Speakers October 2022 – Session I

General chair 11 October

Igor Taranic is a Senior Research Officer at eu-LISA.
Prior to joining the Agency in 2020, he worked as a public policy consultant, managing studies and projects for the European Institutions. He also worked as a researcher at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), a Brussels-based think tank.

Moderator session I

Theofanis Syrigos is the Head of the Business Relations Management Sector at eu-LISA and the EES-ETIAS Advisory Group Chairman. In this capacity, he led and coordinated the activities of the Working Group for ICT solutions of the Member States with external Land and Sea borders. Mr Syrigos is an ICT engineer with more than 25 years of experience in the field of Large-Scale IT Systems in the area of Justice and Home Affairs. He served in numerous Diplomatic Missions of his home country, he was the Head of the Schengen Sector in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as a Seconded National Expert at the European Commission, DG Home Affairs.

Keynote speaker session I

Fernando Otero has been an official in EC since 1995, working in DGs MARKT, TAXUD and HOME as a Policy Officer.

Keynote speaker session I

Justine Piret is a lawyer. She started her career in law firms in the field of competition law. She started at the European Commission as a legal officer since 2014, in the Directorate General for transport where she worked on aviation safety and environment. In 2016, she joined the Directorate-General for migration first dealing with security research and since 2018 on IT systems for borders and security.

DG HOME is the European Commission’s department in charge of Migration and Home affairs. Among its main responsibilities are a balanced and comprehensive Migration Policy, internal security, securing EU external borders – Schengen, borders and visa, and external dimension.

Keynote speaker session I

Athanasia Papavasileiou is an Information Technology officer in the Business Relations Management Sector of eu-LISA. She has been chairing the Carriers Working Group on behalf of the Agency, together with the European Commission, since 2019. She has represented the Agency in the discussions related to the development of the Carriers Implementing Regulations in the Smart Borders Committee. In parallel, she has been responsible for ETIAS business aspects and in this capacity she is the Deputy Chair of the ETIAS AG. She holds an M.Sc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens and speaks five languages. Among other roles, she has previously worked in the public sector as Business Analyst and Program Manager for the implementation of large information systems for State Aid programs.

European Union Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (eu-LISA) was established to provide a long-term solution for the operational management of large-scale IT systems, which are essential instruments in the implementation of the asylum, border management and migration policies of the EU. The Agency currently manages Eurodac, the second-generation Schengen Information System (SIS II) and the Visa Information System (VIS). Further to these, eu-LISA is developing the Entry/Exit System (EES), the European Travel Information Authorisation System (ETIAS) and the European Criminal Records Information System – Third-Country Nationals (ECRIS-TCN). These systems and the pre-existing ones are being built/adapted to ensure Interoperability – improved access to information stored in EU information systems and identity management at an EU level.

Keynote speaker session I

Mr Jorge Rodrigues works as a Project Officer at the European Border and Coast Guard Agency – FRONTEX. His main role at the Agency is to ensure the coordination of different stakeholders following the progress of the various projects within the ETIAS Division. He is strongly involved in the setting up of the of future Assistance Centre Unit and supports the development of the necessary legal acts and the high-level architecture for the ETIAS Central Unit.
He worked in the Capacity Building Division at the Research and Innovation Unit before joining the ETIAS Division. His areas of expertise within this domain involve technological research, traveller facilitation, digital identities, standardization, and operational research.

Before joining Frontex, Mr. Rodrigues worked for the Portuguese Immigration and Border Service as an IT Project Manager on several projects in the development and implementation of Government Information Technology Solutions.
He possesses a Master’s degree in e-Commerce and Internet from Universidade Aberta, as well as a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science from Instituto Superior Autónomo de Estudos Politécnicos, Lisbon, Portugal.

Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, promotes, coordinates and develops European border management in line with the EU fundamental rights charter and the concept of Integrated Border Management.