Executive
The EFTRE Executive manages the day-to-day business of the organisation. At the General Assembly a Chair, Secretary and Chief Treasurer are elected from among the members of the Board. These officers along with a Website Manager and up to five other nominated members form the Executive Committee. They will serve for three years unless there is cause for them to be removed or if they step down in which case replacements shall be voted in at the next meeting of the Board.
Bert Roebben
Chair
Bert Roebben is a professor of religious education at the Faculty of Catholic Theology of the University of Bonn. Previously he was teaching in Leuven (B), Tilburg (NL) and Dortmund (D). He is extraordinary professor at the Faculty of Theology of Stellenbosch University (RSA). He is passionate about teaching and researching learning processes in the field of religions and worldviews in a European context.
Tuomas Anttila
Secretary
Tuomas is new to the EFTRE board and was selected as secretary for the executive in Rome 2023. He is a Lutheran RE teacher working in a lower secondary school (grades 7-9) for the Swedish-speaking minority in Helsinki for the past 10 years. He has been an executive member of the Finnish Association for Lutheran RE teachers since 2017, before that he already participated in drafting the local RE curriculum for the city of Helsinki. He is a qualified teacher of RE and history. He holds a Master’s degree in Western theology and is also a Bachelor of Arts (History incl. pedagogical studies) from the University of Helsinki.
Tuomas can be contacted via document.getElementById("eeb-96460-989255").innerHTML = decodeURIComponent("%73%65%63%72%65%74%61%72%79%40%65%66%74%72%65%2e%6e%65%74");*protected email*
Hugo Verkest
Treasurer
Hugo Verkest is a senior lecturer at the University College VIVES situated in the Flemish part of Belgium. He has worked in this higher education institute for more than 30 years. Training students to become teachers in early childhood, primary education is his core business. His main course is didactics of religion at the teacher training college in Torhout and Kortrijk. Ten years ago he started up with a colleague an optional courses of Remembrance Education in relation to World Wars and colonial history and the refugee crisis. He has organised study trips to Poland, Baltic States and Andalusia.
You can find his name on publication in relation to guidelines for RE textbooks (Theo, TOV, Respons,…). With some colleagues he did some practice-based research about new tendencies in RE. He has also worked as expert, trainer or trainee on a range of international programmes (Pestalozzi – Council of Europe) and recently for a Jean Monnet project about citizenship education.
Hugo has been a board member of EFTRE (2001). Since 2007 he has been its treasurer.
Kateryna Buchko
Dr. Kateryna Buchko is a Lecturer and Teacher at the Department of Pedagogy and Social Work at the Ukrainian Catholic University (Lviv, Ukraine), Research Fellow at the University of Stirling (Scotland, UK).
Her background is in religious education, as well as in special education, inclusion, and social training with adults with autism. Her research interests are trauma pedagogy, displaced people and refugees, and inclusive religious education. Kateryna received her PhD from the University of Vienna (Faculty of Catholic Theology, Vienna, Austria), her empirical research case study is “Solely Together, Ultimately Sole: Inclusion in School on the Example of Autism” (2020).
Sonja Danner
Sonja has been involved in Religious Education in Austria since 1991. She has first become a teacher at a gymnasium and in 1999 she started organizing the in service training of RE teachers of secondary schools. In 2000 she became head of department of the in service training of RE teachers of secondary schools in Austria in the Protestant Institut for Religious Education. Sonja started teaching primary teachers at the Private University College for Teacher Training Vienna/Krems in 2007, and secondary teachers at the University of Vienna in 2017 and at the Private University College of Linz in 2020.
Sonja got in touch with EFTRE for the first time at the Conference in Edinburgh in 2001. She joined the executive till 2004 when she was elected Chairperson of EFTRE at the Budapest Conference. She stepped back in 2013 and remained an executive member.
Sonja can be contacted at document.getElementById("eeb-156189-283885").innerHTML = decodeURIComponent("%73%6f%6e%6a%61%2e%64%61%6e%6e%65%72%40%6b%70%68%76%69%65%2e%61%63%2e%61%74");*protected email*
Bianca Kappelhoff
Bianca is an educational researcher at the Comenius-Institute in Münster, Germany. Her role is entitled „ Protestant responsibility for education in Europe”. Her task is to promote exchange and research in religious education in Europe. She is engaged in various European networks around Church and School issues such as ICCS and CoGREE. Beforehand, Bianca worked at the education department of the EKD church office as project manager for the worldwide network of Protestant schools “GPENreformation”. Bianca studied political sciences including a focus on European studies and speaks German, French and English.
Bianca has been part of the EFTRE executive since 2019 and is currently the person responsible for membership management.
Bianca can be contacted at (function() {var ml="0psf4n.ke%liamhuocd",mi="7@33940A@=85;?26B8",o="";for(var j=0,l=mi.length;j<l;j++) {o+=ml.charAt(mi.charCodeAt(j)-48);}document.getElementById("eeb-30187-573383").innerHTML = decodeURIComponent(o);}());*protected email*
Dr Eszter Kodácsy-Simon
Eszter is an associate professor at the Lutheran Theological University in Budapest, where she leads the Department of Religious Education. She is involved in teacher training, postgraduate training, and doctoral courses. Eszter leads the working group that is responsible for the curricula of RE in the Lutheran Church in Hungary. She is the responsible editor of the RE textbook series in the Lutheran church, the co-author of six RE books, and author of several publications on Christian education, church schools, and RE.
Eszter joined EFTRE in 2014 and she has been the Board member for Hungary since then.
Marios Koukounaras Liagkis
Marios Koukounaras Liagkis is Associate Professor of Pedagogy and Religious Education at Dep. at Theology at National an Kapodistrian University of Athens. He holds degrees in theology, education, and Greek literature. His research interests focus on Religious Education (learning and teaching), Curriculum, Teacher’s professional development, Human Rights, Inclusive Education and Drama/Theatre in Education. His publications include 8 books and a numerus of articles. He is currently working on a project on the teaching of Competencies of Democratic Culture, in the RE Curriculum development in Greece and on EWC’s ‘School for all’-Integration of refugee children in Greek Schools project.
Marios has been a member of the EFTRE Board since 2009. EFTRE has given Marios the opportunity to connect with RE teachers and research more on RE as an active member of EFTRE’s learning community. He was from the beginning member of executive board and since 2019 is member of the board.
Marios can be contacted at document.getElementById("eeb-876810-297618").innerHTML = decodeURIComponent("%6d%61%6b%6f%75%6c%69%61%40%74%68%65%6f%6c%2e%75%6f%61%2e%67%72");*protected email*
Marie Rønne Olsen
Marie Rønne Olsen holds a Master’s degree (Cand.mag.) in Sociology of Religion with a supplementary subject in Film and Media Studies (2019). Currently she is pursuing studies in Danish at the Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics, University of Copenhagen (Open University). She is a qualified public-school teacher, graduating from Frederiksberg Teacher Training College with specialisation in Christianity/Religion, Danish, History, and Home Economics (2006–2010). Since 2021, Marie has held a lecturer position at Copenhagen University College of Teacher Education and has recently submitted her associate professorship application for evaluation.
She is an executive member from 2025.
Norman Richardson
After qualifying as a teacher in 1969, Norman taught Religious Education and Music in secondary schools in London before continuing his career in Belfast, Northern Ireland, from 1973. There he became closely involved in cross-community work in Northern Ireland’s separated schooling system, while also developing and promoting inclusive approaches to the teaching of RE. In the early 1980s he was appointed as an ecumenical peace education officer, developing resources and training in inter-community relationships and inter-religious understanding. Since 1997 Norman has worked with student teachers as a Lecturer in Religious Studies and Diversity Education at Stranmillis University College, currently post-retirement in a part-time capacity. In his research and writing he continues to focus on inclusive and multi-faith approaches to RE and is involved with a range of professional RE organisations in Ireland, the UK and internationally. Norman is a long-standing member of the Corrymeela Community, Northern Ireland’s oldest peace and reconciliation organisation.
Having attended the Budapest EFTRE Conference in 2007, Norman joined the EFTRE Board as representative for Northern Ireland. He has attended all the EFTRE Conferences and Board Meetings since then, often leading workshops on themes such as teaching controversial issues in RE, and in 2012 hosted the Board in Belfast. Following the 2019 EFTRE Conference in Dublin, Norman organised an optional extension programme in Northern Ireland. He currently serves on the EFTRE Executive Committee as the UK Treasurer.
Norman can be contacted via document.getElementById("eeb-232595-268264").innerHTML = decodeURIComponent("%6e%2e%72%69%63%68%61%72%64%73%6f%6e%40%73%74%72%61%6e%2e%61%63%2e%75%6b");*protected email*