Inspiration in Action — 13 Ashoka Fellows at Visionary Program in 2024-25

A defining part of the Ashoka Visionary Program is meeting Ashoka Fellows in person — social entrepreneurs who don’t just imagine change, but lead it at the systems level.

We intentionally invite diverse Fellows from across Europe — working on different causes, at different life stages, introverts and extroverts alike.
Each of them brings massive system-level change in their own unique way — and there’s deep wisdom in that.
We design the program so that every participant meets a seasoned changemaker they can see a part of themselves in — and grow stronger from it.

This academic year, participants met 13 Ashoka Fellows:

🇩🇪 Christoph Schmitz – Inspiring students to reconnect with nature and grow their own food through hands-on school gardening.
🇨🇿 Dagmar Doubravová – Advancing criminal justice reform through restorative principles.
🇷🇴 Dorica Dan – Building Romania’s rare disease care system.
🇪🇸 Gonzalo Fanjul – Reframing global migration through data and storytelling.
🇳🇴 Jimmy Westerheim – Fighting mental health stigma with vulnerability and peer support.
🇦🇹 Johannes Lindner – Embedding entrepreneurship in education across Europe.
🇩🇪 Max Oehl – Mobilizing youth to co-create modern democracies.
🇸🇰 Pavel Hrica – Helping families in poverty nurture early childhood development.
🇦🇹 Rebekka Dober – Empowering youth to shape their own futures.
🇨🇭 Sonja Betschart – Enable local Global South communities to use AI, satellite data and peer wisdom to tackle global challenges.
🇩🇰 Thorkil Sonne – Promoting neurodiversity as human diversity.
🇦🇹 Walburga Froehlichöhlich – Giving a voice to those with communication barriers.
🇨🇿 Zdeněk Slejška – Leading education reform to make learning meaningful.

🔍 These aren’t just inspiring talks — they’re moments of real clarity and connection.