Claudia Junker is leading the unit "Quality management and government finance statistics" since 1 July 2017. Before that she led the unit on "Statistical cooperation" at Eurostat, since 2010,  involved in statistical cooperation and provision of technical assistance to third countries with a focus on the countries having or willing to apply to become an EU member state, countries in the European neighbourhood to the East and the South and African countries. Cooperation activities include the implementation of assessments of statistical systems, provision of expertise to NSIs in order to apply European and/or international standards in the production of official statistics, management of funds to engage such expertise, publication of data on these countries and reporting on progress. Claudia also worked in business statistics and was leading the evaluation activities of Eurostat. Prior to joining Eurostat in 1999 she worked in the Statistical Office of Germany in the area of national accounts / input-output tables and managed a wide range of technical assistance projects and training programmes for countries in Central Europe and for countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (former Soviet Union).

Mariana Kotzeva has been the Director-General of Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union since 1 January 2017 and Deputy Director-General of Eurostat since July 2014. Prior to this appointment, between April 2012 and July 2014, she served as Adviser Hors Class coordinating Eurostat's external communication and responsible for the modernisation agenda of the European Statistical System ("ESS Vision 2020"). She also managed the Methodology, IT and Dissemination Directorate (2014-2015). Before joining European Commission, Mariana Kotzeva was President of the Bulgarian National Statistical Institute (2008-2012), associated professor at the University of National and World Economy in Sofia and visiting professor at the Central European University in Budapest. She also worked on a number of World Bank and UNDP projects concerning e.g. poverty mapping, evaluation of active labour market policies and Roma integration. Mariana Kotzeva holds a doctoral degree in statistics and econometrics from the University of National and World Economy in Sofia and completed an executive education programme at the Harvard Kennedy School.

She holds a master degree in Economics. She began her work at Statistics Poland in 1996 as an expert on standard classifications. Since 2008, as a deputy director of the  Methodology, Standards and Registers Department in Statistics Poland, she is responsible for quality in statistics, coordination in the field of methodological works, metadata and classification standards. She takes part in regular monitoring of implementation of the ES Code of Practice in Statistics Poland and she is involved in implementation of the TQM elements in the organisation.  In 2011 she was delegated (for one year) to the Permanent Representation of the RP to the EU in Brussels and worked there as an attaché responsible for preparation of Polish presidency in the Council of the EU in the area of European statistics and as a deputy chair of the Working Group on Statistics in the Council of the EU during Polish presidency. In 2015 she was involved in the ESS peer review as a chair of national coordinator team. She is a member of Director of Methodology Group (DIME), Standards Working Group and Steering Committee QUAL.

President of Statistics Poland. Graduated from School of Economics and Management at University of Szczecin (Poland). PhD in economics, statistics, econometrics time series analysis since 2003. Researcher at University of Szczecin. In 2008 – 2016 held a position of Director of Regional Statistical Office in Szczecin where conducted surveys on science, technology and innovations, information society as well as transport and communication. Considerable academic achievements and approximately one hundred scientific publications. Author/co-author of numerous scientific elaborations. Member of several intergovernmental working groups. He manages statistical cooperation with international organizations in Europe and world-wide and participates in the high-level meetings of United Nations, OECD and the European Union statistical systems.

Thomas Burg holds a master degree in Mathematics achieved at technical university of Vienna. After starting his professional career 1990 in the private sector he joined 1993 Statistics Austria where he gained 15 years-experience as methodological expert. In 2008 he was appointed as quality manager of Statistics Austria and since 2014 he is holding the position as head of the unit Quality Management and Methods. Besides his activities on European level as Austrian representative of the Directors of Methodology Group (DIME) and the Working Group Quality he was involved in the Task Force developing the 2nd round of Peer Reviews. He acted as project leader and co-chair of the program committee when Statistics Austria and Eurostat organized the European Conference on Quality in Statistics in Vienna 2014 (Q2014) and was a member of the program committee for the conferences in Helsinki (Q2010) and Madrid (Q2016).

Emanuele Baldacci is currently director of methodology, IT and corporate statistical services at Eurostat. From October 2011 to April 2015 he was the head of the integration, quality and research department in the Italian statistical office. Before that, he was a deputy division chief in the International Monetary Fund, a senior economist in the World Bank and also served as chief economist at SACE: the largest Italian trade finance group. He has a PhD in Demography from the Universities of Rome, Florence and Padua; he is the author of several scientific publications of fiscal sustainability, macroeconomic risk in advanced and emerging economies, population ageing and social protection and official statistics modernisation."

Agustín Cañada is since 2013 Director of the "Unit of Quality and Good Practices for the Official Statistics" at the National Statistical Institute (INE) of Spain and as such, he was Co-Chair of the Programme Committee and Chair of the Local Committee for the European Conference on Quality of European Statistics 2016 (Q2016). He began his work at the National Institute of Statistics in 1986, after passing the competitive exams to the Higher Body of State Statisticians.  Between 1987 and 2008 he was Deputy Director of the National Accounts Department at INE. He has also worked (2009-2012) at the Regional Statistics Office of Madrid, as Technical Advisor of Economic Statistics and Regional Accounts. He is a Founder Member of the Committee of Statistics and Satellite Account of the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). He has published several books and scientific articles on National Accounts, Input-output and Tourism Statistics. He co-authored the first Edition of the Eurostat I-O Handbook and authored the methodology of the Regional Tourism Satellite Account of the UNWTO. He holds a PhD in economics and he is currently associate Professor of economics at the Autonomous University of Madrid.

Eduardo Barredo Capelot has Academic degrees in Economics and Geography by the Universities of Madrid and London, respectively, and postgraduate studies at the College of Europe, in Bruges. He has developed most of his professional career in Eurostat, where he is currently the Director for Government finance statistics (GFS) and quality. He has worked in the areas of external trade and balance of payments statistics (also at the IMF), national accounts and government finance statistics, and business statistics.

Tasos C. Christofides is a Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics of the University of Cyprus. He completed his Ph.D. in Mathematical Sciences at Johns Hopkins University in 1987, under the supervision of Professor Robert Serfling. From 1987 until 1991 he was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at the State University of New York at Binghamton. In 1991 he joined the newly founded University of Cyprus and the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, becoming its first Chairman. His areas of expertise include indirect questioning techniques and probability inequalities. He is co-author (with Professor Arijit Chaudhuri) of a recent book on Indirect Questioning Techniques in Sample Surveys (Springer, Heidelberg 2013) and author of a number of papers on randomized response and indirect questioning techniques in general.  He has participated in a number of research projects and has provided consulting services for various organizations including the Statistical Service of Cyprus. He serves on various national and international scientific and expert committees, among them, the European Statistical Advisory Committee.

Domański Czesław is a Professor the Department of Statistical Methods in University of Lodz, Poland. His research interests are multivariate statistical analysis, construction of tests based on the runs theory and order statistics construction of statistical tables for selected non-parametric statistics based on exact distributions and recursive formulas, non-classical methods of statistical inference including the Bayes and bootstrap analysis and non-parametric inference, analysis of properties of multivariate normality tests, small area statistics, medical statistics, statistical methods on capital and insurance market, tests based on stochastic processes. Professor Domański has published more than 220 research papers in international/national journals and conferences. An author or co-author of 22 books including 15 monographs. He is an active member of many scientific professional bodies.

I am a survey statistician and have been working at Statistics Finland for more than 30 years, mostly within statistical methodology. The duties also led me to consider quality management issues as quality reporting is one part of our engagement. I have participated in the ESS Working Group on Quality since its establishment in 1998, however, in recent years, mostly following its activities. Similarly I have been a member of the Programme Committees of the ESS Conferences on quality in official statistics since 2006, and in 2010 I acted as the co-chair of the Q2010 ESS Conference in Quality, held in Helsinki. Furthermore, I have been one of the instructors of the ESTP Introductory course in quality management since 2007. I hold elected membership of the International Statistical Institute (ISI) since 2001 and the International Association of Surveys Statisticians (IASS) since 1990.

Professor habilitated doctor at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. In the years 2000-2012 Director of the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He studies social stratification, social research methodology and international comparative research. Author or co-author of 35 books, including: "Satisfied Slave, Study on Social Inequalities Between Men and Women in Poland" (1992), "On the Verge of Convergence" (2000), "Hierarchies and social barriers in the 1990s" (2000), "Social Structure" (2007), "European Communities" (2009), "Equal Inequalities in Social Welfare" (2013), "Prestige" (2015), "Polish Middle Class" (2015). Editor-in-Chief of the magazine “Ask. Research & Methods", devoted to sociological research methodology.

Mária Dologová - Director of Dept. Strategy and Integrated Information System in the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic. She is responsible for implementation and further development of the QMS in the whole SOSR according to ISO9001 standard, to requirements of the SOSR itself and of other systems and interested parties. Within development of the system she was responsible for the ES Code of Practice integration into the SOSR QMS. She is Management Representative in the area of quality and Quality Manager of the SOSR. M. Dologova is also responsible for the implementation and further development of the strategic management in the SOSR – i.e. for development, implementation and evaluation of the SOSR development strategies.

Eugeniusz Gatnar was graduated in economics from the Faculty of Management of the University of Economics in Katowice, Poland. In 2009 he was awarded the title of professor in economic sciences by the President of the Republic of Poland. He specializes in statistical data analysis and econometrics. He authored 170 scientific papers, including 7 scientific monographs. He had academic training in École Supérieure de Commerce de Toulouse, Arnhem Business School, University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, and University of Cambridge. Currently he chairs the Department of Economic and Financial Analysis at the Faculty of Finance, University of Economics in Katowice.  He was an adviser to the President of the National Bank of Poland (2007-2010) and then a member of the Board of the National Bank of Poland (2010-2016). Recently he is a member of the Monetary Policy Council.

Since 2002 he is full professor at the Rome University “Tor Vergata” and professor of Public Management at the LUISS university. He was Minister of Labour and Social Policies in the Letta Government (2013-2014), President of the Italian Statistical Institute (2009-2013), Director of Statistics and Chief Statistician of the OECD (2001-2009). He is the founder and Director of the Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development (ASviS). He is Senior Fellow of the LUISS School of European Political Economy, President-elected of the European Statistical Governance Advisory Board, member of the Global Commission on the future of work, member of the High-Level Expert Group on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress (HLEG). In October 2014, the President of the Italian Republic made him “Cavaliere di Gran Croce al Merito della Repubblica”, the highest ranking honour of the Italian Republic. Over the last few years, he was Vice-president of the High Level Group on Competitiveness and Growth of the European Council, Co-Chair of the “Independent Experts Advisory Board on Data Revolution for Sustainable Development”, member of the Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi Committee, President of the Global Council of the World Economic Forum on the "Evaluation of Societal Progress" and of the Conference of European Statisticians (UN Economic Commission for Europe). 

The President of the National Statistics Institute of Spain (INE) is the legal representative of the Institute. He is responsible for ensuring the compliance with the National Statistical Plan and the proper functioning of all the units of the INE.   He is also Director of the Electoral Census Office, Member of the Central Electoral Board, Chairman of the Municipal Registration Council, Vice-Chairman of the High Council on Statistics, Chairman of the Inter-ministerial Statistics Commission, Chairman of the Inter-territorial Statistics Committee, Chair of the Board of Directors of INE and Director of the official scientific journal " Spanish Statistics". PhD in Applied Economics from the Universidad Autónoma of Madrid. Degree in Economics and Business Studies from the Universidad Complutense of Madrid (1987-1992).

Professor of economic sciences, lecturer in Wroclaw University of Economics and universities abroad (e.g. Shanghai Jiao Tong University). His research concentrate on finance, risk management as well as econometrics and statistics. He is chairman of Department of Financial Investments and Risk Management and director of Finance Management Institute at Wroclaw University of Economics. He is founder and president of CFA Society Poland. He was member of Scientific Council of National Bank of Poland and member of Supervisory Board of Warsaw Stock Exchange. He advises and cooperates with numerous financial institutions and enterprises. In addition he is chairman of Committee of Statistics and Econometrics of Polish Academy of Sciences, deputy chairman of Committee of Economic Sciences of Polish Academy of Sciences and member of board of Committee of Financial Sciences of Polish Academy of Sciences.

Ms Sibylle von Oppeln-Bronikowski is currently Head of the strategic Department at the Federal Statistical Office of Germany (Destatis). She is responsible for strategic statistical issues, both national and European, especially related to Communication policy, Planning, Data Quality and R&D. After obtaining her diploma in economics, Sibylle joined Destatis in 1980 where she has fostered strategic innovations and developments on Quality and Communication. She has been invited to a preparatory round table in the run up to the high level conference “Power from Statistics” and co-authored an article on “new trends in communication” for an Outlook Report – the key input to this conference. Drawing on her longstanding expertise in official statistics and international affairs, Sibylle successfully co-chaired the Friends of the Chair on the implementation of the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics (FPOS) within the UN Statistical Commission. Sibylle is member of the scientific programme committee for IAOS2018 and of the advisory board on ethics of the ISI.

Zsuzsanna is leading the Quality Team of Eurostat and she has been active in the field of quality for the past eight years. Before joining Eurostat she worked for other services of the European Commission, the financial sector in Budapest, a multinational company in Paris and a non-profit organisation in Brussels. She is an economist, majored in finances, and holds her degrees from the Corvinus University in Budapest and the University of Passau. She is an (occasional) sailor, and was a long-distance runner and basketball player before.

Józef Pociecha is a full professor of statistics, demography and economics at Cracow University of Economics (CUE). For many years he served as the dean of Faculty of Management and vice-rector of CUE. He is elected member of the Committee of Statistics and Econometrics, Polish Academy of Sciences, the chairman of the Committee of Economic Sciences and Statistics, Cracow Branch of Polish Academy of Sciences and currently he serves as the President of Polish Classification Society. He is the author or co-author of 206 scientific publications. His scientific activity is concentrated on theory of statistical methods and its applications in various fields of economic and management research. Especially he is interesting in demographic investigations, theory and applications of data analysis and classification methods, probabilistic approach in auditing and bankruptcy prediction.

PhD in Physics, Jean-Marc Museux was teaching statistics at the Free University of Brussels and worked at Statistics Belgium till 2001.  He joined Eurostat in 2001 as a methodologist, specialised in survey sampling and time series analysis.  From 2004 to 2007, he was responsible for the production of Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC).  He was appointed Head of Section Methodology from 2007 to 2012.  In 2012, he became Chief Enterprise Architect in Eurostat contributing to the modernisation of the European Statistical System.  During his carrier he has participated in many international conferences and initiatives among others the UNECE Common Statistical Production Architecture.  He was coordinating the development the ESS Enterprise Architecture Reference Framework released in 2015.    He is a member of the programme Committee of the Quality Conferences since 2010.

Director General Statistics of the European Central Bank and Chairman of the Statistics Committee of the European System of Central Banks. Chairman of the Contact Group on Data of the European Systemic Risk Board. Before he was for 25 year working at the Oesterreichische Nationalbank,  13 years as Director of Statistics. He is (and was) member of several Austrian and European statistical bodies. He is Honorary Professor for Economics of the University of Economics and Business in Vienna, Austria; Lecturer at several academic institutions. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of South Carolina (USA) and a Master's degree in Business Administration from the University of Economics and Business in Vienna. Publications: The Credit-Anstalt Crisis of 1931 (Cambridge University Press), as well as over 50 articles on central banking, European monetary policy, statistics and monetary history.

Professor Włodzimierz Okrasa is a Head of the Research Methods and Evaluation Unit at the Institute of Sociology, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University (UKSW); Advisor to the President of the Central Statistical Office and Editor in Chief "Statistics in Transition new series". In the 70s and 80s he worked in the Polish Academy of Sciences, then in the American universities (1988-1990) and in the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (1990-1991). In 1991-1993 he was a Program Director in the Social Science Research Council, N. Y. He then worked at the World Bank in Washington, DC (1994-2000), including modernization of household surveys in 'countries in transition'. Next (2000-2003) he headed the Department of Social Sciences at the European Science Foundation. Elected member of  the International Statistical Institute; Vice-President of the Polish Statistical Association; In the years 2009-2014 Evaluator of the EC Framework Program (FP7) and a member of the OECD Accession Group. 

Andrzej Sokolowski, Ph.D., is a full professor and Head of Department of Statistics at Cracow University of Economics. For two terms he served as vice-rector of this University. His scientific activity is concentrated on application of statistical methods in such fields as economics and management, medicine, sports, politics and music. In theoretical statistics he is interested in mathematical statistics, multivariate analysis and medical statistics. He is an author of more than 60 chapters in books and monographs, 150 scientific papers and 140 contributions at conferences. For three terms he was the President of Polish Classification Society and for more than ten years he is a member of International Federation of Classification Societies Council.

Jean-Pierre Poncelet has an academic background in Management, Economics, Accounting and Tax matters. Most of his professional career has been spent in various public organisations at national and European level. He is currently Head of the unit "Statistics for administrative purposes" in Eurostat. He previously headed the unit "Quality, Government Finance Statistics" and was co-chair of the programme committee for the 2016 Quality Conference, which was organised together with INE Spain. He also headed the private office of Eurostat's Director General for almost five years, from 2010 to 2014.

Ineke Stoop has been the Chair of ESAC since 2014. She is Head of Methodology at The Netherlands Institute for Social Research¦SCP, a government agency which conducts research into the social aspects of all areas of government policy. She obtained her Ph.D. in social sciences from Utrecht University for a thesis on survey non-response. She is also Deputy Director Methodological of the European Social Survey. Dr Stoop is co-founder of the Dutch Platform for Survey Research, laureate of the 2005 Descartes Prize for Excellence in Scientific Collaborative Research, and an elected member of the International Statistical Institute. She has taught courses on non-response, survey design and comparative surveys, and has authored articles, chapters and books on the same topics.

She has been responsible for Istat’s quality policy and chief of Division on “Metadata, Quality and R&D projects” for several years. At present, she is Advisor to the Director of the newly established Data Collection Directorate. She has been a member of High level groups on quality at the international and European level contributing to the shaping of international quality frameworks and tools. She has been scientific coordinator of e-Frame project “European framework for measuring well-being” under the EU FP7 programme. She is the chair of the UNECE Supporting Standards Group for the modernisation of official statistics. She is the project coordinator of the MIMOD project (Mixed Mode Designs for Social Surveys) to enhance cooperation and quality in multi-mode data collection, which is currently under evaluation by Eurostat.

Maria João Zilhão, Director of the Planning, Control and Quality Unit at Statistics Portugal (INE), has been involved in Quality Management at the ESS since 1999, and member of several groups having participated in the LEG on Quality Group and on the Sponsorship on Quality. She has also been involved in the preparation of European quality tools such as the ESS QAF.  She has been a trainer in the field of quality in statistics at ESS level since 2001, and has also experience in international cooperation in the area of systematic quality management. She has been a member of the Programme Committee in previous editions of the European Quality Conference.