Nina Brander is a pedagogical expert on several cutting-edge projects for the Education Division of the City Turku. Nina has been teaching Biology and Geography in Upper Secondary Schools of Turku for twenty-five years. She is also involved in national curriculum work in Finnish National Agency for Education and a Geography textbook writer.

Olli Pekanheimo is a physicist and an experienced teacher. He has been teaching science-related subjects at a lower secondary school for 15 years. For the past two years Pekanheimo has been moonlighting as the STEAM pedagogical expert in charge of the whole comprehensive school in the city of Turku.

Riikka Vuorinen is a master of early childhood education. She is a kindergarten teacher and has worked five years in functional preschool group (year before the Finnish comprehensive school). For the past three years she has been working as project coordinator in different (ece/kindergarten) learning environment development projects and STEAM Turku project.

Matti Mäkelä has a lot of experience in leading broad development projects, which have frequently dealt with the themes such as STEAM, the Finnish Youth Guarantee, and the development and transfer of innovations. He has also been a speaker in various Youth Guarantee and innovation transfer seminars in Finland and elsewhere in the EU. Matti is currently the chair of the Union of the Baltic Cities Task Force Supporting Youth Employment and Well-Being.

Ayah Shashaa works with governments and foundations globally on large-scale national capability-building programs, to upskill thousands of learners in the latest technologies from Silicon Valley. 

Unika works on the education and skills sectors in South Asia. Prior to joining ADB, she worked with the World Bank education team for three years, most recently on the flagship World Development Report 2018 on education in which she assessed the role played by inherent system complexities as well as political economy forces in implementing education policies and programs. She has extensive experience conducting analytical research to answer policy-relevant questions, notably on school governance and financing, social security, and financial inclusion.