Invited Speakers

  Dr. Roberto Baiocco is a Full Professor of Developmental Psychology at Sapienza University of Rome. He earned his doctorate in Psychology from Sapienza and a master’s degree in Family Psychotherapy. His research focuses on three main areas: risk and protective factors in LGBTQ+ adolescents; minority stress, coming out, and psychological well-being; and same-sex parent families, with particular attention to the well-being of children raised by LGBT+ parents. Since 2010, he has directed the Be as You Are clinical research center at Sapienza University, dedicated to the study of sexual orientation and gender identity. The center combines research and training, promoting scientific programs and studies to advance knowledge of LGBTQ+ well-being.

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  Melissa Bakker holds a Master of Science degree in Religious Studies, but since graduating she has worked in the education sector, mainly as an advisor. For the past three years, she has been employed at Stichting School & Veiligheid, an organization that supports and advises education professionals in creating and maintaining social safety within schools.

Bakker’s areas of expertise at School & Veiligheid include gender and sexual diversity, bullying, gender equality, and polarization. Within these complex fields, School & Veiligheid develops strategies for schools, offers workshops, and provides teachers with practical tools and tips for use in the classroom.

• Professional Websites: www.schoolenveiligheid.nl, www.gendi.nl

  Dr. M. Bishop is an Assistant Professor in the department of Family Science in the School of Public Health at the University of Maryland, College Park. Bishop’s scholarship employs developmental, intersectional, and community-engaged approaches to document the lives and health of LGBTQ+ people across the life course, with a particular emphasis on youth. Bishop’s current program of research explores how youth development, gender affirmation strategies, social and familial relationships, and structural stigma shape LGBTQ+ young people’s mental, physical, and behavioral health. Bishop received their Masters and Doctoral degrees from University of Texas at Austin and completed an NIH-funded postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Maryland, College Park.

  Jeremy Browning works to advance LGBTQIA+ inclusion in Maryland through policy, partnerships, and community engagement. As Director of the Maryland Commission on LGBTQIA+ Affairs, he collaborates with state agencies, lawmakers, and community organizations to improve access to affirming healthcare, education, housing, and safety, including for LGBTQIA+ students and youth. He has led statewide efforts to better understand community needs and uses that information to inform practical policy and program recommendations. His work focuses on connecting research, lived experience, and government action in a way that is responsive and grounded in real-world impact. Jeremy is also the founder of Annapolis Pride, where he has supported community building and visibility for LGBTQIA+ Marylanders.

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• Follow Jeremy Browning on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-browning-65124a139/

 Josafá Moreira da Cunha is a Professor of Educational Psychology at the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), Brazil, where he directs the Laboratório Interagir. His research focuses on peer victimization, school climate, socioemotional competencies, and violence prevention in educational contexts. He coordinates the DIGA program, an open-access bullying prevention initiative for Brazilian primary schools and serves as Associate Editor of the Journal of Research on Adolescence. A central thread in his work is understanding how discrimination and school diversity climate shape children's development, well-being, and peer relations, and how school-based interventions can foster more inclusive and safer learning environments. He co-chairs the Schools & Systems Working Group of the SOGI Global Forum.

    Torre de Jong is a 5th year student at the Christelijk Gymnasium Utrecht. He is part of the UNESCO Youth Commission 2025–2026 in the Netherlands. 

Through his role in the commission, Torre is committed to representing the voices of young people and raising awareness about key global issues. He is passionate about encouraging youth engagement and helping create a more inclusive and informed society. 

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  Dr. Kathleen Ethier is a psychologist and a nationally recognized expert in adolescent health and well-being. Prior to co-founding Triple Dividend Partners, she concluded a 25-year career at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), where she most recently served as the Director of the Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH). In her role as DASH Director, she led efforts to expand SOGI data collection among young people and develop tools and resources to support LGBTQ+ young people in schools. She was at the forefront of bringing attention to the mental health crisis among LGBTQ+ youth and the need to create school environments that support them. She has led numerous evaluations of school-based interventions and has published extensively on adolescent health in peer-reviewed journals and edited books. Prior to joining CDC, she served on the research faculty of the Yale University School of Medicine focused on women’s and adolescent health.

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  Jorge Gato is an Invited Assistant Professor and Researcher in the Faculty of Education Sciences at the University of Porto in Portugal. His research focuses on the mental health of socially vulnerable groups, such as the LGBTQIA+ community, people living in poverty, and immigrants/refugees. A systemic family therapist, he has written two books: the first about families with LGBTQIA+ parents, and the second about affirmative psychological interventions. He engages with social change through his active presence in the media, his voluntary work with NGOs and his collaboration with government agencies. He was consulted as an expert by the Portuguese parliament regarding the approval of same-sex adoption in Portugal. He is currently President of the European Society for Family Relations (2025/2027).

  Sharon Heron is Director of Education, Training and Community Practice in Belong To - LGBTQ+ Youth Ireland, with experience across education, youth, and social care settings. Her work focuses on advancing inclusive, rights‑based approaches for LGBTQ+ young people aged 10–23, grounded in evidence‑based practice and partnership working.

Sharon leads and supports organisation‑wide change management initiatives that promote inclusive cultures through intentional review and development of people, policies, and practices. Her work emphasises transformational leadership, supporting leaders and teams to use research, data, and lived experience to drive meaningful cultural change.

She works in partnership with Belong To, LGBTQ+ organisations, service providers, and researchers to strengthen research‑informed practice related to sexual orientation and gender identity. Sharon’s approach highlights the role of robust qualitative and quantitative research in shaping policy, practice, and inclusive systems.

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  Jeroen Horvers is a pedagogue and the head of education at COC Netherlands, where he plays a central role in promoting inclusion and creating safer school environments for all kids, youngsters and teachers. His work focuses on giving teachers more tools to talk about SOGIESK, and together with team education he develops educational materials such as the Paarse Vrijdag education package to help teachers address these topics with confidence. As the host of the podcasts Juffen en Meesters op Regenboogles, Jeroen engages in conversations with teachers, experts, and parents about themes like prejudice, gender identity, school policy, and building inclusive classrooms. Through these discussions, he offers practical tools and insights that make diversity more accessible in everyday teaching. His mission is rooted in personal experience: ensuring that every child can be themselves at school.

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  Makiko Kasai is a full professor at the Graduate School of Education, Clinical Psychology Course, Naruto University of Education, affiliated with the Joint Graduate school (Ph.D. program) in Science of School Education, Hyogo University of Teacher Education, and licensed and certified Clinical Psychologists in Japan. She has conducted research in areas such as LGBTQ+ issues in counseling and counselor training, LGBTQ+ child and adolescent mental health in the school environment, and cross- and multicultural counseling.  She has been a representative of an LGBTQ+ advocacy group since 2011 and a Committee Member for the Implementation of the Bill to Promote Understanding of LGBT Issues.

• Professional Websites: https://www.naruto-u.ac.jp/ and https://sites.google.com/site/sagtokushima/

  Dr. Sabra L. Katz-Wise is an Associate Professor in Adolescent/Young Adult Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital, in Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, and in Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She is Director of the SOGIE Health Equity Research Collaborative and the GenderWise Lab, and she is a Senior Faculty Advisor for the Boston Children’s Office of Health Equity and Inclusion. Dr. Katz-Wise’s research uses community-engaged mixed methods to investigate sexual orientation and gender identity development and fluidity, health inequities related to sexual orientation and gender identity in adolescents and young adults, and psychosocial functioning in families with transgender and nonbinary youth. Her work has been funded by several federal and foundation grants and is widely published in peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Katz-Wise is also involved in advocacy to improve the workplace climate, patient care, and learning environment for LGBTQ+ individuals.

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  Dr. Nat Kendall-Taylor is chief executive officer at the FrameWorks Institute, a research think tank in Washington, DC. He leads a multi-disciplinary team in conducting and implementing research on public understanding and framing of social issues. A psychological anthropologist, Nat publishes widely on communications research and lectures frequently. He is senior fellow at the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, visiting professor at the Child Study Center at Yale School of Medicine, and fellow at the British-American Project.

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  Dr. Wouter Kiekens is an assistant professor at the department of sociology at the University of Groningen. His work focuses on explaining sexual orientation and gender identity based mental health and substance use disparities among youth.

  Carli Kooijman is an investigative journalist specialized in OSINT (open source intelligence), a digital method used by journalists and academics alike. Since February 2026 she writes for the national newspaper NRC. Before, she was a data-journalist at Pointer, where she mapped where LGBTQIA+ individuals in The Netherlands feel unsafe, in public spaces as well as online.

• Follow Carli Kooijman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carli-kooijman-1386651a4/

  Deborah S. Levine is the Senior Director of Programs with CenterLink: The Community of LGBTQ Centers. Deborah has been championing the health and emotional needs of adolescents for the greater part of her career. In her previous role as Director of YouthLink, she was responsible for Q Chat Space, an online LGBTQ+ space where teens joined live, chat based, professionally facilitated support groups and imi.guide, a free, digital, research-backed, mental health tool for LGBTQ+ teens. Prior to her work with CenterLink, Deborah spent a decade working at Planned Parenthood Federation of America as the Director of Online Health Education and taught high school American history.  Deborah obtained her BA as well as her MSW from the University of Pennsylvania. She earned her MA in teaching from Simmons College in Boston.

• Follow Deborah S. Levine on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborah-s-levine/

  Gloria Luhunga is a Human Rights Advocate and Mental Health Practitioner with over six years of experience advancing the rights of marginalized communities, with a specialized focus on intersex rights. Mr. Luhunga actively influences policy and practice at national (Kenya), regional (African Intersex Movement-AIM), and international levels, ensuring intersex issues are embedded in global human rights frameworks.

Mr. Luhunga has led programs in community engagement, policy advocacy, and public education across Kenya and Africa. Mr. Luhunga has contributed to national and regional policy dialogues, including legal reform discussions on intersex recognition and protection, working closely with government bodies, civil society, and multilateral stakeholders.

Mr. Luhunga holds a Bachelor's degree in Counseling Psychology from KCA University (completed, awaiting graduation) and a diploma in Psychological Counseling. Mr. Luhunga integrates a human rights-based approach and people-centered approach into his work, committed to mental health, human dignity, and inclusive systems that uphold the rights of every individual.

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  Dr. Michela Mariotto is a cultural anthropologist with a PhD in Social Psychology who has been working for over a decade on gender diversity in childhood. Adopting an interdisciplinary perspective that integrates sociology, anthropology, and trans and queer studies, her research examines how trans and/or gender-creative childhoods are constructed through specific discourses and practices that collectively contribute to shaping the meaning of these experiences. She is an adjunct professor at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Spain) and co-founder of GenderLens (Italy), an association committed to creating spaces of recognition for gender diversity in childhood.

• Follow Michela Mariotto on LinkedIn

  Dr. Alexa Martin-Storey is a Full Professor in the Department of Psychoeducation at the Université de Sherbrooke and holds the Canada Research Chair in Stigma and Psychosocial Development. Her research focuses on the mechanisms through which stigma shapes the social adaptation, mental health, and well-being of adolescents and young adults, with a particular emphasis on sexual and gender minority youth. As a regular member of the Research Group on Social Maladjustment in Childhood (GRISE), her work examines the risk and protective factors that account for variability in the consequences of stigmatization, as well as the links between stigma and gender-based violence. Her research program adopts a developmental and comparative perspective, drawing on large-scale datasets to advance the conceptualization and measurement of stigma experiences among 2SLGBTQ+ youth, with the ultimate goal of informing intervention and prevention efforts.

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  Dr. Paul Poteat is a Professor of Applied Developmental and Educational Psychology at Boston College. He conducts research on the school-based experiences of LGBTQ+ youth. His research on Gender-Sexuality Alliances (GSAs) has identified ways in which these school clubs promote resilience among youth from diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. Likewise, his work has identified how inclusive school policies and practices promote LGBTQ+ youth’s wellbeing. Dr. Poteat’s research has been supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). He has served as Co-Editor at the American Educational Research Journal and Associate Editor at the Journal of Research on Adolescence and The Counseling Psychologist. He is actively involved in the Society for Research in Child Development, where he currently serves as a member-at-large of Governing Council.

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  Rozanne Vleugel has a very broad experience with GSA's (gender and sexuality alliances), as a secondary school student that started one, as a secondary school teacher that supports her students in one, and as a coordinator for many different GSA's in her region. In her role as GSA coordinator she organises events to bring GSA students and teachers from different schools together to talk about important topics; from queer history and information about different queer identities, to dealing with unaccepting students and teachers and having more self-confidence. She knows all the ins and outs about how GSA's work best, what the most common mistakes are, and how to fix them.

• Follow Rozanne on Instagram @gsamiddennl