Keynote speakers

Canada in the Americas

Lucia Otrísalová, PhD.

Lucia Otrísalová holds a Ph.D. in Anglophone Literatures from Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia, where she is currently teaching Canadian Studies and American Literature at the Department of British and American Studies. Her research interests include black Canadian writing and history and Canadian transcultural literature.

“’The Largest Country in the World that Doesn’t Exist’: Canada and the Inter-American Discourse”

Inter-American Studies

Mag. phil. Georg Schendl

Georg is University Assistant at the Center for Inter American-Studies at the University of Graz, Austria. He holds two bachelor's and a master’s degree in political science. He is currently working on his Ph.D. thesis on the International Criminal Court. His research interest lies in the history of the Americas with emphasis on Latin America and the Caribbean and therefore he focuses his thesis on the Pinochet case and human rights.

“'Nuestra América': (Re)approaching the Americas from a European Perspective”
 

Peter Rusinák

Peter Rusiňák is a co-founder of the Center for North American Studies (CNAs) at the University of Economics in Bratislava, where he currently holds a position of the Executive Director. His career began in 2006, when he initiated a representative regional non-governmental organization Euro-Atlantic Centre in Bratislava, where he held the position of the Deputy Regional Director and Program Coordinator until 2009. He holds a Master's degree in International Relations. After finishing his studies at the University of Economics in Bratislava, his PhD. thesis was aimed at the International Economics Relations, with a focus on small states in the European Union. Since 2009 he has been responsible for the creation and management of the CNAs training program with 17 accredited courses and supported business-academia collaboration. As a Slovak representative, he graduated from the prestigious program Contemporary Challenges of Higher Education in 2011, organized by the U.S. State Department and the Meridian International Center, with the seat in Washington. He is a co/founder and coordinator of the project "An Innovative Conference Model", which has so far been attended by more than 400 students.