University of Silesia in Katowiche, Poland

Katarzyna Węsierska is an Assistant Professor at the University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland and a speech-language therapist at the Logopedic Centre in Katowice. She is a European Fluency Specialist and a coach of the EU postgraduate course European Clinical Specialization in Fluency Disorders (www.ecsf.eu). In her research and clinical practice, she focuses mainly on fluency disorders. She is an author and co-author of numerous of publication in the field of Speech Pathology. She collaborates with international organizations and researchers from different countries to disseminate knowledge and improve social attitudes towards fluency disorders. She has been actively involved as a leader of Polish academic partners in numerous studies conducted in the framework of the International Project on Attitudes Toward Human Attributes – IPATHA (West Virginia University, USA) as well as in other international research projects (e.g. in a cooperation with University of Central Florida, USA or University of Alberta, Canada). At the 11th Oxford Dysfluency Conference Dr. Węsierska was awarded the David Rowley Award for International Initiatives in Stuttering

Hilda Sønsterud is a speech-language therapist (SLT) and a clinical researcher (PhD) in Norway. Hilda is a certified European Fluency Specialist (EFS), and she works primarily with treatment and clinical research related to stuttering and cluttering. She runs workshops and courses within the field of fluency disorders, and she is lecturing and providing supervision at four universities in Norway: University of Tromsø, University of Science and Technology (Trondheim), Nord University (Bodø) and University of Oslo. Her PhD-project at the Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, entitled “Stuttering therapy; What works for whom?” is a wider-ranging treatment study of individualized stuttering management tailored to the participants’ personal goals and preferences. The therapy format was grounded in practice-based evidence, and in context-sensitive considerations of what makes a difference to a particular person at a particular time point. Hilda has investigated the therapeutic alliance within stuttering therapy, and she is particularly engaged by how clinical research within the field of fluency disorders are defining evidence. Hilda is an international representative for the International Cluttering Association (ICA) in Norway.