Profile of the month: Laura Galante

Photo: ekip

Coordinating policy labs across Europe

Laura Galante is part of the coordination team behind ekip’s Policy Labs. Her role spans the full lifecycle of each lab from scoping topics and conducting stakeholder outreach to building strong partnerships between organizing teams and shaping the overall workshop design.

Her work ensures that every Policy Lab is carefully tailored to the specific challenges of its theme, whether it focuses on inclusivity in the video game industry, artificial intelligence, or immersive media. Through this process, ekip’s Policy Labs help stakeholders translate their perspectives 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.

Designing labs around diversity and context

According to Laura Galante, one of the most valuable aspects of a Policy Lab is how the diversity of each topic 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 assembling a unique task force responsible for scoping the relevant research.”

Each Policy Lab takes place in a different location across Europe, influencing both its atmosphere and relevance. Local partners bring their own perspectives and networks, often creating powerful synergies by connecting the lab to regional festivals, initiatives, or cultural contexts that amplify its reach.

“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.”

Building engagement across ecosystems

This flexible, place-based approach also comes with challenges. 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,” Laura Galante explains.

Her background in policy consulting and stakeholder engagement plays a crucial role in navigating these complexities and ensuring that diverse voices are meaningfully represented.

Turning complexity into clarity

Laura Galante’s professional background bridges public policy consulting, stakeholder engagement, and communication. This combination allows her to deeply analyse complex topics and translate them into effective engagement strategies with real-world impact.

“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 academic background in journalism and media further strengthens this approach, enabling her to blend rigorous research with clear and accessible messaging.

“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 through other channels it’s not ready to be shared.”