Mary Charalambous – Papamiltiades (MSc, MBA, PhD) is the Director General of the Cyprus Sport Organization. She studied Sport and Physical Education at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and then she acquired two master’s degrees: an MBA in Sport Management (Distinction) from University of Leicester (UK) and an MSc in Sport Science from Leeds Metropolitan University (UK).

She also holds a PhD degree in Sport Marketing from Loughborough University (UK) Dr Charalambous-Papamiltiades was an assistant Professor at the Business School of the European University Cyprus and Coordinator of the Academic Program “Sport Management”.

She also served as the Head of the Real Madrid School in Cyprus. She was also a founding member of Cyprus Association of Sports Management (CY.A.S.M.) and she held the position of President of CY.A.S.M. for the years 2010-2012 and 2016-2018.

She also served as Member of the Board of the European Association for Sport Management (2018-2019). Dr Charalambous-Papamiltiades has conducted much research on sport management topics and the scientific results were presented in several European and International Conferences and Seminars. In addition, she is the author of two chapters on sport governance in Cyprus included in international academic books [(Sport Governance: International Case studies, O'Boyle & Bradbury, 2013, London: Routledge) and (Sport Governance in the world: A Socio-Historic Approach. Sobry (Ed.), 2011, Paris: Le Manuscript)] Dr. Mary Charalampous – Papamilitiades was also a candidate for the New Researcher Award in 2012 (NRA, EASM, 2012, Aalborg, Denmark)

Luciano Di Fonzo is the Deputy Head of Sport Unit at the European Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA).

Before his current position, he spent 20 years in the Education sector as programme manager within the Jean Monnet Programme and the Lifelong Learning Programme. He was also general secretary of ECSA (European Community Studies Associations) a network of academics specialised in the field of European integration studies. He holds a degree in Political Science at the University "La Sapienza" in Rome and two Masters on EU law and politics.

Dr. Mojca Doupona, at present the Director General for Sport at the Slovenian Ministry of Education, Science and Sport was responsible for the activities of the Slovenian EU Presidency 2021 in the field of sport. She is a full professor of Sociology of Sport at the University of Ljubljana and was the Associate Dean for Science and Research at the Faculty of Sport for more than a decade. Her research focuses on gender differences in sport, national identity, violence in sport, and dual careers of athletes. She has coordinated and participated in several national, European and international research projects. Since 2010, she has been a member of the board of the European Dual Career Network (EAS). At younger age she was active in sports, and as a top athlete participated in the 1st Yugoslavian Handball League and EHF Cup.

** The Sport Directorate at the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport mainly performs the tasks of the State as determined by the Sports Act. It deals with matters of public interest related to the co-financing of sports programmes at the national level and ensures the implementation of the Sports Act in areas facilitating a smooth functioning of sports organisations and associations, the members of which are sports professionals, experts and athletes. It also drafts implementing regulations and other acts ensuring smooth systemic and financial support for the area of sport.