I. ANTHROPOLOGY OF EUROPEAN POLITICS

Anna Horolets, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at the Warsaw School of Social Sciences and Humanities (SWPS) teaching political anthropology and sociology of culture. Stemming from the backgrounds in linguistics, anthropology and sociology, her research interests concentrate on the symbolic politics and cultural dimensions of European integration, political anthropology as well as methods and theoretical models underlying discourse analysis. Currently she is completing research on the niche tourism from Poland to the former Soviet Union and is interested in cultural dimensions of tourism and leisure. She is the author of The Representations of Europe in Polish Public Discourse (in Polish, Krakow: Universitas, 2006) and the editor of Discourse Analysis in Sociology and for Sociology (in Polish, Torun: Marszalek, 2008).

Jon P. Mitchell, PhD, is a Reader at Sussex University. He was President of the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) in 2000-2002. His doctoral research was conducted in Malta at a time of rapid social and political transformation, and from this he has developed both ethnographic and theoretical texts on Europeanization and ambivalence; memory and community; politics and the state; history and national identity; ritual and masculinity; belief and the body. More recently, he has been concerned with understanding the place of performance and the body in processes of belief, and exploring the social, political and economic significance of Maltese football. Jon is also working to develop a research programme on the anthropology of charity. His publications include Ambivalent Europeans: Ritual, Memory and the Public Sphere in Malta (London: Routledge, 2002) and Global and Local Football. Politics and Europeanisation on the Fringes of the EU (with Gary Armstrong, London: Routledge, 2008).

II.  CULTURAL ISSUES IN LOBBYING EU

Ales Bartl, Ph.D. , McKenna, Long & Aldridge LLP in Brussels, Belgium. Ales is an Attorney-at-Law addmitted to the Czech and Brussels Bar. Currently, he is an associate in the Brussel's office of the international law firm "McKenna, Long & Aldridge LLP". He specializes in the EU product regulatory law and, in particular chemicals, food law and product safety regulation. He also advises on unfair commercial practices including advertising (Ales has a Ph.D. in advertising law and unfair commercial practices). He has a broad experience in the EU legislative procedure and in the advocacy of the industry's interests.

Michal Kadera leads the CEBRE - Czech Business Representation to the EU in Brussels. Michal graduated at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen majoring in Law, studied Political Science and graduated at University of Passau, Germany, in Law (LL.M.). Michal has been active in advocacy with focus on European and international law. Worked for the Senate Chamber of the Parliament of the Czech Republic within the system of the preliminary parliamentary control and served as Head of Unit of EU Affairs at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic. Michal professes European Law at the Faculty of Law at University of West Bohemia in Pilsen and publishes on EU affairs on regular basis. He is currently leading the Czech Business Representation to the EU (CEBRE) in Brussels.

Lukáš Sedláček is a founder of European Leadership & Academic Institute (ELAI). Lukáš graduated from the University of Cambridge, obtaining an MPhil. Degree in International Relations, specializing on ethics in international relations and international economy. He obtained PhDr. from the Charles University. He studied at the Faculty of Arts and Faculty of Social Sciences of the Charles University, subjects International and Area Studies, European Studies, International Relations, Comparative Religion and Jewish Studies. He studied International Relations at the Otago University in New Zealand. Currently he lectures European Union Studies, Introduction to International Relations and Business Ethics at various universities in Prague. He worked in the Government of the CR, Ministry of Defence, Association for International Affairs and an EU-oriented NGO ´YES for Europe´.

Mr. Patrik Zoltvany is a partner in the Amrop Jenewein Group in Bratislava, Slovakia. Among his main tasks are consulting in building contacts with EU and lobbying in Brussels, the development of EU membership impact analysis and studies, and development of EU Project Proposals /identification of EU funds for project realization. Mr. Zoltvany worked for the European Commission as a Robert Schuman Scholar in DG IV-Research, Division of International and Constitutional Affairs. His research focused on political and economic developments in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania.  Mr. Zoltvany graduated from Central European University, Budapest with MA in International Relations and European Studies. In 1995, he spent a semester studying International Economics, Business Communication and Public Speaking at Iowa State University, USA and a semester in an academic program (Tempus) focusing on Irish studies (politics, history and culture) at the University of Limerick, Mary Immaculate College, Ireland. He is an author of numerous articles on lobbying and representation of interests in the EU.