Profile of the month: Laura Galante

Laura Galante is a part of the coordination team for the ekip policy labs. From scoping the topic, to outreach of the participants, ensuring that there is a strong partnership between the teams involved in the organisation, and the design of the workshops.

She works to ensure that each lab is carefully designed to address the specific challenges of the topic at hand—be it inclusivity in the video game industry, artificial intelligence, or immersive media. ekip´s policy labs help stakeholders shape their voices into actionable policy recommendations.

”Together with the team, we ultimately strive to ensure that stakeholders in the labs can best voice how these challenges should be tackled so that their inputs can be shaped into concrete policy recommendations,” says Laura Galante.

The best part of a policy lab, according to Laura Galante, is how the topic’s diversity shapes the entire event.

”The diversity of the topic has a huge impact on how all the elements of the event will run as a consequence. This begins with the expertise of the theme among the ekip partners, which leads to assemble a unique task force that is responsible for scoping the relevant research.”

Each policy lab unfolds in a different location, shaping both its atmosphere and relevance. Local partners bring their own distinctive approach, often creating powerful synergies by tying the lab to local festivals or initiatives that help amplify its reach and impact.

”In short, while the methodology stays the same, each policy lab approach will be slightly different depending on expertise, the local environment, and the spaces of interaction, which makes it a fun and enriching experience each time.”

This approach also poses challenges, as each new location requires mapping a fresh ecosystem and building stakeholder engagement from the ground up.

”The outreach efforts can sometimes be quite time consuming, especially when attracting people to attend from all over the EU,” says Laura Galante.

Laura Galante´s background in policy consulting and stakeholder engagement, helps her turn complex issues into impactful strategies.

“My dual experience in public policy consulting and stakeholder engagement means that I am both experienced in deeply analysing complex topics and translating them into concrete and effective engagement strategies that drive meaningful impact.”

Her master in journalism and media also helps blend deep research with sharp messaging—crucial for this field.

“In other words, my baseline for stakeholder engagement is: If a message can’t be clearly and simply explained, whether at a policy lab or other channels, it’s not ready to be shared.”