“I believe in change and evolution and I am passionate about finding ways to start, fuel and rush this process. So my whole life, until now, has been a continuos search for the best place where I could support change most efficiently. This is how I came to be, in turn, a student leader, an university teacher, a counsellor for the President of the Romanian Parliament, the youngest Member of the European Parliament, the founder of Think Outside the Box – an online news platform promoting constructive approaches – and the director of WWF Romania. All stages in my life lasted exactly 2 years, but maybe WWF will be the one to change my pattern.”

Dorin Marchiş is President of Romanian Aikido Aikikai Fundation, organization recognized by Japan Aikikai Foundation – which coordinates the development and promotion of Aikido in the world. He is leading an organisation with 2500 members and branches in over 30 cities in Romania, being invited to teach Aikido in international seminars in many countries. He is also the President of the Center for Japanese Art and Culture, he loves and he promotes the Japanese culture. He practices martial arts since 1983, currently being master of Aikido Dan grade 5.

“Aikido creates people with a certain inner light, it shapes characters. With the practice of aikido, spiritual perfection is achieved. You can learn to master your energy to control and, moreover, to transform negative energy, which is assaulting you, in positive energy. Try to imagine what would happen if people could control all negative energy and, with a little effort, to turn it into positive energy? In this case, how would the world be evolving? Aikido is a martial art, no doubt, and can be practiced by anyone, the child: to form his spirit, the young: to shape it and the adult: to temper it. So, this way, I think we can all be better and more sympathetic. If I would need to define this art, I would say that Aikido is moving mediation.

Alina S. Rusu (biologist and psychologist) has received her PhD title in Ethology (the study of Animal Behaviour) in 2004, at University of Zürich, Switzerland. After a training course in Animal Assisted Therapy and Activities (Delta Society and University of Northern-Texas, USA), Alina Rusu has initiated for the first time in Romania a post-graduate course in Animal Assisted Activities and Therapy, with applicability at level of increasing the quality of life in humans and animals. Currently, Alina Rusu is Associate Professor at Faculty of Psychology and Sciences of Education (Babeș-Bolyai University). In terms of profession, she combines ideas and models from animal life with knowledge about human emotions and behavior, through interdisciplinary courses, such as Animal Psychology, Psychobiology of Sexuality and Evolutionary Psychology.

Is involved in creating and developing educational projects in partnership with corporations which have a strategic aim to have a positive impact on education in Romania. President and founder of “Şcoala de Valori”, Ştefan helped design the national educational program GROW launched in 2010 and awarded in 2011 with three national awards including best youth program in Romania. “I understand that only by bringing together passionate people, more expertise and many years of work can produce a transformation on the education in Romania and my children will be able to live in a country as they wish. More important than my experience in professional and volunteer activities, travels, shipping and weddings, my passion remains vivid towards leaving something behind and changing dramatically in the Romanian society.”

Elena Basso Stănescu is a designer, artist and lecturer – PhD in Visual Arts at the Fashion-Design Department, University of Art and Design Cluj-Napoca. She is a member of Artists Union of Romania, winner of UAP Design Award and other honors in the field of fashion design, fine arts and decorative. Personal paths, both in design, as well as those belonging to the decorative arts have spawned iconic images that speak of tradition, identity, paths, dreams, rituals, beliefs. The creative activity accompanies the teaching activity, the two dimensions being complementary. This “dialogue” is essential to define the original vision, generating new openings to the professional environment in this field. Elena is the initiator of UAD Graduates Fashion Design Gala, complex event relevant to higher education art, which reached its eighteenth edition, becoming an important platform of promotion for students and graduates.

Dumitru Popescu is for 13 years the founder and the coordinator of ARCA team, that has become the leading organization in the aerospace field in Romania. With an exceptional ability to mobilize, coordinate and focus people, Dumitru and his team, ARCA, has made big projects for Romania, from the Demonstrator 2B rocket, Helen 2 space rocket continuing and culminating with the IAR-111 supersonic plane for the American competition Google Lunar X Prize.

“Within twelve years of teaching theater in university, we have developed our own experiments, a cumulus of exercises that have formed generations of actors viable and competitive. As often happens, on other meridians of the world, this method was already established. We refer here to two great personalities oversea: Neva Boyd and Viola Spolin, to whom we fully recognize their competence. Confirmation that we chose a just and verified way, has produced great satisfaction, and we decided to implement this study in the social sphere. Our approach is a pioneering in the social, cultural and educational Romanian landscape, and results in a complementary form of education.”

Voicu Bojan is editor, translator and, sometimes, freelance photographer. He has published pictures and stories in several publications, most significant being Traveler, National Geographic, Romania, Esquire Romania and LensWork, U.S. He is the initiator of Diafragma 9. This project includes a photography course and workshops held with a very small group of friends. He is taking care of a book collection that aims to help photographers think more and trigger less. Details on www.diafragma9.ro

Cornel Vîlcu, assistant professor, PhD at the Faculty of Letters (UBB Cluj), works in the field of general linguistics and semiotics. These are, or at least seem to be, extremely theoretical areas; however, in recent months, our speaker has become a civic and environmental activist, particularly involved in the “Save Rosia Montana” campaign. Since this other field is a very practical, empirical one, we can ask ourselves: how do these two territories reconcile, what can they ‘say’ to each other, to what extent do they interfere – with positive or negative effects? What do theory of language and semiotics have in common with participating in social communication, forming public opinion, taking stand as a citizen? An 18 minute “reflection” which raises the question of how we see and manage the relationship between abstract and concrete, between principles and facts.

“If I were to name the one trait that would best describe me, I would be “the one who starts”. I have an insatiable hunger for innovation and transforming people and things. In 2007, I started the Center for Health Policy and Public Health (CHPPH), at the Babeş-Bolyai University, who’s Executive Director I’ve been since. Within CHPPH, together with the people I have invested in, I ran more than 20 projects in Public Health, contributing to the development of this field in Romania. I have proved that Public Health, which is an established field abroad, can be developed effectively even in poor-resource settings, if you are enough passionate, creative and consistent with your vision. This way, I introduced the concept of “Guerilla Public Health”, which has never been used before. Moreover, I initiated the only English-taught Bachelor Program in Public Health from Central and Eastern Europe, which will start this fall. Therefore, my unique expertise as a researcher, leader and manager led to my selection as a national Expert Evaluator for the European Commission.”

I am a man who feeds on stories. I love to listen or to read them, I love to be there when they happen, I love to tell, to write and to sing about stories. I like the people who truly live their stories, be they stories of life, of love, of pain or of joy. I look for people who have the courage to assume their story. They are the only ones who make me respond, or wish to respond. The stories made me become a journalist. I stared my career on the radio, I went on with the radio and also started writing for the press, and since about a year and a half ago I have worked for the television. I have worked for BBC Romania, and then Europa FM. I have written for Adevarul, Dilema Veche and on my own blog. And now, I am a TV producer for Transilvania L!VE. My biggest professional achievements are the stories that I love to listen, read or see even now, after years since they have been published. I am a communicator that learns every day how to listen. This is why I have accepted to be the host of TEDxEroilor. I will have the privilege of presenting and listening to people who have a story to tell, a story that I find interesting.