EuroPython Society

At this year’s EuroPython Society General Assembly (GA), planned for Sunday, December 1st, 2024, 20:00 CET, we will vote in a new board of the EuroPython Society for the term 2024/2025

List of Board Candidates

The EPS bylaws require one chair, one vice chair and 2 - 7 board members. The following candidates have stated their willingness to work on the EPS board. We are presenting them here (in alphabetical order by first name).

We will be updating this list in the days before the GA. Please send in any nominations or self-nominations to board@europython.eu. For more information please check our previous post here: https://europython-society.org/2024-general-assembly-announcement/

Please note that our bylaws do not restrict nominations to people on this list. It is even possible to self-nominate or nominate other candidates at the GA itself. However, in the interest of giving members a better chance to review the candidate list, we’d like to encourage all nominations to be made before the GA.

The following fine folks have expressed their desire to run for the next EPS board elections: Anders Hammarquist, Aris Nivorils, Artur Czepiel, Cyril Bitterrich, Mia Bajić, Shekhar Koirala.

Anders Hammarquist

Pythonista / Consultant / Software architect

Anders is running his own Python consultancy business, AB Struse, since 2019 and is currently mostly involved with using Python in industrial automation. He has been using Python since 1995, and fosters its use in at least four companies.

He helped organize EuroPython 2004 and 2005, and has attended and given talks at several EuroPythons since then. He has handled the Swedish financials of the EuroPython Society since 2016 and has served as board member since 2017.

Aris Nivorlis

Pythonista / Geoscientist / Data Steward

Aris is a researcher at Deltares, a non-profit research institute in the Netherlands, where he combines his expertise in geoscience with his passion for Python and data stewardship to address real-world challenges. His journey with Python started during his doctoral studies, where he became a passionate advocate for the language and supported several colleagues in adopting Python for their research.

Aris has been involved in the Python community for the past four years. He is the Chair of PyCon Sweden and has been a core organizer for the past three conferences. He was a EuroPython organizer in 2024, leading the Ops Team, an experience he describes as both challenging and incredibly rewarding.

Aris is running for the EuroPython Society (EPS) Board to work in shaping its future direction. He is particularly interested on how EPS can further support local Python communities, events, and projects, while ensuring the success of the EuroPython conference. Aris aims to build on the foundation of previous efforts, working toward a more independent and sustainable organisation team for EuroPython. One of his key goals is to lower the barriers for others to get involved as volunteers, organizers, and board members, fostering a more inclusive and accessible society.

Artur Czepiel (nomination for Chair)

Software developer

I started using Python in 2008 and attended my first EuroPython in 2016, and it’s been an incredible journey ever since. Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to contribute to five EuroPython conferences, including serving four terms on the board and chairing the conference last year.

Despite that, I still have new ideas for improvements and a couple of unfinished projects I’d like to see moving forward. :)

Cyril Bitterich

Operations dude / Organiser / Systems Engineer

Cyril’s first contact with the EuroPython community was back in 2019 in Basel during a break between workshops. Starting with helping prepare goodie bags, he went on to assist with setting up the conference location, and took on the role of a general runner during the event. After becoming a late addition to the Ops team in Dublin, he was part of the Ops and Programme teams for both Prague editions of the conference. His firefighting skills proved invaluable as he supported other teams and the general organisation, making him a de facto member of the 2024 core organisers team.

Enjoying the warmth of the community and gaining experience in a lot of different roles, it's now time for him to pass on the lessons he’s learned in a more structured way.  Having taken on smaller and ad-hoc leadership roles during the conference, he now aims to play an even more active role in the year-to-year operations of the EuroPython community.

With a background in successfully playing firefighter at organising capoeira events for 100 to 2000 attendees at locations all over the world (Asia and Antarctica are still on the to-do list 😉), and working with leaders, teams and attendees from diverse cultures, his knowledge and experience extend far beyond the last 3 years of EuroPython conference.

His goal is to bring more structure to the EPS as a whole and the conference teams where needed. A key focus is ensuring effective communication, be it through improving documentation or maintaining open and regular dialogue with the teams and everyone else involved Ultimately, he aims to help strike a healthy balance between the community-driven, volunteer spirit with the  professionalism expected from an established conference like EuroPython. However, the aim is not to disrupt or rebuild everything from scratch. Instead, he seeks to build on the strong foundation established by the board members active in the last years - while shamelessly taking full advantage of their counsel along the way.

This should establish a stable foundation within the EuroPython Society that can be adopted or directly used by other local communities in Europe. On the EPS side, this will hopefully open up resources to support other communities based on their specific needs.

Mia Bajić

Software Engineer & Community Events Organizer

I’m a software engineer and community events organizer. Since joining the Python community in 2021, I’ve led Pyvo meetups, brought Python Pizza to the Czech Republic, and contributed to PyCon CZ 23 as well as EuroPython 2023 & 2024. I've spoken on technical topics at major conferences, including PyCon US, DjangoCon, EuroPython and many other PyCons across Europe.

I’m running for the board to learn, grow, and give back to the community that has given me so much. The main topic I would like to focus on is sustainability. I value setting clear goals, fostering open and transparent culture, and delivering measurable results.

Inspired by the folks from the Django Software Foundation, I decided to share more about my background, motivations, and small improvements I’d like to see implemented this year on my blog: https://clytaemnestra.github.io/tech-blog/eps-elections.

Shekhar Koirala

Machine Learning Engineer

I joined EuroPython as a remote volunteer in 2022 and later became part of the onsite volunteer team in Dublin the same year. Over the past two years, I’ve worked with the Ops team, supporting other onsite volunteers. My volunteering experience also includes contributions to Python Ireland and PyData Kathmandu. This year, I attended PyData Amsterdam, PyCon Sweden, and a non-Python volunteer-led conference in Berlin, Germany, where I sought to understand what truly makes a conference great. I realized that, at the core, it’s the people and their love for the community that make a conference exceptional.

Whether or not I join the board, I will continue volunteering for EuroPython. But if I am selected as a board member, I aim to support volunteers and foster a wholesome environment, just as I have always experienced. I also want to strengthen the connection between EuroPython and the local community.

Professionally, I work as a Machine Learning Engineer at Identv, using Python for both work and hobbies. Recently, I delivered a talk and conducted a workshop at PyCon Ireland, and I’m excited to kickstart my open-source journey. Beside sitting in front of the computer, I love to hike, take photos and try not to get lost in the wild.

What does the EPS Board do ?

The EPS board is made up of up to 9 directors (including 1 chair and 1 vice chair); the board runs the day-to-day business of the EuroPython Society, including running the EuroPython conference series, and supports the community through various initiatives such as our grants programme. The board collectively takes up the fiscal and legal responsibility of the Society.

For more details you can check our previous post here: https://europython-society.org/2024-general-assembly-announcement/#what-does-the-board-do

We’re excited to invite you to this year’s General Assembly meeting! We’ll gather on Sunday, December 1st, 2024, from 20:00 to 21:00 CET. Just like in recent years, we’ll use Zoom, and additional joining instructions will be shared closer to the date.

The General Assembly is the highest decision making body of the society and EPS membership is required to participate. Membership is open to individuals who wish to actively engage in implementing the EPS mission. If you want to become a member of EuroPython Society you can sign-up here: https://www.europython-society.org/application/

You can find more details about the agenda of the meeting, as it is defined in our bylaws here https://www.europython-society.org/bylaws/ (Article 8).

One of the items on the Agenda is electing the new Board.

What does the Board do?

The Board consists of a chairperson, a vice chairperson and 2-7 Board members. The duties and responsibilities of the Board are substantial: the board collectively takes up the fiscal and legal responsibility of the Society.

A major topic is the annual EuroPython conference. While we would like to transition to a model with an independent organising team, we are not there yet. Therefore, the Board still needs to be involved in the conference organisation.

Beyond the conference, the Board also manages several critical areas, including:

• Managing EPS membership
• Overseeing finances and budgets
• Running the grant programme
• Maintaining infrastructure and resources

Furthermore, specifically for 2025, and following the recommendation from the previous Board, we would like to focus on four key topics that are important for the Society's future and sustainability:

• Hiring an Event Manager/Coordinator
• Selecting a location for 2026 and possibly 2027
• Strengthen community outreach
• Improving the fiscal and legal framework

Time Commitment

The Society is entirely volunteer-driven and serving on the board requires a significant time commitment. Everyone has a different schedule, so most of the work is usually done asynchronously. However, all board members attend the 1.5-hour board call held every two weeks in the evening, CE(S)T timezone. Everyone's time is valuable and please consider that the less time or effort you can dedicate, the more the workload may shift to other Board members.

All things considered you will need a few hours every week.

Who should apply?

You want to invest your time and knowledge into building a better structure for the EuroPython Society? Or you want to work on building connections between different Python-based communities? Then this might be for you! Please keep in mind the time commitments mentioned above.

You are not expected to be perfect in any of the skills needed and you will be supported in learning how things work. That being said, having experience in a non-profit organisation, whether within the Python world (such as EPS, PSF, DSF, local Python communities etc.) or any other similar organisation, would be beneficial for onboarding and understanding the organisational structure, culture and dynamics.

In the past having or willing to learn the following skills helped organising the conference:

• Good communication skills
• Organisation skills
• Experience organising events with more than 1000 people
• Working with volunteer-based communities
• Working in big teams

Why should you apply?

You get the chance to shape and influence the future of EuroPython

You gain skills useful to run non-profits in different European countries - including cross border challenges

You can help grow and empower local communities

You can build relationships and connections with fellow community members

You can build a more diverse and inclusive Python community by serving the mission of EuroPython Society

I am interested, what should I do?

If you’re considering running for the Board or nominating another EPS member, we’d love to hear from you! Although the formal deadline is during the General Assembly, we kindly request you send your nomination as early as possible to board@europython.eu. We will publish the initial list of candidates on Tuesday, 26th of November 2024. If you’re not sure if this is a good idea or not – please email anyway and we will help you figure it out! 🙂

If you're on our EPS Organisers' Discord, there's a dedicated channel for interested candidates. Please ask in the general channel, and we’ll be happy to add you.

You can find examples of previous nominations here: https://www.europython-society.org/list-of-eps-board-candidates-for-2023-2024/.

Your nomination should highlight why you want to run for the Board. What is your vision for EPS and in which projects you want to be involved. During the General Assembly, you will have the opportunity to introduce yourself and share with our members why you believe they should vote for you. Each candidate will typically be given one minute to present themselves before members cast their votes.

It sounds a lot, I want to help, but I can’t commit to that

That’s completely understandable! Serving on the Board comes with significant responsibilities, time commitments, and administrative tasks. If that’s not the right fit for you, but you’re still interested in supporting us, we’d love your help! There are many other ways to get involved. We have several teams (see 2024 Teams Description document, as an example) that work on conference preparations during the months leading up to the event, and we also need volunteers to assist onsite during the conference.

Your help does not need to be limited to the conference. Infrastructure and connections need to be maintained all around the year for example. Your time and support would make a big difference! Stay tuned to our social platforms for announcements about these opportunities.

Hi everyone! A warm welcome to the newly elected EuroPython Society Fellows in the third quarter of 2023.

• Nicolás Demarchi
• Raquel Dou
• Sebastiaan Zeeff
• Silvia Uberti
• Theofanis Petkos

EuroPython Society Fellows

EuroPython Society Fellows have contributed significantly towards our mission, the EuroPython conference and the Society as an organisation. They are eligible for a lifetime free attendance of the EuroPython conference and will be listed on our EuroPython Society Fellow Grant page in recognition of their work.‌

Nicolás has served on the board from 2021-2023, and he also served as a Vice Chair for the year 2022-2023. He not only transformed the way we run Operations for the EuroPython conference now but also helped shape the way our remote conferences were held in the years 2020 and 2021.

Raquel has served on the board from 2019-2023, and she served as the Chair from 2021-2023. There are plenty of things to be said about her contributions to the Python community; Nicolas Tollervey put them best in his email, nominating her for the EuroPython Society fellowship.

It's hard to find brief words to describe Raquel's contribution to our community (there's such a lot to write about). I also know that, as a board, you're all familiar with her extraordinary efforts, formidable leadership skills and compassionate ways of working, each of which individually would warrant a nomination. Furthermore, to say Raquel's chairing of EuroPython has been a revelation is an understatement. Thanks to her focus and guidance, EuroPython is more diverse, open minded and big hearted than ever (and it's important to acknowledge that we have so much more to do in this respect). Much of this progress is because Raquel understands that such conferences are not merely about technical talks, seminars or even just Python. Her depth and breadth in appreciating what "Python" or "programming" means, to the largest and most inclusive extent, means our conference is *only just starting* to take the first tentative steps towards a more balanced, expressive and (dare I say it) INTERESTING exploration of what "Python programming" means. This is Raquel's unique gift to our community. Fundamental to this gift is her refocus on the community first ethos of EuroPython. Fundamental to this gift is her appreciation of artistic, creative and expressive uses of Python, in addition to the inevitable technical aspects of coding. Fundamental to this is her enlarged and sophisticated appreciation that EuroPython isn't just blindly promoting the latest "cool thing", the usual "industry practices", or the tired "let me explain this framework" didactic telling of things while pointing at slides. There's a much larger, compassionate, thoughtful, colourful, diverse and broad-minded way to encounter a coding community, and Raquel leads us in such a direction. This is why I (personally) want to nominate Raquel, while encouraging the board to continue to make more progress towards Raquel's vision in this respect. To do otherwise would diminish our community and undo so much of the work that has been led and organised by Raquel.

Sebastiaan has volunteered with the EPS from 2021-2023 and is currently serving as a board member for 2023-2024. For the past two years, he has led our Financial Aid initiatives. Last year, he also helped shape our Code of Conduct policy and continues to be a member of the Code of Conduct committee.

Silvia has served on the board from 2020-2023. She helped the EPS immensely by managing a gazillion sponsors year after year. She also took charge of leading the grants WG and served on the Code of Conduct committee during her time as well. She constantly pushed for Diversity and Inclusion initiatives time over time.

Theofanis has volunteered with the EPS from 2021-2023 and is currently serving as a board member for 2023-2024. As a volunteer, he helped shape the Mentorship and volunteer programme and managed our helpdesk. Most importantly, he created a warm and friendly environment that our volunteers/ members feel comfortable contributing to.

The EuroPython Society Board would like to congratulate and thank all the above new Fellows for their tireless work towards our mission! If you want to send in your nomination, check out our Fellowship page and get in touch!

Many thanks,
EuroPython Society
https://www.europython-society.org/

We’re happy to announce our new board for the next term 2023-2024:

• Alexander Hendorf
• Anders Hammarquist (Treasurer)
• Artem Kisloskiy (Vice Chair)
• Artur Czepiel (Chair)
• Laís Carvalho
• Sangharshanan Veera
• Sebastiaan Zeeff
• Theofanis Petkos
• Vaibhav Srivastav

You can read more about them in their nomination post. We will publish the minutes and the video recording of the General Assembly 2023 soon.

Together, we will continue to serve the community and head off to the preparations for EuroPython 2024!

At this year’s EuroPython Society General Assembly (GA), planned for 1 October at 19:00 CEST, we will vote in a new board of the EuroPython Society for the term 2023/2024.

List of Board Candidates

The EPS bylaws require one chair, one vice chair and 2 - 7 board members. The following candidates have stated their willingness to work on the EPS board. We are presenting them here (in alphabetical order by first name).

We will be updating this list in the days before the GA. Please send in any nominations or self-nominations to board@europython.eu.

Please note that our bylaws do not restrict nominations to people on this list. It is even possible to self-nominate or nominate other candidates at the GA itself. However, in the interest of giving members a better chance to review the candidate list, we’d like to encourage all nominations to be made before the GA.

The following fine folks have expressed their desire to run for the next EPS board elections: Alessia Marcolini, Alexander Hendorf, Anders Hammarquist, Angel Ramboi, Artem Kislovskiy, Artur Czepiel, Daniela Cialfi, David Vaz, Dido Grigorov, Diego Russo, Laís Carvalho, Omotola Eunice Omotayo, Sangarshanan, Sebastiaan Zeeff, Stefania Delprete, Theofanis (Fanis) Petkos, Vaibhav (VB) Srivastav.

Alessia Marcolini

Pythonista / Software developer

Alessia is a Python Development Engineer at LUMICKS, where she is developing and testing AI algorithms for Cell Avidity. However, her passion for Python extends far beyond her professional life.

Since 2017, Alessia has been a dedicated volunteer within the Italian Python Community. She has been an integral part of the core organizers team of PyCon Italia, a role that has provided her with invaluable insights into community-driven event organization. Since 2018, she has been in the organization committee of EuroSciPy, the European Conference for Python in Science, while she also helped with the organisation of PyConDE & PyData Berlin in 2022. Throughout these roles, her main responsibilities included chairing the Financial Aid program, providing year-round assistance to attendees via the general Helpdesk and social accounts, and managing the media partners.

When not coding, she loves dancing, drinking black tea and good gin.

By joining the EuroPython Society Board, she hopes to bring perspectives collected during the years across the different organizations, and act as a reference point for the community, especially for newcomers and underrepresented groups. Secondly, through her extensive experience, she has observed that various Python conferences frequently face common challenges, like attracting a diverse audience or speaker lineup, or establishing protocols for the Financial aid programs.  While she believes in providing local organizers with the autonomy they need to shape their events according to their unique contexts and requirements, she recognizes the value of shared knowledge and best practices across the different Python communities in Europe.

As a board member, she will actively work to facilitate open channels of communication and collaboration among these diverse groups, allowing us to learn from one another and collectively tackle common challenges. Her vision revolves around empowering local organizers through the EPS, granting them access to a network of resources, expertise, and support.

Further reasons to vote for her: she is a cat person, she loves to write unit tests, and she is a big fan of 90s italo dance music.

Alexander Hendorf

Pythonista / Data Guy / Serial Organiser

Alexander joined the EPS spontaneously as auditor at EuroPython 2014 in Berlin when no one else felt like it. In the following five years he was an integral part of the EuroPython team, in particular as program chair,  and for two years as board member incl. co-chair.

Alexander was elected 2nd chairman of the German Python Software Association (PySV) in 2018. In this role, he is responsible for the German conference PyConDE, which he has co-organized since 2016.

To support Open Source Software in academia he was invited to join EuroSciPy in 2018. The Pandas documentation sprint was a good reason to establish the local PyData Südwest chapter thriving with more than 1600 members today.

In 2018, Alexander was named a PSF Fellow by the Python Software Foundation for his contributions to the community. In 2021 he was named a EuroPython fellow.

Alexander is responsible for data and artificial intelligence at the boutique consultancy Könisgweg. Through his commitment as a speaker, he is a proven expert in the field of data intelligence. He has many years of experience in the practical application, introduction and communication of data and AI-driven strategies and decision-making processes. He is very grateful that everyone at his company, Königsweg, in which he is also a partner, is in support of so many community activities.

Alexander is convinced it's time for EuroPython Society to take its mission to the next level - to act as a roof and institution of the European Python community - beyond the EuroPython conference. The EPS should become better at supporting local communities at a variety of levels in the future: e.g. diversity & outreach, organising community events, mentoring opportunities or infrastructure. With his candidacy, Alexander offers his expertise, experience and implementation power to make this a reality.

Anders Hammarquist

Pythonista / Consultant / Software architect

Anders is running his own Python consultancy business, AB Struse, since 2019 and is currently mostly involved with using Python in industrial automation. He has been using Python since 1995, and fosters its use in at least four companies.

He helped organize EuroPython 2004 and 2005, and has attended and given talks at several EuroPythons since then. He has handled the Swedish financials of the EuroPython Society since 2016 and has served as board member since 2017.

Angel Ramboi

Pythonista / Software Engineer / Gamer / Geek / Wanderer

Hi! My name is Angel Ramboi, I’m a seasoned engineer with more than 15 years experience designing and building software and web applications. I’m currently working mainly with Go, though Python and its community is where my heart is. ☺️

My first EuroPython was in Florence 2012 where I was blown away by the amazing community gathered around the conference and Python in general. It was like nothing I've ever experienced before and the energy was palpable in the air.

Since then I've attended eight EuroPythons, I've been an on-site volunteer in 2019 and 2023, and I was a remote volunteer and (briefly) part of the board of organisers for the 2020 edition. Looking forward to an amazing conference next year. 🚀

Artem Kislovskiy (nomination for Vice Chair)

Pythonista / Software Engineer / Life Enthusiast

Artem Kislovskiy is a polymath with a passion for physics, mathematics, programming, and more. In the past, he utilised Python to uncover unseen physical phenomena, and he currently employs it professionally to integrate various software components. He is a dedicated learner who enjoys imparting his knowledge to others, ranging from school children to professionals at conferences.

Artem became involved with the EuroPython 2023 organising team after attending and volunteering at last year's Dublin edition. He aspires to join the EuroPython Society Board to enhance and standardise the administrative and technical procedures, making them easily shareable and reusable for others. He believes that, working together with the community, we can collectively tackle common challenges and free up headspace for genuinely significant and creative tasks.

Artur Czepiel (nomination for Chair)

Software developer

I started using Python in 2008 and attended my first EuroPython in 2016. In 2017, at the conference in Rimini, I learned that help was needed with the website. I started contributing patches, and eventually refactored most of epcon – the conference website engine we used at the time.

Through that process, I noticed other areas that could be improved in the organisation. That led me to taking more responsibitilies and eventually joining the board in 2018. And then again in 2021, and 2022. In each term, I focused on refining our internal infrastructure and tooling, eventually replacing most of the software being used for both the EuroPython Conference and Society.

Additionally, I helped in the venue selection and negotiation processes for the 2019 and 2023 events. In 2022 and 2023, I contributed by also drafting the conference budgets.

Recently, the EPS has experienced significant growth. Hence, I believe this is the right moment to transition into a new phase, by expanding our horizons and actively seeking additional projects. Beyond solely managing the conference, my aim is to focus on important community aspects, automation, and potentially outsourcing parts of administrative tasks related to conference organisation.

Daniela Cialfi

Pythonista / Data Scientist /

Daniela Cialfi is a poly-maths and poly-economist with a passion for economics, physics, mathematics, programming, and more. In the past and until now, she utilised Python to uncover unseen both economical and physical phenomena, and she currently employs it professionally to integrate various perspectives from economics and physics.She is a dedicated learner who enjoys imparting her knowledge to others, ranging from student, at all educational levels, to professionals at conferences.

Daniela became involved with the EuroPython as a community member several years ago during my PhD period. She aspires to join the EuroPython Society Board to enhance, standardise and push forward the administrative, technical  and organisational procedures more easily, shareable and reusable for others, from newcomb to expert and professionists. She believes that, working together with the community and external experts, we can collectively tackle common challenges and free up headspace for genuinely significant and creative tasks and more.

David Vaz

Pythonista / Entrepreneur / Conference Organizer

Software developer for over 20 years, fell in love with python almost at the beginning of his journey. Django developer since 2007. He loves Python and Django so much he has been bringing developers to the community since then, ended up starting his consultancy firm around these technologies.

During DjangoCon Europe 2019 at Copenhagen he decided to take the next step helping the community, proposing to organize DjangoCon Europe 2020 in Portugal. He got more than he bargained for, ending up co-organising the first virtual-only DjangoCon Europe, repeating in 2021, and finally a hybrid DjangoCon Europe in 2022. His effort, together with the team around him, was rewarded with success, the last edition in 2022 had record breaking attendees with 500+ in person and 200+ online. To keep things going he is also co-organising DjangoCon Europe in 2024 in Spain Vigo, hoping to bring the Spanish community closer.

David is also contributing to the Portuguese Python Community, starting in 2022 the very first PyCon Portugal. His drive is to bring The Portuguese community forward, with a different city every year to increase the reach of the conference. The first edition was in Porto, leveraging on DjangoCon Europe 2022, this year it was in Coimbra, with participants from over 25 countries, and we are already preparing the next edition.

David is enthusiastic, committed and pragmatic. Throughout his personal and professional journey, he has always had a positive impact in every process he puts his mind on, influencing, building and empowering the people around him. He hopes to put his experience to good use in EuroPython Society.

Dido Grigorov

Pythonista / Software Developer

Dilyan Grigorov, shortly Dido, is a software developer passionate for Software Development, Data Structures and Algorithms and Generative AI. He is an advocate for open source and the Python language itself.

Dilyan has nearly 16 years of industry experience programming in Python and has spent 5 of those years researching and testing Generative AI solutions. His passion for them stems from his background as an SEO specialist dealing with search engine algorithms on a daily basis.

Dilyan has been currently a Computer Science student at the International University of Applied Science in Germany. He enjoys engaging with the software community, often giving talks at local meetups as well as larger conferences.

He is a dedicated learner who enjoys sharing his knowledge to others, ranging from newbies (beginners) to professionals at conferences. He has currently founded a small start-up called Algominder, which is building an interactive platform for interview preparation for software engineers.

In April 2022, he gave a talk at BrightonSEO about creating NLP programs with Python for content analysis and strategies for Search Engine Optimization. He also gave a talk in July 2023 about the newest features of Python 3.11 at EuroPython 2023 in Prague. He also has been part of the organisation process of different events for 10 years - from local meetups to different kinds of conferences.

Diego Russo

Pythonista / Principal Software Engineer

Hello, I am Diego Russo and I have been a software engineer since my career started in 2006: for the whole time I have been using Python in a variety of environments (web, automation, ML, scripting, etc..), I love open source and care about software quality.

I have been attending EuroPython since 2011, as this conference represents my annual appointment with the Python world. In 2022 I decided to give something back to the community and  I have been helping with the organisation of EuroPython, specifically in the comms, programme team and with mentorship programme.

Within my company (Arm Ltd) I started and have been running a Python Guild for almost 3 years with almost 1000 people in it: we organise biweekly presentations, workshops, summits, external speakers, etc... I am originally from Italy but I have been living in Cambridge (UK) since 2011.

I have a bachelor and master degree in computer science. Outside of work, I have a beautiful family with 4 kids. I like music and Cuban salsa dancing.

Laís Carvalho (lah-ees)

Software Engineer / Speaker / Diversity Advocate

Laís joined the EuroPython team of volunteers in 2020, a month before The Plague. She fell at home and came back to help more in 2022 and 2023. Beforehand, Laís was a Board member in Python Ireland. She helped organising several Python events such as the first FlaskCon, Pyjamas, PyCon Ireland, PyData Dublin meetups and others.

Laís works as a Software Developer using Python to build system's monitoring tools. Previously, she worked as a developer advocate for open source software.

Laís is passionate about supporting the generations of newcomers and making the Python Community in Europe a safe space where people can be themselves without fear or shame. More than a community of developers, we are a conglomerate of different people (and perspectives) united by our passion for Python.

As a board member, she would like to help make the organisation more sustainable. She is also interested in discovering ways the organisation can support more of the existing community around Europe, always keeping in mind values of honesty and kindness.

Omotola Eunice Omotayo

Community Manager/DEI and Tech Empowerment Advocate

I am Omotola Eunice Omotayo, a resident of Nigeria in Africa and a Computer Science graduate student pursuing an M.SC. in Program Management. I have over five years of experience as a community manager; I'm currently the community manager and one of the organizers of the Outreachy program. I have been leading the community team at She Code Africa for almost five years as a volunteer.

I advocate for DEI, Open Source, women's empowerment, and tech. I enjoy empowering underrepresented populations, developing initiatives, and supporting the tech community.

I have actively built and led diverse and inclusive community DEI events over the years, managed developer communities, and organized global physical, virtual, and hybrid events. With a strong track record, I value integrity, communication, and providing support.

I was a speaker at EuroPython 2023, where I spoke about "Career development through open source and community involvement" and facilitated the day two lightning session. It was a wonderful experience as I connected with wonderful people from Euro-Python, including the volunteers who worked hard to plan and make the event successful. This made me enthusiastic and interested in becoming a member, and I pledged to participate actively in the planning and organization using the knowledge I have gained over the years.

With my experience as a member of an underrepresented group, my career, my volunteer work, and my interests, I am excited to contribute my best expertise to the success of the EuroPython community and beyond.

My involvement in this board will promote inclusion and facilitate more involvement from underrepresented groups, as we have limited participation in leadership roles in the open-source community. I will present new initiatives to encourage their participation and methods for overcoming any obstacles individuals and the community may face. The result of my participation will be a change in the narrative and a positive outcome.

Lastly, I will bring in my perspective, gain from others.  I will also help manage the active participation of everyone in the assembly.

Sangarshanan

Developer/ Pythonista/  Meme maker

I am Sangarshanan, a Developer from Bangalore India! Right now my main passions are distributed systems and live coding music. I have volunteered for EuroPython during the 2020, 2022 & 2023 editions primarily in the comms team and on-ground. Also helped run Pydata Bangalore before 2020 and a bunch of other local conferences since then.

As a young developer I found conferences to be a revelation because it opened the way for a whole new community of people I thought I would never meet and being part of conversations that would shape projects used by NASA!! Also being around such kind and curious souls make me feel wholesome. I consider myself very lucky for that so now I would like other young passionate developers from different parts of the world to experience the warmth I did basking in the great glory of the Python people.

As a Society Board member I would really like to be involved in getting more and diverse voices in the conference. I would also really like for EuroPython to have more fun events by catering to after-work musings of Pythonistas by making some common open space events official!

Sebastiaan Zeeff

Software Engineer / Pythonista / Community Enthusiast

Sebastiaan first joined the EuroPython Society during the pandemic as a volunteer for the financial aid team. What he found was a community that made him feel right at home. As he feels that everyone should be able to participate in the EuroPython community, he has been a member and team lead of the Financial Aid team ever since. This year, he also joined the Code of Conduct Committee.

In his daily life, Sebastiaan is a Software Engineer for the Ordina Pythoneers and one of the three founders of Python Discord, a large online community of Python enthusiasts. In 2021, he was named a Fellow of the Python Software Foundation for his contributions to the Python community. Sebastiaan has a passion for teaching, knowledge sharing, giving talks, playing board games, reading books, and creating music.

As a board member, he would love to increase and promote diversity in the European Python community. Sebastiaan believes that a community can only truly be a community if we value the participation of everyone. That’s why he thinks that it’s important to amplify underrepresented voices and promote representation.

He would also like to explore the identity of the EuroPython Society beyond organizing EuroPython: What role can the EPS play in strengthening the Python community in Europe? One important aspect of that is fostering and maintaining relationships with local community organizers. There are already a lot of beautiful community initiatives in Europe; what can the EPS do to support them?

Finally, he thinks that it’s important to think about ways to make organizing EuroPython sustainable. With the increasing scale of the conference, it’s important to think about the scalability of the volunteer organization behind it to prevent burnout and the need for individual heroism. This may require making some difficult choices but he thinks that it is essential for the health of the organization in the long run.

Stefania Delprete

Pythonista / Data Scientist

Stefania has been involved in many free/open source projects and communities since 2010 (such as Linux and Mozilla), volunteered for PyCon Italia since 2017 and has been part of the NumFOCUS ambassador program.

She has a background in physics and worked as a data scientist and as a tech mentor/tutor for data-driven projects for non-profit organizations and in the public and private sectors.

She has experience coordinating local and national groups and cares about how people's attitudes and preferences match the tasks/projects.

Stefania is involved in social impact initiatives and would love to bring that attention to the EPS, ensuring that the resources available will serve the greater good, from promoting diversity and inclusion to addressing how technology can improve social issues.

She's passionate about jazz, animal welfare, consciousness studies, and lucid dreaming.

Theofanis Petkos (Fanis)

Software Engineer / Pythonista

Fanis is a software engineer, a pythonista and an open-source enthusiast who also loves devops and software engineering. He enjoys camping in nature, a long hike and a cold beer.

Fanis became involved with the EuroPython Society in 2020, when he was a speaker for EuroPython Conference. He joined the organizing team in 2021 when he was involved in the Financial Aid team and also served as a mentor. He hasn't stopped since then: since 2022, he has been the main drive behind the EuroPython Speaker Mentorship Programme & The Support Team. He will remember always last year with a smile, as he invited, welcomed and onboarded more than 70 volunteers to the EuroPython team.

He works to ensure that EPS, as a volunteer-led community, is connecting other communities, providing resources & knowledge to other organizers while ensuring diversity & inclusion for all of its members. He is also interested in expanding the EuroPython Society community, that's why he is passionate on welcoming new & existing volunteers in the team with a warm hug & a freezing joke :D

Vaibhav (VB) Srivastav

Basically a Labrador

Vaibhav (VB) is a Machine Learning Engineer at Hugging Face. VB democratises machine learning through Open Source in his day job and more. He has worked with Python and adjacent scientific communities for over a decade. He is an open-source enthusiast and thrives on building and running open-source communities. Python has been an integral part of VB's career and life.

He started by organising Python meetups in Delhi in 2016. He then volunteered for various PyCon across APAC (India, Philippines, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore and Indonesia). At the pandemic's peak, VB moved from India to Germany to pursue his master's and research in speech and natural language processing at the University of Stuttgart.

After a brief hiatus from volunteering, he joined the EuroPython 2021 volunteering team to help with the Sponsors team. He renewed his commitment to EuroPython by volunteering for the communications and programme team for the year 2022. Last year, he was elected to the board and served in the communications and programme team.

Through each chapter of his volunteering journey, VB has been lucky to have gotten the opportunity to work with some truly exceptional people. He thrives on the incredible people that he volunteers with at EPS. He finds joy in bringing people together and ensuring everyone finds their voice in the community (should they choose to). He has found life-long friends through EPS, for which he'll forever be grateful.

Should VB make it to the EuroPython Society board again, he'll spend his time and energy on making the EPS sustainable and bringing more accountability to the board. He'll strongly advocate for *everyone* on the board to be open and for us to take more responsibility toward supporting volunteers than in past years. He'd also work on EPS's relations with other European Python communities. Lastly, he'd like to use this year to work closely with volunteers and ensure that EPS has a steady stream of volunteers comfortable taking charge for the coming years.

Whether VB gets on this board or not, he'll continue to serve as a volunteer for EuroPython and work on the projects mentioned above as much as he can.

It is time to bring the saghetti back to life! (Watch this nervous 4 minute LT from Dublin)

What does the EPS Board do ?

The EPS board is made up of up to 9 directors (including 1 chair and 1 vice chair); the board runs the day-to-day business of the EuroPython Society, including running the EuroPython conference series, and supports the community through various initiatives such as our grants programme. The board collectively takes up the fiscal and legal responsibility of the Society.

At the moment, running the annual EuroPython conference is a major task for the EPS. As such, the board members are expected to invest significant time and effort towards overseeing the smooth execution of the conference, ranging from venue selection, contract negotiations, and budgeting, to volunteer management. Every board member has the duty to support one or more EuroPython teams to facilitate decision-making and knowledge transfer.

In addition, the Society prioritises building a close relationship with local communities. Board members should not only be passionate about the Python community but have a high-level vision and plan for how the EPS could best serve the community.

Following our previous call for EuroPython Society Board Candidates, we've received several self-nominations from our members.  We're not only excited to introduce these candidates to you soon but also delighted to formally invite all EPS members to attend attend this year's General Assembly, which will once again be conducted online to ensure broad member participation:

In recent years, we've observed lower turnout at our General Assembly meetings, and we recognise the importance of improving this. As an EPS member, your active involvement is crucial in shaping the future of our Society. We sincerely hope to see more participation from our members this year! By joining the meeting and exercising your vote in the next Board and important Society matters, you play a pivotal role in our decision-making process. Please note that the online meeting is exclusive to EPS members, but we will also record it and share it on YouTube for transparency.

A separate calendar invite containing the Zoom link will be sent to all members subscribed to this europython-members@python.org mailing list for your convenience. If you're an EPS member and haven't received the calendar invite, please reach out to us at board@europython.eu.

We sincerely appreciate your support for EPS and look forward to seeing many of you there!

Board Nominations

Each year during the GA, we hold elections for the next EPS Board of Directors. If you're an EPS member interested in running for the board or nominating someone else, please submit your nomination notice along with a brief biography. Although the official deadline for nominations is at the time of the GA, we kindly request that you email your nominations to board@europython.eu by Monday, 18 September  2023. To keep things transparent, all board nominations and nomination statements will be compiled here. So all members can already find information about candidates on this document, and we will also publish everything on a separate blog post before the GA.

For more details about the Board's responsibilities and the nomination process, please refer to our earlier Call for Board Candidates post.

General Assembly Agenda

You can access the draft agenda and a timeline overview here for reference. The agenda covers all the items specified in Section 8 of the EPS bylaws. We will continuously update it with links to reports as they become available and use it as a live minute during the General Assembly. Additionally, we will include any motions from the board and members. Once everything is updated, we'll send you another email by Monday 25 September 2023. We encourage our members to review the information in advance and raise any questions during the meeting.

Propositions from the board

• None at the moment.

Should there be any propositions from the board, they will be announced and made available to all our members by Monday 25 September 2023, as per Section 10 of our bylaws.

Motions from the members

• None at the moment.

All EPS members have the right to propose motions to be voted on at the GA.

If you want to raise a motion, please send it to board@europython.eu no later than Friday, 22 September 2023, , so that we can add them to the agenda. The bylaws require that members’ motions be announced at least 5 days before the GA and we will need time to clarify details and make the agenda available to our members accordingly.

Hope to see many of you at the EPS 2023 GA! ❤️🐍

Raquel Dou
EuroPython Society Chair
on behalf of the EPS board

It feels like yesterday that many of us were together in Prague or online for EuroPython 2023. Each year, the current board of the EuroPython Society (EPS) holds a General Assembly (GA). It is a precious opportunity for all our members to get together annually,  and reflect on the learnings of the past and direction for the future the Society holds.

This year’s GA will be held online again to allow as many members as possible to engage with us. We have tentatively reserved the date 1 October for the GA. But official confirmation will be sent out as soon as we receive the go-ahead from our auditor on the finance side.

As an EPS member, you are welcome  and encouraged to join us to discuss Society matters and vote at the meeting, including the next Society Board. A Zoom meeting link will be sent out to you with the formal General Assembly Invitation.

Calling for Board Candidates

Every year at the GA, we call for and vote in a new EPS Board of Directors. This is also our main theme of this post: we are calling for the next Board candidates.
This year, we have at least 4 members from the current board standing down, including myself who will be stepping down as chair and from the board. While transition always poses challenges, it is a chance to take in new experience, fresh perspectives and more diversity. With most, if not all, female board members from the current board stepping down, we are especially worried about the diversity of our next board and welcome all suggestions and nominations from our members to help make our next board diverse.

If you are interested in stepping up, or if you know someone who might be, please get in touch with us! You can reach the current board at board@europython.eu. We also have set up a private discord thread for you to get to know all interested candidates and ask any questions you might have. Get in touch with us if you would like an invite!

What does the EPS Board do?

As per our bylaws, the EPS board is made up of up to 9 directors (including 1 chair and 1 vice chair). The duties and responsibilities of the board are substantial: the board collectively takes up the fiscal and legal responsibility of the Society. At the moment, running the annual EuroPython conference is a major task for the EPS. As such, the board members are expected to invest significant time and effort towards overseeing the smooth execution of the conference, ranging from venue selection, contract negotiations, and budgeting, to volunteer management. Every board member has the duty to support one or more EuroPython teams to facilitate decision-making and knowledge transfer. In addition, the Society prioritises building a close relationship with local Python communities in Europe. Board members should be passionate about the Python community, and ideally also have a high-level vision and plan for how the EPS could best serve the community.

Time commitment for the board: as the Society currently comprises entirely volunteers, serving on the board does come with a significant time commitment. This is particularly important to keep in mind, due to the changes EPS will undergo this year. However, everyone has been very understanding of differing schedules. Other than the  1.5 hour board call we expect all board members to attend every two weeks,  we have managed to primarily work async.

The Nomination Process

All EPS members are eligible to stand for election to the board of directors . And everyone who wishes to stand or nominate others need to send in your nomination notice, along with a biography of yours.

Though the formal deadline for sending in your nomination is at the time of the GA, we would appreciate it if you could return it to us by emailing board@europython.eu by Friday 15 September 2023. We will publish all the candidates and their nomination statements on a separate blog post for our members to read in advance.

Then at the General Assembly, each candidate will usually be given a minute to introduce themselves before the members cast their anonymous votes. You can find out refer to our previous GAs if you want to find out more details: https://www.europython-society.org/records/

If you have any questions or concerns, you are also very welcome to reach out to me directly at raquel@europython.eu.

Raquel Dou

The 2023 version of the EuroPython conference took place both online and in person in July 2023. This was the first conference under our new Code of Conduct (CoC), and we had Code of Conduct working group members continuously available both online and in person.

Reports

We received three reports, only one of which was actionable:

1. An in person attendee pointed out that the original wifi password for the venue had “derogatory, sexist and potentially misogynistic” connotations in some variants of English slang, which the creators of that password were unaware of. Once this was pointed out, the password was changed to a more neutral one which took effect at the beginning of the next day.
2. There were various reports of attendees being rude to conference volunteers when they were not allowed to enter conference rooms that were at capacity. No specific individuals were identified or reported, so the response at the recommendation of the CoC WG was a forceful reminder at the start of each day that all attendees be mindful of the CoC and respectful of the volunteers.
3. There were reports catering staff being overheard to be rude to attendees asking about vegetarian/vegan food options. The response from the conference staff, with the support of the CoC WG, was to speak to the catering management to prevent re-occurrence.