Executive Board

Stefanie Schlunk, Germany (Chair)

Stefanie Schlunk is the chair of Science on Stage Europe, the leading network for STEM teachers in Europe, since 2011. Together with her team, she supports the continuous professional development of teachers by offering them a platform to exchange best-practice teaching ideas in over 30 countries.

Stefanie is responsible for the initiation and coordination of cross-border activities like the Science on Stage festivals, teacher workshops, competitions and international projects between teachers. Since 2003, Stefanie has also been managing director of Science on Stage Germany with headquarters in Berlin. She is responsible for the development of multilingual teaching materials based on current educational issues such as digital literacy, sustainable development or the promotion of language skills in STEM education. Under her coordination, several brochures with teaching materials have been published.

In addition, Stefanie is the contact person for partners and supporters and is taking care of the communication with the 33 member countries and the numerous volunteers involved in both networks. Her commitment to STEM education has been recognised several times, among others she was part of a high-level panel with policy-makers from across the EU, including the EU Commissioner for Education, at the European Education Summit 2021, she is in the policymaker and stakeholder board of the European project "path2integrity" and was named "math maker" of the German Mathematical Association "DMV" in 2023.

Stefanie has a degree in Political Sciences from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (IEP) and the Freie Universität Berlin.

David Featonby, United Kingdom (Vice Chair)

David Featonby is an experienced teacher having taught physics at a UK comprehensive school for 35 years. Following retirement, he has worked for the Institute of Physics supporting physics teachers and in outreach activities.

He has several published articles in Science in School and Physics Education, and now writes a regular column in the latter, (What Happens Next?) He has attended all International Science on Stage Festivals since 2005, and presented workshops at many conferences in the UK and throughout Europe.

Michalis Hadjimarcou, Cyprus

Michalis has a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of California at Santa Barbara (U.S.A), a Master’s degree in Molecular Biology and Genetics from the University of Alberta (Canada) and a second Master’s degree in Learning in the Physical Sciences from the University of Cyprus.

He works as an Assistant Principal for biology and environmental science in general secondary schools in Cyprus. He is also the National Coordinator for Science on Stage Cyprus, a member of the Executive Board of Science on Stage Europe since 2011 and a member of the Executive Committee of the Cyprus Biological Society since 2009.

Anders Blomqvist, Sweden

Anders Blomqvist is responsible for the outreach activities in the area of chemistry and biotechnology at the House of Science, supported by the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) and Stockholm University.

He earned a PhD from Uppsala University and has a career in both academic research and the pharmaceutical industry, working on neurological and infectious diseases. He has been involved in Science on Stage since 2010.
 

Jitka Houfkova, Czech Republic

Jitka Houfková, originally mathematics and physics teacher, earned her PhD for work focused on hypertext and multimedia support of physics education. She works at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics at Charles University in Prague where she is involved in pre-service physics teacher training. She concentrates on performing physics experiments and showing physics to young children.

Amongst other things Jitka Houfková collaborates with Science Cup Competition that is focusing on interesting children in natural sciences, develops special teaching materials for sciences in preschool and primary school and participates in PISA and TIMSS assessments. She joined the Science on Stage network at the first Physics on Stage in 2000 and co-coordinates the activities in the Czech Republic since 2010.

Paul Nugent, Ireland

Paul has been involved in physics education for over 20 years.  In Ireland, he supports other science teachers through his work with the Institute of Physics in Ireland (IOPI) and the National Professional Development Service for Teachers (PDST). He is the Irish National Representative for GIREP-International Research Group on Physics Teaching. Paul is a founding member and leader of the science outreach group- Physics Busking (www.physicsbusking.ie).

He is co-chair of the Irish Science on Stage NSC and has delivered many workshops in Ireland, UK and in Europe.

Liliana Fernandes, Portugal

Liliana Fernandes is a primary school teacher at Agrupamento de Escolas de Alberto Sampaio in Portugal. She also teaches English and runs the local robotics club for primary school students. She participated in three European festivals - 2015 in London, 2017 in Debrecen and 2019 in Cascais. She developed joint projects with colleagues from France and Spain, which were very successful among students.

She also worked on the brochure "Coding in STEM Education", by designing a unit along with two other colleagues. This unit "How water works" has been selected as one of the national top 3 in the category "Introducing Coding and Robotics“ at the "CPR - Concurso 2019". This national coding event is organised by the Portuguese Ministry of Education.

The Board can augment itself with additional, non-voting members as it sees fit. Non-voting members are typically ‘experts’ and/or represent organisations and bodies of importance to Science on Stage. These experts support the Board, the office and the European festival programme committee:

• Wolfgang Gollub (think ING.)
• Monica Zanella (principal of the school district Ritten in Italy, expert for primary schools)