Alain Berset became Secretary General of the Council of Europe on 18 September 2024. Prior to that, Mr Berset was an elected Minister in the Swiss government (Federal Council) between 2012 and 2023. During that time, he headed the Federal Department of Home Affairs as Swiss Minister for Health, Social Affairs, Culture, Equality and Anti-Discrimination, and was Minister for Public Health throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. Mr Berset also served twice as President of the Swiss Confederation (2018 and 2023), during which he represented Switzerland on the United Nations Security Council and at the Council of Europe’s 4th Summit of Heads of State and Government, where he signed the Reykjavik Declaration on behalf of his country.

Before joining the Federal Council, Mr Berset was a member of the Council of States, the upper house of the Swiss Parliament. He was elected as its youngest member in 2003 and went on to serve as its President, from 2008 to 2009. He was also Vice-Chair of the Socialist Group in the Federal Parliament, 2005-2011.

Prior to elected politics, Mr Berset held academic roles in economics at the University of Neuchâtel and the Hamburg Institute of International Economics and worked as an independent communications and strategy consultant for associations, companies and non-governmental organisations.

Alain Berset was born on 9 April 1972 in Fribourg (Switzerland). He has MSc in political science and a PhD in economics, both from the University of Neuchâtel. He is married with three children.

Christophe Robino is Minister for Health and Social Affairs of the Principality of Monaco. He was nominated in April 2022.

Christophe Robino is a Doctor of Medicine specialised in nephrology and medical resuscitation. Prior to his ministerial function, he was Head of the Medical Specialities-Haemodialysis Department at the Princess Grace Hospital of Monaco (CHPG) and Medical Director of Monaco’s Private Haemodialysis Centre.

Christophe Robino has also been involved in public life in Monaco for many years. In particular, he was elected to the National Council (Monaco’s legislative chamber) in 2013-2018 as Chairman of the Education, Youth and Sport Commission, and then in 2018 (until 2022) as Chairman of the Social Interests and Diverse Affairs Commission. 

As Minister, Christophe Robino is committed to improving the quality of access to healthcare for the population, as well as to major social reforms.

Christophe Robino is married and has three children.
 

Sophia Achab is a psychiatrist, holds a Ph.D. in neuroscience, and is an international expert on behavioral addictions, particularly problematic digital media use (video games, social media). She directs the ReConnecte Program at the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG), which has been a pioneer in Europe since 2006 in the treatment of these disorders. As Director of the WHO Collaborating Center for Mental Health, an expert for the WHO and the FOPH, and a member of the Lancet Commission on these issues, she actively contributes to the development of diagnostic tools, professional training, and relevant health policies. She combines clinical research, advocacy, and innovation to promote a personalized approach to mental health in the digital age and children’s resilience in the face of the challenges of the connected world. She regularly speaks at international organisations to promote balanced public policies that combine technological innovation with health protection.

Grégoire Borst is a Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychology and Neuroscience at Paris Cité University and Director of the Laboratory of Child Developmental and Educational Psychology (CNRS). His research focuses on the roles of higher-order neuropsychological mechanisms (metacognition, resistance to automaticity, emotional regulation) in the academic learning of children and adolescents. The author of over 100 scientific articles, he has also written various educational texts and books for the general public. He is a member of the International Science Council (ISC) and the expert committee on young audiences at ARCOM. He was a member of the ‘Children and Screens’ commission set up by the President of the Republic in 2024.

Rhythm is a student and youth activist from Malta passionate about the intersection of space, technology and climate. She serves as an ambassador for the 5Rights Foundation, working to build safer digital spaces for young people, and for Girls Go STEM, an EU initiative tackling the gender gap in technology. Moreover, she is the Director for the Environment at the Malta National Youth Council, striving to include young people in the climatic movement. Rhythm has also spoken at the Women and Girls in STEM Forum 2024 and led workshops on AI gender and racial bias, hoping to help create a more conscious, youth-centred and equitable digital world.

Stella Goeschl is a recently graduated medical doctor from Austria currently pursuing her master’s of public health at Imperial College London. She has worked on topics of medical education, health policy and digital health in international youth and students’ associations, including IFMSA, EMSA, and WHO/Europe's Youth4Health. She currently serves as Regional Youth Champion for Europe and Northern America with the Digital Transformations for Health Lab, where her work focuses on Digital Citizenship for Health. 

Louise Holly is Policy and Research Coordinator at Digital Transformations for Health Lab where she manages the consortium’s knowledge generation, analysis and policy influencing work aimed at ensuring that digital technologies and environments support young people's well-being and healthy societies. Before joining DTH-Lab, Louise held roles at UNICEF and Save the Children and worked as independent consultant for a variety of non-governmental and UN organisations supporting projects to advance the health and rights of children, adolescents and youth. 

• Addressing the social determinants of youth mental health and well being: policy brief

Martin Husovec is an academic and jurist. He works as an Associate Professor of Law at The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and is a licensed attorney in Slovakia.

• Committee of Experts on online safety and empowerment of content creators and users (MSI-eSEC)

Melanie Maria Kuhrn is Regional Youth Champion for Europe and Northern America at the Digital Transformations for Health Lab (DTH-Lab), where she brings youth perspectives into global discussions on digital health and contributes to shaping inclusive, people-centred systems. She works at the Austrian National Public Health Institute (Gesundheit Österreich GmbH), focusing on Digitalization and Data Infrastructure. Based in Vienna, she also serves as Section Lead for Digital Health at the Austrian Society for Public Health (ÖGPH). Her work centres on digital health governance and health literacy. She holds a medical degree from the Medical University of Vienna and is currently pursuing a Master’s in Managing Digital Transformation in Healthcare.

Manon Letouche is the head of EU Affairs at 5Rights Foundation. Before joining 5Rights in 2025, she worked for the Belgian media regulatory authority and served as the Head of Cabinet to the Belgian (FR) Minister for Children, Culture, Media, Health and Women’s Rights between 2019 and 2024.

• Building a digital environment designed with children in mind: An international best practices blueprint (2026)

Markus Meschik, PhD, is professor of Social Pedagogy in the Department of Social Sciences at St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences and heads a counselling centre for families and professionals dealing with digital media in education. His work focuses on young people’s use of social media, digital games, problematic gaming behaviour, and media education. He lectures at several Austrian universities and has served as an expert for Austria’s digital-games classification body.

• The Council of Europe International Co-operation Group on Drugs and Addictions (Pompidou Group)

Alessandro is a student at the Graduate Institute of Geneva and a member of the Advisory Council on Youth, as a Youth and Tech Advocate. Alessandro’s activism lives at the crossroads of youth empowerment and the digital world. Through his work at Connect international, he campions safer online spaces and stronger digital citizenship for young people, locally and globally. His priority is digital access and AI literacy. 

Lisa Robinson works as an Online Safety Policy Analyst in the Science, Technology and Innovation Directorate at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). 
A children’s rights lawyer, Lisa worked on the development and subsequent implementation of the OECD’s Recommendation on Children in the Digital Environment. As part of this work she has extensive experience analysing legal and policy responses to the needs of children in the digital environment as well as considering child rights implications of the evolving digital environment. 
Outside of the OECD, Lisa has a background in legal practice specializing in family and child protection, and access to justice. She has worked on a number of different child rights and policy issues both at the domestic and international level, and she has also worked as a lecturer in the law faculties in Universities in both Australia and France.

• Child, Adolescent and Youth Mental Health in the 21st Century | OECD (29 April 2026)
• The legal and policy landscape of age assurance online for child safety and well-being (June 2025) 
• Towards digital safety by design for children (June 2024)

Cassie Redlich is a Technical Officer with the Mental Health and Well-being Unit (MHW) at the WHO Regional Office for Europe. She has a background in clinical social work and public health, and over 20 years’ experience working in mental health services and in policy and service development roles both in Australia and internationally at the national, regional and global levels. At WHO Europe she leads the MHW unit’s work on mental health and well-being across the life course, including child and youth mental health, older adult mental health, and suicide prevention. As part of her portfolio of work, she coordinated the development of the WHO Europe policy brief ‘Addressing the Digital Determinants of Youth Mental Health and Well-being’, published in 2025.

Elisabeth Staksrud (PhD, MAE) is Professor at the Department of Media and Communication, University of Oslo, researching online censorship and freedom of expression, research ethics, and children’s rights, risks and regulation in the digital environment. She is the coordinator of the 35-country EU Kids Online network, and has previously chaired  the Norwegian National Committee for Research Ethics in the Social Sciences and the Humanities (NESH), and the European Communication Research and Education Association’s Children, Youth and Media Section. She also works extensively on issues of academic freedom.

Her book “Children in the Online world: Risk, Regulation, Rights” (Routledge, 2016) deals with the balancing of media risk, problematic regulatory practices, and the pressure this puts on children’s participatory and provisional rights.

Julia is a student in Ireland. She has been working with the 5Rights Foundation for the past year. She believes that young people’s voices should be heard and listened to. She aims to make the digital world a safe space where everyone can feel seen and heard.