2025 CONFERENCE

Introducing the speakers...

Jonathan Gresty 

Why Moving to a Poorer Country can Prove so Enriching  

For many years, he worked as an assistant professor at Presov University but since 2024, has been a freelance teacher, translator and writer. 

His first novel, Cudzincov kabát was published by IKAR in 2021 and the sequel, Iné názory is currently being prepared for publication and should be out by the end of this year. 

In his presentation, Jonathan would like to talk about the different factors which influence people in choosing where they want to live and why not prioritizing things like a country's GDP, or so-called standard of living, may be a good thing.

Marek Sabol

How uncertainty, risk, and creativity connect his work and passions 

Marek builds digital products, startups, and innovations across Europe. Currently at Vacuumlabs.

He's worked with various companies on product, design, and venture building, co-founded startups, advised creatives, and helped organize Slovakia's largest game dev conference.

An Aspen and Sokrates Institute alumnus, he's taught in Kyrgyzstan, led outdoor courses with Prázdninová škola Lipnice, and supported NGOs like Kandelaber in Bardejov.

He holds degrees from Masaryk University and the University of Warwick, has lived in five countries, and is now based in Prague—writing a book and preparing for his greatest startup yet: becoming a
dad. When offline, he's often climbing mountains, most recently in Bolivia and Vietnam.

At the conference, he'll explore how uncertainty, risk, and creativity connect his work and passions—
and why they're key skills for thriving in the 21st century 

Marta Breisky (née Šimková)

How to reach happiness in life

CEO and the owner of the first private language school in Bardejov -- The Foreign Language Institute (SJŠ Inštitút cudzích jazykov). The school was founded in 1991 by Marta and Arthur E. Breisky, an American lecturer, a Stanford graduate and a former U.S. diplomat. 

The school has been a great success from the very start, and, even today, after 34 years of existence, it still excels.

It is one of the elite language schools in Slovakia, and it has become a multiple laureate of the title Best Language School of Slovakia. The school is included in the network of schools of the Slovak Ministry of Education (2000). In 2015, Arthur recieved the highest state award in the field of education -- the Great Medal of Saint Gorazd from the Slovak Minister of Education.

The Breiskys created a U.S. High School Study Scholarship Program and enabled 52 students from their language school to live in the U.S. for one year and study at prestigious private high schools in the U.S.A. free of charge. 

In July 2024, the American Ambassador to Slovakia Mr. Gautam A. Rana, during his official visit to Bardejov, honored Marta and Art Breisky (an American citizen) by inviting them to lunch and expressing his appreciation for their achievements. A quote from his thank-you letter: 

" I was deeply touched by your remarkable life story and the incredible work you have done with your language school and the exchange programs you have helped facilitate. It is no overstatement to say that your work forever changed the lives of hundreds of young people from Bardejov and the region for the better by opening new horizons and opportunities for them." (Gautam A. Rana, American Ambassador to Slovakia, 2024)

Besides SJŠ ICJ, Marta simultaneously worked as a teacher of Slovak and English at the GLS Gymnázium in Bardejov (1981-2013). In the school year 1993/1994, she was a Fulbright Scholar and exchange teacher, and as such she taught English at Tabb High School in Yorktown, Virginia, U.S.A.

That was a life breakthrough experience, which sped up her personal and professional growth enormously, and, after completing one school year teaching in the U.S.A., she came back to her Bardejov students as a much better version of herself.

Marta's presentation will be about how to reach happiness in life. She will offer a shortened version of her life-long quest for happiness through kindness, love and authenticity, since what really counts (and, not only at the end of life) is not WHAT we are but WHO we are.

Peter Mikula

The world of animal behaviour and interdisciplinary research

A former GLS student born in Bardejov, Peter Mikula is a behavioural ecologist and macroecologist fascinated by how animals respond to our rapidly changing world. 

After earning his PhD at Charles University, he continued his research across Europe, Africa, and the United States, including fellowships at the Technical University of Munich, the Max Planck Institute, the Czech Academy of Sciences, and the University of California, Los Angeles, as a Fulbright Scholar. 

He has also worked under the mentorship of two contributors to the Nobel Peace Prize-winning IPCC reports. He currently works as a researcher at the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague and has received multiple prestigious awards for his scientific achievements.

His research focuses on animal behaviour across large spatial and taxonomic scales, urban ecology and biodiversity, phenology, and the use of citizen science, passively crowdsourced online data, "big data," and modern methods (e.g., machine learning and artificial intelligence) in ecological and evolutionary research. 

He has authored 67 scientific publications, including articles in Nature Sustainability, Nature Communications, Ecology Letters, and PLOS Biology. When not studying birds or biodiversity, Peter enjoys sports, hiking, travel, and collecting and reading books.

In his talk, Peter will introduce you to the world of animal behaviour and interdisciplinary research—
and their practical applications.