A closer look at recent independent consulting work: keynotes, faculty training and advisory across Latin America, Africa and beyond.
This is where the story continues today — for the fuller career arc, see International Activities.
Watch conference recordings on YouTube →
2025 · UNIB.E — Universidad Iberoamericana del Ecuador
International keynote speaker at the IV International Congress UNIB.E 2025: Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The talk argued that AI is not a threat to higher education — the real risk lies in failing to adapt — and explored what that means for institutional mission, relevance and graduate outcomes.
2025 · Universidad Andina del Cusco
Online session with faculty on the role of artificial intelligence in higher education — part of a series of four sessions delivered across Latin America in a single month, marking the shift from awareness to sustained, practical implementation.
2025 · USAC — Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala
Keynote to nearly 100 professionals and educators on AI ethics — covering dependence on technology, bias in data and plagiarism in the age of generative tools, and the responsibility educators carry to shape how AI is used in learning environments.
2025 · Universidad Iberoamericana del Ecuador
A conceptual session on why AI belongs in higher education and its ethical dilemmas, followed by a hands-on session exploring six AI tools — encouraging faculty to move past the tools themselves toward meaningful integration into teaching and learning.
2024 · America Hub Israel / Gordon Academic College
Developed and facilitated a Training-of-Trainers using VR and immersive rooms, followed by the culmination of an 8-workshop STEM series with 80 teenagers who designed and built four-wheeled cars — 3D design, electronics and programming — then raced their creations.
2024 · UPC — Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas
Session reaching a full in-person classroom plus 224 online participants: innovation isn't just technology, it's designing for participation and critical thinking; educators need practical tools, not just theory; and context — cultural, economic, institutional — always matters.
2024 · America Hub Israel / Gordon Academic College
A workshop series bringing together youth from East and West Jerusalem to learn 3D design, electronics and programming — built around equity and access as much as skills, creating a rare space where Jewish and Arab students meet, collaborate and learn from one another.
2024 · Caucasus University, Georgia
Presented at the 2nd International Annual SQUARE Conference on the “Third Mission” of universities, using Israel's higher-education system as a case study — examining its Council for Higher Education structure and three distinct institutional models.
2023 – 2024 · Mitrelli – Focus Education
Visits to nurses' training centres and higher-education institutions in Angola — including ISP Jean Piaget de Benguela — examining the system from the inside. Continuous professional training for nurses, so often on the front line of care, and stronger higher-education partnerships are both key to building the human-capital foundation Angola needs.
2023 · eLearning Africa
Participation in the continent's leading digital-learning conference — a ministry roundtable and workshop on good practice in digital learning, shared on stage with Eli Vinokur of Gordon Academic College of Education.
Alongside independent consulting, Damian also advises national and regional strategy processes as part of his foundation roles — for example, contributing to the strategic framework behind national initiatives such as DORNA, Israel’s new leadership program for the Druze community.
2026 · Menomadin Foundation
Accompanying a strategic process for the Kinneret-Amakim regional cluster: shared language, common values, collective vision, and a model for measuring and scaling regional collaboration.
2026 · Menomadin Foundation
Supporting a long-term growth strategy for the city of Ofakim as it plans for population growth toward roughly 100,000 residents over the next decade.
2025 · Menomadin Foundation
A regional leadership program empowering 18 municipal CEOs across Haifa Bay to lead coordinated socio-economic transformation.
2025 · Municipality of Netivot / Menomadin Foundation
A multi-year strategic process for quality education and municipal strategy development in Netivot — starting with a two-day seminar in Jerusalem with the city's educational leadership to build a shared vision, now carried forward as an ongoing municipal work plan.