Aaron Rasmussen is an entrepreneur, inventor, and game designer. He’s best known as a founder of educational platforms MasterClass and Outlier.org, the latter known for creating impactful for-credit online college courses to promote affordable, equitable education. At MasterClass, Rasmussen was both Creative Director and CTO, creating courses taught by notable experts and directing many himself.

He previously founded and sold an industrial robotics company and a beverage company. The video game he co-wrote, BlindSide, has won multiple awards and is being adapted into a film. He speaks and writes on education, innovation, art, and the intersection of all with artificial intelligence.

Though rooted in the tradition of documentary photography, Monteleone is drawn to intangible themes that, in his view, reveal essential questions about contemporary society. His work combines pedagogical insight with interpretative storytelling, encouraging viewers to question, investigate, and reflect. Monteleone sees his role as a “curiosity trigger,” inviting audiences to look beyond the surface and engage in a deeper exploration of the world.

Alex Beard is a critically acclaimed writer and educator. His book Natural Born Learners is a user's guide to transforming learning in the twenty-first century, taking readers on a dazzling global tour into the future of education, from Silicon Valley to Seoul, Helsinki to Hounslow. After starting out as an English teacher in a London comprehensive, he completed his MA at the Institute of Education before joining Teach For All, a growing global network of organizations working to ensure that all children fulfil their potential. He is fortunate to spend his time travelling the world in search of the practices that will shape the future of learning and has written about his experiences for the Guardian, Financial Times, Evening Standard, Independent and Wired.

Amy Mackinnon is a staff writer for Foreign Policy magazine. She began her journalism career as a freelancer in her native Scotland before moving to Moscow, where she joined the media start-up Coda Story as senior editor. Amy received a 2018 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia award for her reporting on homophobic vigilantes for the radio documentary “Russia’s New Scapegoats,” co-produced by Coda Story and Reveal. Her work has been published by BBC Radio Scotland, Slate, CNN, and Vice, among others. She has a master’s in Russian and East European studies from the University of Glasgow and Corvinus University of Budapest, and a master’s degree from the Newmark Graduate School of Journalism. Although she is originally from Scotland, Americans can understand her accent just fine. Really.

Anshel Pfeffer has been reporting on Israeli and international affairs for twenty-two years. He is currently a senior correspondent and columnist for Haaretz and the Israel correspondent of The Economist, as well as reporting regularly from Israel for The Times, The Sunday Times and The Jewish Chronicle. Over the course of his career, he has covered politics, security, education, religion, the Jewish diaspora, as well as reporting from over thirty countries.His critically-acclaimed biography, Bibi: The Turbulent Life and Times of Benjamin Netanyahu was published in 2018.

Abaas Mpindi is the CEO of the Media Challenge Initiative (MCI), a Ugandan based organisation building the next generation of journalists in Uganda. Mpindi believes that good journalism can make the world a better place through the stories journalists tell and how they tell them. Under MCI, Mpindi oversees the MCI Media Hub, MCI Radio and Solutions Now Africa, platforms that are amplifying media innovations and using solutions journalism to challenge negative narratives about Africa. Mpindi's story has been published in the Huffington post, CNN African Voices and in 2018 his work was put on spotlight by President Barack Obama in his #Mandela 100 lecture in South Africa. Mpindi is a 2024 Elevate Prize Winner,  2023 Africa Visionary Fellow, 2018 Obama Leader, 2018 Tony Elumelu Entrepreneur and a Young Emerging Leaders Program Fellow.

Abduweli Ayup is a writer, activist and linguist specializing in Uyghur language education. He spent nine years lecturing in Northwest Minzu University and Xinjiang Financial and Economics University. Abduweli opened language schools and kindergartens in the city of Ürumchi and Kashgar in 2011. Following his arrest in August 2013, accused of promoting separatist activity, Abduweli spent 15 months in detention, before fleeing from China to Turkey with his family. In 2016, Abduweli founded Uyghur Hjelp, a non profit Uyghur human rights advocacy, documentation and humanitarian aid organization. Since 2019, Abduweli has lived in Bergen as a writer-in-residence through the ICORN program. He has published six books in Uyghurs. His first English book will be published in September 2024 by Silkie Publishing House.

Adam is the founder of Neuhaus Ideas, an ideas production company. Before that, Adam spent 7+ years as head of development for 30for30, ESPN Films and ESPN+ developing and producing 100+ storytelling projects across feature length documentaries, docuseries, scripted adaptations, digital series, and 30for30 Podcasts.  Adam is longtime supporter of the Ghetto Film School, previously serving on the Board of Directors and currently serving on the Advisory Board. Adam also serves on the Board of Directors for the Bushwick Film Institute and proudly serves as a mentor for Unlock Her Potential.

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Adam Pincus is an award-winning creative executive with a background that includes scripted and nonfiction television, narrative and documentary film, audio and digital content. He has been an independent producer, a network executive and head of an independent studio. Along the way he’s been awarded a Peabody, an Emmy, a Webby, a BDA Gold for broadcast design, and the Cannes Lion; his projects have been nominated for Gotham, Independent Spirit, and Academy Awards. In 2019, Pincus founded Best Case Studios, a producer of narrative audio series, film and TV, which has included two innovative “podcast movies” for C13Features. Prior to Best Case, Pincus helped found Topic Studios, where he was Executive Vice President, Programming & Content. He is an Adjunct Professor at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and in the Entertainment, Media and Technology Program at NYU’s Leonard H. Stern School of Business. He has been a writer for numerous film publications and Contributing Editor for FILMMAKER Magazine.

Ahsan Akbar is a writer, entrepreneur, and socio-cultural organiser. He is a founder-director of the Dhaka Literary Festival. His critically acclaimed debut poetry collection, The Devil's Thumbprint, is taught at SOAS University of London. He guest-edited special issues for Granta, Wasafiri and Tank. He has written extensively for various newspapers, including The Guardian, Financial Times, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Review of Books, Scroll, Telegraph India, and The Spectator. He is the founder of Symmetry Productions, a creative agency for artists in London. Akbar is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Aigerim Berdibaeva is a journalist, documentary filmmaker, media specialist, communicator, and blogger. Currently, she works as a journalist at "Azattyk Media," where she hosts the "Daniste" program and also anchors the "Eje-Sindiler" program. Aigerim Akylbekova produces programs on social issues. Aigerim Akylbekova has worked as a communicator on various UN projects in Kyrgyzstan and implemented campaigns in the media to promote women's rights.

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Alejandro Aravena graduated as an architect from Universidad Católica de Chile in 1992. Between 2000 and 2005 he was a professor at Harvard University, where he founded Elemental, a "Do Tank" founded in 2001. Elemental is led by Alejandro Aravena along with partners Gonzalo Arteaga, Juan Cerda, Victor Oddó, and Diego Torres.

In 2010 he was named Honorary International Fellow of the Royal Institute of Architects. Since 2011, he has been a member of the Council of the Cities Program of the London School of Economics. In 2014, he gave a TED Global Talk. Aravena's and Elemental's works have been recognized by awards including the Silver Lion at Venice Biennale (2008) and the Gothenburg Award for Sustainability (2017). In 2016, Aravena was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize and was the Curator of the XV Venice Biennale. Since 2020, he has been the President of the Pritzker Prize Jury.

Alexandre is a machine-learning researcher and engineer at Open Evidence, a Tbilisi-based startup building automated tools for media and information landscape analysis. He is a graduate of the AI program at Northeastern University with an interest in hybrid warfare and tech for civil society, currently focusing on media bias extraction and quantifying the info-sphere.

Alexandre Kordzaia, known professionally as Kordz, is a Georgian electronic music producer, composer, and performer born in Tbilisi in 1994. Raised between Georgia and Switzerland in a musical family, he developed an early passion for both classical and contemporary music. Kordz's music blends classical influences—such as Maurice Ravel and Igor Stravinsky—with electronic and funk icons like Prince, James Brown, and Ryuichi Sakamoto. His work spans genres including downtempo, ambient, and experimental electronic music, often incorporating orchestral elements. His signature piano sounds— minimalist yet emotionally resonant—serve as the backbone of his compositions, weaving intricate melodies that bridge the gap between analog warmth and digital precision. With over 3.8 million total streams as of April 2025 , Kordz continues to shape Georgia's electronic and classical music scenes, offering a distinctive sound that defies traditional genre boundaries. For those interested in exploring modern Georgian music, Kordz offers a compelling entry point into the country's vibrant electronic and experimental scenes.

Alice Zhuravel is a Ukrainian social researcher and entrepreneur who engages in cross-disciplinary activity aimed at fostering positive, cohesive, and sustainable futures. Over the past two years, in response to the polycrisis following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Alice has been actively engaged in humanitarian and social work. Drawing upon her professional background at the intersection of humanitarianism and creativity, this year Alice founded TOZHSAMIST, a social initiative that’s an experiential platform for multidisciplinary discussion aimed at creating a more cohesive and sustainable future. Raised in Ukrainian society as a biracial person, Alice brings to the forefront an intercultural and multi-perspective mindset. Alice studied History (BSc: Kharkiv, Ukraine), and researched Ukrainian Identity as a fellow at CIRCE (Creative Impact Research Center Europe, Berlin, Germany).

A journalist specializing on women’s rights and gender equality in Kyrgyzstan. Bachelor’s degree from American University in Central Asia (Journalism and Mass Communication) and Master’s degree from Syracuse University (Public Administration). Experience in working as a journalist since 2012. Besides journalism, Aliya has worked for a number of international organizations based in Bishkek (Internews Kyrgyzstan, Soros-Foundation Kyrgyzstan, ACCELS, etc.) as a producer, communications specialist and media expert.

Aman Sethi is the Editor in Chief of openDemocracy and the author of A Free Man. He was previously the Executive Editor for Strategy at BuzzFeed News and Editor-in-Chief of HuffPost India. His work spans tech, labour, migration, conflict and surveillance and has appeared in Granta, the Guardian, The New York Times, The Hindu, and Foreign Policy.

Andrey Babitskiy is a journalist. Before leaving Russia in February 2022, he has reported and provided political commentary for a number of Russia's (then existing) media of record. After moving to Tbilisi, Andrey has been working on a podcast, «Снова никогда» (“Never, again”), dedicated to the ethical and historical aspects of the man-made catastrophe we are living through. His article ახალი ხორცი [Fresh Meat] has made the case for learning and speaking Georgian.

Anna Myroniuk is the head of investigations and a cofounder at the Kyiv Independent. She is an award-winning journalist who investigated wrongdoings in the Ukraine army's leadership. Myroniuk also ran projects on political and corporate misconduct, illicit tobacco trade, and fraud in healthcare amid the Covid-19 pandemic. She has been extensively covering Russia's war against Ukraine since 2014.

Anna Reismann is the Country Director for Uganda and South Sudan at Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. Anna has been actively involved in European and International Cooperation for more than a decade. From 2008 to 2010 she was working as a Deputy Country Director of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in Ukraine before managing a Brussels-based project of the European Network of Political Foundations (ENoP) on the EU enlargement towards the Western Balkan countries. Since 2012 she has served as Policy Advisor Andean Countries, Central America and Mexico at the headquarters of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in Berlin, Germany. She spent two years (2016-2017) with her family in Rwanda.Anna holds a Diploma Degree in Languages, Economics and Cultural Studies from the University of Passau. She speaks German, Russian, English, Spanish and Ukrainian.

Anusha Alikhan is Chief Communications Officer at the Wikimedia Foundation, the global nonprofit that operates Wikipedia, one of the top 10 most visited websites in the world. Before joining the Wikimedia Foundation, she was communications director for Knight Foundation, a leading funder of journalism and media innovation. She previously served as a communications officer with the United Nations advancing global peacekeeping initiatives, and has worked as a freelance journalist and editor covering local news and events in New York City. Before that, Anusha practiced employment and human rights law in her hometown of Toronto, Canada. She serves on the boards of The Communications Network and National Urban Fellows.

Anya Schiffrin is the director of the Technology, Media, and Communications specialization at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a senior lecturer who teaches on global media, innovation and human rights.  She writes on journalism and development, investigative reporting in the global south and has published extensively over the last decade on the media in Africa. More recently she has become focused on solutions to the problem of online disinformation, earning her PhD (with honors) on the topic from the University of Navarra. She is the editor of Women in the Digital World, (Routledge, April 2023) Global Muckraking: 100 Years of Investigative Reporting from Around the World (New Press, 2014) and African Muckraking: 75 years of Investigative journalism from Africa (Jakana 2017) She is the editor of Media Capture: How Money, Digital Platforms and Governments Control the News (Columbia University Press 2021.) Dr. Schiffrin's work with economist Haaris Mateen on the valuation of news has been cited in the Atlantic, Financial Times, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Washington Post and many other publications. She is a leading thinker and commentator on AI and publishing, media sustainability as well as mis/disinformation and media impact.

Armando Iannucci is a writer, director, and broadcaster whose critically acclaimed work spans television, film, radio, and stage. In 2005, Iannucci created the BBC series 'The Thick of It'. The show received widespread recognition, earning 13 BAFTA nominations and 5 wins. The success of the series also led to the 2009 film 'In the Loop', which earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. Armando then went on to create the HBO series ‘Veep’. The show explored the American political system through the character of Selina Meyer, winning several prestigious awards, including four Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series.

In 2017 he published 'Hear Me Out', a new book on classical music and released the feature film ‘The Death of Stalin’ which received 2 BAFTA nominations and won Best Comedy at the European Film Awards. In 2019, he directed ‘The Personal History of David Copperfield’, which won Best Screenplay at both the WGBA and BIFA, while also earning a Golden Globe nomination.

Iannucci returned to HBO with ‘Avenue 5’, a sci-fi comedy about a luxury space cruise ship that goes off course, starring Hugh Laurie. The series was nominated for both a Golden Globe and an Emmy.

In 2024, Iannucci adapted Stanley Kubrick's ‘Dr. Strangelove’ for the stage, reimagining the film as a live theatrical production. The stage version received acclaim for its bold take on Kubrick’s political satire and marked Iannucci’s return to working with Steve Coogan, with whom he created the character, Alan Partridge.

Arwa Damon is a five-time Emmy winning former CNN Senior International Correspondent. While her career has taken her across the globe, she is best known for her coverage of the Middle East, especially out of Iraq and Syria, and for the human stories she brings into her reporting. She is also the recipient of numerous Peabody Awards, the Investigative Reporters and Editors award for her coverage of the 2012 attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi, and the prestigious “Courage in Journalism” award by the International Women’s Media Foundations. In 2015 Arwa founded her charity, the International Network for Aid, Relief, and Assistance, INARA, that provides comprehensive holistic medical and mental health care for children impacted by war and natural disasters who otherwise would not be receiving treatment. In 2022 Arwa parted ways with CNN to direct and produce the award-winning documentary “Seize the Summit” and focus on growing and expanding INARA. She is also a non-resident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council.

Aziza Raimberdieva is a digital editor with expertise in data and visual storytelling. She founded one of the first data teams in Central Asia at Kloop.kg. She worked on impactful projects which were awarded and shortlisted for Cannes Lions and Sigma Awards. Now Aziza is RFE/RL's Levin-Utkin Fellow.

Bao Nguyen is an Emmy-nominated Vietnamese-American filmmaker whose work has appeared on HBO, Netflix, the New York Times, and ESPN among many others. He directed Be Water, a deep dive into the life and journey of Bruce Lee, which competed in the U.S. Documentary Competition category at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and was broadcast nationally on ESPN, becoming the most watched ESPN 30 for 30 film ever. His latest film, The Greatest Night in Pop, a feature documentary about the making of the seminal global hit song, "We Are the World", world premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival and launched globally on Netflix. In addition to his directing work, he is a partner at EAST Films, a production company based in Vietnam looking to elevate Vietnamese cinema domestically and abroad.

Barış Altıntaş is an Istanbul-based journalist. Early on in her career, she worked for different news agencies and newspapers in Ankara and Istanbul including the Economic News Agency (EBA) and Turkish Daily News, reporting on politics, women's rights and science. Later, she moved on to working as a freelance journalist, contributing to websites of newspapers and civil society groups such as Tageszeitung and Index on Censorship, writing on freedom of the press and politics. She worked as a justice reporter for various outlets between 2016-2018. She is a co-founder and currently co-director of the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA), which offers legal assistance to journalists in peril and professional support to journalists and lawyers who work on free speech cases.

Becky is Coda Story’s Senior Audio Producer. She produced and co-wrote Coda’s podcast series for Audible – ‘Undercurrents: Tech, Tyrants and Us’. Before joining Coda Becky spent 25 years with the BBC as a foreign news producer, for radio and TV. She was based in South Africa and Kenya for 7 years, and before than spent many years in Asia. With the BBC she produced the award-winning ‘Blood Lands’ podcast, a true crime story set in rural South Africa. She also produced BBC News’ first virtual reality news documentaries and is especially interested in using spatial sound to create immersive experiences.

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Betelihem Melkamu Essa's story begins in Geza, a rural village in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR) of Ethiopia, where she spent the first decade of her life in a close-knit community without electricity, running water, or cell phones but with love, community, and hope. In 2015, at the age of 10, Essa was adopted and moved to Mexico City with her mother. She attended The American School Foundation, where she was a member of the Cross Country and Track and Field teams. After three and a half years, they relocated to California, where Essa attended Girls Middle School and Menlo School. Essa held roles in student government and at Object, a non-profit organization that hosts inspirational talks by successful women to empower young girls. In 2020, Essa was selected as a T-Mobile ChangeMaker for her work with Object, participating in workshops co-led by John Legere and Nadya Okamoto. She has decided to attend Skidmore College in the fall, and she's incredibly excited and proud about it.

Branko Brick started his book publishing career in 1984 in what was then Yugoslavia. The highlights included the complete works of William Shakespeare, Complete Greek Tragedies and Miroslav’s Gospel, the Serbian nation’s holiest book, which was included in Unesco’s Memory of the World upon re-publication. In South Africa, Branko launched, and edited, several publications, including the magazines Timbila, Brainstorm, Maverick and Empire, and the newspaper 168, South Africa’s final weekend newspaper. In late 2009, Branko launched Daily Maverick, an online daily with readership of 12-million monthly unique visitors as of 20 March 2023. In June 2018, Branko won Nat Nakasa Award for Media Integrity, considered South Africa’s premier journalism award. The #GuptaLeaks, Daily Maverick’s most famous contribution so far, in collaboration with amaBhungane and News24, brought many more awards, among them the 2019 Global Shining Light Award, shared with Maria Ressa’s The Rappler in Philippines.

Branko Brick started his book publishing career in 1984 in what was then Yugoslavia. The highlights included the complete works of William Shakespeare, Complete Greek Tragedies and Miroslav’s Gospel, the Serbian nation’s holiest book, which was included in Unesco’s Memory of the World upon re-publication. In South Africa, Branko launched, and edited, several publications, including the magazines Timbila, Brainstorm, Maverick and Empire, and the newspaper 168, South Africa’s final weekend newspaper. In late 2009, Branko launched Daily Maverick, an online daily with readership of 12-million monthly unique visitors as of 20 March 2023. In June 2018, Branko won Nat Nakasa Award for Media Integrity, considered South Africa’s premier journalism award. The #GuptaLeaks, Daily Maverick’s most famous contribution so far, in collaboration with amaBhungane and News24, brought many more awards, among them the 2019 Global Shining Light Award, shared with Maria Ressa’s The Rappler in Philippines.

Cate Adams is the Vice President at Warner Bros. Pictures

Cristian Lupşa is the founder and editor of DoR (Decât o Revistă), a quarterly magazine devoted to narrative journalism and telling the stories of modern day Romania. He also writes, lectures, and trains people on the transformational impact true stories can have on a culture still seeking its identity. Cristian graduated from the University of Bucharest in 2003, and then, in 2005, earned an MA in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia, the world’s oldest journalism school. He returned to Romania in 2007, and joined Esquire Romania as a senior editor. In 2009, Cristian and a group of rebellious journalists started DoR, a magazine – though some would call it a movement – predicated on the idea that good nonfiction storytelling can change people and communities. In 2011, continuing the mission of DoR, they started The Power of Storytelling, an international storytelling conference which has grown to be the largest in the region. Cristian is also an alumni of Aspen Institute Romania’s Young Leaders program. He spent the 2013-2014 academic year as a fellow at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.

Carole Cadwalladr is a renowned Pulitzer-nominated journalist for the Guardian, feature writer for the Observer, and Cambridge Analytica investigator. She formerly worked at The Daily Telegraph, and was nominated for numerous Press Awards.

Cadwalladr was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for National Reporting in 2019, receiving praise upon her investigation and coverage into Cambridge Analytica and its role in Brexit. Cadwalladr’s sheer dedication in exposing a nexus of corruption that resulted in Mark Zuckerberg being called before Congress, and exposing Cambridge Analytica’s role in mass-harvesting data to influence elections (Brexit and Trump), goes far beyond the question of Remain or Leave. Her investigation also interrogates the role we have been puppeteered to play in a 2017 Britain that took its first step into an undemocratic world.

In April 2019, Cadwalladr gave a TED talk, “Facebook’s role in Brexit – and the threats to democracy”, regarding her the links found between Facebook and the Brexit election.   This talk led to worldwide acclaim but it also sparked a three year long lawsuit which was won by Carole in June 2022.  This case was one of several brought against her and other leading journalists and they are thought to be motivated by powerful individuals and firms to tie up the press in expensive and time consuming legal defenses (these are called SLAPP suits).

Also in 2019, she was featured in the acclaimed Netflix documentary ‘The Great Hack‘ – this Bafta nominated film explored the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal, produced and directed by Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer.

Cadwalladr has won other awards, including the British Journalism Awards: Technology Journalism Award in December 2017 and The Orwell Prize for political journalism in 2018. She is the author of The Family Tree, published in 2006 and was shortlisted for the 2006 Commonwealth Writers Prize.  She is currently at work on a new book.

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Cesar Kuriyama, the visionary behind 1 Second Everyday, began his career as a director and VFX artist, crafting visual narratives that captivated audiences. His personal endeavor to capture the essence of daily life by recording a second of video every day—a practice he's faithfully maintained for over 12 years—was introduced to a global audience through his TED Talk in 2012 with over 2 million views. This sparked widespread interest and led to the creation of the 1SE app, empowering others to embrace a similar journey. Today, under Cesar's guidance, the 1SE team, comprised of 16 dedicated humans from around the world, passionately develops tools that enable individuals to chronicle and deeply connect with their own stories and experiences.

Born in Peru and raised in the United States as a math and science nerd, Cesar's love for storytelling eventually led him to study multiple artistic disciplines at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. Before launching 1SE, he worked in the advertising world with notable clients like BMW, Verizon, and the NFL. His personally produced work has garnered millions of views and been featured in Fast Company, Wired, CNN, and The New York Times. He has also taught courses at NYU and Pratt Institute.

Imagine a movie that includes every day of the rest of your life.

Christopher Wylie is a social researcher and data scientist. He has served as a senior adviser in both the British and Canadian governments, and has extensive experience using technology to improve communication and citizen engagement. With an avid interest in cultural applications of technology, his postgraduate research focused on fashion trend forecasting. Christopher is the former Director of Research for Cambridge Analytica and SCL Group, which was a UK-based military contractor specializing in information warfare. He witnessed firsthand how culture, information and algorithms were being weaponized by militaries, governments and companies to undermine elections around the world. In 2018, Wylie worked with The Guardian and New York Times as a whistleblower to expose how social media data was being exploited and turned against ordinary citizens. His testimonies at the United States Congress and British Parliament served as a wake-up call for many and have quickly led to new legislative proposals in both countries.

Cinthia Membreño is the Audience Loyalty Manager of CONFIDENCIAL, an independent Nicaraguan media outlet working in exile, in Costa Rica. She leads its Membership Program and yearly donation campaigns, as well as the initiatives that bring journalists and readers together.

Claudia Milne is senior vice president, Standards and Practices for CBS News and Stations, where she oversees all CBS News editorial standards and ensures they are being maintained across all CBS News, stations and digital platforms.

David Owen co-founded IDEA in 2009 with his partner Angela Hill. The company began by sourcing rare vintage art and design reference books for the fashion industry, with retail spaces in Colette and Dover Street Market, London. Interest in IDEA grew rapidly via Instagram and the company turned to publishing with titles by photographers including Willy Vanderperre, Alasdair McLellan, Glen Luchford and brands like Palace Skateboards, Vetements, Stussy and Gucci. IDEA also began to produce merchandise including bags and hats and apparel. IDEA shirts and sweatshirts are now carried in 40 stores worldwide. IDEA also consults on Instagram and social media for a number of companies and runs a motion graphics studio. 2019 will see new books published by Self Service, Harmony Korine for Gucci, Purienne and Harley Weir.

Dani Tabukashvili is a political scientist and cultural studies scholar. The focus of her research is on collective memory, places of remembrance, and historical memory formation in Georgia. She works at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and coordinates projects in the fields of political education and social development. As a native of Tbilisi, she has always been fascinated by the urban legends and stories of her city. She witnessed the dramatic events in Georgia following the collapse of the Soviet Union, which profoundly changed the country's culture and identity. In her free time, she works as a tour guide and enjoys sharing these stories with others.

Darya is a teacher, artist, and charity and relief worker. A graduate of the philology department at St Petersburg State University. While in Russia, Daria started Russki Kak Prostoy – a project aimed at providing Russian language lessons to adult migrants and refugees. She has held art performances since 2013, edited two collections of feminist fairytales, and organised anti-military festivals in Finland, and numerous feminist and environmental initiatives. At the end of 2020, Daria was designated a "foreign agent" by the Russian government. Daria has been living and working in Tbilisi for the last three years.

David Belt is the Founder and Managing Principal of Macro-Sea (founded in 2009) where his projects range from traditional real estate development of at-risk projects to the repurposing of abandoned spaces and public art projects that showcase new ways to think about public objects or urban design problems, Macro-Sea has had work exhibited in the Venice Biennale in 2012 and the MoMA Design and Violence exhibition in 2015. David has executed projects in Rome, Paris, Berlin, throughout the US and in a refugee camp in Uganda. David is also the Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Newlab. Founded in 2016, Newlab is home to more than 250 deep tech startups and over 1,000 entrepreneurs and inventors working together to address critical challenges in energy, mobility, and materials. They collaborate with leaders across industry and government with a new vision for technology-led economic development that drives meaningful progress for all. Newlab has flagship locations in New York City and Detroit. In 2020, he sold his company DBI (founded in 2002) to his employees. DBI works at the intersection of project management, development, real estate and consulting. He currently serves on the board of Pioneer Works (Vice Chair) where he is overseeing the building of New York City’s first public observatory.

Davide Monteleone is a visual artist, researcher, and National Geographic Fellow whose work spans photography, visual journalism, writing, and interdisciplinary projects. His practice explores complex themes, including geopolitics, geography, identity, data, and science. Originally from Italy, Monteleone spent over a decade in Russia between 2000 and 2021, where he developed his early series and published four acclaimed monographs: Dusha (2007), Red Thistle (2012), Spasibo (2013), and The April Theses (2017).

Monteleone’s work has been featured in prominent publications such as National Geographic, Time, and The New Yorker and exhibited in renowned venues, including the Saatchi Gallery in London, the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris, and the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome. His 2022 project Sinomocene, a data-driven investigation into China’s economic expansion, materialised as both an exhibition and a book, furthering his commitment to narratives that merge visual storytelling with investigative research.

In 2024, he completed Critical Minerals—Geography of Energy, an exploration into the geopolitical and environmental stakes of energy transition resources, which continues his examination of climate and economic impacts on a global scale.
Among Monteleone’s numerous accolades are the Leica Oskar Barnack Award (2024), the Deloitte Photo Grant (2024), the National Geographic Fellowship (2019), the Asia Society Fellowship (2016), and the Carmignac Photojournalism Award (2013). He holds a Master’s in Art and Politics from Goldsmiths, University of London, and is actively engaged as a curator and educator across various public and private institutions.

Dzmitry Hurnievic is a correspondent in Prague for RFE/RL's Belarus Service. He graduated from the Institute of Media Education and Journalism of the Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw. He worked for Polish Radio (2006-2016) and Belsat TV (2007-2016). He has been with RFE/RL since 2016.

Emily Goligoski is Research Director for the Membership Puzzle Project, a collaboration between the Dutch journalism platform De Correspondent and New York University. She previously worked as a user experience research lead in The New York Times newsroom and brought design research to the Mozilla Foundation. Emily completed her Master’s in Learning, Design & Technology at Stanford while conducting user research at Intel Labs. She previously worked at Chicago Public Radio (WBEZ) and studied journalism at Northwestern.

Ed Caesar is a staff writer for The New Yorker. He is the author of two books, most recently The Moth and the Mountain, which tells the story of a solo attempt to climb Everest in 1934, and was named a Times and Sunday Times book of the year, among other awards. As a journalist, he has covered war, organised crime, financial crime, and some more enjoyable things, like DJs, tennis matches, and the world's largest diamond. Kevin Costner once asked him if he was "anxious to die". He is not.

Ekow Eshun is a writer and award-winning curator. He is Chairman of the Fourth Plinth, overseeing Britain’s foremost public art programme,  and the former Director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London. Described by Vogue as ‘the most inspired – and inspiring – curator in Britain’, his critically acclaimed exhibitions include “In the Black Fantastic” at the Hayward Gallery, and the landmark “The Time Is Always Now”, at the National Portrait Gallery, a major study of the Black figure and its representation in contemporary art. He is the author of the memoir Black Gold of the Sun, which was nominated for the Orwell Prize for its exploration of race and identity and is a contributor to publications including the New York Times, Financial Times and the Guardian. He is a judge for the Turner Prize 2024 and was a member of the jury for the British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2024. He holds an honorary doctorate from London Metropolitan University.

Elena Nechaeva is a journalist, producer, blogger, and media trainer. She has been working in television journalism since 2012. Since 2019, she has been actively involved in the digital transformation of traditional media and creating new media on various internet platforms. She is the author of a YouTube blog about disinformation and propaganda. She has been producing the Sisterhood program since 2021 and works on repackage the project for different platforms.

Eliza Anyangwe is Managing Editor of CNN’s multi-award-winning gender inequality reporting team As Equals, and co-founder of The Gender Beat, a collaborative project to promote nuanced, impactful gender journalism and build a supportive community for those who produce it. Before joining CNN in February 2021, she was Managing Editor of The Correspondent, a platform for constructive, member-funded, ad-free journalism. Eliza has spoken about gender, journalism or international development on stages from SXSW to TED Global; has written for The Guardian, Al Jazeera and the FT; and has appeared on Newsnight, BBC World Service, PRI’s The World and Our Body Politic, among others. She is a contributing author to Africa’s Media Image in the 21st Century, published by Routledge.

Emanuele Del Rosso is an Italian communication specialist and award-winning political cartoonist. He is currently Head of Communications with the European Press Prize, and Deputy Director of the European Cartoon Award. He publishes his cartoons in several magazines and online newspapers. Among them: Le Monde, Washington Post, Courrier International, Charlie Hebdo, Le Temps, The Japan Times, and the Nation. Since 2016, he has been a member of the Cartoon Movement, and since 2020 a member of Cartooning for Peace. In 2018, he won the second prize in the political cartoon competition “Libex 2018”. He won the Italian “Strike” competition for young talents. In 2019, he won the second prize in the “Inktspotprijs 2019”.

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Emily Bell is Founding Director of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia Journalism School, Leonard Tow professor of Journalism, and a leading thinker, commentator and strategist on digital journalism. The majority of Emily’s career was spent at Guardian News and Media in London working as an award winning writer and editor both in print and online. As editor-in-chief across Guardian websites and director of digital content for Guardian News and Media, Emily led the web team in pioneering live blogging, multimedia formats, data and social media ahead, making the Guardian a recognized pioneer in the field. She is co-author of Post Industrial Journalism: Adapting to the Present (2012) with C.W. Anderson and Clay Shirky. Emily is a trustee on the board of the Scott Trust, the owners of The Guardian, a member of Columbia Journalism Review’s board of overseers, an adviser to Tamedia Group in Switzerland, chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Advisory Council on social media, and a member of Poynter’s National Advisory Board. She lives in New York City with her husband and children.

Emma Lacey-Bordeaux is a seasoned journalist, speaker and teacher. She serves as Senior Director for Standards and Practices at CNN and teaches ethics at Georgetown University. In her career Emma has distinguished herself with enterprise reporting and strong leadership. Her work has garnered multiple awards including an Emmy and multiple Peabodys. In 2018 she produced a groundbreaking documentary, The Feminist on Cellblock Y,  that continues to be taught in colleges, high schools and middle schools across the United States.

Since 2017 she has called Washington DC, home but she hails from Atlanta, Georgia and has family roots in Texas, Michigan and New York. She lives with her husband, two cats and a dog. She loves biking, hiking, yoga, visiting DC’s many museums and hosting elaborate dinner parties.

Erica Benner is a political philosopher and historian of ideas. Born in Tokyo, she grew up in Japan and the UK and has taught at Oxford, Yale, and the LSE. Erica currently teaches at the Hertie School for Governance in Berlin and LSE Ideas in London. Her fifth and most recent book, Adventures in Democracy: The Turbulent World of People Power (Penguin Allen Lane 2024), was a Financial Times pick for What to Read in 2024. Her other books include Be Like the Fox (Penguin Allen Lane 2017), a biography of Machiavelli that was shortlisted for the Elizabeth Longford Prize and a BBC Book of the Week.

Erica Hellerstein is a senior reporter with Coda Story. She joined the newsroom in 2020, after spending nearly a decade covering politics and human rights across the U.S. and Latin America for media outlets including The Washington Post, The Atlantic, The Guardian, Marie Claire, Elle, The San Francisco Chronicle, and the San Jose Mercury News.

At Coda, she’s reported on the growing climate grief movement, historical memory in the American South, the expansion of surveillance along the U.S.-Mexico border, and the U.S. librarians caught in the crosshairs of book bans, among other subjects. In 2022, her Coda feature comparing historical reckonings in Germany and the United States won the Online News Association’s award for explanatory reporting. Other work has been recognized by the Society of Professional Journalists, the Society of Environmental Journalists, the Southern Environmental Law Center, the Association for Alternative Newsmedia, and the Clay Felker Prize for Excellence in Longform Journalism. She received her B.A. from the Johns Hopkins University and a Masters in Journalism from the University of California, Berkeley.

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Erzsébet Barát has been the Recurring Visiting Professor in the Department of Gender Studies, CEU since September 2000. She acted as Associate Professor in the Department of English, University of Szeged, Hungary until her retirement in May 2023. She earned her PhD in Linguistics from the Social Sciences Faculty, Lancaster University, UK in 2000. Her research interests include feminist critical theory, queer and transfeminism, relational models of identity, and the relationship between language, power and ideology, with a focus on hate speech and anti-gender politics.

Between 2011 – 2024, she acted as Founding Editor-in-Chief of the Hungarian open access journal, TNTeF: Interdisciplinary e-Journal of Gender Studies; the only academic journal of feminist scholarship in the country. She launched and organized the annual gender studies conference in Hungary at University of Szeged from 2005 to 2021 and acted as founding director of the specialization of ‘Gender through Literatures and Cultures in English’ of the MA in English Studies (2009-2023). She has been invited to run courses in MA and PhD programs across Europe, most recently in 2023 at the University of Sundsvall, Sweden and in 2025 at the Maria Grzegorzewska University, Warsaw, Poland. She has been awarded the Käthe Leichter Guest Professorship in Gender Studies, Universität Wien, Austria in 2013 and 2023. She regularly participate in international research projects; most recently in “Bodies in Transit: Genders, Mobilities, and Interdependencies” funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitivity (2018-2022), and the COST Action Project, “Decolonising Development” (CA 19129)  (2020-2024).

Her academic performance has been acknowledged by Nobilia, the Gender Studies Award, by the Gender Studies Forum, Mid Sweden University, Sundsvall in November 2022, and her perseverance as a scholar by the UNESCO Chair Jubilee Medal by Maria Grzegorzewska University, Warsaw for "relentless research activism in support of gender studies and women's and minority rights" in March 2024. She is a regular contributor to edited volumes and journals in English and Hungarian – both abroad and in Hungary.

BIOGRAPHY OF FADY ASLY

-Chairman of ICC Regional Consultative Group (North Africa, Broader Middle East, Caucasus, Central Asia) since 2023
-Member of the Board of Trustees of Dobrodeearium Ukraine since 2022
-Member of UNICEF Business Advisory Board since 2022
-Special Representative of the ICC Global Secretary-General for the Caucasus and Central Asia since 2021
-Chairman of Channel Georgia Consulting since 2016
-Member of the Investor's Council under the Prime Minister of Georgia since 2015
-Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Georgian Mines and Energy since 2012
-Chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce in Georgia since 2008
-Chairman of Agritechnics Holding since 1998

Author of:
-Life with Scorpions-2016
-Mirrors and Illusions- 2020

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Fay Nurse is a journalist and filmmaker with the BBC World Service’s Specialist Hub, where she produces high-impact, long-form multimedia content on topics including gender and identity, religion, the environment, population, and cyber-security. Her project "Georgia’s Stolen Children," released in January 2024, has garnered over a million views on YouTube and reached an additional 6 million people through the BBC news websites.

Fran Shea, the former president of E! Entertainment Television, is currently a media consultant with expansive experience in building high performance content companies. A brand creation specialist, Fran is a skilled executive with expertise across media, possessing a broad range of experience in business, product development, content creation at scale and audience building. Fran got her start at HBO as a writer/producer where she won an Emmy for documentary production. She is a founding member of the team that created the cable channel E! Entertainment Television which she programmed for 9 years before becoming president of that channel. She is also credited with the early ideation and development of HBO’s Comedy Channel. As an independent consultant she returned to HBO to found and develop HBOlab which pioneered digital content production in the early days of YouTube and social media. She expanded her consultancy to provide television and digital content, brand and channel development to clients including Hello!/Hola! TV, Viacom channels, Time Warner, and Sony Pictures Television. Fran recently ended a six year contract at Sony where she rebranded and revised the programming and show development at the Game Show Network. She has since returned to independent consulting.

Raised in Germany and trained by Haarmann & Riemer (now Symrise), Geza has worked as a perfumer with Diesel, Ormonde Jayne, Baldessarini and Boris Bidjan Saberi. His cutting-edge synthetic ingredients have placed him at the center of some of the 21st century’s most dynamic fragrances, from cult favorites like Boudicca Wode and Paper Passion, to the breathtaking opulence of the beautiful mind series. Geza is the driving force behind the bestselling Escentric Molecules brand, a project that highlights the often ovelooked Iso E Super aroma-molecule known for its velvety and cocooning effect. Geza is known for pushing the boundaries of the fragrance industry and collaborates with artists across the creative spectrum. Working with German artist Wolfgang Georgsdorf he created the Smeller, a piano-like instrument that allows the user to play their own “aromascapes.” Sometimes outrageous, always outspoken, and truly unique, Geza Schön is living proof the future of niche perfume is bright.

Galen Hooks is a VMA-nominated choreographer, performer, and director who has worked with over 70 artists, from Camila Cabello, Justin Bieber, The Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus, to Janet Jackson, Britney Spears, Usher and Rihanna. Her theater work includes Associate Co-Choreographer for the Broadway revival of Dreamgirls. Producing credits include America’s Got Talent  (Associate Consulting Producer), The Voice (Associate Performance  Producer), Disney Channel Presents: Radio Disney’s Family VIP Birthday  (Executive Producer and Creative Director), and YouTube’s “Masterclass“ (Consulting Producer and Host). She has won multiple World Choreography Awards and performs everywhere from The Oscars, The Guggenheim and the Super Bowl, to iconic music videos. Galen now shares invaluable knowledge through her life-changing  intensives, The Galen Hooks Method, which uses dance to transform students of any background and ability.

Gary Shteyngart is The New York Times bestselling author of the memoir Little Failure and the novels Super Sad True Love Story, Lake Success, Absurdistan, and The Russian Debutante’s Handbook. For his books, he has been a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist, winner of the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize, winner of the Stephen Crane Award for First Fiction and the National Jewish Book Award for Fiction. His books regularly appear on best-of lists around the world and have been published in 30 countries. His latest novel, Our Country Friends, was a New York Times bestseller and was named one of the best books of the year by the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Time magazine, Kirkus Review, and others.

Genia Mineeva is the founder of BEEN London, a multi-award winning sustainable accessories brand with a mission to change the way we view waste. Named “one of the most innovative fashion businesses in the world” by British Vogue, the company makes all its products in London entirely from materials that would otherwise end up in a landfill. Having collaborated with global businesses such as DHL and Netflix, BEEN London has already rescued several tonnes of waste from going into landfill. A true disruptor, BEEN London manages to create products with an average carbon footprint 87% lower than anything on the high street.

Illustrator George Butler reports on the ground from conflict zones, climate hotspots and humanitarian crises, using pen, ink and watercolours to highlight personal stories of resilience. By slowing down and going deeper than the headlines, his humanistic approach is shifting how we think about the news. He has written and illustrated two books on Migration and Ukraine. His work has been published by the BBC, The Guardian, NYT,  and is held in V&A Museum collection.

He is a TEDx speaker and TED Fellow and his drawings for VQR magazine won Best Illustrated story at the ASME Awards in the USA in 2023.  In 2014 he won the V&A Illustration Award and the Breakaway Award at the International Media Awards presented by Don McCullin.  And in 2023 he was shortlisted for the prestigious Kate Greenaway Award.

George is a co-founder of Action Syria, a NGO he started to support doctors and teacher salaries in Syria, which has raised £9million.

Ghaith Abdulahad is an award-winning Iraqi author and journalist, born and raised in Baghdad. He studied architecture at the University of Baghdad before turning to journalism in the aftermath of the 2003 U.S. invasion. Since then, Abdulahad has reported extensively for The Guardian, covering major conflicts across the Middle East and beyond—including Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, Somalia, Yemen, and Iraq. His work has earned numerous awards, including the Orwell Prize for Journalism, the British Press Award, and two Emmys, among others. In 2023, he published his critically acclaimed debut book, A Stranger in Your Own City—an unflinching account of the catastrophic aftermath of the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the years of civil war that followed.

Italian-Dutch journalist Gian Paolo Accardo is the cofounder and editor-in-chief of the European independent and multilingual news website Voxeurop. He also contributes to Internazionale. He was previously deputy news editor of Courrier international and correspondent for the press agency TMNews, as well as for several Italian and French news outlets. He lives between Brussels and Paris.

With a 20-year career in broadcast television, print, radio and digital, Gillian Dobias works as a producer and content strategist, combining her editorial credentials with brand experience to deliver powerful stories with a memorable message. Gillian's career in television began at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation working as a producer on "The Journal", "On The Arts" and "Fashion File". BBC commissions followed with “The Desk” and “Counter Culture”. In 2007 Gillian joined the launch team at Monocle in charge of editorial & commercial films. Gillian was integral to the launch of Monocle Radio and continues to contribute as a regular presenter. Now working as an independent Gillian harnesses her background in journalism, film and audio to produce bespoke content for companies wishing to tell their stories through the moving image, spoken word and/or in print.

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Born in Tbilisi, Georgia in 2000, Giorgi studied the piano without ever thinking about a professional career as a pianist. He is passionate about the folksongs of his country, which he likes to arrange and sing. He even participated in the Georgian version of ‘The Voice’ and won the competition at the age of 13. He continued his musical training at the Paliashvili Central Music School for Gifted Children and entered the Tbilisi State Conservatory, in the class of Revaz Tavadze. Giorgi’s pianistic career took a decisive turn in April 2019 when he won First Prize at the Vigo International Piano Competition. A few months later, Giorgi won Third Prize and the Audience Prize at the Sixty-Second Busoni Competition. In 2021, he received the Hortense Anda- Bührle Special Prize at the Fifteenth Géza Anda Piano Competition in Zurich, which was followed by an invitation to take part in the KlavierOlymp in Bad Kissingen, where he won First Prize and the Audience Prize. In March 2023, Giorgi celebrated another great success. He won the 2nd Prize at the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition and was also awarded the Junior Jury Prize, the Prize for the best chamber music and 5 out of 6 audience prizes. Since September 2021, Giorgi has been studying with Nelson Goerner in Geneva. He is supported by the Lisa Batiashvili Foundation and the Géza Anda-Foundation. In the 2022/23 season he is a Classeek Ambassador artist. He is supported by Bayer Kultur’s stARTacademy. Alongside his career as a classical pianist, he has created with his friends an electronic and experimental music group, Tsduneba, which means ‘temptation’ in Georgian.

Giorgi Kandelaki was a member of the Georgian Parliament from 2008 to 2020. He is now a project manager at the Soviet Past Research Laboratory (Sovlab), a leading Georgian think tank focused on researching Georgia's Soviet totalitarian past and countering its weaponization by Russian disinformation. Most recently Giorgi edited Georgia vs Joseph Stalin, a collaborative popular history book published jointly by Sovlab and Lasha Bugadze, one of Georgia’s most acclaimed writers.

Giorgi Lomsadze is a journalist and storyteller from Georgia. He has covered Georgia and former Soviet Union for 20 years. One of the most prominent voices from the Caucasus, Giorgi makes it his job to explain this complex region to the rest of the world.

Giorgi Miminoshvili was born in Rustavi, Georgia, and is now based in Tbilisi. He is currently studying visual art at the Free University of Tbilisi, within the VAADS (Visual Arts, Architecture & Design School) program.

Hans Gutbrod writes on the Caucasus, ethics, and commemoration, and works as a consultant in policy research. Together with colleagues, Hans led a high-impact campaign to increase the transparency of research funding, Transparify. He previously was the regional director of the Caucasus Research Resource Centers (CRRC). Hans has been working in the Caucasus region since 1999 and currently is a professor at Ilia State University. His recent book "Ethics of Political Commemoration: Towards a New Paradigm" (with David Wood, 2023) proposes that the just war tradition can help to order public debates on remembrance.

Hugo Gonzalez is a Director of Public Outreach at the Success Stories Program, an organization he helped build while incarcerated. As an Independent Forensic Gang Expert, Hugo draws from his lived experience and years of professional training to support individuals transitioning out of gang lifestyles and into community-based healing and accountability. He has facilitated transformative workshops across California’s carceral system. Hugo’s work has been recognized by local government, the White House, and featured in national media, including CNN’s The Feminist on Cell Block Y and PBS’s Roadtrip Nation: Being Free.

After graduating at the Rotterdam Artschool, I took in 1993 my Masters Degree at the National Film and Television School in England. The Nipkow Program in Berlin granted me a fellowship in 2002/03.

With writer Arthur Japin I realized in 2001 my first feature Magonia (Golden Tulip Best Film IFF Istanbul, Circulo Precolombino Best Film in Bogota). My second feature, The Aviatrix of Kazbek (Commersant Press Prize IFF Moscow) closed the 2010 IFF Rotterdam.

Since 2003 I made several documentaries: Poetins Mama and Black Gold under Notecka Forest (Silver Wolf Competition IDFA), Transit Dubai (IDFA, Audience Award IFF Gdansk) and Stand By Your President (IDFA). I’m currently working on a new film in Abkhazia.

Since 2011 I cooperate with radiomaker Jeroen Stout on sound/new media projects. I coach (international) projects of young makers, give workshops and advise funds and organizations. I live and work between The Netherlands and Georgia since 1989.

Inga Thordar is the Chief External Relations Officer for the Ocean Born Foundation where she works across all business lines. The foundation tackles climate change by funding initiatives that restore and protect the ocean. Inga is passionate about environmental and social impact and justice and is also a non-executive director for several mission driven companies and charities. She is the former Executive Editor of CNN Digital Worldwide, overseeing all international news, sport and programming teams globally. In her role, she pushed for more and better coverage of the climate crisis and hired the first international climate editor. She is the co-founder of the innovative gender reporting series As Equals. Before CNN, she was a Senior Editor at the BBC bringing together TV and digital production teams and commissioning. Prior to that she was the Front Page Editor for the BBC News website responsible for quality control of all content, daily publication and team management.

Irakli Vetsko currently works as a director of Children’s Hospice “Firefly World”. He is an international development professional and successful small business owner with over 25 years personal and professional experience in the Caucasus, Cambodia, Dominican Republic and Tanzania across a core group of technical areas: compliance, finance/administration, organizational development, conflict mitigation and peacebuilding, education and youth.

Irena Popiashvili is a curator and writer. She is currently the Dean and founder of Visual Arts, Architecture & Design School, VA[A}DS, at the Free University of Tbilisi. She is also a founder of contemporary art space Kunsthalle Tbilisi. Previously, she co-owned the Newman Popiashvili Gallery in New York (2005-2012) and served as a director of the State Academy of Arts in Tbilisi in 2012. Popiashvili has curated exhibitions in the US and Europe, including the Georgian Pavilion in the Venice Biennale in 1999 and 2003. Her writing has appeared in Art Forum and Vienna Contemporary among other leading publications. She received a BA from Tbilisi State University and University of Lodz, Poland and an MA in art history from University of Georgia in Athens, GA (USA).

Isaac Otidi Amuke’s reportage, op-eds and nonfiction have appeared in the literary journal Kwani?, Commonwealth Writers, Wasafiri, Adda Stories, Solitude Atlas, the New African, the Chimurenga Chronic, Brittle Paper, the Mail and Guardian, the Sunday Nation, the East African, The Elephant, The Continent and Africa Is A Country. Amuke received the 2013 Jean Jacques Rousseau Fellowship from the Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart, Germany, and contributed the title piece for ''Safe House; Explorations in Creative Nonfiction'' (Dundurn/Cassava Republic 2016), an anthology of nonfiction from Africa edited by Ellah Wakatama. He was a finalist for the 2016 CNN Multichoice African Journalist of the Year Awards and the 2018 Gerald Kraak Award. His long-read, “The Rise and Fall of Mike Sonko - Nairobi’s Matatu King” is a finalist for the 2023 True Story Award. When not writing, Amuke works as editor-in-chief at Debunk Media, a Nairobi-based independent newsroom.

Isobel Cockerell is a senior reporter with Coda Story. She joined Coda in 2018 after graduating from Columbia Journalism School. She writes about historical reckonings, dystopia, surveillance, conspiracies and climate. She was nominated for the 2023 Orwell prize and was the winner of the 2020 European Press Prize.

Joe oversees creative development of digital channels at Conde Nast Entertainment, leading the creation of franchises across the portfolio, as well as being the creator and interviewer of Vogue’s 400 million-view celebrity interview franchise "73 QuestionsJoe started his career as a founder of a digital lab at HBO, where his independent directing and remixing career took off with a viral recap of every season of the Sopranos. In 2010 he gave a TED talk on storytelling, co-hosted Boing Boing TV on Virgin America airlines, sits on the programming board of The Moth, and is co-founder of the YouTube channel “CDZA”, a 300,000-subscriber channel which featured over 150 conservatory musicians in high concept music videos. As a one-man creative shop, he has created ideas and videos for such companies as Google, CFDA Fashion Awards, Interscope Records, BBC America, Comcast, ATT, and others.

Joe is the most ardent American fan of Georgia and unofficial ambassador. He has been to Georgia 16 times since 2006, can read and write kartuli, co-owned Piano (on Tabidze street), and currently co-owns DASTA. He once drove in a crappy car from England to Mongolia, plays classical piano, had a license plate that spelled “RIKROLL”, is an Italian dual citizen and is the 2007 International Pun Champion.

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Jacqui Park is a journalist, editor and strategic designer with deep experience telling stories and building journalism communities around media innovation, press freedom and high-integrity journalism. Her most recent research looks at how local and new media around the world are rethinking everything, and she is designing programs to support media to do this.

She is Senior Fellow for Media Innovation at the University of Technology, Sydney and writes a regular newsletter, The Story, on how new media are reimagining the journalism. Currently the head of network strategy and innovation for the International Press Institute (IPI), she was founding CEO of Australia’s Walkley Foundation for excellence and innovation in journalism, founding Asia-Pacific Director for the International Federation of Journalists and a 2016 JS Knight fellow at Stanford University, focusing on media innovation and strategic design.

Jake Friedman is a manager and producer who has contributed to numerous #1 albums, sold-out tours, and critically acclaimed works in music, theater, and film. He launched his own record label at the age of 19 and led We Are Free Management for a decade. In 2019, he co-founded Crush Works, where he manages artists across multiple disciplines while producing notable works like 'Derek DelGaudio's In & Of Itself' for Disney+ and 'Neal Brennan: Blocks' on Netflix.

James Runcie is a writer, filmmaker and literary curator. He is best known for the The Grantchester Mysteries, an English detective series adapted for 11 television series as Grantchester, and shown in over 120 countries. He is also the author of The Great Passion, about the music of Bach, and Tell Me Good Things, a moving memoir about his first wife. He has made films with Umberto Eco, Hilary Mantel, J.G. Ballard, Yasar Kemal and J.K.Rowling. He has also been Head of Literature at London’s South Bank Centre and Commissioning Editor for the Arts at BBC Radio 4.

Jaŭhien Kazarcaŭ — journalist and website editor of Belarusian independent media European radio for Belarus (euroradio.fm). After the presidential elections in 2020 was forced to work from exile, now based in Warsaw, Poland, and focusing on questions of content distribution and media-to-audience contact.

Joe Sabia is a filmmaker and digital artist with an intuitive talent for conceiving viral concepts and formats. Joe is the creator and interviewing voice of Vogue’s iconic “73 Questions” series featuring 90 of the world's biggest A-list celebrities like Taylor Swift, Adele, Roger Federer, Bad Bunny and Jennifer Lawrence. He is also the interviewer of the annual “Billie Eilish, One Year Later” series for Vanity Fair. Joe directed his first feature film “FEDERER: 12 FINAL DAYS” for Amazon Studios on the retirement of Roger Federer from tennis, alongside director Asif Kapadia. He currently acts as a creative director for TEAM8 Studios, leading the development and execution of content for Roger Federer, Coco Gauff and Ben Shelton. Before Studio Sabia, Joe was the SVP of Creative Development at Condé Nast Entertainment, leading the creation of digital franchises like Wired's “Autocomplete Interviews”, Vanity Fair’s “Lie Detector Interviews”, Glamour’s “You Sang My Song”, GQ’s “Actually Me”. Joe is an advisor to Masterclass, The Moth, Outlier.org and Tonebase Piano. He runs his own creative strategy agency/production company called Studio Sabia, with clients like Audible, Youtube, Spotify, American Express, Netflix, Facebook, Instagram, Carnegie Hall, and UNICEF. Joe is a lifelong classical piano lover and amateur pianist and considers himself the unofficial cultural ambassador to the country of Georgia.

Johnny Harris is an Emmy-winning independent journalist and contributor to the New York Times. Based in Washington, DC, Harris reports on interesting trends and stories domestically and around the globe, publishing to his audience of over 5 million on Youtube. Harris produced and hosted the twice Emmy-nominated series Borders for Vox Media. His visual style blends motion graphics with cinematic videography to create content that explains complex issues in relatable ways.

Jon Lee Anderson is an American author and journalist. He began his career in the 1980s reporting on Central America’s civil wars for TIME magazine and other journals.
As a New Yorker staff writer since 1998, he has covered numerous conflicts, including those in Syria, Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Somalia, Sudan, Angola, Mali, Liberia, and Central African Republic. He has reported extensively on Latin America as well, with a special focus on Cuba, Haiti, Brazil, and the Amazon. He is a juror of the Swiss-based True Story Award and a board member of the Colombia-based Gabriel García Márquez Foundation for Journalism.

Anderson has profiled a range of international public figures that include Javier Milei, Lula da Silva, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Augusto Pinochet, Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez, King Juan Carlos, Hamid Karzai, Jalal Talabani, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Abiy Ahmed and Charles Taylor, the Liberian war criminal. He has been honored with several awards from the Overseas Press Club, Spain’s Liberporess and Reporteros del Mundo prizes, and Columbia University’s Maria Moors Cabot award for his reporting on Latin America.

Anderson is the author of a biography of the iconic Marxist revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara. Entitled Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life, it was first published in 1997. While researching the book in Bolivia, he discovered the hidden location of Guevara's skeletal remains, after which they were exhumed and returned to Cuba.

Anderson has written several other books, including Guerrillas: Journeys In the Insurgent World; The Lion's Grave: Dispatches from Afghanistan, and The Fall of Baghdad. He is also the co-author of Inside the League and War Zones: Voices from the World’s Killing Grounds with his brother Scott Anderson. His next book, To Lose a War: The Fall and Rise of the Taliban, will be published in August by Penguin Press.

Anderson lives in Dorset, England. He is married and has three children.

Jonathan Beckman is the editor of 1843 magazine, The Economist's home for narrative journalism, publishing profiles, reportage and investigations from across the world. This year 1843 was a finalist in the General Excellence at America's National Magazine Awards. He is also the author of an acclaimed work of narrative history, How to Ruin a Queen: Marie Antoinette, the Stolen Diamonds and the Scandal that Shook the French Throne, which won the Somerset Maugham Award and the Royal Society of Literature/Jerwood Prize

Joseph E. Stiglitz is an American economist and a professor at Columbia University. He is also the co-chair of the High-Level Expert Group on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress at the OECD, the co-chair of The Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation (ICRICT) and the Chief Economist of the Roosevelt Institute. Stiglitz was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2001. He is a former senior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank and a former member and chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. Stiglitz founded the Initiative for Policy Dialogue, a think tank on international development based at Columbia University, in 2000. He has been a member of the Columbia faculty since 2001 and received that university's highest academic rank (University Professor) in 2003. In 2011 Stiglitz was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2024 he was named an Honorary Academician by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. He is the author of numerous books, including, most recently, The Road to Freedom: Economics and the Good Society.

Julia Ioffe is a founding partner and the Washington correspondent for Puck, a new media company, where she covers foreign policy and national security. Julia is a specialist in Russia and Russian-American relations, and her work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, The New Republic, Washington Post, Forbes, Politico, Foreign Policy, and The New Yorker, where she was a Moscow-based correspondent from 2009-2012. Her book, Motherland: A Feminist History of Modern Russia,from Revolution to Autocracy, will be published in March.

Julia Watson is a food writer and has contributed to publications including The Observer, The Sunday Times, the Mail on Sunday, the Washington Post, Gourmet, The National Interest and other outlets. She has also broadcast on NPR. For almost a decade she was the Food Writer for international news agency United Press International and ran her own food web site, eatWashington.com. She twice won Gourmand International’s award for World’s Best French Cookbook. Bruno's Cookbook has just been published by Knopf in the US and by Quercus in the UK.

Julie Posetti is the Global Director of Research at the International Center for Journalists. She previously was a Senior Research Fellow at the RISJ and led the Journalism Innovation Project at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. She researches at the intersection of journalism, digital media, and freedom of expression. Posetti is the author of Protecting Journalism Sources in the Digital Age (UNESCO 2017) and the co-editor of Journalism, ‘Fake News’ and Disinformation (UNESCO 2018). She was awarded her PhD in December 2018, and her academic research has been published internationally in peer reviewed journals and scholarly books. Dr Posetti brings over two decades of high-level international journalism practice to her research, including time as a news editor, documentary reporter and national political correspondent with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). She has been awarded the Australian Human Rights Awards for Radio, and the Australian National Press Club’s ‘German Award for Journalism’. More recently, her work has been published by The Atlantic, Harvard University’s Nieman Lab, the BBC, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Guardian.

Kerry Hudson was born in Aberdeen. Her first novel, Tony Hogan Bought Me An Ice-Cream Float Before He Stole My Ma, was greeted with wide critical acclaim and won the Scottish First Book Award. Kerry’s second novel, Thirst won the Prix Femina étranger, France’s most prestigious award for foreign fiction. Her new book, Lowborn, is a deeply personal story which will see Hudson return to the towns she grew up in around the UK. In returning to these places, she hopes to uncover long buried truths about her own life but also seeks to illuminate what life is really like for Britain’s poorest today.

Karina Merkuryeva is a journalist and impact strategist. She worked for several independent Russian media outlets. As RFE/RL’s Levin-Utkin Fellow she creates new storytelling formats for social media that boost audience engagement. As a journalist she focuses on human rights, feminism, rights of prisoners and migrants.

Journalist, documentarian and executive producer of the project "How are you?" - about refugees and internally displaced persons. Scholarship recipient of the Vaclav Havel Prize (joint program of Radio Liberty and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic). Kateryna was an author in investigative journalistic teams at Slidstvo.Info and at Suspilne (public TV)..

Kerry Paterson is deputy director of emergencies at the Committee to Protect Journalists. She helps guide CPJ’s emergency assistance and journalist safety work worldwide, and to shape CPJ’s response to crises. She joined CPJ in 2014 and before joining the emergencies department, served as deputy director of advocacy and communications. Prior to joining CPJ, Paterson worked with the Initiative for Conflict-Related Trauma, Médecins Sans Frontières, the Women’s Media Center’s Women Under Siege Project, and with Massachusetts General Hospital’s Division of Global Health and Human Rights.

Killian Poolmans is dedicated to changing the way organisations and teams practice innovation. As a Designer and founder of PINKHAMMER, he helps teams increase the positive impact of their products. Through engaging workshops, Killian equips teams with the skills to cultivate creative and inclusive innovation processes. Killian has updated the innovation processes of over 500 teams, spanning the spectrum from startups to global organisations in cities such as Amsterdam, Berlin, Melbourne, Singapore, Seoul and currently Tbilisi. Combining his background in Industrial Design Engineering with his knowledge of Queer Theory, Killian tries to look at innovation and design processes through a queer lens. Using the combination of these two fields, Killian's overarching mission is to champion a workforce that crafts visionary products and services designed to cater to the diverse needs of society at large.

Kira Brunner Don is the Editor-in-Chief and co-founder of Stranger’s Guide, a travel publication that explores the power of place-based journalism. She has worked as a magazine editor in New York for 17 years and as a journalist in Eastern Europe and the Balkans. She has received two National Magazine Awards for General Excellence in her role as Editor-in-Chief of Stranger’s Guide and one National Magazine Award in Photography for her photo curation. In 2022, she was named the FOLIO: Eddie and Ozzie Award’s Editor of the Year. She is co-editor of the book The New Killing Fields: Massacre and the Politics of Intervention and was the co-founder of the Oakland Book Festival.

Kristina Zakurdaeva is a digital editor and investigative journalist at RFE/RL’s Current Time. She also manages Levin-Utkin Fellowship that focuses on data journalism. Kristina specializes in long-form storytelling and digital projects production. She reports on gender-based violence and international politics. Recently, her work was featured in GIJN’s best women reporting.

Lindsey Hilsum  is an English television journalist and writer. She is the International Editor for Channel 4 News, and a regular contributor to The Sunday Times, The Observer, The Guardian, New Statesman, and Granta.

Award-winning journalist and established digital executive with a proven track record of anticipating and driving transformational change in several of the world's most influential media and technology companies. My passion is making great media that is meaningful, accessible and delivers positive social impact in our rapidly changing industry environment. Early pioneer in social publishing, including mobile- and video-first content, collaborative open journalism, social media verification and emerging platform partnerships. I believe in strong journalism, transparent leadership, that diverse groups make better decisions, that data is an amazing tool to inform -- but not overwhelm -- a company's mission, and in iterative and goal-oriented strategy.

Ladan Anoushfar is an award-winning documentary filmmaker who has produced, directed and edited films for BBC World, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, and the Aga Khan Architecture Awards. She trained with cinema legend Abbas Kiarostami and double Oscar winner Asghar Farhadi in Iran where some of her projects are set. Her film The Sanctions Hotel won a silver medal at the New York Festivals Best Film and TV Awards in 2018 and was nominated for a Foreign Press Association award. In 2019 she edited Stealing From the Sick, winner of the AIB award for Investigative Documentary. For Black Leaf Films Ladan directed Never Again: America’s Battle of the Bullets, edited The Age of Bolsonaro and is developing a range of new programmes.