

An economist and social entrepreneur, Miquel de Paladella is the CEO of UpSocial, an organization focused on scaling innovative solutions to address social challenges. With previous experience at Ashoka, UNICEF and Plan International, he has dedicated his career to achieving sustainable impact through social innovation and systemic change, offering key insights for inclusion discussions at the 14th European Forum.

Sociologist, specialising in the management of social programmes and strengthening of the Third Sector. He has more than 20 years of experience in the design and management of social inclusion initiatives, institutional development and European funds.
Since 2012 he has been Head of Social Action Programmes in Spain at Action Against Hunger, where she has led the development of social and labour inclusion and food security programmes. He also has extensive experience in team coordination, alliance generation and management of programmes financed by the European Social Fund.

Deputy Director General for Inclusion Policies at the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security, and Migration since 2024, Gonzalo Valencia has been a Civil Servant since 2012; prior to that, he had held positions in the General State Administration in the areas of employment, demographic challenges, and the fight against depopulation.

Businessman and mayor of Genalguacil since 2011. As the driving force behind the town’s transformation through the “Genalguacil Pueblo Museo” initiative, he has helped establish it as a model of cultural innovation and rural development in the face of depopulation.

Senior Data Steward at the Government Outcomes Lab, at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford. She leads the work of the International Network on Data for Impact and Government Outcomes - INDIGO - a data and learning collaborative with the goal of collecting more and better data for better social outcomes.

Consultant specialized in social Innovation with 33 years of International experience in the development of centers, ecosystems and Innovation methodologies, as well as in the design, implementation and scaling of Entrepreneurship and social Innovation Projects. He has a degree in Economics and Business Administration and a Master's degree in International Cooperation.

Coordinator of the European Network of Innovation for Inclusion (ENII), Irene Ojo supports organisations and professionals across Europe in designing and implementing innovative responses to complex social challenges. Her work is grounded in a systemic perspective, promoting ecosystem-based approaches, collective action, and continuous learning to enable scalable social innovation that informs policy, strengthens practice, and contributes to long-term societal transformation.