People

Dr Stephanie Borg Psaila is the Director for Digital Policy at DiploFoundation, and the Editor of the GIP Digital Watch observatory. In 2018-2019, she served as Diplo's Interim Director and Head of Geneva Internet Platform, replacing Founding Director Dr Jovan Kurbalija during his one-year position as co-Executive Director of the Secretariat of the United Nations High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation.  

Stephanie holds a Doctorate in Law (LL.D.), a Master's in Contemporary Diplomacy, and two law-related diplomas from the University of Malta, and her special areas of interest include legal issues in digital policy, human rights, and e-diplomacy. She holds a warrant to practice as a Notary Public in Malta, and is a former journalist with The Sunday Times of Malta.

Joining Diplo in 2012, Dr Tereza Horejsova has had an international career in academia and the non-governmental sector in the Czech Republic, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, and Switzerland. She holds an MA in International Area Studies and a PhD in European Studies, both from the Charles University in Prague.

Tereza works on several capacity development activities in the field of digital policy, and is an advocate of bringing practical considerations of capacity building into the discussion. She is chair of the Global Forum on Cyber Expertise's (GFCE) Working Group on Cyber Security Culture and Skills, and a member of Internet Governance Forum's (IGF) Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) where she cochairs the MAG Working Group on Hybrid Meetings. Tereza also serves as the executive director of Diplo US and is responsible for Diplo's activities in the United States.

Serbian-born Mr Vladimir (Vlada) Radunović is a lecturer in cybersecurity policy, Internet governance, and e-diplomacy on postgraduate and professional courses. He also serves as an expert with the Geneva Internet Platform. He served as a member of the Advisory Board of the Global Forum on Cyber Expertise (GFCE) from 2016 to 2020, and a member of the Multistakeholder Advisory Group of the UN Internet Governance Forum (IGF) from 2012 to 2014. Vlada has been a lecturer, speaker, and resource person on a number of educational and training programmes and events worldwide, including within the WSIS and IGF processes. His professional and research focus is on Internet governance, broadband policy and net neutrality, cybersecurity and cyber-diplomacy, e-diplomacy, and capacity development. He holds an MSc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Belgrade and a Master’s in Contemporary Diplomacy from the University of Malta. He is currently working on his PhD in cybersecurity. Vlada is currently member of the Board of Directors of Diplo US.

Ambassador Saviour F. Borg has served in Malta’s Foreign Service from 1977 to 2012, having joined the Maltese Civil Service in 1965. He is currently serving as an Advisor to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Promotion. He is also Malta’s Ambassador to the Swiss Confederation, the Principality of Liechtenstein, and to Bosnia and Herzegovina. From August 2007 to January 2012, he served as the Permanent Representative of Malta to the United Nations in New York, also serving as the Rapporteur of the United Nations Committee on the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.

From July 2003 to July 2007, Ambassador Borg served as the Permanent Representative of Malta to the United Nations Office, its Specialised Agencies and Other International Organisations with Headquarters in Geneva, including the World Trade Organisation, and Head of Malta’s Observer Delegation to the Conference on Disarmament, the Commission on Human Rights, and its successor, the United Nations Human Rights Council.

From April 1999 to April 2003, Ambassador Borg served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Malta to the People’s Republic of China, serving concurrently as Malta’s Ambassador to Japan, the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. From January 1997 to March 1999, Ambassador Borg served as Permanent Representative of Malta to the UNOV, UNIDO, IAEA, CTBTO, UNEP and OPCW.

Ambassador Borg was a Member of the Executive Staff in the Office of the President of the Forty-Fifth Session of the United Nations General Assembly when in 1990 it elected to the post the then Malta’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Professor Guido de Marco.

From January 1983 to December 1984, Ambassador Borg served as Deputy Representative of Malta to the United Nations Security Council. In 1992 he was appointed as Director of the United Nations, International Organisations and Commonwealth Division and in February 1994 the first Director of the Multilateral Affairs Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Ambassador Borg has represented Malta in several international conferences and meetings. He is the author of various publications and articles in peer-reviewed journals.

Ambassador Victor Camilleri has served for almost 50 years in diplomacy. He has occupied a number of senior administrative and diplomatic posts, including that of Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Malta. His latest assignment was as Executive Director within the Ministry for European Affairs, with special responsibility for Malta's presidency of the EU Council in January–June 2017. His latest posting abroad was as Malta’s Ambassador to Libya in 2011–2013. As Ambassador in Brussels he formed part of the Maltese team which negotiated Malta’s membership of the EU. Ambasssador Camilleri was chef de cabinet to Maltese Foreign Minister Professor G. de Marco during his Presidency of the 45th Session of the UN General Assembly. He has extensive experience in multilateral affairs. He is actively interested in the promotion of IT as a tool of diplomacy and for some years served as Chairman of the Working Group on Informatics at the UN in New York. Ambassador Camilleri is President of Diplo's Board of Administrators.

Dr Isabelle Ragonesi is currently a senior lecturer in the Department of International Relations, within the Faculty of Arts at the University of Malta.She completed her doctoral dissertation on The Role of External Players in Democratization in Southern Europe: The Cases of Malta and Cyprusunder the supervision of Dr Robert Leonardi from the European Unit at the London School of Economics. Her research interests include the study of democratization, Southern Europe and North African studies, EU policy, and small state studies.

Sources: 

• https://www.um.edu.mt/profile/isabellecalleja
• http://www.educ.um.edu.mt/mesce/keynotes.html

Ambassador Maud Vuyelwa Dlomo was appointed as South Africa’s ambassador to Madagascar in 2016. Prior to this position, she was appointed as Deputy Director-General, Diplomatic Training, Research and Development at South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) in August 2008. Among her qualifications are Master’s degrees in Arts and Diplomatic Studies from Wits University and the University of Pretoria respectively. She also holds degrees in Arts and Development together with a post-graduate diploma in education development. She has served on a number of committees during her professional career, among other things as the assistant coordinator for the Defence Sub-Committee of the Transitional Executive Committee in 1994, and as assistant coordinator to the National Economic Development and Labour Council in 1995. Prior to joining the DIRCO, Ms Dlomo was director: Forestry Restructuring in the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry; chief director: Human Resources Planning in the Department of Education; and chief director: Foreign Service Institute at the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Sources: 

• https://www.gcis.gov.za/sms/international.html
• https://en.indian-ocean-times.com/New-South-African-Ambassador-in-Madagascar_a6141.html

Professor GR Berridge is Emeritus Professor of International Politics at the University of Leicester, where he was the founding Director of the Centre for the Study of Diplomacy. For many years, he was General Editor of the Macmillan series, Studies in Diplomacy, and Associate Editor (with responsibility for twentieth century diplomatists) of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. He is the author of numerous books on diplomacy, including the best-selling textbook, Diplomacy: Theory and Practice, which has been translated into numerous languages, including Chinese. His most recent books include Embassies in Armed Conflict, the third edition (with L. Lloyd) of The Palgrave Macmillan Dictionary of Diplomacy, and A Diplomatic Whistleblower in the Victorian Era. Professor Berridge has been an external examiner at various British universities, including Birmingham, Durham, and London (School of Oriental and African Studies). A fuller biography – and much more – can be found on his personal website.

Ambassador Petru Dumitriu is a Romanian diplomat who joined the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) of the United Nations system in 2016 as Inspector, elected by the General Assembly. He earned his doctorate with a thesis on United Nations reform. He has published extensively on various United Nations topics, including a book on United Nations reform. During his diplomatic career, he served as representative of his country in various governing bodies of United Nations organisations (UNICEF, UNESCO) and in the bureaus of several General Assembly subsidiary bodies, including as Rapporteur for the World Summit on the Information Society (2003). He was also Ambassador and Permanent Observer of the Council of Europe to the United Nations–Geneva. As Director and Director-General in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania (1998-2001, 2006-2010) he acted as national coordinator on behalf of the government in relation to the United Nations country team. He is author of JIU reports on Knowledge Management in the United Nations System, The United Nations – Private Sector Partnership Arrangements in the Context of the 2030 Agenda, and Strengthening Policy Research Uptake. He received the Knowledge Management Award in 2017 and the Sustainable Development Award in 2019 for his reports.

Ms Liz Galvez was a senior diplomat with the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, taking early retirement in 2006 with the rank of Counsellor. During her 33 year career, she served in a wide range of diplomatic jobs in London and several overseas postings, including Finland, Central America and Romania, and 12 years in multilateral diplomacy: UN Geneva, OSCE Vienna (1989-1993) and UN New York (2003-6). She was seconded to the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2001-2002 as adviser to the Foreign Minister on OSCE Chairmanship and NATO accession issues, institutional reform, and diplomatic training. She returned to Romania in 2006 to set up and manage the Aspen Institute Romania until 2009.

She has been a course lecturer with DiploFoundation since 2009, providing training in public diplomacy and multilateral negotiating skills, including a programme for the Asia-Europe Foundation for diplomats from European and Asian countries, and a dissertation supervisor for DiploFoundation/University of Malta Master in Contemporary Diplomacy students. She has run workshops on public diplomacy for the Foreign Ministry of Bahrain; the Foreign Ministry and Parliamentary staffers in South Africa; and the Diplomatic Academy of Armenia. In addition, she has co-facilitated a workshop on Conflict Resolution in Bahrain for Diplomatic Heads of Mission and given a short training programme in Geneva on Diplomatic Reporting in the Internet Era for diplomatic officers from several states. She has run training programmes on negotiating skills for the Foreign Ministry of Bahrain, and at the Italian School of National Administration for Italian new entrant diplomats, and on Diplomatic English writing and speaking skills for the Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Moldova. She speaks operational Spanish, Romanian, and French. She has a BA from the University of London in Latin and Spanish and an MSc degree from the University of London in Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict, and has recently completed the DiploFoundation course on Internet Governance.

Ljupčo Gjorgjinski is a Senior Fellow with DiploFoundation, focusing his research on the security and diplomatic aspects of frontier science and technology. The research draws on his practical experience at the highest diplomatic levels on artificial intelligence (AI), biotech, and cyber issues, rooted in the theoretical foundations of International Relations Theory, international economics, and diplomatic history. 

Ljupčo chaired the 2019 UN Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS), formed under the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW). The GGE, under his leadership, adopted a Report that is still the most advanced international normative document to focus on AI, with important context to the document given in his Chair’s Summary. 

In 2018, Ljupčo chaired the Meeting of States Parties (MSP) to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC). He resolved a complex financial situation that threatened not only to cancel that year’s meeting, but also the long-term financial viability of the Convention. He wrote, as Chair, an Information Paper on the financial predictability and sustainability of the BTWC and, based on that paper, proposed a set of measures, most of which were adopted by the MSP. These measures are broadly considered as decisive in setting this important convention on stable, long-term financial footing. 

As a Macedonian diplomat, he was the acting Head of the Permanent Mission of the Republic of North Macedonia to the UN Office and other International Organisations in Geneva (2016–2019); Assistant Director of the Cabinet of the Foreign Minister responsible for strategic communication; and, Assistant Head of the  United Nations and Human Rights Sector in the Directorate for Multilateral Relations and Security Cooperation. 

Before entering the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he worked for the UN Development Programme (UNDP) where he managed the joint Macedonian Government–UNDP Policy Support Unit and produced a number of influential reports, development plans, and studies. 

He was Executive Director of the Foundation of the first Macedonian president, Kiro Gligorov, and advised the second president, Boris Trajkovski, on information society policy, including the preparation of all Macedonian positions for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) held in Geneva in 2003. 

Ljupčo has degrees from the University of Toronto (Hon. BA.), the University of Malta (MA), and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (GMAP). 

Mr Lee Hibbard is a Senior Fellow at DiploFoundation. He is also an administrator in the Bioethics Unit of the Council of Europe, based in Strasbourg, France. For the last ten years, Lee has been responsible for developing European human rights norms on the challenges posed by the Internet, in particular regarding freedom of expression, the public service value of the Internet, children’s right to be forgotten, responsibilities of Internet companies, privacy, and other areas. Lee has also coordinated the Council of Europe’s policy on Internet governance. This included the preparation of the organisation’s Internet Governance Strategies for 2016-2019, 2012-2015, and developing partnerships with Internet companies.

As Executive Director Government Affairs and Public Policy, Ms Anne-Rachel Inné serves as the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN)’s primary link to governments of US, Canada and 26 Caribbean economies. Immediately prior to working for ARIN, Anne-Rachel was ICANN’s Vice President Government Engagement in Geneva, Switzerland. She also worked as the Chief Operations Officer (COO) of the Africa Regional Registry, AFRINIC, taking care of operations and governments’ engagement in the Registry’s public policies process. Anne-Rachel worked at the IICD in The Hague, Netherlands (1998-2001) as several countries Programme Manager directing multi sector social development projects that were early adopters of ICT/Internet. She produced and publicised Learning by Doing: Lessons Emerging from the ICT Stories Projects for the benefit of the projects and the wider community. She was a member of the Bureau of the African Group at WSIS as a representative of the African Private Sector and a Member of the Gender Coalition during WSIS. Anne-Rachel was an entrepreneur and consultant in the ICT4D sector and a founding member of the African Enterprise Network (AEN) in 1997. Anne-Rachel is featured as ICT Expert in the ILO/IOM book for the AUC: African Women at the Service of the Union. She is the recipient of several awards for her demonstrated immense commitment and continued engagement with African communities. Anne-Rachel currently serves as the Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of Diplo US.

Professor Dr Milan Jazbec is Ambassador of Slovenia to North Macedonia, and a Professor of Diplomacy at the University of Ljubljana and the New University in Kranj in Slovenia. He is also a Visiting Professor at the South East European University and at the International Balkan University in North Macedonia.

Milan is a poet and a writer, and has published 60 books and over 120 articles in 14 languages. He has a long and distinguished career covering diplomacy, business, journalism, and politics.

He obtained a PhD in the sociology of diplomacy from the University of Klagenfurt (Austria) and has lectured at various universities, including Columbia (New York) and the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna (Austria). He was also Visiting Professor at the Bilkent University, the Middle East Technical University, and the University of Ankara in Turkey.

Professor Jazbec was Ambassador of Slovenia to Turkey, and an accredited non-residential Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria. He served as Minister Plenipotentiary at the Embassy of Slovenia in Stockholm (Sweden), covering five Nordic and three Baltic states. He was the last Yugoslav Consul in Klagenfurt, and the first ever Slovenian Consul. Milan was State Secretary at the Ministry of Defence of Slovenia, and the Director of Policy Planning and Research at the Foreign Ministry of Slovenia.

He is a member of the Slovenian Association of International Relations, the Slovenian Association of Political Sciences, the Slovenian PEN Centre, as well as the Editor of the international journal European Perspectives. He holds the distinguished Grand Golden Decoration of Honour with Star for Merit of the Republic of Austria.

Professor Dietrich Kappeler served as Director of the Diplomatic Studies Programme of the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva from 1993 to 1998. He was the founding director of the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies at the University of Malta, 1990–1993. Professor Kappeler has extensive experience in diplomacy and international relations, and lectures and writes on international law, diplomatic and consular law, law of international institutions, human rights and humanitarian law, diplomacy, and constitutional and administrative law of Switzerland.

Born on 6 March 1933 in Berne, Switzerland, he was educated in Berne and in Beirut, Lebanon. He received a Bachelor’s degree in French Law in 1953 from the Faculty of Law, Université St Joseph, Beirut. In 1955, he was licenced in Public Law by the Faculty of Law at the University of Berne, and recieved his doctorate in Public Law from the same institution in 1957. 

Kappeler served in the Swiss diplomatic service from 1957 to 1965, with postings in The Hague and Algiers, as well with the Legal Department at headquarters. From 1965 to 1973, he was a personal assistant to Professor Paul Guggenheim and a consultant with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace working on the training of third world diplomats. He was involved in the creation of the International Relations Institute of Cameroon (IRIC) in 1971 and the Institute of Diplomacy and International Studies of the University of Nairobi in 1973. During the 1970s and 80s he was a research fellow and lecturer at the University of Geneva and a professor at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva. From the Graduate Institute, he was seconded as a lecturer to the University of Tehran and the University of Nairobi.

Prof. Yolanda Kemp Spies was trained as a diplomat at the South African Foreign Ministry and at Oxford University, UK. She practiced diplomacy for 19 years, and lived and worked on four continents before she joined academia. She completed her doctorate in International Relations in 2005, after which she designed a Master of Diplomatic Studies program for the University of Pretoria. She directed the programme until 2016. From 2016 to 2019 she lectured in Masters programmes at (the American) Webster University’s Ghana campus. Her academic specialisation and publications include diplomacy, foreign policy analysis, international organisations, international law, conflict resolution, changing global power relations, and African politics and ethics in international relations. During 2019 she published two books on the theory and practice of diplomacy: Global Diplomacy and International Society; and Global South Perspectives on Diplomacy.

She joined Zayed University during January 2020, as Associate Professor of International Studies.

Christopher Lamb is a former Australian Ambassador and is now Special Adviser to the Australian Red Cross and the IFRC. He also has advisory responsibilities with many RCRC National Societies, business groups and universities. He is president of the Australia Myanmar Institute and holds positions with several NGOs and foundations. As Special Adviser on International Relations for the IFRC until his retirement in June 2010, he was responsible for the diplomatic positioning of the IFRC and National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in the international intergovernmental and non-governmental communities. He coordinated the development of IFRC positions in various humanitarian and political fields, supporting the work of National Societies in these respects through the development of the IFRC’s policy on humanitarian diplomacy. Before joining IFRC in 2000, he was an Australian diplomat and Ambassador to Myanmar, Serbia, Romania, and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, after serving in several multilateral and bilateral posts and as foreign ministry legal adviser.

Mr Aldo Matteucci graduated from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETHZ) in Agriculture, and from Berkeley in Agricultural Economics. He spent three years in East Africa doing research on land use, then in Maryland, working on rural development. In 1977 he joined the Swiss Federal Office of Economic Affairs. He was deputy director of the EUREKA Secretariat in Brussels, and from 1994 to 2000, deputy secretary general of EFTA. He obtained early retirement upon leaving EFTA.

He remains a committed contrarian.

Ambassador Kishan S. Rana is Professor Emeritus, and a Senior Fellow at DiploFoundation. He was awarded a BA (Hon) and MA in economics, St Stephens College Delhi. He was in the Indian Foreign Service (1960-95); and worked in China (1963-65, 1970-72). He was Ambassador and High Commissioner for Algeria, Czechoslovakia, Kenya, Mauritius, and Germany; and consul general in San Francisco. He served on staff of PM Indira Gandhi (1981-82).

Amb. Rana is an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi (book review editor, China Report); an Archives By-Fellow, Churchill College, Cambridge; a Public Policy Scholar, Woodrow Wilson Centre, Washington DC; guest faculty at the Diplomatic Academy, Vienna; and Commonwealth Adviser, Namibia Foreign Ministry, 2000-01. He has lectured in about 20 countries to diplomats at foreign ministry training institutions, and at ambassador conferences in several countries.

He is the author of Inside Diplomacy (2000); Managing Corporate Culture (co-author, 2000); Bilateral Diplomacy(2002); The 21st Century Ambassador (2004); Asian Diplomacy (2007); Diplomacy of the 21st Century (2011); India’s North-East States, the BCIM Forum and Regional Integration, (co-author, 2012); The Contemporary Embassy (2013); and Diplomacy at the Cutting Edge (2015). He is co-editor of Foreign Ministries (2007); and Economic Diplomacy(2011). The two books were translated into Chinese; some used as textbooks at several universities. He has written about 100 articles for academic journals and newspapers.

Dr Alex Sceberras Trigona currently serves as Special Envoy to the Prime Minister of Malta. He is a Founder Member of DiploFoundation, and has been organising courses simulating international negotiations – bilateral and multilateral – at the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies, University of Malta, since 1991 as well as for the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, for the Commonwealth, and for the Commission of the European Union, amongst others. Dr Trigona served as Malta's Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1981–1987. He negotiated Malta's Neutrality Agreements. He lobbied for, won, and managed Malta's first ever seat on the United Nations Security Council for 1983/1984. His law Doctorate was awarded on the basis of a seminal thesis Constitutional Change and the Maltese Constitution. Fundamental constitutional changes in 1974 followed this thesis in both manner and substance. He was elected Rhodes Scholar for Malta and read Politics, Economics, and Philosophy at Oriel College, Oxford University for his MA. He lectures on Diplomacy and Diplomatic Practice for International Relations students and on Private International Law at the Law Faculty of the University of Malta.

Dr Biljana Scott was trained as a linguist (BA in Chinese, M.Phil and D.Phil in Linguistics, University of Oxford). She is a Senior Lecturer in Language and Diplomacy at DiploFoundation and an associate of the Chinese Institute at Oxford University. She workshops internationally on political rhetoric, diplomatic language public speaking. Her current research is on implicit communication and the 'unsaid'. 

Ms Katarina Anđelković is a researcher at DiploFoundation currently based in Belgrade. Katarina joined Diplo’s Data Team in October 2018, where she researches political, social and environmental implications of digital technologies, focusing on big data and AI. She also coordinates Diplo's ConfTech project. 

Katarina holds a BA in International Politics from the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Political Sciences and an MA in Southeast European Studies from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. She is a PhD student at the University of Belgrade, researching the interplay between technology and nationalism. 

Mr Robert Aquilina has been Diplo’s Finance Manager since 2015, dealing mainly with administrative and financial reporting both statutory and donor related. Based in Malta, Robert is Director of AQ Advisory Ltd, a Maltese company providing accountancy and business advisory services since 2000 He is also a member of the Malta Institute of Management and holds a Diploma from the Institute of Indirect Taxation, UK.

Mr Miodrag Badnjar joined Diplo in 2003 as office manager of Diplo Centar in Belgrade. Today, as Media Developer in the online education sector, his focus is on media content optimisation (Adobe Suite) and html formatting. Miodrag is also the official photographer for various events and activities organised in Belgrade. Apart from photography, his other hobbies are fishing and playing saxophone (blues and jazz).

Ms Hannah Bird is a lawyer based in London, having completed her legal training with the UK Government and specialising in employment law. She is currently pursuing a career shift to community and social work in conjunction with her research fellowship, which focuses on potential learnings from community organising and participatory education for humanitarian diplomats and the wider NGO sector. Her extensive experience teaching as an EFL instructor and campaigning with refugee NGOs in the UK and the Middle East form part of her long-term interest in humanitarian causes, and her research links this with her involvement in community organising in London. She holds a BA (Hons) in International History and International Politics (University of Sheffield, UK), an MSc in Public Affairs and Lobbying (Brunel University, UK), and a Graduate Diploma in Law and Legal Practice Course certificate (BPP University, UK).

Mr Patrick Borg has been working for Diplo in Malta for over 12 years. He has been involved in Diplo’s Internet Governance Capacity Building Programme, Diplo's MA programme, and our online courses. Patrick holds a BA (Hons) and a Master's in International Relations from the University of Malta, and a Master’s in European Studies from the Institute for European Studies, University of Malta.

Ms Cécile Desjours coordinates the administration of the Diplo's office in Geneva, and supports regular office operations and procedures. She collaborates closely with colleagues from the financial team to ensure the smooth operation of the Geneva office and the harmonisation of its processes. She additionally coordinates all Geneva-based events and activities. Since the shift to online meetings in 2020, Cécile oversees the development of Diplo's ConfTech Lab in Geneva. She joined Diplo in early 2020 and has more than 20 years of experience in administration and coordination.

Mr Dylan Farrell joined DiploFoundation in 2019 as communications officer. He holds a Bachelor in Communications (Honours) from the University of Malta, and a Master in the Science of Performative Creativity from the University of Malta and the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan (Poland). Prior to joining Diplo, Dylan worked for six years as a journalist, and later as a newscaster and presenter, on Malta’s top private TV station.

Ms Andrijana Gavrilović is a digital policy researcher at DiploFoundation. In her research, she focuses on internet governance and cybersecurity. She is a curator at the GIP Digital Watch (DW) observatory, where she follows global developments regarding cybercrime, critical infrastructure, and violent extremism online, and closely coordinates the work of curators within the DW 'Cybersecurity' basket. Andrijana assists the DW editor in coordinating the DW team of experts. She obtained a BA in International Relations and an MA in International Security from the Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Belgrade.

Dr Katharina (Kat) E Höne researches, writes, and teaches on a number of issues in the area of diplomacy, global governance, and the impact of technology on international relations. Over the last years, she has focused on research at the intersection of diplomacy and technology. She was part of a research project on Data Diplomacy: Updating diplomacy to the big data era and the lead researcher and author of Mapping the challenges and opportunities of artificial intelligence for the conduct of diplomacy report, both supported by the Ministry for Foreign of Affairs of Finland. In addition, she has more than 10 years of experience in teaching international relations at universities in the UK and Germany, and in delivering in-situ, blended, and online training to diplomatic practitioners. Kat holds an MA in Diplomatic Studies (University of Leicester, UK) and a PhD in International Politics (University of Aberystwyth, UK). In her work, she is driven by her aim to level the playing field at international negotiation tables through capacity development, and to provide out-of-the-box thinking and inspiration by drawing on her passion for science-fiction.

Ms Pavlina Ittelson joined Diplo in 2017 and currently serves as senior programme officer at Diplo US. She focuses on the legal aspects of internet governance in the fields of internet jurisdiction, cybersecurity, and alternative dispute resolution. She also curates the topics of Jurisdiction, Alternative Dispute Resolution, and Intellectual Property Rights on the GIP Digital Watch observatory website.

Prior to joining Diplo, Pavlina practiced law as an attorney and a legal project manager in the fields of international business, science, and technology. Pavlina received her degree in Law from Comenius University, Bratislava, and her LLM in International Business Law from the Central European University, Budapest. A native of Slovakia, she now resides in the Washington, DC area.

Diplo’s web manager, Ms Jelena Jakovljević, works from Malta. One of the longest-serving members of the Diplo Team and a native of Serbia, Jelena made the transition from DiploProject at the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies when it evolved into DiploFoundation in 2002. She began her career as a graphic and web designer and has designed and produced all Diplo's major websites since its inception. Today, she focuses on web development and the implementation of current and new technologies on the web.

An accomplished amateur photographer, Jelena's work has been exhibited several times in Malta, where she also dances and teaches Tango.

Mr Djordje Jančić is an external consultant for Diplo since 2017 engaged in various IT and internet marketing activities. 

Djordje is an internet marketing specialist, lecturer, and owner of the Holistic Web Marketing agency, with more than 12 years of hands-on experience in setting up integrated online presence strategies for companies and organisations. His skill set includes SEO, PPC advertising, content creation, social media management, data analysis, and project management. Besides having a degree in Public Relations, Djordje is a certified Google Ads specialist and a regular lecturer at the Internet Academy in Belgrade.

In his free time, Djordje is passionate about origami, SF literature, and hiking.

An expert in remote participation, Mr Arvin Kamberi heads up Diplo’s Webinar Team. Based in Belgrade, he has been working on webinars and other web-based remote participation since 2011. Arvin has been part of the remote participation team for many international forums, such as the IGF, EuroDIG, and local IGF events such as IGF Africa. From 2014 to 2015, he was a part of the IGF Working Group on Remote Participation (established in 2008), and involved in the elaboration of IGF remote participation guidelines.

Arvin has a keen interest in cryptocurrency and blockchain developments; first as an avid ‘miner’, then more in terms of regulation and consensus mechanisms surrounding the decentralised systems. His primary focus is on Bitcoin development, but he follows other cryptocurrency developments and the blockchain/distributed ledger technology, too. Vice President of Bitcoin Association of Serbia, Arvin writes extensively about Bitcoin and blockchains. He holds an MA in Film and Video Production from Belgrade University of Art.

Born in Pancevo, Serbia, Mr Rade Kotur joined Diplo in 2015 as an online education programmes assistant, in charge of maintaining the technical stability and functionality of Diplo’s online learning platform.

With the rapid introduction of online videoconferencing platforms into Diplo’s methodology, Rade provides assistance and guidance to students on how to master these tools and complete their courses successfully. He additionally works on editing video materials and adjusting them for further use within Diplo's courses. 

Rade studied English at Newbold University in Bracknell, UK, in 2011, and took a one-year course as a PHP and web developer at the ITAcademy in Belgrade in 2014.

His hobbies vary from aggressive rollerblading and skiing, to ice skating and boxing. As an animal lover, he is engaged in dog socialisation in his free time.

Mr Marco Lotti is an online moderator for remote participation and co-ordinator for the Geneva-based courses. He joined DiploFoundation in early 2017. As part of the Geneva office team, Marco leads activities and events such as the Road to Bern via Geneva Dialogues which bring together various policy communities to further identify current needs, discuss cross-cutting issues, and mobilise the necessary resources to achieve a data commons. Furthermore, Marco represents DiploFoundation a the Cybermediation Initiative which researches the impact of new technologies on the work of mediators. As curator at the Geneva Internet Platform (GIP) Digital Watch observatory, he follows global developments regarding content policy, cultural diversity online, and contributes to the GIP Digital Watch newsletter.

Marco has a BA in Political and Social Sciences from the University of Bologna (Italy) and an MA in International Affairs from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID) in Geneva, Switzerland. Prior to joining Diplo, Marco was a board member of the Junior Diplomat Initiative Switzerland (2016–2017) and conducted research for the Cold War History Research Center at the Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary.

Brazilian-born Ms Marília Maciel is currently based in Strasbourg, France. She is involved in several Internet- governance-related projects, notably on the fields of digital economy, e-commerce, and cybersecurity. She also curates the topics of e-commerce, Access and Digital Divide for the GIP Digital Watch Observatory and represents Diplo at various meetings.

Prior to joining Diplo, Ms Marília Maciel was a researcher and coordinator of the Center for Technology and Society of the Getulio Vargas Foundation (CTS/FGV) in Rio de Janeiro. She served as a councillor at ICANN´s Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) representing the Non-Commercial Stakeholder Group (NCSG). Marília is a former member of the Working Group on Improvements to the Internet Governance Forum (2011–2012), created under the auspices of the Commission on Science and Technology for Development (UN CSTD). She was also a member of the Multistakeholder Executive Committee of NETmundial and represented CTS/FGV in meetings of the Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). She served in the Consultative Chamber on Internet Security and Rights of the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br).

Marília is a PhD candidate at the University of Bordeaux Montaigne, on Information and Communication Sciences. She holds an MA in Latin American Integration from the Federal University of Santa Maria (2008) and a law degree from the Federal University of Pernambuco (2005), where she was awarded a research grant from the State of Pernambuco Research Foundation (FACEPE) to investigate issues related to taxation and electronic commerce.

Ms Anusha Madhusudhan is a lawyer based in New York, who specialises in public international law and international dispute resolution. She has advised governments and other entities on legal and diplomatic issues in her areas of expertise, and was the youngest member of India’s Delegation to the 72nd session of the General Assembly. In 2019, Anusha served in the Chambers of the Presiding Judge of the United Nations International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (UN-IRMCT) in Tanzania, where she worked on landmark cases involving international criminal law. Anusha has worked with leading international law firms, including White and Case LLP in the Middle East, and has also consulted with international non-profit organisations and think tanks globally, including on developing teaching methodology on human rights mechanisms and instruments, and drafting policy briefs to assist regulatory bodies in navigating the intersection of international law and (emerging) cyber norms. She holds a BA.,LLB. (Honours) Degree from the National University of Advanced Legal Studies, India and a Master of Laws degree from New York University, where she was nominated to serve on the Board of the International Law Society.

Ms Dragana Markovski works on the planning, development, coordination, and quality control of Diplo courses and training programmes. She currently focuses on the delivery and further development of online communications training as part of Diplo's Future of Meetings project which provides capacity building and support to international organisations and various stakeholders as they transition from offline to online work. 

Dragana has also worked on promotional activities for Diplo courses and projects, and assisted in the design and development of Diplo's learning management system (LMS).  

Prior to joining Diplo in 2011, she worked as a translator and interpreter, as well as in office and PR management, international trade and logistics, and education.

She holds a BA in Chinese Language and Literature, and an MA in Chinese Literature from the Faculty of Philology, University of Belgrade.

Ms Jovana Martić joined Diplo in 2020. As part of the ConfTech team, she researches platforms for online conferences and meetings. Jovana holds a BA in Communications from the Faculty of Culture and Media in Belgrade, and studied for three years at the Faculty of Law, University of Belgrade.

Currently based in Belgrade, Serbia, Ms Darija Medić is a digital practitioner, artist, and researcher, working in the fields of media art and design, web development, critical writing, curating, and production. Since 2012, she has been a core member of Interkultivator, an organisation that focuses on the decentralisation of gender and cultural production in Serbia through creating experimental educational platforms with a focus on technology (such as Technology for beginHers). Since 2015. she has been a project manager at Napon – Institute of Flexible Cultures and Technologies.

Darija graduated in 2011 from the Networked Media department at the Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam, Netherlands with a Master’s in Design, and in 2009 from the New Media Department of the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, Serbia, with a Bachelor’s in New Media Arts.

Serbian-born Mr Viktor Mijatović  joined Diplo’s Creative Lab in 2015 as a graphic designer, and puts his creative stamp on most of Diplo’s print and online publications. With 17 years of experience in graphic design and advertising, Viktor has worked for past 7 years in Saatchi & Saatchi’s Belgrade office, which has won many international creative awards in advertising (Cannes LIONS award in 2014, for the project Chronicles Of Threats).

Viktor graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade  in 2001. In 2005, he obtained a postgraduate diploma from the Graphic Department, where he is currently finalising his PhD studies. He has exhibited at international print exhibitions in Canada, the USA, Estonia, Italy, the UK, Austria, and China. In his free time, Viktor enjoys watching movies, printing unique t-shirts and graphic prints, and spending time outdoors with his family.

Ms Mina Mudrić joined Diplo in 2003 and is based in Belgrade where she supervises the work of in-house and external graphic designers, illustrators, and printers. Mina oversees all aspects of design and production, often working on multiple simultaneous publications, coordinating busy schedules and printing deadlines. In addition to her role as Publications Manager, Mina also manages the International Forum on Diplomatic Studies website.

Mr Aleksandar Nedeljkov is an experienced desktop publishing specialist working with Diplo in Belgrade on publications design since 2004. His works involves patient and detailed preparation, formatting, and graphic processing of Diplo’s publications, leaflets and reports, often until the wee hours. Aleksandar likes to spend free time on his boat on the River Sava.

Serbian-born Ms Tanja Nikolić has been working for Diplo in Malta since 2003 on different course-related and social media tasks. She has interacted at some stage with the vast majority of Diplo's 5700 alumni. Tanja graduated from the  Faculty of Political Science, Department for Social Work and Social Politics in Belgrade University with a BA (Hons) in Social Work. When not at work, she enjoys long walks, clocking up at least 10 km daily.

Dr Jovan Njegic is the head of Diplo's Data and AI Team. He also works in academia as a lecturer in postgraduate studies. Jovan holds a doctorate in Economics in the field of data science application, and a master’s in Finance. His areas of interest include data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence, both from philosophical and implementational perspectives.

Born (and currently residing) in the United States, Ms Virginia (Ginger) Paque lived in Venezuela for more than 35 years. An educator and administrator by profession, she has 25 years’ experience in business and manufacturing systems consulting. As a board member of the United Nations Association of Venezuela, her work as the Venezuelan member of the World Federation of United Nations Associations Task Force on WSIS marked her entry to the world of Internet governance (IG) during the Geneva PrepComs. Active in Civil Society discussions on IG, Ginger served as IG Caucus co-coordinator for two years. She was a member of the UN Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) from 2015 to 2017, with a specific focus on moving online 'observation' to online 'participation' for greater inclusion. Having completed a Master in Contemporary Diplomacy with a thesis focusing on the importance of IG as a new diplomatic priority, Ginger currently lectures on IG for Diplo and curates human rights topics for the GIP Digital Watch observatory. Accessibility to support inclusion is a high priority, particularly through support for persons with disabilities and multilingual approaches.

Ms Nataša Perućica joined Diplo in 2018 as a researcher on the use of emerging digital technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence (AI) in the context of sustainable development. She received both her bachelor’s and master’s degree in Political Science from Université catholique de Louvain in Belgium. She leads Diplo’s efforts on a series of human rights webinars titled RightOn with the aim of raising awareness and sharing knowledge on global human rights situations and practices. She is currently enrolled as a full PhD scholarship student in 'Social Theory, Digital Innovation and Public Policies' at Università degli Studi di Salerno in Italy.

André Saramago is an Assistant Professor of International Relations at the University of Coimbra, in Coimbra, Portugal. His research focuses on the fields of international relations theory, international historical sociology, and East Asia studies. André has been collaborating with DiploFoundation in online learning and research since 2017. He holds an MA in International Relations (University of Lisbon, Portugal) and a PhD in International Politics (University of Aberystwyth, UK).  

Based in Belgrade, Mr Andrej Škrinjarić is Diplo's online education programme coordinator. 

In addition to ensuring the smooth running of various courses and workshops, Andrej is actively involved in developing new methodologies for online and remote education. By working directly with students and lecturers, he works on developing online learning formats that will enhance the students' learning experience. Andrej also works on adapting Diplo's traditional onsite practice-based workshops to remote formats, focusing on effective and efficient online communication.  

Andrej holds a BA in Chinese Language and Literature from the Faculty of Philology, University of Belgrade, and has obtained a postgraduate diploma in Diplomacy from the University of Malta with his dissertation Multilingualism and the Internet.

Ms Hannah Slavik has been working with Diplo since 1999 and is currently responsible for designing learning methodologies, planning educational policy, developing cooperation with partner institutions, and working on online course development and implementation. Originally from western Canada, she is now based in Bucharest, Romania. Hannah has edited three Diplo publications: Language and Diplomacy, Intercultural Communication and Diplomacy, and Roma Diplomacy. With an academic background in linguistics, she has an MA from the University of Malta and a BA from the University of Victoria, Canada. Hannah also holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Open and Distance Education from the Open University, UK.

Dr Vladimir Veljašević is a long-time member of Diplo’s Creative Team in Belgrade. Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade, his work has been exhibited at many international print exhibitions in countries such as Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Egypt, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Macedonia, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Senegal, Spain, Sweden, Syria, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, and the USA.

Ms Milica Virijević Konstantinović has been with Diplo from its earliest days in 1999 when it was still called DiploProjects. Her main responsibilities at the time were taking care of publications and printing. After taking maternity leave, she came back to Diplo in 2007 as Travel and Workshops Coordinator assuming the role of Head of Operations in Belgrade in 2016.

Amb. Amr Aljowaily is Egypt’s Ambassador to Serbia. He is also visiting faculty at UNITAR’s Multilateral Diplomacy Program, adjunct faculty in International Security at the School of Global Public Affairs of the American University in Cairo, and a course lecturer on Multilateral Diplomacy at DiploFoundation. He has held leading positions in multilateral negotiations including Rapporteur of the United Nations’ Special Committee on Peacekeeping in 2015, Coordinator for Peacekeeping of the African Group Experts in NY in 2015, Coordinator for Disarmament of the Arab Group Experts in New York from 2011 to 2015, Vice Chair of the UN Disarmament Commission in 2013, Facilitator for the International Tracing Instrument for the Second Review Conference on the UN Program of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons in 2012, Vice Chair of the General Assembly's First Committee (on Disarmament and International Security) in 2011, Chair of WTO’s Committee on Information Technology Agreement in 2007, Chair of the Negotiating Group on Market Access the Global System of Trade Preferences in 2007, and was twice Coordinator of the African Group to UNCTAD and the ITU (2003-2005).

Amb. Aljowaily’s previous diplomatic postings are New York, Geneva, and Washington, DC. At the Foreign Ministry, he served as Deputy Assistant Foreign Minister for United Nations Affairs, Egypt; Director of UN Affairs; member of the Cabinets of the Minister and First Undersecretary and the departments of multilateral political and economic issues. He was a member of the Egyptian delegations to summits and ministerial meetings of WSIS, the South Summit, the League of Arab States, the African Union, as well as UNCTADXI and the ITU Plenipotentiary 2006. He was Board Member of the Institute for Diplomatic Studies (1994–1996) and Coordinator of International Relations at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (2001–2003).

His career began in print and broadcast journalism, and in research centres. He published some of the earliest analytical works in Arabic on ICTs and International Relations, and continues to publish in the field of multilateral diplomacy, especially on issues related to international peace and security. His latest publication is the edited book Serbia in Egyptian Eyes: Diplomatic Memories and Cultural Memoirs, released 17 January 2018.

Amb. Aljowaily holds a BA in Political Science and an MA in Middle East Studies from the American University in Cairo (AUC), an MSc in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and a Postgraduate Diploma in Contemporary Diplomacy from the University of Malta. He has participated in numerous executive training activities, including the select Missions Leaders’ Course of the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations.

Daniel Beaudoin is a consultant on humanitarian diplomacy and civil-military affairs, as well as a lecturer on humanitarian diplomacy and aid operations at Tel Aviv University. Daniel has served as the Principal Liaison Officer for the coordination and facilitation of international humanitarian aid operations and economic development programs in the Occupied Territories. This position entailed intensive humanitarian mediation with the UN, World Bank, International Committee of the Red Cross, the US Agency for International Development, European Union, international NGOs as well as embassies and consulates. Daniel also has extensive media relations experience, having headed the foreign correspondents desk for the Israeli Military Spokesperson’s office.  His current research interests include network theory and its relevance to the humanitarian industry, as well as questions relating to the humanitarian diplomatic strategies adopted by the various aid actors, and how these strategies influence their ability to implement their respective humanitarian policies in the field.

Professor GR Berridge is Emeritus Professor of International Politics at the University of Leicester, where he was the founding Director of the Centre for the Study of Diplomacy. For many years, he was General Editor of the Macmillan series, Studies in Diplomacy, and Associate Editor (with responsibility for twentieth century diplomatists) of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. He is the author of numerous books on diplomacy, including the best-selling textbook, Diplomacy: Theory and Practice, which has been translated into numerous languages, including Chinese. His most recent books include Embassies in Armed Conflict, the third edition (with L. Lloyd) of The Palgrave Macmillan Dictionary of Diplomacy, and A Diplomatic Whistleblower in the Victorian Era. Professor Berridge has been an external examiner at various British universities, including Birmingham, Durham, and London (School of Oriental and African Studies). A fuller biography – and much more – can be found on his personal website.

Dr Stephanie Borg Psaila is the Director for Digital Policy at DiploFoundation, and the Editor of the GIP Digital Watch observatory. In 2018-2019, she served as Diplo's Interim Director and Head of Geneva Internet Platform, replacing Founding Director Dr Jovan Kurbalija during his one-year position as co-Executive Director of the Secretariat of the United Nations High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation.  

Stephanie holds a Doctorate in Law (LL.D.), a Master's in Contemporary Diplomacy, and two law-related diplomas from the University of Malta, and her special areas of interest include legal issues in digital policy, human rights, and e-diplomacy. She holds a warrant to practice as a Notary Public in Malta, and is a former journalist with The Sunday Times of Malta.

Ambassador Victor Camilleri has served for almost 50 years in diplomacy. He has occupied a number of senior administrative and diplomatic posts, including that of Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Malta. His latest assignment was as Executive Director within the Ministry for European Affairs, with special responsibility for Malta's presidency of the EU Council in January–June 2017. His latest posting abroad was as Malta’s Ambassador to Libya in 2011–2013. As Ambassador in Brussels he formed part of the Maltese team which negotiated Malta’s membership of the EU. Ambasssador Camilleri was chef de cabinet to Maltese Foreign Minister Professor G. de Marco during his Presidency of the 45th Session of the UN General Assembly. He has extensive experience in multilateral affairs. He is actively interested in the promotion of IT as a tool of diplomacy and for some years served as Chairman of the Working Group on Informatics at the UN in New York. Ambassador Camilleri is President of Diplo's Board of Administrators.

Mr Aapo Cederberg is currently Associate Fellow at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP). He was Senior Programme Adviser in the Emerging Security Challenges Programme at GCSP from 2013 to 2015, focussing on cybersecurity matters, especially training courses and security dialogue.

Mr Cederberg has served as a Secretary General for the Security Committee of Finland for six years. The Security Committee provides support, advice and expertise for the government in comprehensive security matters and serves as a collaborative platform for the on-going national efforts related to national crisis preparedness. The security committee also works on various initiatives and issues statements and guidelines, such as Security Strategy for the Society and Cyber Security Strategy, to facilitate work towards the common goals. These strategies are government resolutions and were created for the first time during Mr Cederberg´s time as well as the mechanisms to implement them in the whole society. The committee also organises crisis exercises for the government and other stakeholders in society.

Mr Cederberg’s earlier assignments include working as the Head of Strategic Planning and Foresight at the Ministry of Defence (2005 – 2007). During his time a first public long-term strategy for the MoD was created (Securely into the Future - Ministry of Defence Strategy 2025). Before this he has had a long career in the service of Finnish Armed Forces, where his latest assignments include holding the position of Commander at the Häme GBAD Battalion (2003 – 05) and serving as a Senior Military Adviser at the Permanent Mission of Finland to the OSCE (1999- 2003).

Mr Bipul Chatterjee is an Indian economist with more than 20 years of experience on issues related to international trade and development, especially on political economy of trade and economic policy reforms, particularly pro-poor aspects of reforms. Currently, he is Executive Director of CUTS International, a Jaipur-based international non-governmental organisation working on several subjects of public interest. Bipul heads the CUTS Centre for International Trade, Economics and Environment. Prior to joining CUTS International, he worked at several economic policy think tanks in New Delhi such as National Council for Applied Economic Research, and Institute for Economic Growth. He has participated and represented the organisation in more than 100 events on WTO issues, regional integration, and trade and development issues at national, regional and international level including WTO Ministerial Conferences. He has authored more than 20 papers including a collection of essays on India’s experience on economic diplomacy, co-edited with Ambassador Kishan Rana.

http://www.cuts-citee.org/pdf/BipulCV.pdf

Dr Avri Doria is a research consultant. She served on the UN Working Group on Enhanced Cooperation (WGEC) and the UN Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG). She served as a member the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Secretariat and is a member of the IGF Multistakeholder Advisory Group (IGF MAG). As a technologist she has been involved in the development of Internet protocols and architectures for over 30 years; is co-chair of a Research Group on Human Rights Protocol Considerations; and a member of the Internet Research Steering Group (IRSG). She has been active in ICANN policy, was chair of the GNSO Council, and is one of the co-chairs of the New gTLD Subsequent Procedures Working Group.  She was recently re-elected chair of the Internet Society Chapters Advisory Council Steering Committee. Avri was awarded the ICANN Multistakeholder Ethos award in 2014.

Ambassador Petru Dumitriu is a Romanian diplomat who joined the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) of the United Nations system in 2016 as Inspector, elected by the General Assembly. He earned his doctorate with a thesis on United Nations reform. He has published extensively on various United Nations topics, including a book on United Nations reform. During his diplomatic career, he served as representative of his country in various governing bodies of United Nations organisations (UNICEF, UNESCO) and in the bureaus of several General Assembly subsidiary bodies, including as Rapporteur for the World Summit on the Information Society (2003). He was also Ambassador and Permanent Observer of the Council of Europe to the United Nations–Geneva. As Director and Director-General in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania (1998-2001, 2006-2010) he acted as national coordinator on behalf of the government in relation to the United Nations country team. He is author of JIU reports on Knowledge Management in the United Nations System, The United Nations – Private Sector Partnership Arrangements in the Context of the 2030 Agenda, and Strengthening Policy Research Uptake. He received the Knowledge Management Award in 2017 and the Sustainable Development Award in 2019 for his reports.

Alan Franklin obtained an LLB and JD from the University of Toronto and an LLM in international law from the London School of Economics.  He is currently living in Vancouver, Canada, teaching courses on international legal business risk to MBA students at Athabasca University, international and constitutional law at Royal Roads University, as well as courses on international law for the University of London international LLM program. Alan created and chairs an association of former United Nations Ambassadors in the USA.

Dr Stefanie Frey, Managing Director at Deutor Cyber Security Solutions Switzerland GmbH, is specialised in developing strategies and solutions against criminal acts in the digital space for states, international organisations, and companies in close cooperation with law enforcement and other relevant bodies. She worked several years for the Swiss government as coordinator for the implementation of the National Cyber Strategy of Switzerland. She made contributions to ENISA's Cyber Security Working Group and the OECD Working Party on Security and Privacy in the Digital Economy (SPDE), and has influenced the outcome of the Digital Security Risk Recommendation. She is actively engaged in shaping the regional and global cybersecurity agenda with international and regional organisations. Dr. Frey holds a PhD from the Department of War Studies from King`s College London and a MBA from the International School of Management (ISM) in Dortmund and has several publication on cyber security, the Cold War and World War II.

Dr Massimiliano Fusari researches and produces digital media as visual storytelling for the strategic communication of social topics and international affairs. He is a recognised academic scholar and results-driven consultant with 30 years of established education and professional experience. As associate professor at the University of Westminster (UK), he runs the Digital and Interactive Storytelling LAB and lectures in the analysis and production of visual literacy, digital creativity, and cross-platform storytelling. He is currently reshuffling his online lab, The Visual Storytelling Academy, to incorporate the production of his mobile app –The Meta-Image.

Ms Liz Galvez was a senior diplomat with the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, taking early retirement in 2006 with the rank of Counsellor. During her 33 year career, she served in a wide range of diplomatic jobs in London and several overseas postings, including Finland, Central America and Romania, and 12 years in multilateral diplomacy: UN Geneva, OSCE Vienna (1989-1993) and UN New York (2003-6). She was seconded to the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2001-2002 as adviser to the Foreign Minister on OSCE Chairmanship and NATO accession issues, institutional reform, and diplomatic training. She returned to Romania in 2006 to set up and manage the Aspen Institute Romania until 2009.

She has been a course lecturer with DiploFoundation since 2009, providing training in public diplomacy and multilateral negotiating skills, including a programme for the Asia-Europe Foundation for diplomats from European and Asian countries, and a dissertation supervisor for DiploFoundation/University of Malta Master in Contemporary Diplomacy students. She has run workshops on public diplomacy for the Foreign Ministry of Bahrain; the Foreign Ministry and Parliamentary staffers in South Africa; and the Diplomatic Academy of Armenia. In addition, she has co-facilitated a workshop on Conflict Resolution in Bahrain for Diplomatic Heads of Mission and given a short training programme in Geneva on Diplomatic Reporting in the Internet Era for diplomatic officers from several states. She has run training programmes on negotiating skills for the Foreign Ministry of Bahrain, and at the Italian School of National Administration for Italian new entrant diplomats, and on Diplomatic English writing and speaking skills for the Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Moldova. She speaks operational Spanish, Romanian, and French. She has a BA from the University of London in Latin and Spanish and an MSc degree from the University of London in Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict, and has recently completed the DiploFoundation course on Internet Governance.

Ljupčo Gjorgjinski is a Senior Fellow with DiploFoundation, focusing his research on the security and diplomatic aspects of frontier science and technology. The research draws on his practical experience at the highest diplomatic levels on artificial intelligence (AI), biotech, and cyber issues, rooted in the theoretical foundations of International Relations Theory, international economics, and diplomatic history. 

Ljupčo chaired the 2019 UN Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS), formed under the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW). The GGE, under his leadership, adopted a Report that is still the most advanced international normative document to focus on AI, with important context to the document given in his Chair’s Summary. 

In 2018, Ljupčo chaired the Meeting of States Parties (MSP) to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC). He resolved a complex financial situation that threatened not only to cancel that year’s meeting, but also the long-term financial viability of the Convention. He wrote, as Chair, an Information Paper on the financial predictability and sustainability of the BTWC and, based on that paper, proposed a set of measures, most of which were adopted by the MSP. These measures are broadly considered as decisive in setting this important convention on stable, long-term financial footing. 

As a Macedonian diplomat, he was the acting Head of the Permanent Mission of the Republic of North Macedonia to the UN Office and other International Organisations in Geneva (2016–2019); Assistant Director of the Cabinet of the Foreign Minister responsible for strategic communication; and, Assistant Head of the  United Nations and Human Rights Sector in the Directorate for Multilateral Relations and Security Cooperation. 

Before entering the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he worked for the UN Development Programme (UNDP) where he managed the joint Macedonian Government–UNDP Policy Support Unit and produced a number of influential reports, development plans, and studies. 

He was Executive Director of the Foundation of the first Macedonian president, Kiro Gligorov, and advised the second president, Boris Trajkovski, on information society policy, including the preparation of all Macedonian positions for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) held in Geneva in 2003. 

Ljupčo has degrees from the University of Toronto (Hon. BA.), the University of Malta (MA), and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (GMAP). 

Mr Tracy Hackshaw is an ICT and Digital Economy Strategist possessing close to twenty-five (25) years' experience spanning work in the public and private sectors both locally and internationally, including representing Trinidad & Tobago in various international forums. Included in his portfolio are engagements on the Executive Management Committee of the Commonwealth Cybercrime Initiative, a two-year term as Vice Chair of ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee, Small Island Developing States Dynamic Coalition co-ordination at the United Nations Internet Governance Forum, Academic Teaching and Research work at the DiploFoundation/University of Malta and at The University of the West Indies, as well as professional leadership roles in the Ministries of Science & Technology, Public Administration and Planning & Development, iGovTT, ttconnect, and Star.tt among several other entities and organisations.

He has served as a Director of the Trinidad & Tobago Multistakeholder Advisory Group, which convened the inaugural Trinidad & Tobago IGF in January 2017. Hackshaw is the founding Vice Chair of the Internet Society Trinidad & Tobago Chapter and was elected its Chair for the 2017-19 term. More about Hackshaw.

Ms Dominique Hempel Rodas is a Swiss lawyer with more than 25 years experience on issues related to international law, development, and private-public partnerships.

After several years in the private industry where she held different senior positions, including directing a consultancy services firm specialised in international legal and commercial fields, she joined the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1992. First as a legal counsel and programme and country officer for eastern countries, she then headed the Legal Division of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) from 1994 to 2000.

She was further seconded by the SDC to international organisations and projects (World Health Organization (WHO); The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; UNDP The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN); and Interpeace) where she occupied diverse leading functions both at the legal level as a senior legal counsel, and the operational level as a senior programme advisor with a focus on Latin America. She returned to the SDC headquarters in 2008 in charge of training programmes, and then became responsible for the topic of capacity development within the SDC and its partners. She is now acting as an independent senior advisor with participation in different institutions working in the development sector.

She is the author of various publications on development co-operation, notably on the right to development. In addition, she has conducted different face-to-face courses and seminars both in Switzerland and overseas on such subjects as democracy, human rights, and rule of law, as well as instruments of development co-operation. Dominique has supported Diplo’s activities since 2002, and participated in its creation as a foundation. She is pleased to join Diplo’s faculty as a lecturer on Sustainable Development Diplomacy.

Mr Lee Hibbard is a Senior Fellow at DiploFoundation. He is also an administrator in the Bioethics Unit of the Council of Europe, based in Strasbourg, France. For the last ten years, Lee has been responsible for developing European human rights norms on the challenges posed by the Internet, in particular regarding freedom of expression, the public service value of the Internet, children’s right to be forgotten, responsibilities of Internet companies, privacy, and other areas. Lee has also coordinated the Council of Europe’s policy on Internet governance. This included the preparation of the organisation’s Internet Governance Strategies for 2016-2019, 2012-2015, and developing partnerships with Internet companies.

Dr Katharina (Kat) E Höne researches, writes, and teaches on a number of issues in the area of diplomacy, global governance, and the impact of technology on international relations. Over the last years, she has focused on research at the intersection of diplomacy and technology. She was part of a research project on Data Diplomacy: Updating diplomacy to the big data era and the lead researcher and author of Mapping the challenges and opportunities of artificial intelligence for the conduct of diplomacy report, both supported by the Ministry for Foreign of Affairs of Finland. In addition, she has more than 10 years of experience in teaching international relations at universities in the UK and Germany, and in delivering in-situ, blended, and online training to diplomatic practitioners. Kat holds an MA in Diplomatic Studies (University of Leicester, UK) and a PhD in International Politics (University of Aberystwyth, UK). In her work, she is driven by her aim to level the playing field at international negotiation tables through capacity development, and to provide out-of-the-box thinking and inspiration by drawing on her passion for science-fiction.

Originally from the Czech Republic, Dr Tereza Horejsova is currently based in Washington DC. Joining Diplo in 2012, Tereza has had an international career in academia and the non-governmental sector in the Czech Republic, the United Arab Emirates, and Switzerland. During her stay in Geneva (2012‒2016), she coordinated the activities of the Geneva Internet Platform. She holds an MA in International Area Studies and a PhD in European Studies, both from the Charles University in Prague. As of 2019, Tereza is the Executive Director of Diplo US and heads activities in the United States.

Ms Yasmin Ismail is a Research Fellow at CUTS International Geneva since March 2019. Her research interests include the WTO institutional reform, new issues under the WTO including e-commerce, Africa integration and China-Africa relations. Yasmin holds two Masters’ degrees in Economics of Development and in International and European Law from the University of Grenoble-Alpes in France. Prior to joining CUTS, Yasmin was a Projects Manager at Global Partners Governance, Ltd. a UK based International Consultancy specialised in designing and implementing institutional and governance reform projects in the Middle East and developing countries. She also served as a specialist in International Cooperation at the Egyptian Cabinet Information and Decision Support Centre.

Ms Pavlina Ittelson joined Diplo in 2017 and currently serves as senior programme officer at Diplo US. She focuses on the legal aspects of internet governance in the fields of internet jurisdiction, cybersecurity, and alternative dispute resolution. She also curates the topics of Jurisdiction, Alternative Dispute Resolution, and Intellectual Property Rights on the GIP Digital Watch observatory website.

Prior to joining Diplo, Pavlina practiced law as an attorney and a legal project manager in the fields of international business, science, and technology. Pavlina received her degree in Law from Comenius University, Bratislava, and her LLM in International Business Law from the Central European University, Budapest. A native of Slovakia, she now resides in the Washington, DC area.

Professor Dr Milan Jazbec is Ambassador of Slovenia to North Macedonia, and a Professor of Diplomacy at the University of Ljubljana and the New University in Kranj in Slovenia. He is also a Visiting Professor at the South East European University and at the International Balkan University in North Macedonia.

Milan is a poet and a writer, and has published 60 books and over 120 articles in 14 languages. He has a long and distinguished career covering diplomacy, business, journalism, and politics.

He obtained a PhD in the sociology of diplomacy from the University of Klagenfurt (Austria) and has lectured at various universities, including Columbia (New York) and the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna (Austria). He was also Visiting Professor at the Bilkent University, the Middle East Technical University, and the University of Ankara in Turkey.

Professor Jazbec was Ambassador of Slovenia to Turkey, and an accredited non-residential Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria. He served as Minister Plenipotentiary at the Embassy of Slovenia in Stockholm (Sweden), covering five Nordic and three Baltic states. He was the last Yugoslav Consul in Klagenfurt, and the first ever Slovenian Consul. Milan was State Secretary at the Ministry of Defence of Slovenia, and the Director of Policy Planning and Research at the Foreign Ministry of Slovenia.

He is a member of the Slovenian Association of International Relations, the Slovenian Association of Political Sciences, the Slovenian PEN Centre, as well as the Editor of the international journal European Perspectives. He holds the distinguished Grand Golden Decoration of Honour with Star for Merit of the Republic of Austria.

An expert in remote participation, Mr Arvin Kamberi heads up Diplo’s Webinar Team. Based in Belgrade, he has been working on webinars and other web-based remote participation since 2011. Arvin has been part of the remote participation team for many international forums, such as the IGF, EuroDIG, and local IGF events such as IGF Africa. From 2014 to 2015, he was a part of the IGF Working Group on Remote Participation (established in 2008), and involved in the elaboration of IGF remote participation guidelines.

Arvin has a keen interest in cryptocurrency and blockchain developments; first as an avid ‘miner’, then more in terms of regulation and consensus mechanisms surrounding the decentralised systems. His primary focus is on Bitcoin development, but he follows other cryptocurrency developments and the blockchain/distributed ledger technology, too. Vice President of Bitcoin Association of Serbia, Arvin writes extensively about Bitcoin and blockchains. He holds an MA in Film and Video Production from Belgrade University of Art.

Rashid S. Kaukab is Executive Director, CUTS International Geneva, Switzerland. One of his key responsibilities is to develop, implement and evaluate technical assistance and capacity building projects and programmes for developing and least-developed countries, including on WTO discussions/negotiations. He worked for the government of Pakistan as a field administrator, in the ministry of finance, and as Counsellor on trade and economic issues in Pakistan Mission to the UN/WTO in Geneva before joining the Geneva-based South Centre in March 1998 where he worked as Coordinator of South Centre Work Programme on Trade and Development, as Head, Strategic Policy and Planning, and as Acting Head, Programme and Research Coordination. He has also worked for UNCTAD as a Senior Consultant. Trade and development is the broad area of his interest and he has contributed a number of articles and papers on issues related to trade and development and global economic governance.  He has lectured at several research and academic institutions including Grenoble University, France, CASIN, Geneva, and GC University, Lahore, Pakistan. He is a member Governing Board, and also teaches at the Trade Policy Training Centre in Africa (TRAPCA), Arusha, Tanzania. He holds a Masters Degree in Economics (Karachi University) and Business Administration (Yale University).

Ms Carol Kiangura is an alumna of the 2013 Capacity Development course. She has a Masters Degree in Organisational Development from the United States International University (USIU) in Kenya. She has about fifteen year’s progressive experience gained from working in the civil society sector in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean regions. Ms Kiangura’s niche is in developing and implementing capacity development programmes at a national and international level for various stakeholders, especially for civil society organisations, including movements, networks, and coalitions. She is skilled in managing learning processes for adult learners and in managing multiple and complex partnerships. Ms Kiangura currently works as a the Senior Program Officer, Sub-Saharan Africa, Training, Technical Assistance and Networking Team, at the International Budget Partnership.

Dr Jovan Kurbalija is the Executive Director of DiploFoundation and Head of the Geneva Internet Platform (GIP). He was a member of the UN Working Group on Internet Governance (2004‒2005), special advisor to the Chairman of the UN Internet Governance Forum (2006‒2010), and a member of the High Level Multistakeholder Committee for NETmundial (2013‒2014). In 2018-2019, he served as co-Executive Director of the Secretariat of the United Nations (UN) High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation.

A former diplomat, Jovan has a professional and academic background in international law, diplomacy, and information technology. He has been a pioneer in the field of cyber diplomacy since 1992 when he established the Unit for Information Technology and Diplomacy at the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies in Malta, and later, DiploFoundation.

Since 1997, Jovan’s research and articles on cyber diplomacy have shaped research and policy discussion on the impact of the Internet on diplomacy and international relations. His book, An Introduction to Internet Governance, has been translated into 9 languages and is used as a textbook for academic courses worldwide. He lectures on e-diplomacy and Internet governance in academic and training institutions in many countries, including Austria (Diplomatic Academy of Vienna), Belgium (College of Europe), Switzerland (University of St Gallen), Malta (University of Malta), and the United States (University of Southern California).

His publishes regular articles on DiploFoundation's blog, and the Huffington Post. 

Christopher Lamb is a former Australian Ambassador and is now Special Adviser to the Australian Red Cross and the IFRC. He also has advisory responsibilities with many RCRC National Societies, business groups and universities. He is president of the Australia Myanmar Institute and holds positions with several NGOs and foundations. As Special Adviser on International Relations for the IFRC until his retirement in June 2010, he was responsible for the diplomatic positioning of the IFRC and National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in the international intergovernmental and non-governmental communities. He coordinated the development of IFRC positions in various humanitarian and political fields, supporting the work of National Societies in these respects through the development of the IFRC’s policy on humanitarian diplomacy. Before joining IFRC in 2000, he was an Australian diplomat and Ambassador to Myanmar, Serbia, Romania, and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, after serving in several multilateral and bilateral posts and as foreign ministry legal adviser.

Dr Anthony Land is a freelance consultant based in Botswana specialising in capacity development and change management. He works extensively in Africa and the Asia-Pacific region designing and evaluating programmes on decentralisation, public sector management, and governance. He has co-designed and applied various capacity diagnostic tools including the ‘5 Capabilities’ tool amongst others, which have been used to design and monitor organisational/ institutional strengthening interventions. As a Programme Associate of the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) he has contributed to thinking on the theory and practice of capacity development in international cooperation. He was the founder of Capacity.Org, an online knowledge portal on capacity development, and has authored/co-edited various publications including Hauck, Land, Ubels, and Grein [eds] (2015) Capacity Development Beyond Aid (SNV Netherlands Development Organisation and ECDPM); and Land, Hauck, and Baser (2009) Capacity Development: Between Planned Interventions and Emergent Processes – Implications for Development Cooperation (ECDPM Policy Management Brief No. 22).

Brazilian-born Ms Marília Maciel is currently based in Strasbourg, France. She is involved in several Internet- governance-related projects, notably on the fields of digital economy, e-commerce, and cybersecurity. She also curates the topics of e-commerce, Access and Digital Divide for the GIP Digital Watch Observatory and represents Diplo at various meetings.

Prior to joining Diplo, Ms Marília Maciel was a researcher and coordinator of the Center for Technology and Society of the Getulio Vargas Foundation (CTS/FGV) in Rio de Janeiro. She served as a councillor at ICANN´s Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) representing the Non-Commercial Stakeholder Group (NCSG). Marília is a former member of the Working Group on Improvements to the Internet Governance Forum (2011–2012), created under the auspices of the Commission on Science and Technology for Development (UN CSTD). She was also a member of the Multistakeholder Executive Committee of NETmundial and represented CTS/FGV in meetings of the Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). She served in the Consultative Chamber on Internet Security and Rights of the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br).

Marília is a PhD candidate at the University of Bordeaux Montaigne, on Information and Communication Sciences. She holds an MA in Latin American Integration from the Federal University of Santa Maria (2008) and a law degree from the Federal University of Pernambuco (2005), where she was awarded a research grant from the State of Pernambuco Research Foundation (FACEPE) to investigate issues related to taxation and electronic commerce.

Solange Mike (nee Cross), a national of both the United Kingdom and Trinidad and Tobago, holds degrees in the field of International Relations from the University of the West Indies, the University of Malta, and the University of Reading. Solange has worked on a number of research consultancies in the Caribbean region for various clients ranging from government agencies, international organisations, and multi-national corporations. She has also served as a facilitator in many diplomatic training programmes. Her areas of research interest include small state diplomacy, information and communication technologies in international relations, and geopolitics and energy diplomacy. She has lectured in the area of diplomacy at the Institute of International Relations, the University of the West Indies St. Augustine campus on Trinidad and Tobago, and currently is an associate faculty member in DiploFoundation’s academic programmes through the University of Malta.

Ms Phoebe Farag Mikhail is a consultant in international education, development, and human rights. She currently consults with the Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI) to help develop the concept of education diplomacy, and has also worked with the Global Partnership for Education, Plan International, and Amnesty International. She has worked with non-governmental organizations in Egypt to develop and implement a girls’ education program that reached thousands of girls and young women. She holds a Master’s in International Education from the George Washington University in Washington, DC and also teaches academic writing at Fairleigh Dickenson University in Teaneck, New Jersey.

Jean-Michel Monod, a Swiss citizen, worked for 37 years with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), in the field (Head of Delegations in the Middle East, Asia and North Africa) and at headquarters as Delegate General (Director) for Asia and the Pacific. As Delegate General for Asia and the Pacific, his responsibilities included negotiating the acceptability of ICRC’s services in sensitive situations (Myanmar, Afghanistan, Cambodia and Sri Lanka, East Timor, India inter alia). As Head of the Regional Delegation for North Africa (2010-2013), he successfully negotiated the opening of an ICRC Delegation in Tripoli (Libya) in April 2011. Jean-Michel retired in October 2013 and lives in Tunis.

Ambassador Asoke Mukerji’s diplomatic career spans 37 years, from 1978-2015. As India’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York (2013-2015) he oversaw India’s negotiations on Agenda 2030 on Sustainable Development, focusing on prioritising the use of technology for achieving the SDGs. He represented India in the inter-governmental negotiations that recommended a text-based outcome for UN Security Council Reforms in September 2015. He led India’s successful initiative in the UN General Assembly in 2014 for adopting a resolution to declare 21 June every year as the International Day of Yoga.

Ambassador Mukerji was India’s Delegate to the World Trade Organization in Geneva (1995-1998). He was Deputy High Commissioner of India in the UK (2007-2010); India’s Ambassador to Kazakhstan (2005-2007); Deputy Chief of India’s Mission in the Russian Federation (2001-2005); and India’s first resident Charge d’affaires in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. He headed India’s largest consular post in Dubai (UAE) as Consul General from 1998-2001 and was India’s last Consul General to Soviet Central Asia.

As Special Secretary in India’s Ministry of External Affairs, he oversaw Indian foreign policy planning and review, India’s policies in international organizations, and led Indian delegations participating in joint working groups on countering terrorism. He initiated India’s first international cyber dialogues with the USA, the UK, the Russian Federation, Japan, and the EU. He worked as Chef de Cabinet of India’s Minister of State for External Affairs (1993-95) and as Private Secretary to India’s Minister of External Affairs (1985-86).

Ambassador Mukerji chaired a multi-stakeholder working group under India’s National Security Council Secretariat to recommend cyber norms for India (2017-2018). He has addressed audiences at seminars and conferences in India and abroad, including the Global Conferences on Cyber Space at London (2011) and New Delhi (2017). He lectures regularly on multilateral issues to Indian and foreign diplomats at India’s Foreign Service Institute.

Ambassador Mukerji has published articles and book chapters in Indian and foreign publications on India’s foreign policy, as well as several books. He obtained a BA (Honours) and MA degree from St Stephen’s College, University of Delhi. In July 2018, he was awarded a Doctor of Civil Law (honoris causa) degree by the University of East Anglia (UK) for his contributions to diplomacy.    

Ms Grace Mutung’u researches on information and communications technology (ICT) policy in Kenya and Africa, with specialisation in digital rights, governance, and development. She has been involved in ICT policy development over the past ten years and has been engaged in various projects including Kenya’s country domain administration (.ke) dispute resolution policy; public participation for different policies and laws in the sector; legal compliance; and universal periodic review (UPR) reporting on ICT policies and digital rights in several African countries. She is particularly interested in the use of technologies to achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and is currently studying how national digital ID programmes intersect with development and social justice. She has also worked in political mobilisation and community development, particularly during initial implementation of Kenya’s 2010 Constitution.

Grace is currently a research fellow at the Centre for IP and IT Law (CIPIT) at Strathmore University, Nairobi. She previously visited Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society as a fellow studying use of the Internet for elections and served as founding trustee for the board of the policy think tank KICTANet. She also provides regular updates on Internet governance developments from Africa for GIP Digital Watch observatory and is participating in several working groups on AI for development. She holds a Master in Contemporary Diplomacy from the University of Malta. Grace is an ardent theatre fan and often seeks dialogue between African literature and digital development.

Born (and currently residing) in the United States, Ms Virginia (Ginger) Paque lived in Venezuela for more than 35 years. An educator and administrator by profession, she has 25 years’ experience in business and manufacturing systems consulting. As a board member of the United Nations Association of Venezuela, her work as the Venezuelan member of the World Federation of United Nations Associations Task Force on WSIS marked her entry to the world of Internet governance (IG) during the Geneva PrepComs. Active in Civil Society discussions on IG, Ginger served as IG Caucus co-coordinator for two years. She was a member of the UN Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) from 2015 to 2017, with a specific focus on moving online 'observation' to online 'participation' for greater inclusion. Having completed a Master in Contemporary Diplomacy with a thesis focusing on the importance of IG as a new diplomatic priority, Ginger currently lectures on IG for Diplo and curates human rights topics for the GIP Digital Watch observatory. Accessibility to support inclusion is a high priority, particularly through support for persons with disabilities and multilingual approaches.

Ms Jenny Pearson has lived and worked in Cambodia since 1995. She has qualifications in social work and management and worked in the public sector in England before going to Cambodia. She founded and directed VBNK, Cambodia's leading learning and capacity development institution, until 2008. She has played a leading role in developing the capacity of the not-for-profit sector in Cambodia, introducing creative approaches to capacity development and serving on the boards of several prominent development organisations. In 2007 she was a visiting fellow at the Institute of Development Studies in the UK. Jenny now spends her time consulting and writing about capacity development, drawing on her years of experience to contribute the voice of practice to the international discourse on capacity development. She is the author of Creative Capacity Development: learning to adapt in development practice, and the OECD Work Paper Training and Beyond: Seeking better practices for capacity development.

Internet expert and historian Ian Peter became involved in the early beginnings of the Internet in Australia and Asia-Pacific from 1986. Currently living in the Byron Bay hinterland, Australia, he is involved with worldwide Internet organisations, provides strategic advice on Internet issues, and maintains a key interest in the early history of the Internet. Read more about Ian Peter.

Serbian-born Mr Vladimir (Vlada) Radunović is a lecturer in cybersecurity policy, Internet governance, and e-diplomacy on postgraduate and professional courses. He also serves as an expert with the Geneva Internet Platform. He served as a member of the Advisory Board of the Global Forum on Cyber Expertise (GFCE) from 2016 to 2020, and a member of the Multistakeholder Advisory Group of the UN Internet Governance Forum (IGF) from 2012 to 2014. Vlada has been a lecturer, speaker, and resource person on a number of educational and training programmes and events worldwide, including within the WSIS and IGF processes. His professional and research focus is on Internet governance, broadband policy and net neutrality, cybersecurity and cyber-diplomacy, e-diplomacy, and capacity development. He holds an MSc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Belgrade and a Master’s in Contemporary Diplomacy from the University of Malta. He is currently working on his PhD in cybersecurity. Vlada is currently member of the Board of Directors of Diplo US.

Ambassador Kishan S. Rana is Professor Emeritus, and a Senior Fellow at DiploFoundation. He was awarded a BA (Hon) and MA in economics, St Stephens College Delhi. He was in the Indian Foreign Service (1960-95); and worked in China (1963-65, 1970-72). He was Ambassador and High Commissioner for Algeria, Czechoslovakia, Kenya, Mauritius, and Germany; and consul general in San Francisco. He served on staff of PM Indira Gandhi (1981-82).

Amb. Rana is an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi (book review editor, China Report); an Archives By-Fellow, Churchill College, Cambridge; a Public Policy Scholar, Woodrow Wilson Centre, Washington DC; guest faculty at the Diplomatic Academy, Vienna; and Commonwealth Adviser, Namibia Foreign Ministry, 2000-01. He has lectured in about 20 countries to diplomats at foreign ministry training institutions, and at ambassador conferences in several countries.

He is the author of Inside Diplomacy (2000); Managing Corporate Culture (co-author, 2000); Bilateral Diplomacy(2002); The 21st Century Ambassador (2004); Asian Diplomacy (2007); Diplomacy of the 21st Century (2011); India’s North-East States, the BCIM Forum and Regional Integration, (co-author, 2012); The Contemporary Embassy (2013); and Diplomacy at the Cutting Edge (2015). He is co-editor of Foreign Ministries (2007); and Economic Diplomacy(2011). The two books were translated into Chinese; some used as textbooks at several universities. He has written about 100 articles for academic journals and newspapers.

Mr Martin Rauchbauer is the Austrian Consul in San Francisco and Co-Director at Open Austria. Founded in 2016, Open Austria is the official Austrian government representation in Silicon Valley and helps entrepreneurs, innovators, academics, policy makers, and creative minds from this country to connect with the Bay Area. Recently, Open Austria has also engaged in tech diplomacy between Europe and Silicon Valley and has become an advocate for smart tech regulation across the globe. In 2018 Martin served as the local chair of the European Union in San Francisco. Before coming to San Francisco, Martin was Deputy Director of the Business Support Service and Head of the UNESCO unit at the Austrian Foreign Ministry in Vienna. Martin received his M.A. in International Relations and International Economics from the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at the Johns Hopkins University in Bologna, Italy and Washington D.C.

André Saramago is an Assistant Professor of International Relations at the University of Coimbra, in Coimbra, Portugal. His research focuses on the fields of international relations theory, international historical sociology, and East Asia studies. André has been collaborating with DiploFoundation in online learning and research since 2017. He holds an MA in International Relations (University of Lisbon, Portugal) and a PhD in International Politics (University of Aberystwyth, UK).  

Dr Biljana Scott was trained as a linguist (BA in Chinese, M.Phil and D.Phil in Linguistics, University of Oxford). She is a Senior Lecturer in Language and Diplomacy at DiploFoundation and an associate of the Chinese Institute at Oxford University. She workshops internationally on political rhetoric, diplomatic language public speaking. Her current research is on implicit communication and the 'unsaid'. 

Based in Belgrade, Mr Andrej Škrinjarić is Diplo's online education programme coordinator. 

In addition to ensuring the smooth running of various courses and workshops, Andrej is actively involved in developing new methodologies for online and remote education. By working directly with students and lecturers, he works on developing online learning formats that will enhance the students' learning experience. Andrej also works on adapting Diplo's traditional onsite practice-based workshops to remote formats, focusing on effective and efficient online communication.  

Andrej holds a BA in Chinese Language and Literature from the Faculty of Philology, University of Belgrade, and has obtained a postgraduate diploma in Diplomacy from the University of Malta with his dissertation Multilingualism and the Internet.

Ms Hannah Slavik has been working with Diplo since 1999 and is currently responsible for designing learning methodologies, planning educational policy, developing cooperation with partner institutions, and working on online course development and implementation. Originally from western Canada, she is now based in Bucharest, Romania. Hannah has edited three Diplo publications: Language and Diplomacy, Intercultural Communication and Diplomacy, and Roma Diplomacy. With an academic background in linguistics, she has an MA from the University of Malta and a BA from the University of Victoria, Canada. Hannah also holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Open and Distance Education from the Open University, UK.

Mr Tore Svenning joined the Norwegian Red Cross in 1985, following some years of volunteering, and has been posted in Sudan, Geneva, Jordan, Cyprus, Kuwait, Israel, Moscow and Budapest. From an operational track, he shifted to humanitarian diplomacy just after the Federation obtained observer status in the United Nations General Assembly in 1994. He worked in external relations in the Secretariat, supporting the New York Office and developing relations with institutions like the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and Geneva based UN agencies as well as the local diplomatic community. His training was in theoretical economics and history.

Ms Sorina Teleanu is an independent consultant with expertise in Internet governance and digital policy. She currently serves as the Chair of the Executive Committee of the South Eastern European Dialogue on Internet Governance (SEEDIG), a sub-regional initiative launched in 2015. She is also a member of the Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) which provides advice to the UN Secretary-General on the programme and schedule of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) meetings. Sorina previously worked with DiploFoundation as Digital Policy Senior Researcher, and with the Romanian Parliament, as advisor dealing with ICT-related legislation and policies. Between 2011 and 2016, she served as the alternate representative of the Romanian Government to ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee. She has been a long-time volunteer to the IGF Secretariat and EuroDIG, and also worked as a fellow and consultant at the IGF Secretariat. Sorina is an alumna of DiploFoundation’s Internet Governance Capacity Building Programme, ICANN’s Fellowship Programme, the Internet Society’s Next Generation Leadership programme, and the European Summer School on Internet Governance. Her educational background is in international relations and European studies, having received a bachelor and a master's degree from the Lucian Blaga University in Sibiu, Romania.

Ambassador Olaph Terribile is currently Malta's Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Geneva. He has served as the personal secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Malta and as Director of Protocol and Consular Services at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Malta for a number of years. In his 30-year diplomatic career, he served at various missions overseas including Beijing (the People's Republic of China), Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) and London (United Kingdom). Since 2004, Mr Terribile has been a regular lecturer at Diplo where he lectures on protocol procedures including practical exercises on etiquette. He is also a visiting academic member of staff at the University of Malta where he gives lectures in diplomacy. Mr Terribile holds an MA in Chinese literature from the University of Hebei in the People’s Republic of China.

Ms Michaela Told is currently Executive Director of the Global Health Centre at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva. Prior to moving into academia, she has been working more than 10 years with the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement at local, regional and international level in all continents, most recently heading the Principles and Values Department of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Geneva. She then was also involved in negotiations and policy-making within the statutory bodies of the RCRC Movement. Earlier in her career, she worked with the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Division of Development Cooperation and later served as Secretary General of an international women’s human rights NGO based in Geneva.

In her current position as Executive Director of the Global Health Centre at the Graduate Institute she is responsible for the successful implementation of all activities of the Global Health Centre. In her research and teaching she focuses on Global Health Diplomacy, among others, she directs the online courses in global health diplomacy. She holds a MSW (School of Social Work, Vienna), a MCom (Development Economics, University of Economics and Business Administration, Vienna), and a MA in Development Studies (Women & Development, Institute of Social Studies, The Hague), as well as a PhD (School of Law and Social Sciences, University of East London, UK).

Dr. Tatiana Tropina is Assistant Professor in cybersecurity governance at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, Leiden University and an Associate Fellow of The Hague Program for Cyber Norms. Previously, she worked as a senior researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law in Freiburg, Germany. She has more than 15 years of experience in academic research, policy and advocacy in the field of cybercrime, cybersecurity, ICT regulation and Internet governance, including several years of volunteer involvement in policy-making and Internet governance processes at ICANN, Freedom Online Coalition Advisory Network, and European Dialogue on Internet Governance.

The projects she worked on at the international level include a cybercrime study for the Global Symposium of Regulators (ITU, 2010), UNODC Comprehensive Cybercrime Study (2012-2013), research on the illicit financial flows and digital technologies for the World Bank’s World Development Report 2016, project with German Federal Criminal Police Office on improving mutual legal assistance on interception of electronic communications in the EU (2015-2018), and others.

Tatiana holds a doctoral degree in criminal law and criminology from the Far Eastern Federal University (Russia) and a Master’s degree from the University of Strathclyde, UK.

Mr Ibrahim Uvais is Ambassador of Maldives to Japan. His training spans finance, management, and diplomacy. He holds a B. Comm. in Finance (Flinders University), an MBA (Western Sydney University), a PGDip in Business and Commerce (Monash University Malaysia), and a Master’s in Contemporary Diplomacy (University of Malta). He has experience in the civil and foreign services of the Maldives, working in various areas in fiscal policy research and in foreign policy administration. He also has worked in the private sector as consultant on organisation development. Uvais has coordinated and taught in several of Diplo’s courses and has a research interest in the diplomacy of small and low-power actors.

Mr Quan Zhao is trade policy advisor in the Office of the Chief Economist, International Trade Centre (ITC). His main portfolio at the ITC includes policy research and project management in the areas of trade in services, e-commerce, digital economy and cross-border investment; he also advises the management on G20 matters.

Prior to joining the ITC, Zhao served as a trade negotiator and diplomat at the Permanent Mission of China to the World Trade Organization (2009-2014) and the Ministry of Commerce of China (2003-2009). He has served as the Chair for WTO's Committee on Trade in Financial Services, and as the lead services negotiator in China-Peru, China-Costa Rica and China-Pakistan FTAs. Zhao holds a master's degree in international law and economics from the World Trade Institute at the University of Bern.

Ambassador Stefano Baldi is a career diplomat in the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. Since 2016, he has been the Ambassador of Italy to Bulgaria. Previously, he was the Director of the Diplomatic Institute at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Italy (2011-2016). He has served at the Permanent Mission of Italy to the European Union in Brussels, at the Permanent Mission of Italy to the International Organizations in Geneva, and at the Permanent Mission of Italy to the United Nations in New York. He was the first head of the Statistical Office of the Ministry from 2000 to 2002. Amb. Baldi has lectured in many Italian universities, holding seminars and courses in international affairs and in soft skills applied to international careers. His most recent research focuses on diplomatic management, social media for international affairs, and books written by diplomats. He is the author of more than 15 books. From 2013 to 2016 he produced and presented a weekly radio programme on diplomats at the webradio Radio LUISS.

Mr Dejan Dinčić is a digital transformation and online learning specialist based in Geneva. Formerly the technical director of DiploFoundation, he now teaches and provides strategic advice for Diplo. Since 2016 he has also worked as a consultant for international organisations, development NGOs, and UN agencies. He is a sought-after trainer and facilitator who brings topic knowledge, technical expertise, and effective training methodologies to events and workshops.

With a professional and academic background in online and remote distance education, and information technologies, Dejan has more than 20 years of experience in the private, public, and non-profit sectors, and in academia. His major research interests include digital transformation and knowledge management.

Ms Liz Galvez was a senior diplomat with the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, taking early retirement in 2006 with the rank of Counsellor. During her 33 year career, she served in a wide range of diplomatic jobs in London and several overseas postings, including Finland, Central America and Romania, and 12 years in multilateral diplomacy: UN Geneva, OSCE Vienna (1989-1993) and UN New York (2003-6). She was seconded to the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2001-2002 as adviser to the Foreign Minister on OSCE Chairmanship and NATO accession issues, institutional reform, and diplomatic training. She returned to Romania in 2006 to set up and manage the Aspen Institute Romania until 2009.

She has been a course lecturer with DiploFoundation since 2009, providing training in public diplomacy and multilateral negotiating skills, including a programme for the Asia-Europe Foundation for diplomats from European and Asian countries, and a dissertation supervisor for DiploFoundation/University of Malta Master in Contemporary Diplomacy students. She has run workshops on public diplomacy for the Foreign Ministry of Bahrain; the Foreign Ministry and Parliamentary staffers in South Africa; and the Diplomatic Academy of Armenia. In addition, she has co-facilitated a workshop on Conflict Resolution in Bahrain for Diplomatic Heads of Mission and given a short training programme in Geneva on Diplomatic Reporting in the Internet Era for diplomatic officers from several states. She has run training programmes on negotiating skills for the Foreign Ministry of Bahrain, and at the Italian School of National Administration for Italian new entrant diplomats, and on Diplomatic English writing and speaking skills for the Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Moldova. She speaks operational Spanish, Romanian, and French. She has a BA from the University of London in Latin and Spanish and an MSc degree from the University of London in Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict, and has recently completed the DiploFoundation course on Internet Governance.

Joining Diplo in 2012, Dr Tereza Horejsova has had an international career in academia and the non-governmental sector in the Czech Republic, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, and Switzerland. She holds an MA in International Area Studies and a PhD in European Studies, both from the Charles University in Prague.

Tereza works on several capacity development activities in the field of digital policy, and is an advocate of bringing practical considerations of capacity building into the discussion. She is chair of the Global Forum on Cyber Expertise's (GFCE) Working Group on Cyber Security Culture and Skills, and a member of Internet Governance Forum's (IGF) Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) where she cochairs the MAG Working Group on Hybrid Meetings. Tereza also serves as the executive director of Diplo US and is responsible for Diplo's activities in the United States.

Ms Mary Murphy is a communications trainer and publishing consultant based in Budapest. She specialises in communication bootcamps for non-native-English speakers, one-to-one and group coaching in public speaking, and English-language writing assessments and training. A weekly columnist with the Budapest Times, Ms Murphy is also an active blogger. She holds an MA in International Publishing from Oxford Brookes University, UK, and a Master of Contemporary Diplomacy from the University of Malta.

Mr Valeriu Nicolae is a human rights activist and communications trainer with extensive experience in Europe and worldwide. From 2015, he worked for the Romanian government as State Counsellor at the Prime Minister’s Chancellery, and as State Secretary at the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Protection and Elderly. From autumn 2016 to mid-2017 he worked at the Council of Europe as Special Representative of the Secretary General. His work includes social policy and social services, national programmes for children rights, social inclusion, and poverty policies.

He founded and served as president of the Policy Center for Roma and Minorities, a Bucharest-based think tank; he also co-founded the European Roma Policy Coalition, which includes some of the most active NGOs in the field of human rights. Prior to engagement with the Romanian government, he worked with World Vision Romania, as a senior consultant for the Open Society Institute and European institutions, and as director and advocacy director for a network of European Roma NGOs (ERGO).

Valeriu holds a Master in Contemporary Diplomacy from the University of Malta. He has written and published extensively on Roma issues and human rights. He regularly presents papers at international conferences and conducts training seminars on human rights, advocacy and communication skills, including for Aspen Institute Romania and World Vision. He is a regularly invited lecturer for Amnesty International and many universities and intergovernmental institutions. In recent years Valeriu has dedicated a good part of his time to working with schoolchildren in Bucharest’s worst ghetto (educational and sports activities), together with a growing team of volunteers.

Ambassador Kishan S. Rana is Professor Emeritus, and a Senior Fellow at DiploFoundation. He was awarded a BA (Hon) and MA in economics, St Stephens College Delhi. He was in the Indian Foreign Service (1960-95); and worked in China (1963-65, 1970-72). He was Ambassador and High Commissioner for Algeria, Czechoslovakia, Kenya, Mauritius, and Germany; and consul general in San Francisco. He served on staff of PM Indira Gandhi (1981-82).

Amb. Rana is an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi (book review editor, China Report); an Archives By-Fellow, Churchill College, Cambridge; a Public Policy Scholar, Woodrow Wilson Centre, Washington DC; guest faculty at the Diplomatic Academy, Vienna; and Commonwealth Adviser, Namibia Foreign Ministry, 2000-01. He has lectured in about 20 countries to diplomats at foreign ministry training institutions, and at ambassador conferences in several countries.

He is the author of Inside Diplomacy (2000); Managing Corporate Culture (co-author, 2000); Bilateral Diplomacy(2002); The 21st Century Ambassador (2004); Asian Diplomacy (2007); Diplomacy of the 21st Century (2011); India’s North-East States, the BCIM Forum and Regional Integration, (co-author, 2012); The Contemporary Embassy (2013); and Diplomacy at the Cutting Edge (2015). He is co-editor of Foreign Ministries (2007); and Economic Diplomacy(2011). The two books were translated into Chinese; some used as textbooks at several universities. He has written about 100 articles for academic journals and newspapers.

Dr Alex Sceberras Trigona currently serves as Special Envoy to the Prime Minister of Malta. He is a Founder Member of DiploFoundation, and has been organising courses simulating international negotiations – bilateral and multilateral – at the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies, University of Malta, since 1991 as well as for the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, for the Commonwealth, and for the Commission of the European Union, amongst others. Dr Trigona served as Malta's Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1981–1987. He negotiated Malta's Neutrality Agreements. He lobbied for, won, and managed Malta's first ever seat on the United Nations Security Council for 1983/1984. His law Doctorate was awarded on the basis of a seminal thesis Constitutional Change and the Maltese Constitution. Fundamental constitutional changes in 1974 followed this thesis in both manner and substance. He was elected Rhodes Scholar for Malta and read Politics, Economics, and Philosophy at Oriel College, Oxford University for his MA. He lectures on Diplomacy and Diplomatic Practice for International Relations students and on Private International Law at the Law Faculty of the University of Malta.

Dr Biljana Scott was trained as a linguist (BA in Chinese, M.Phil and D.Phil in Linguistics, University of Oxford). She is a Senior Lecturer in Language and Diplomacy at DiploFoundation and an associate of the Chinese Institute at Oxford University. She workshops internationally on political rhetoric, diplomatic language public speaking. Her current research is on implicit communication and the 'unsaid'. 

Ambassador Olaph Terribile is currently Malta's Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Geneva. He has served as the personal secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Malta and as Director of Protocol and Consular Services at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Malta for a number of years. In his 30-year diplomatic career, he served at various missions overseas including Beijing (the People's Republic of China), Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) and London (United Kingdom). Since 2004, Mr Terribile has been a regular lecturer at Diplo where he lectures on protocol procedures including practical exercises on etiquette. He is also a visiting academic member of staff at the University of Malta where he gives lectures in diplomacy. Mr Terribile holds an MA in Chinese literature from the University of Hebei in the People’s Republic of China.

Ms Katarina Anđelković is a researcher at DiploFoundation currently based in Belgrade. Katarina joined Diplo’s Data Team in October 2018, where she researches political, social and environmental implications of digital technologies, focusing on big data and AI. She also coordinates Diplo's ConfTech project. 

Katarina holds a BA in International Politics from the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Political Sciences and an MA in Southeast European Studies from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. She is a PhD student at the University of Belgrade, researching the interplay between technology and nationalism. 

Ms Priyanthi Daluwatte has been a course coordinator at Diplo since 2015. She joined Diplo as a tutor in 2007 after completing the Internet Governance Capacity Building Programme. With a BSc in Biological Sciences, an MSc in Computer Science, and an MPhil in Pharmaceutical Science from the University of Colombo, Priyanthi has over ten years work experience in university administration. A speaker at the launch of telecentre.org during the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), Tunis (2005) and an active participant in the annual IGF, her interests also include higher education policy, Internet governance, e-learning, and research on ICT4D.

Born in Pancevo, Serbia, Mr Rade Kotur joined Diplo in 2015 as an online education programmes assistant, in charge of maintaining the technical stability and functionality of Diplo’s online learning platform.

With the rapid introduction of online videoconferencing platforms into Diplo’s methodology, Rade provides assistance and guidance to students on how to master these tools and complete their courses successfully. He additionally works on editing video materials and adjusting them for further use within Diplo's courses. 

Rade studied English at Newbold University in Bracknell, UK, in 2011, and took a one-year course as a PHP and web developer at the ITAcademy in Belgrade in 2014.

His hobbies vary from aggressive rollerblading and skiing, to ice skating and boxing. As an animal lover, he is engaged in dog socialisation in his free time.

Dr Nadežda Markovski is a printmaking artist. She graduated from the Belgrade Faculty of Fine Arts’ Department for Printmaking, where she obtained her Master's and Doctoral degrees. She is a member of the Association of Fine Artists of Serbia (ULUS), and is one of the founding members of the Liht Blau art group, and a co-initiator of the Author's Print magazine.

Ms Dragana Markovski works on the planning, development, coordination, and quality control of Diplo courses and training programmes. She currently focuses on the delivery and further development of online communications training as part of Diplo's Future of Meetings project which provides capacity building and support to international organisations and various stakeholders as they transition from offline to online work. 

Dragana has also worked on promotional activities for Diplo courses and projects, and assisted in the design and development of Diplo's learning management system (LMS).  

Prior to joining Diplo in 2011, she worked as a translator and interpreter, as well as in office and PR management, international trade and logistics, and education.

She holds a BA in Chinese Language and Literature, and an MA in Chinese Literature from the Faculty of Philology, University of Belgrade.

UK-based Ms Morgan Mead has worked with the British Red Cross since 2011. She currently manages the short-term casework team within the Refugee Services Department in Scotland, which primarily supports and advocates for asylum seekers experiencing destitution. Morgan spent several years working in emergency response and pre-hospital care for both the Red Cross and other smaller NGOs, including time in Greece as part of search and rescue operations in the Aegean. With a BA in Anthropology with a focus on Human Rights, and a Diploma in Humanitarian Diplomacy, Morgan has worked with Diplo since 2015 as a research tutor, and more recently as a course coordinator.

Solange Mike (nee Cross), a national of both the United Kingdom and Trinidad and Tobago, holds degrees in the field of International Relations from the University of the West Indies, the University of Malta, and the University of Reading. Solange has worked on a number of research consultancies in the Caribbean region for various clients ranging from government agencies, international organisations, and multi-national corporations. She has also served as a facilitator in many diplomatic training programmes. Her areas of research interest include small state diplomacy, information and communication technologies in international relations, and geopolitics and energy diplomacy. She has lectured in the area of diplomacy at the Institute of International Relations, the University of the West Indies St. Augustine campus on Trinidad and Tobago, and currently is an associate faculty member in DiploFoundation’s academic programmes through the University of Malta.

André Saramago is an Assistant Professor of International Relations at the University of Coimbra, in Coimbra, Portugal. His research focuses on the fields of international relations theory, international historical sociology, and East Asia studies. André has been collaborating with DiploFoundation in online learning and research since 2017. He holds an MA in International Relations (University of Lisbon, Portugal) and a PhD in International Politics (University of Aberystwyth, UK).