Meet the Board
Who are the people behind ENTER?
Thomas Ochsenhofer
General Secretary
Thomas studied in Vienna Agricultural Biology at BOKU and agricultural Pedagogy at HAUP University College for Agricultural and Environmental Education. During his studies he was staying abroad various times, the longest was half a year during his master studies at Universidad Veracrusana in Mexico. Apart from his university studies he has supported his family run farm in Austria. And has taught students and adults at agricultural schools and in further education.
After graduating, he started his careed at HAUP with environmental awareness projects in further education for teachers. He began to teach students at HAUP in different subject in nature sciences, didactics and sustainability related lectures. For four years, he also gained experience in the school administration by supporting the department of agricultural schools in the Austrian Ministry of Agriculture. Since 2020, he is part of the team in the International office of HAUP.
His main interests lie in internationalization, sustainable agriculture and working with people in general. He is interested in different cultures and has a great passion for improvising theater.
Marion Demay
President
Currently head of the international relations department of the French National Agricultural Training School (ENSFEA), which allows her to work for the benefit of French technical and higher agricultural education.
Since her studies, she has built a professional career in the field of international academic and scientific cooperation. With a degree in project engineering and a specialization in Latin America, she has used each of her experiences in different countries and French universities to promote
France and its institutions. She has been appointed on various positions in France and abroad, including in French embassy.
Expert in international project management, she also run for several years a flagship programme, the
Toul’Box tool, for international students in France.
Rumyana Georgieva
General Secretary
Rumyana Georgieva was originally educated in General Agronomy. Afterwards she made a postgraduate qualification to gain pedagogical competence. Since several years she is working at the Department of Crop Science as a teacher.
As part from the UNIgreen team she is responsible for the
transfer of knowledge and good training practices between the partner institutions. Her passion is to work and communicate with people and to motivate them to think in more sustainable way.
Her membership of ЕНОАТ (European Network of Organic Agricultural Teachers) also provides an opportunity to continuously exchange new training methods and practices in training in organic farming.
Eveliina Asikainen
Vice-president
Eveliina Asikainen is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Pedagogical Innovations and leads the team Sustainable Education. She is a MSc in Biology, Doctor of Administrative Sciences in Environmental Policy and Qualified Professional Teacher.
Asikainen’s research interests combine creatively pedagogy, active citizenship and ecological transition for sustainable society. She has been involved in projects dealing with suburban nature (Doctoral Thesis 2014, in Finnish ), urban food production , experiential learning in nature, and sustainable care.
Asikainen has been working as a university lecturer in environmental sciences since 2006 (ecology, forestry, environmental engineering, environmental policy) and sustainability specialist in higher education since 2012. She started as a teacher educator with emphasis on sustainability in 2019.
Asikainen’s key expertises are participatory methods, promotion of sustainability competences and transformative learning.
Jan-Willem Noom
Treasurer & General Advisor
15+ years of experience as a lecturer in Landscape and Garden design & Professional didactics at Aeres University of Applied Sciences in Wageningen, The Netherlands. He was originally educated in Garden & Landscape Management. Afterwards he studied Education and Knowledge Management with a specialization in Landscape design.
He has gained both practical and planning experiences in the Netherlands and internationally. His work experience includes the professions of a gardener, designer, vocational teacher and editor for a national consumer magazine about gardens.
His passion is to connect people and find ways to renew educational approaches to inspire people with nature, ecological principles and design. As a consultant-trainer he collaborates with teacher training institutions around the world to bring the themes of learning and education together.