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Home
- Speakers
Speakers
Moderator
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David Barrett
Current role/title
Internal Communications and Multimedia Manager
Áreas of expertise or focus
Public speaking and communications, multimedia content producing, broadcast television production
Interests outside of professional work
Music & theatre
Bio
David Barrett is Internal Communications and Multimedia Manager at the WHO Regional Office for Europe, where he has worked for 21 years.
Beginning his career at WHO/Europe in ICT, he moved into internal communications in 2011 and has since built a broad portfolio that spans organisational communications, digital content, and multimedia production. Over the years, David has been instrumental in developing WHO/Europe's multimedia capacity, including leading the design and build of a professional video and audio studio. This dual expertise — in communications strategy and hands-on media production — allows him to bridge the technical and editorial dimensions of modern institutional communications.
David has a longstanding connection with the Healthy Cities network, having previously supported its events through video and photography documentation and presentation support.
Outside his professional life, he is an active musician — playing clarinet and piano and pursuing interests in composition and orchestration — as well as a theatre thespian with experience as an actor, director, and producer. He is delighted to be serving as moderator for this year's Healthy Cities event.
Social Media
https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-barrett-90a3aa1
Opening Session
- Welcome Remarks
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Chris Brown
Current role/title
HeadAreas of expertise or focus
Equity, WBE, SDHInterests outside of professional work
Reformer, art
Bio
Chris Brown is Head of the WHO European Office for Investment for Health and Development in Venice, Italy.
She leads a multidisciplinary team supporting European health networks, national authorities, and partners to implement social, economic, gender and rights- based policies for health and health equity.
Chris studied psychology at university with post graduate qualifications in management and in public health.
She spent 10 years working in health service commissioning and provider roles for regional and national health authorities in England before moving to work with international organizations where she has supported over 30 governments globally to develop policies for sustainable livelihoods, public health, and social inequities.
Chris currently leads the WHO European Regional Health Equity Status Initiative which provides policy makers with innovative and adaptable solutions to invest for health and leave no-one behind.
In the context of European recovery and resilience priorities, she is also leading the WHO European Well-being Economy Initiative which is convening central banks, health, finance and economic sectors around new economic policies and approaches to investing in well-being and health equity. Chris is one of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Global Leaders in HealthEquity and a visiting Professor at Glasgow Caledonian University in the UK.
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Kira Fortune
Current role/title
Regional Advisor – Healthy Ageing and Healthy Settings
Bio
Kira Fortune is responsible for Healthy Ageing, Life Course and Healthy Settings in the WHO European Office for Investment for Health and Development in Venice, Italy.
Kira has spent the last 30 years specializing in public health, equity, community engagement and the social determinants of health in various international organizations across the globe.
Prior to taking up the position in the European Region, she managed the Social Determinants of Health and Violence and Injury Prevention Unit at the Regional WHO Office of the Western Pacific, in Manila.
She also spent ten years at the Pan American Health Organization/Regional Office of the World Health Organization in Washington D.C., coordinating the work on the social determinants of health, healthy cities, health-in-all policies and the sustainable development goals within the Americas. Kira has extensive experience working across the international stage from global NGOs, academia as well as with inter-governmental organizations.
Before joining the World Health Organization, Kira managed The International Health Research Network in Denmark and spent four years working in the Department of Global Advocacy at The International Planned Parenthood Federation in London.
Kira also worked for three years with UNICEF in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where she was responsible for the Programme on Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV. Kira holds a Doctorate in Sociology from City University London; a Master’s Degree in Anthropology, Gender and Development, and a Bachelor of Science in Anthropology from the University of London.
She also has a Master’s Degree in International Health from University of Copenhagen.
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Luís Nobre
Current position
Mayor of Viana do Castelo
Areas of expertise or focus
Economic Development; Urban Planning; Public Policies
Interests
Family and Art
Bio
An architect with a postgraduate degree in Local Government Law and Urban Planning, Luís Nobre, aged 54, has been Mayor of Viana do Castelo since 2021. He has extensive experience in local government, resulting from 16 years serving as Councillor of this Municipality and 11 years as a member of the executive board of the Parish of Deocriste.
He was President of the Executive Committee of the Eixo Atlântico do Noroeste Peninsular for the 2023/2025 term, a position he resumed in May 2026.
He is Vice-President of the Board of the Congress of the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities and also chairs the Intermunicipal Assembly of the Portuguese Network of Healthy Municipalities and the General Assembly of Águas do Norte S.A.
He represents the Municipality of Viana do Castelo on the Boards of Directors of several entities of regional and national importance.
Social Media
https://www.facebook.com/share/1HLKUkJ9J9
https://www.instagram.com/luisnobre.viana?igsh=MTZmNTAwbzRtYjN4Nw==
- Keynotes:
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Kevin Fenton
Current role/title
Public Health Regional Director for London, DHSC OHID & NHS
Areas of expertise or focus
Urban Health; HIV/Sexual and reproductive health; Tackling Health Inequalities
Interests outside of professional work
DanceTravelYoga
Bio
Professor Kevin Fenton is one of the United Kingdom’s most influential public health leaders, whose career has been defined by a singular commitment to improving health, advancing equity, and strengthening systems that serve the most vulnerable in society.
An internationally recognised epidemiologist and senior public health physician, he has shaped policy and practice at local, national and global levels, combining scientific rigour with moral clarity and decisive leadership.
As Regional Director of Public Health for London, Professor Fenton has led health improvement for one of the world’s most complex and diverse cities. In this role, he serves as the statutory public health advisor to the Mayor of London and the Greater London Authority, guiding strategies that affect the lives of over nine million people. His leadership has been instrumental in tackling some of the most pressing challenges of our time, including cardiovascular disease, mental health, infectious diseases, air quality and the wider determinants of health.
His work has positioned London as a global exemplar for urban public health innovation, partnership and delivery. Please tag my Instagram profile for all related outputs.
Social media profiles
https://www.instagram.com/profkevinfenton -
Ronald Labonte
Current role/title
Division of Health Systems
Áreas of expertise or focus
Health equity, global health, political economy of health
Interests outside of professional work
Art, drumming
Bio
Ronald Labonté is Professor Emeritus and former Distinguished Research Chair in Globalization and Health Equity in the School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa.
For the past 30 years his work has focused on the health equity impacts of diverse globalization processes.
He has authored or edited 13 books, including Health Equity in a Globalizing Era (Oxford University Press, 2021) and, most recently, New Directions in Critical Public Health (Routledge, 2026).
He is Editor Emeritus of the BMC journal, Globalization and Health and is active with the People’s Health Movement (PHM) and co-editor of the 7th edition of its flagship publication Global Health Watch (Daraja Press, 2025).
Prior to his global health work he spent 25 years working in community public health for local and state governments, emphasizing empowerment approaches to health promotion to improve equity in health and its social determination.
He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, Fellow (Distinction) of the Faculty of Public Health (UK), and recipient of Draper Medal, Canada’s highest public health award.
Plenary 1
- Keynote:
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Seyi Akiwowo
Current role/title
Global Advisor on Digital Governance, Safety and Institutional Accountability, working at the intersection of public health and technology
Áreas of expertise or focus
Digital governance, safety, and duty of care in online and urban systems AI, gender-based violence, and equitable technology design Digital citizenship and the public health impact of online environments
Interests outside of professional work
Live music,yoga
Bio
Seyi Akiwowo is a Governance Architect and Global Advisor on Digital Governance, Safety, and Public Health.
She works at the intersection of AI systems, policy, and institutional accountability, designing preventative approaches to digital harm that move organisations from reactive response to duty-of-care infrastructure.
She is the Founder and former CEO of Glitch, a pioneering organisation that shaped regulatory and institutional responses to online abuse across more than 20 countries.
Her work has informed global policy conversations, including debates contributing to the UK Online Safety Act and wider multilateral frameworks on digital risk and accountability.
Her approach reframes online harm as a structural governance issue rather than an individual burden, advancing a public health model where harm is predictable, measurable, and preventable.
She is currently building Digital Power Infrastructure™ — a system that translates lived experience of digital harm into scalable governance frameworks and institutional tools, enabling platforms, governments, and organisations to identify, classify, and respond to harm consistently and accountably.
She has advised governments, technology companies, and international organisations, and served on global trust and safety and ethics councils. She is the author of How to Stay Safe Online (Penguin, 2022).
Social media
https://www.linkedin.com/in/seyi-akiwowo
https://www.facebook.com/SeyiWowo
- Panellists:
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Kevin Fenton
Current role/title
Public Health Regional Director for London, DHSC OHID & NHS
Areas of expertise or focus
Urban Health; HIV/Sexual and reproductive health; Tackling Health Inequalities
Interests outside of professional work
DanceTravelYoga
Bio
Professor Kevin Fenton is one of the United Kingdom’s most influential public health leaders, whose career has been defined by a singular commitment to improving health, advancing equity, and strengthening systems that serve the most vulnerable in society.
An internationally recognised epidemiologist and senior public health physician, he has shaped policy and practice at local, national and global levels, combining scientific rigour with moral clarity and decisive leadership.
As Regional Director of Public Health for London, Professor Fenton has led health improvement for one of the world’s most complex and diverse cities. In this role, he serves as the statutory public health advisor to the Mayor of London and the Greater London Authority, guiding strategies that affect the lives of over nine million people. His leadership has been instrumental in tackling some of the most pressing challenges of our time, including cardiovascular disease, mental health, infectious diseases, air quality and the wider determinants of health.
His work has positioned London as a global exemplar for urban public health innovation, partnership and delivery. Please tag my Instagram profile for all related outputs.
Social media profiles
https://www.instagram.com/profkevinfenton -
Ronald Labonte
Current role/title
Division of Health Systems
Áreas of expertise or focus
Health equity, global health, political economy of health
Interests outside of professional work
Art, drumming
Bio
Ronald Labonté is Professor Emeritus and former Distinguished Research Chair in Globalization and Health Equity in the School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa.
For the past 30 years his work has focused on the health equity impacts of diverse globalization processes.
He has authored or edited 13 books, including Health Equity in a Globalizing Era (Oxford University Press, 2021) and, most recently, New Directions in Critical Public Health (Routledge, 2026).
He is Editor Emeritus of the BMC journal, Globalization and Health and is active with the People’s Health Movement (PHM) and co-editor of the 7th edition of its flagship publication Global Health Watch (Daraja Press, 2025).
Prior to his global health work he spent 25 years working in community public health for local and state governments, emphasizing empowerment approaches to health promotion to improve equity in health and its social determination.
He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, Fellow (Distinction) of the Faculty of Public Health (UK), and recipient of Draper Medal, Canada’s highest public health award.
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Adele Zeynep Walton
Current role/title
Founder of Logging Off Club
Áreas of expertise or focus
Journalist social media, online safety, AI
Bio
Adele Zeynep Walton is an award-winning British-Turkish journalist reporting on the human impacts of digital technology, social media and AI and the author of Logging Off: The Human Cost of Our Digital World.
She is also the co-founder of Logging Off Club, a global movement promoting connection, curiosity and wellness through their phone-free events. Having channelled a personal loss into campaigning for a safe digital future,
Adele is an online safety campaigner with Families and Survivors to Prevent Online Suicide Harm.
She is also a member of the Online Safety Act Network, a Founding Member of EU youth movement Ctrl + Alt + Reclaim.
She regularly works with parliamentarians and policy-makers, bereaved families and parents to campaign for tech accountability and suicide prevention.
Known for her bold interventions, such as protesting outside Meta HQ and confronting a tech billionaire at Davos, Adele is a frontline activist at the defining issue of our times.
An extremely credible voice, she's been interviewed by Radio 4, The Times, BBC News, Channel 4, 5Live, CBC, Al Jazeera, LBC, Sky News, The Guardian and is regularly invited to speak at events including The NY Times Debate on AI in Davos, Lush's Safer Socials Summit and the Women of The Future Summit.Social Media
https://www.linkedin.com/in/adele-zeynep-walton-65b556161/?skipRedirect=true
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Colin Sage
Current role/title
Independent Research Scholar
Areas of expertise or focus
Food systems; Environment, food and sustainability; civic initiatives for social change
Interests outside of professional work
Bike walk books
Bio
Colin Sage is an independent research scholar now based in Viana Do Castelo, Portugal.
He is an Affiliated Professor with the Faculty of Nutrition and Food Sciences at the University of Porto, and Visiting Professor at the University of Gastronomic Sciences, Italy and at the American University of Rome.
He was previously Senior Lecturer in Geography at University College Cork, Ireland and has held visiting research positions at the Universities of Tasmania and Bergamo and was an Exchange Professor at Colby College, Maine, USA.
He is the author of Environment and Food (Routledge, 2012); editor of A Research Agenda for Food Systems (Elgar, 2022); co-editor of five other books (including Food System Transformations (Routledge 2021) and Metaphor, Sustainability, Transformation: Transdisciplinary Perspectives (Routledge 2022); and author of around 100 published research papers.
Colin has conducted research on agricultural systems in Bolivia, Indonesia and Mexico and has undertaken food security evaluations in Pakistan, Ethiopia and Central America.
He has worked closely with artisan cheesemakers in Ireland and given his strong commitment to public engagement Colin was co-founder of the Cork Food Policy Council and served as its chair from 2013-2019. Linkedin: colin-sage @envirofood.bsky.social
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Rachael Stanton
Current role/title
Policy and Advocacy Officer
Áreas of expertise or focus
NCD prevention, climate and health, determinants of health
Bio
Rachael Stanton is a Policy & Advocacy Officer at NCD Alliance working on NCD Prevention.
Prior to joining NCDA, she spent the last five years with UNDP’s Global Health and Development Team, developing policy briefs and investment cases and providing technical support. In this capacity, she has developed expertise in NCD policy, advocacy, and communication, with a focus on tobacco control, mental health, road safety, and air pollution.
She has worked closely with a range of stakeholders, including governments, WHO, and various UN agencies.
She holds an MSc in Political Science and is passionate about the commercial determinants of health.
Plenary 2
- Keyontes:
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Mara Mintzer
Current role/title
Executive Director, Growing Up Boulder
Áreas of expertise or focus
Youth participatory planning; Child-friendly cities; Collaboration across organizations
Interests outside of professional work
Learning guitar
Bio
Mara Mintzer is co-founder and Executive Director of Growing Up Boulder, a nonprofit in Boulder, Colorado (USA) dedicated to helping young people thrive through civic engagement and nature connection.
Since 2009, Growing Up Boulder has engaged more than 13,000 children and youth, ages 0–18, across 100+ projects, ensuring their voices shape local policies, programs, and places. Mara leads Growing Up Boulder’s partnership with the City of Boulder and UNICEF USA to implement the UNICEF Child Friendly Cities Initiative.
She presents and writes internationally on youth participation in community planning and child-friendly cities. Her TEDx talk, “How Kids Can Help Design Cities,” has been viewed more than 2.4 million times and translated into 21 languages.
She co-authored Placemaking with Children and Youth: Participatory Practices for Planning Sustainable Communities, a widely used resource for practitioners and academics.
Earlier in her career, Mara co-founded and directed a community school program serving low-income families and helped design early Universal Pre-K models in New York City. She holds a B.A. in Psychology from Brown University and an M.A. in Organizational Psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University.
Social Media
www.linkedin.com/in/maramintzer
https://www.facebook.com/GrowingUpBoulder
https://www.instagram.com/growingupboulder
https://www.linkedin.com/company/growing-up-boulder
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Rita Sá Machado
Bio
Rita Sá Machado is a doctor specialised in public health, and currently holds the position of Director-General of Health in Portugal.
An enthusiastic advocate for policy and development, Rita Sá Machado previously worked for the World Health Organisation , the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and at local, regional and national levels of the National Health Service.
She has a master's degree in Health Public from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (London, United Kingdom) and a postgraduate qualification in Health Management from the Católica Porto Business School (Porto, Portugal) and is a guest lecturer at the Institute of Public Health do Porto (ISPUP
- Panellists:
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Sílvia Cunha
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Clare Maguire
Current role/title
Children and Young People Coordinator
Áreas of expertise or focus
Child Rights Based Approaches, Community Development and Participation
Bio
Clare is an experienced youth and community work practitioner with over 20 years of practice in areas of high disadvantage across Derry and Strabane.
With a strong academic foundation, including a MA in Social Work, a BA (Hons) in Social Policy, and a PG Dip in Youth Work. They currently work with Derry City and Strabane District Council, embedding a child rights-based approach across multiple sectors, including environment and regeneration, community development, sports development, and business and culture, ensuring that the needs, rights, and voices of children and young people are integrated into strategic planning and service delivery.
Clare is deeply committed to advancing the rights, participation, and wellbeing of children and young people, with extensive experience in participative practice, with a particular focus on embedding rights-based approaches and meaningful engagement, amplifying the voices of children and young people in decisions that shape their lives and communities.
Clare played a leading role as Coordinator of the UNICEF Child Friendly Cities initiative in Derry and Strabane, guiding the city and district to become the first in Ireland to achieve official recognition as a UNICEF Child Friendly City and Community, through translating global frameworks into impactful local action.
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Nourhan Bassam
Current role/title
CEO - Founder The Gendered City
Areas of expertise or focus
Feminist Urbanism - Placemaking - Fair Design
Interests outside of professional work
Music - Dance
Bio
Asst. Prof. Dr. Nourhan Bassam is a feminist urbanist and architect with a PhD in Urban Design and Placemaking.
She is the founder of The Gendered City, an urban firm based in the netherlands dedicated to advancing gender equity in the built environment through feminist placemaking, spatial justice, and participatory urban practices.
With over 14 years of experience in urban design and research, she has led international projects focused on creating more inclusive, safe, and equitable cities. Her work translates feminist theory into practice through tools, methods, and programmes that reshape how cities are designed and governed.
She founded FEM.DES Network, one of the largest global feminist design networks, connecting over 670 experts across 35 countries and 119 cities. She also leads the Feminist Placemaking Academy, an international learning programme hosted across multiple cities, and teaches feminist spatial design and urban theory across several universities, mentoring graduate students and practitioners.
Social Media
https://www.instagram.com/feministurbanist
https://www.instagram.com/thegenderedcty
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nourhan-bassam-39164b78/?skipRedirect=true
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Rarita Maria Zbranca
Current role/title
Programme Director, Cluj Cultural Centre, Romania
Áreas of expertise or focus
Culture and health, urban development, systemic transformation
Bio
Rarița Zbranca (PhD) is a cultural strategist connecting culture, health, and sustainable development.
She is Programme Director at the Cluj Cultural Centre in Romania.
She is a member of the Culture and Education Committee of the Economic and Social Council of Romania and of the Executive Committee of Culture Action Europe.
She co-founded the AltArt Foundation (1997) and Fabrica de Pensule (2009), an independent collective contemporary art space.
She is also a member of the Strategy Group of A Soul for Europe, a board member of Balkan Express, and part of the European Expert Network on Culture (EENC).
She leads programmes, research, and advocacy at local, national, and EU levels, focusing on culture, well-being, regional development, mental health, innovation, and the status of cultural workers.
She has led the development of Cluj-Napoca’s Cultural Strategy through several planning cycles and played a key role in the city’s bid for the European Capital of Culture.
She is the lead author of the CultureForHealth Report (2022) and co-director of the Centre for Culture, Health and Social Well-being Romania.
Social Media
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rarita-zbranca