Conference Facilitators

Berta Fraguas Garrido

Director of the National Committee of Spain

Berta has been the Director General of Fundación Comité Español de los Colegios del Mundo Unido (the UWC Spain National Committee Foundation) since 1994. She has worked to create and design selection processes, fundraising and marketing campaigns, and networking platforms for alumni. Berta also founded and leads the sustainable running of Spain's short courses.

Berta has professional experience as a researcher and lecturer. She has published works with London School of Economics and has contributed to several books and journals on education and the third sector. She has delivered lectures at Universidad Carlos III, Madrid, and at La Salle, amongst others, as well as many other talks in her 20+ year career.

When not at the Spanish National Committee, Berta is a consultant specialising in strategic planning, marketing, communications and fundraising for non-profit organisations.

Lukas Wallrich

WKUWCSA alum and organiser of several UWC short courses

Lukas' short course journey started in 2009 when he coordinated the first UWC Short Course in Germany ("Shaping Society!") and continued through eSwatini (2011 - Together for Development), Turkey (2013 - Living together), Austria (2014 - Acting for Peace) back to Germany (2015 - Overcoming Walls and 2016 - Building a Sustainable Future), and again onto eSwatini (for 2018 - Together for Development). Throughout, he has been impressed and inspired by the impact an intense and well-designed 2 week UWC journey can have on the life of the participants.

Lukas holds an MA in Education (Psychology) at UCL and is now pursuing his PhD where he is exploring how non-formal education (such as short courses) can help with the development of values, a sense of agency and resilience. He is on the board of emPOWER Training, a charity that aims to support youth projects that offer transformative experiences for young people within and outside the UWC movement.

After graduating from Oxford University with a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, he worked for McKinsey in Berlin where he focused on projects related to culture change, talent management and leadership development.

Lorena Silvestri

UWC Adriatic alum, social entrepreneur and coordinator and facilitator of Spain's short courses

Lorena (UWC Adriatic 2001-2003) was born and raised in Venezuela and found a new home in Madrid in 2006 after having graduated from UWC Adriatic in 2003. Lorena holds a BA in Social Sciences from the Jacobs University (Germany) and an MBA in Cultural Management from the Universidad Compultense (Spain). Lorena also trained as a clown with Teatro Asura from 2009 - 2012.

Today, Lorena works for and with youth, with a special focus on social entrepreneurship, innovation and communication training. She facilitates workshops, sets up 'train the trainers' sessions and designs changemaker programs for private and public organisations, schools and universities.

Organisations which she works with include Ashoka Spain; Telefonica Foundation ThinkBig; Impact Hub Madrid; IE Business School; BBVA; Google in Spain, and UWC Maastricht, UWC Costa Rica and the UWC national committee of Spain.

As part of her work within the UWC Movement, she has coordinated and facilitated at ActionxChange Summer Programme and ActionxPeace Winter Programme (both run by the Spanish national committee) since their inception seven and four years ago respectively; and she co-created a social entrepreneurship ​program run by UWC Maastricht and the Agents of Change curriculum for UWC Costa Rica.

In order to support young people with their ideas and projects of social change, she has co-founded "Punto JES", an organisation that provides free face-to-face mentorship opportunities and an online resource search engine. Lorena also volunteers for TEDxyouth in Madrid.

Antonio Carvalho

Lithuania short course alum and organiser of several UWC short courses

Antonio is an alumnus of the UWC Short Course in Lithuania from 1994, who is currently teaching Geography at UWC Atlantic College. Since moving to the the UK in 2005, Antonio has been involved in Education, both as an Academic and Pastoral leader in multicultural inner-city London schools, whilst volunteering within the UWC movement. In particular, with his home NC in Portugal, and, more recently with the NC in Belgium and Great Britain. A passionate advocate of UWC Short Courses, he has also supported other alumni in their joint efforts to bring similar experiential learning and leadership programmes to young people in Belgium, Zambia, Tanzania and The Philippines. Outside education and volunteering, Antonio dedicates some of his free time to his family, traveling, sports and social media.

Jason Brewer

Director of Summer Youth Programmes, UWC-USA

Jason is an equity-centred, culturally responsive, instructional leader who has a passion for fostering a transformative and innovative, constructivist pedagogical approach to teaching and education for oneself and the global community.

Jason has been with UWC-USA for almost two years as their Director of Summer Youth Programs and resident tutor. Here he has excelled in curriculum and program development, and overseen the development, ongoing professionalisation and evaluation of UWC-USA short courses, Global Leadership Forum. Jason is responsible for UWC-USA short courses' marketing, on-boarding and training of short course staff, global participant recruitment, budgeting, daily operational delivery and team management that is supportive of a culturally diverse representation.

Prior to this, Jason built much of his career working with young people. He is experienced in classroom teaching, professional development, project-based learning, STEM & Engineering education, and experiential education in formal and non-formal settings. He holds a BSc in Meteorology (minoring in Environmental Science) From North Carolina State University and a Masters in Education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Tom Partridge

Head of Outdoors, UWC Atlantic College

With just over 20 years’ experience of working professionally within the outdoor and adventure education sector in the UK, Tom is proud to now represent UWC Atlantic College, one of the founding institutions of experiential learning through the outdoors.

From a young age, Tom's focus has been on the outdoors – especially the mountains, rivers and sea. He is personally active (and passionate) about the outdoors and holds top level leadership awards in a range of disciplines which allows him to adapt his teaching and utilise a vast range of activities, venues and environments to deliver and manage groups in the outdoors. For the last four years, Tom has relished the opportunity to develop the programmes at Atlantic College as well as harbour the talent amongst the staff in their development as outdoor professionals.

Tom holds key positions on a range of local, regional and national groups that represent the outdoor sector in the UK. In addition, he acts as Technical Adviser to other providers of outdoor and adventurous education specialising in mountaineering, caving and combined water and rock activities. Tom is one of a handful of tutors for the Royal Lifesaving Society delivering a new framework for occupational water safety management and training.

Gwyn Wansbrough

Executive Director, Partners for Youth Empowerment

Gwyn is the Executive Director of Partners for Youth Empowerment, a global non-profit organisation with a mission to unleash the creative potential in young people. Gwyn has over two decades’ experience launching, delivering, and funding creative initiatives that prepare young people to succeed in school, work, and life. After starting her career in international development, Gwyn discovered a deep passion for the social impact of the arts which has become the focus of her work ever since. Gwyn holds a Masters of International Affairs from Columbia University and serves on several advisory boards including Ashoka Changemaker Schools and IndigenEYEZ, an indigenous-led youth empowerment programme in British Columbia. Gwyn lives with her family in Barcelona, and her son Diego is in his first year at UWC Atlantic College.

About Partners for Youth Empowerment

Partners​ ​for​ ​Youth​ ​Empowerment​ ​is​ ​a​ ​global​ ​non-profit​ with a mission is ​to​ ​unleash​ ​the​ ​creative​ power ​of​ ​young​ ​people.​ ​We​ ​provide individuals,​ ​schools,​ ​and organisations​ with the skills and strategies to lead transformative programs for youth that build self-confidence, motivation, social and emotional competence, and leadership – proven predictors of well-being and success. Together with our international partners we reach over 200,000 young people in 15 countries each year. For more information please visit: www.partnersforyouth.org