Annenberg-Oxford
Media Policy Summer Institute
Annenberg-Oxford
Media Policy Summer Institute
Annenberg-Oxford 2013
Participant Bios.
Billur Aslan
PhD Candidate, Politics and International Relations, Royal Holloway, University of London
Billur is a PhD candidate in the department of Politics and International Relations, supervised by Professor Ben O'Loughlin. She holds an MSc in International Relations from Royal Hollo.way and a BA in Communication from Galatasaray University. From the years 2010-2011, she worked as a producer in Turkish media. Currently, she is pursuing her PhD at RHUL facilitated by the three-year scholarship, the Crossland and College Research award. Her dissertation is titled, 'Exploring the Internet as a Political Opportunity: How Actors Adapt to the Internet During Networked Movements, a Comparison of the Cases Syria and Egypt' and it is supervised by Professor Ben O’Loughlin. She was also a Research Assistant on Royal Holloway’s project with the BBC in 2012 entitled, ‘Tweeting the Olympics’, and was a teaching assistant in 2012-13 on the full year course Introduction to Politics and Government
Nermeen Al Azrak
Lecturer, Journalism and Mass Communication Cairo University
Dr. Nermeen Al Azrak is university lecturer in journalism department at Mass Communication faculty, Cairo University, Egypt and her main interest is media laws and ethics. Nermeen obtained a PhD degree (Excellent with honors) in Media from Cairo University, completing a thesis titled “Press freedom in Egypt: study of the relationship between governmental policies and practices of Egyptian newspapers in the period from 1995-2005.” For more than 15 years she has been teaching curriculum of media laws and ethics for undergraduate and postgraduate students. In addition she teaches media theories and research methodologies and worked as coordinator for specialized diploma of media law and ethics.
Nermeen Al Azrak was a member of the committee who worked with Journalists in Press Syndicate to develop journalism articles in the new Egyptian Constitution. She is a member of the journalism practices evaluation committee in Supreme Press Council and also participated in establishing the Egyptian association for readers’ rights as an NGO in Egypt. Additionally, she works as lecturer at the Television and Radio union training institute.
Efrat Daskal
Doctoral Candidate, Department of Communication and Journalism, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Efrat Daskal is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Communication and Journalism, at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the assistant to the ombudsman at the Second Authority for Television and Radio (SATR), Israel’s regulator of commercial television and radio channels.
Her dissertation titled “From complaint to correction: Public discontent as a mechanism for constructing media accountability” (Advisors: Prof. Tamar Liebes and Dr. Zohar Kampf), focuses on accountability processes within media organizations with regard to different genres of entertainment (satire, reality TV, etc.).
Efrat is the coordinator of a research project entitled “Apologizing for misinformation: An analysis of the media's attempts to restore credibility”, funded by the Israeli Scientific Foundation (2009-2013). She co-authored articles on the ethics of political interviews and correction boxes which appeared in edited books and leading journals in the field of journalism.
Ameneh Dehshiri
PhD Student, Politics, Human Rights, and Sustainability, Santa Anna School of Advanced Studies
Ameneh Dehshiri is an Iranian 3rd-year student in the P.h.D Programme of “Politics, Human Rights and Sustainability ” (curriculum: Institutions and mechanism for protecting human rights: outlines of international law at Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy. She is also member of the Iranian Central Bar Association, as a First Grade Lawyer. She obtained a Bachelor’s degree in law in 2004. In 2008, she obtained a Master of Law degree (LL.M) in International Human Rights Law at Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran, where, she collaborated with the UNESCO Chair in human rights, peace and democracy.
She has several years of practical experience in legal practice, academia and the NGO sector. In 2011, she was awarded a full scholarship to attend the Ph.D. programme at Sant’Anna School of Advanced studies. She is currently writing her thesis, entitled “Access to internet place in international human rights law: with regard to implementation of civil and political rights”. As a part of her research, she spent three months as a visiting fellow at the Interdisciplinary center of law and ICT (ICRI)In law faculty of KU Leuven. She is currently collaborating with several research and consultancy projects in the field of international human rights law, international law, media law and cyber law.
Her main research interests are: International Human rights law, civil and political rights, media law, Cyber law, international trade law and International criminal law.
Jelena Gakovic
Assistant Professor, Sociology Department, Sarajevo University
Jelena Gaković is an Assistant Professor at the Sociology department of Faculty of Philosophy, Sarajevo University in Bosnia and Herzegovina. She is also a PhD candidate of a doctoral program in Sociology and Contemporary Globalization Processes at the University of Sarajevo.
Prior to her academic engagement, she has worked as a practitioner in the television sphere and was actively involved in the implementation of projects fostering freedom of expression, pluralism and independence of the media in the Southeast Europe for Eurovision (news and program exchange), UNESCO and the European Commission.
Her undergraduate degree was in Philosophy and Sociology, for which she was awarded the Heinrich Böll scholarship. She completed her MA at the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies on the joint master's program (State Management and Humanitarian Affairs) of University of Sarajevo, Belgrade University and the University of Rome La Sapienza.
Jelena is an Editorial Board member of a Young Researchers' Journal Sophos and a member of the Scientific Research Incubator (ZINK) at the Faculty of Philosophy. Her current research interest lies in the implications of information and communication technologies on the domain of political communication.
Suada Hadzovic
Expert Advisor, Communications Regulatory Agency, Sarajevo
Suada Hadzovic serves as Expert Advisor for licensing at the Communications Regulatory Authority Agency, Sarajevo, which focuses on the monitoring of Internet Service Providers in compliance with licenses, obligations, and competition. Previously she served as Head of Electronic Sector at the BS Telecom Sarajevo and was a Professor of Informatics at a secondary School. Suada received her BS and MS from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the University of Sarajevo. She is currently working on her PhD with the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Sarajevo.
Malavika Jayaram
Fellow, Centre for Internet and Society; Partner, Jayaram & Jayaram
A dual-qualified lawyer, Malavika spent eight years in London - with global law firm Allen & Overy in the Communications, Media & Technology group, and then with Citigroup. She relocated to India in 2006, and wears 3 hats as a practicing lawyer, a Fellow at the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) and a Ph.D. scholar.
She is a partner at Jayaram & Jayaram, Bangalore, focusing on technology-intensive transactions and has a special interest in new media and the arts. At CIS, Malavika advises on projects that critique and respond to legislative and policy changes in the privacy and internet governance domain. A graduate of the National Law School of India, she has an LL.M. from Northwestern University, Chicago and is working on a Ph.D. in law, with a special focus on India’s new biometric ID project.
She is on the advisory board of the Indian Journal of Law & Technology and is the author of the India chapter for the Data Protection & Privacy volume in the Getting the Deal Done series. She has been selected as one of 10 Indian lawyers to be featured in “The International Who's Who of Internet e-Commerce & Data Protection Lawyers 2012” directory. During 2012-2013, she was a Visiting Scholar at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, within the Center for Global Communication Studies. She is currently working on projects relating to free expression, privacy and internet policy in India.
Margrét Magnúsdóttir
Legal Advisor, Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture, Iceland
Margrét Magnúsdóttir, works as a legal advisor at the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, in the field of Media. She has participated in drafting amendments to the Media Act regarding coordinated regulatory framework for media services irrespective of the type of media employed, which was recently passed by the Icelandic Parliament, as well as working on the preparatory documents for a new National Broadcasting Service Act.
Margrét also works for a Steering Committee which was appointed by the Minister to implement a parliamentary resolution tasking the government to introduce a new legislative regime for Iceland to strongly position itself legally with regard to the protection of freedoms of expression and information as well as providing strong protections for sources and whistleblowers. She has been highly involved in drafting the report of the committee which will be published later this year as well as organizing the work of the committee. Furthermore, Margrét was a legal advisor for a multi-party committee with the task of writing amendments to current Icelandic law with the purpose of giving media certain responsibilities prior elections. Margrét graduated with a Master’s Degree in Law from the Reykjavik University, Iceland.
Diego Mazorra
Assistant Professor, the School of Journalism and Communication at Universidad Externado de Colombia
Since 2008, Diego Mazorra has been an assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Communication at Universidad Externado de Colombia, where he is also involved in the development of the School’s research program and in charge of coordinating the curricula for the undergraduate-level courses of the School. Mazorra lectures on mass communication, political communication and new technologies, and serves as a thesis advisor to several students in different fields.
Diego Mazorra completed his B.A. in Journalism and Mass Communication as well as an M.A. in Communication at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, where he undertook a research project that involves fieldwork on the relations between culture, memory, communication and violence in Colombia’s peripheral areas (particularly in the Putumayo region). His interests are oriented towards the field of humanities and social sciences with a communicative approach, and are especially related to the political communication and the new-media technologies approaches. Mazorra works in this area as a member of the research group on Political Communication (CICP), led by Associate Professor Dr. Hernando Rojas at University of Wisconsin. He is also a member of the Association of Educators on Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) at the Communication and Technology Division.
Luiz Peres-Neto
Researcher and Lecturer, Escala de Propaganda do Museu de Arte de São Paulo
Luiz Peres-Neto is a full-time researcher and lecturer at Media and Consumption’s Practices Master and PhD Program, Escola de Propaganda do Museu de Arte de São Paulo, Brazil.
He received his PhD in Communications Science at the Autonomous University of Barcelona in Political Science and Public Law Department in 2010. His thesis received the European degree and was graded as “sobresaliente cum laude” by all jury members.
In 2007, he completed his Masters in Communication Studies at the same institution. Luiz holds a degree in Communication, which was obtained in 2003 at the University of Sao Paulo (USP) in Brazil. Since 2006, he has been focused on ethics and the media.
Preeti Raghunath
Doctoral Candidate, University of Hyderabad
Preeti Raghunath is a doctoral candidate at the Department of Communication, University of Hyderabad, India, and Research Assistant with the UNESCO Chair on Community Media housed in the department. She has a Master’s degree in International Relations from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Her doctoral work is a policy ethnography of Community Radio policy-making in four South Asian countries, namely, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. Conceived as a comparative policy study, her work also includes studying competing discourses on security emerging from key actors of CR epistemic communities in said countries. Her other research interests include community media and peace, media policy in conflict and post-conflict areas, and related areas of global communication. Preeti has had brief stints with leading national print and broadcast media houses in India, and has dabbled with corporate communications for an MNC, before joining academia.
Osama Salameh
Media and Communication Directorate- The Royal Hashmite Court, Jordan
Osama Salameh has worked for the Royal Hashemite Court Media and Communication Directorate (Amman, Jordan) since 2006. He believes in praxis as the best approach to conduct informed research and produce theoretically informed policy recommendations in fields related to press freedoms, media regulations, and official organizations’ media and communication policies.
He holds a BA in Law from the University of Jordan and an MA in Global Media and Post-national Communication from SOAS, University of London. His MA dissertation, conducted in 2009, focused on youths ‘reception’ of state TV political programs, and the findings suggest several precursors for the expressivity outburst of the ‘Arab Spring’.
Osama’s professional and research areas of interest include regulatory models, particularly of Internet based media in democratizing countries, such as Jordan. He is also interested in post-conflict nation (re)building and the role of public service broadcasters and media systems’ reform. Additionally, Osama is interested in comparing the role of media and civil society in advancing reform and democratization in post-Arab Spring countries.
Twitter: @Osalameh
Hongchi Shiau
Professor, Shih-Hsin University in Taiwan
Presently a professor at Shih-Hsin Unveristy in Taiwan, Hongchi Shiau hold a PhD from Temple University. His research endeavors focus on understanding the interconnectedness between Asian popular culture and western culture in an era of cultural globalization.
Ana Stojiljkovic
PhD Student, Institute of Communication Studies, University of Leeds
Ana Stojiljkovic is a PhD student at Institute of Communications Studies, University of Leeds, UK. Her research focuses on the role of election campaigns in shaping collective identities, particularly in the SEE region. Prior to starting her PhD project in 2012, she worked as a communications consultant for various private, public and international enterprises, as well as election campaigns in Serbia.
Togtokhsuren Nergui
Regulatory Officer, Communications Regulatory Commission (CRC), Mongolia
Mrs.Togtokhsuren (Toghy) N. is a regulatory officer and analyst in charge of broadcasting content regulation in the Regulatory Department of the Communications Regulatory Commission of Mongolia. She is in charge of broadcasting content policy and regulatory issues, carrying out research works in international best practices on broadcasting policy and regulations, and drafting proposals and regulatory policy recommendations to the Regulatory Commission. She is also responsible for interactions with the Broadcasting sector operators in providing regulatory advice and support. She has Bachelor’s Degree in Economy and Business Studies in the University of Finance and Economics, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
Since 2004, Toghy has been working in the ICT sector including broadcasting, and has over 9 years of working experience in the sector at policy making level in the sector drafting rules, procedure and recommendations based on research work on international best experiences. Thus she has excellent understanding of ICT sector issues and practical experience in interpretation and translation, especially in the field of ICT. Before working in the ICT sector Toghy worked in various international projects funded and supported by the World bank, ADB, EBRD and the UNEP, such as “Mongolia Telecom Privatization Project”(EBRD), “ Regulatory review for improving the regulatory framework in the telecommunication sector in Mongolia”(World Bank), “Institutional Structure in the Telecommunications Sector” (EBRD), “Strengthening Ozone Unit in Mongolia” (UNEP),“Recovery and Recycling of Ozone Depleting Substances” (UNDP),and “HP Side Refurbishment Boiler Island Project” (ADB).
Jinghong Xu
Professor of Communication, School of Digital Media and Design Arts, Beijing University
Jinghong Xu is a Professor of Communication at the School of Digital Media and Design Arts, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (BUPT), vice director of the interdisciplinary Center of Social Network Information Management and Service, BUPT, and a post-doctoral candidate at the Institute of Law, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Jinghong is currently a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the Center for Global Communication Studies, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania. He is member of International Communication Association (ICA), World Association for Public Opinion Research (WAPOR), and a Reviewer of the Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index (CSSCI) journal Library and Information Service.
Jinghong’s research focuses on new media communication, media ethics, media policy and law, cyber culture, information law, Internet law, Internet Governance, online privacy, online public opinion, and digital copyright. He holds a BA in English, MA in Journalism and Ph.D. in Communication.
Jinghong has received international and national grants from Fulbright Program and National Social Science Fund of China (Journalism and Communication), from China Postdoctoral Science Special Foundation and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Law) and State Language Commission of China (Chinese). He has been involved in 20 funded projects as co-investigator, and collaborator. He has published a book and more than 60 articles.
Tianpei Zhang
Phd Candidate, Renmin University of China
Tianpei Zhang is a Ph.D. candidate in communication at Renmin University of China, and a visiting scholar at the Center for Global Communication Studies at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania. Tianpei’s interests are in media policy, internet policy, international communication and political communication.
Tianpei has published many articles and compiled books in this field, including “‘Media Reports’ Not ‘Rule of Law,’” “Analysis on the Internet Polarization,” “The Constructed Image of Scientists Community in the Internet Network, ” “Community Culture Based on Cell Phone Network,” and “Blue Book of China’s Media Index” (2010) & (2011).
Tianpei is also a member of several projects focusing on these topics, including the “Evaluation of Corporates' network public opinion,” “The Effect of Media Information Delivery of Sinopec” and “Research of Media Reports’ Effect about the World Exposition”.
During her time as a visiting scholar at the Center for Global Communication Studies, Tianpei is focusing on the information flow of the Chinese government and its media policies, specifically relating to Chinese Internet development, which will be the focus of her dissertation.
Amina Ashraf
Student, Ain El Shams University and News Assistant, Financial Times and Le Figaro, Cairo
Amina Ashraf is a student of law at Ain El Shams University and a news assistant for the Financial Times and Le Figaro in Cairo.
She has worked as a translator/fixer for various international media during the 2011 uprising and its aftermath.
Previously she earned her Abitur degree from the Cairo’s Deutsche Evangelishe Hochschule, a German run gymnasium institution.
She speaks classical and colloquial Arabic as well as fluent English and German.
She has lived in Nairobi, London, Paris as well as Cairo.
She was among the team of Egyptian law student who won the regional rounds of the 2013 Oxford Price Media Moot Court and went on to compete in the finals in the UK.
Marco Bellezza
Senior Associate, Portolano Cavallo Law Firm
Marco Bellezza works at Portolano Cavallo Law Firm – a leading Italian firm in the Media and Technology sector – as senior associate of the IP-Media department. In 2011, he obtained a Ph.D. in “Private law and new technologies” at the University of Bari “A. Moro,” defending a thesis on the relationship between the protection of intellectual property rights and the respect of fundamental rights of users of the network in the community and national disciplinary perspective. Marco has spent several research periods abroad with the opportunity to study research topics in a comparative perspective. He has recently been a visiting researcher at the Institute of European and Comparative Law (IECL) of the University of Oxford and has collaborated on a research project carried out by the Center for Media and Communications Studies (CMCS) of the Central European University of Budapest”. Marco is the author of numerous scientific publications in national and international journals. He is a member of the editorial team of the website www.medialaws.eu dedicated to the study of comparative law of media and communication.
Leila Bighash
PhD Student, Communication, University of Southern California
Leila Bighash is a Ph.D. student in Communication at the University of Southern California focusing on how technology and technological innovation impacts society, particularly in the context of journalism and political communication. She graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in political science from the University of Central Florida. She then went on to receive an M.A. in political science from Rice University, where she spent a summer in Egypt as part of her studies in comparative politics. After graduating, she worked in survey operations and quality for a research and consulting firm. Leila received a second M.A. in journalism from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2012, where she honed her interest in media studies and communication. Additionally, she worked for a non-profit TV network as an audience analytics associate and in on-air production. She is currently working on research projects on topics including political expression using social media to the theoretical construction of interactivity. In the long term, her research agenda will include policy as one pillar to understand the changing media environment, particularly in terms of how global actors are attempting to exert their influence on how data is captured, stored, bought, and sold (and how this impacts behavior on the individual level, as well as the organizational and state level), and how information flows to and from content providers to the public through regulated digital space.
Katherine Elder
PhD Student, Communication, University of Southern California
Katherine Elder received her B.A. with honors in Political Science from the University of California, Davis. She participated in the University of California, Washington DC program, during which time she interned at the White House Unit of ABC News. Her undergraduate thesis examined the existence of a media bias in the nightly news programs of the five major broadcast news networks. Katherine earned her Master of Public Affairs degree from the Lyndon B. Johnson School at the University of Texas, Austin. She was a graduate intern for the State Department at the U.S. Embassy in Kampala, Uganda, and wrote her master’s thesis on the relationship between HIV/AIDS prevalence and outbreaks of violence in sub-Saharan Africa. After graduating, Katherine spent 2 years working for the Recovery Act Office at the Department of Health and Human Services where she was responsible for stimulus-created jobs data that is posted on Recovery.gov. Her research interests are in public policy and propaganda.
Sarah Erickson
PhD Candidate, Communication Studies, University of Michigan
Sarah Erickson is a Ph. D. Candidate at the University of Michigan in the Communication Studies Department. Sarah is broadly interested in media effects on adolescents and adolescent use of media with a specific focus on sexual socialization and fan/media interactions. Her work has examined the role of exposure to teen romantic media in acceptance of intimate partner and sexual violence and she has also sought to describe and quantify media contexts containing scripts related to sexual and intimate partner violence. Currently, she is working on several projects examining romantic parasocial relationships with media characters, the fan practices surrounding these relationships and the impact of parasocial romance on media influence and, ultimately, on scripts, schemas and normative beliefs about romantic and sexual relationships. Additional areas of interest include the importance of new media in youth culture, the role of media in the development, articulation and enactment of gender in children and adolescents, and the policy implications of this work. Sarah is originally from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and has a B.A. in Art and Archaeology from Princeton University. She is an avid hiker and tennis player, loves yoga and has an elderly springer spaniel named Clover.
Katerina Girginova
PhD Student, Annenberg School for Communication
Katerina has rich professional experience at several international media companies, including the National Geographic Channel, Taylor & Francis and IMG. Additionally, she has an academic background in communication, with interests focusing around the mass media’s portrayal of topics such as creativity and innovation. She is now embarking upon a PhD at the Annenberg School for Communication to further explore these topics.
Julia Hoffmann
Assistant Professor, Human Rights, Media and Conflict, University for Peace
Julia Hoffman received a Ph.D. (2009) from the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, an LL.M. (2007, cum laude) in International Public Law from Amsterdam Law School, and an M.Sc. (2005, cum laude) in International Relations and Communication Science from the University of Amsterdam.
Before obtaining her first Master’s Degree, she studied Media Management at the Institute for Journalism and Communication Science in Hanover, Germany, and Political Philosophy at Hong Kong University. She has been working as an academic lecturer since 2006 and as a free-lance consultant, speaker and trainer for a number of NGOs in the field of media, human rights, peace and conflict.
She currently holds the position of Assistant Professor Human Rights, Media, and Conflict at the UN-mandated University for Peace in Costa Rica.
Temitope Lawal
LLM Student, Queen Mary, University of London
Temitope Lawal is currently an LLM Student at Queen Mary, University of London specializing in Computer and Communications Law (majoring in Media, Telecommunications and E-Commerce Law). He graduated with Honours from the University of Lagos, Nigeria in 2010 and subsequently qualified as a Barrister and Solicitor in Nigeria. Before commencing his LLM programme, he worked as a junior associate in a city Corporate/Commercial law firm. He has participated in a number of national and international moot court competitions as well as held various positions of responsibility during his years of undergraduate studies. Recently, he represented Queen Mary, University of London at the 2013 Price Media Law Moot Court Competition which held in Oxford University. He is also an awardee of the 2012 Queen Mary University of London CCLS full Scholarship.
His profile is available at: http://www.law.qmul.ac.uk/postgraduate/llm/programmes/computer_communications/
Bo Mai
Doctoral Student, Annenberg School for Communication and Department of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania
Bo Mai is a doctoral student at the Annenberg School for Communication and the Department of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania. His research interests lie at the intersection of social networking sites, online privacy, computer-mediated social interactions, and the Chinese Internet industry. His recent work examines how the contextual characteristics of websites affect young Internet users’ tendency to disclose private information on social networking sites, with a special focus on the Chinese context.
Seyed Aliakbar Mousavi
PhD Student, University of Maryland and Senior Advisor, Human Rights and ICT Policy, International Campaign for Human Rights Iran
Aliakbar Mousavi is a former member of 6th parliament in Iran, researcher, and human rights advocate. He has lived in the US since 2009. He was a visiting fellow at the Roshan Center at the University of Maryland and currently is studying for his Ph.D. in the field of ICT Management and is Senior Advisor, Human Rights, and ICT Policy at the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran a U.S. based non-profit organization. In 2010, he was a visiting fellow in Iranian studies program at Stanford University for a year. Aliakbar is the founder and former general secretary of the Iranian Graduates Organization(Advar-e-Tahkim) and was a member of the Central Council of the Iranian Students Union. From 2000 to 2004, Aliakbar was a member of the 6th Parliament of Iran and held several positions including, Deputy of the Parliamentary ICT Committee, Secretary of the Tehran District, Head of Inspecting , and Member of the Student Movement Caucus. In 2006, he was arrested for 130 days because of participating in a gathering to support the equality between men and women's rights and was banned from traveling for 6 months. From 2007 to 2008, Aliakbar lectured at the University of Applied Science and Technology in Tehran.
Leili Nekounazar
Journalist, Belgium
Leili Nekounazar is a 30 years old Belgium-based Iranian journalist. She has been working as a journalist for ten years and in currently focuses on censorship in Iran as a freelance journalist for opposition websites in exile.
She obtained her Bachelor degree in Journalism with a major in art and culture in Tehran and a Master of Cultural Studies in university of Leuven in Belgium. Moreover, In September 2012 she started her advanced Master in Cultures and Development Studies at Leuven University and she is writing her thesis on the role of Islamic discourse in the Iranian green movement in the current time.
Leili wrote her first Masters thesis on the role of Twitter in the Iranian green movement and the role of Facebook in the Egyptian revolution.
In addition, she has recently participated in some capacity-building projects in relation to civil-society organization in Iran as an Iranian consultant.
Majid Rafizadeh
Iranian-Syrian Scholar and Political Analyst; President, International American Council on the Middle East
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh, an Iranian-Syrian scholar and political analyst, is the president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He serves on the board of Harvard International Review in Harvard University, and he is a member of the Gulf 2000 Middle East Project of the Columbia University, School of International and Public Affairs. Rafizadeh served as ambassador to the National Iranian American Council based in Washington DC. He has previously taught at several universities including University of Damascus, Islamic Azad University, and University of California Santa Barbara.
Rafizadeh has been the recipient of numerous academic and non-academic awards, including Fulbright Teaching scholarship. Formerly, he conducted research at Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and he is on the board of Commission on Syrian Refugees. According to several news agencies, his analyses are sought by governmental organizations and the private sector in the Asia, Latin America, North America, Europe and the Middle East.
He regularly commentates on national and international outlets including CNN, , BBC, Aljazeera, Fox News, ABC, France 24 International, to name a few. His works have appeared on The New York Times International, Los Angeles Times, Foreign Policy, The Atlantic, CNN, Fareed Zakaria GPS, The Nation, Newsweek, Yale Journal of International Affairs, The Jerusalem Post, The Huffington Post, and etc. He can be reached at Rafizadeh@fas.harvard.edu or 818-4474467
Tatevik Sargsyan
Doctoral Student, School of Communication, American University
Tatevik Sargsyan is a first year doctoral student specializing in media, technology and democracy at the School of Communication at American University in Washington, DC. Her research interests lie at the intersection of Internet censorship, surveillance, online privacy, and freedom of speech. In a current research project Tatevik is exploring the implications of governments’ user information requests from online service providers for political activism and free speech. Throughout her Master’s and PhD studies Tatevik has also been serving as a teaching assistant for courses on digital media culture. In the past Tatevik worked for a USAID funded media development program in her native Armenia, where she managed election initiatives and media training projects geared towards media independence, professional and financial development, and on-line presence.
Yassin El Shazly
Faculty of Law, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt
Dr. Yassin EL Shazly is currently a Senior Teacher of Business Law at the Faculty of Law, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. He also served as a Legal Advisor, Egyptian Financial supervisory authority (EFSA) and as a Legal Expert, dotMASR Policy Committee, National telecommunication Regulatory authority (NTRA).
Dr. Shazly holds a Ph.D in Business Law, Faculty of Law, University Jean Moulin-Lyon 3, France. His Ph.D thesis was titled “The legal conflict between Domain Names and Trademarks”. Additionally, he holds a Master’s Degree in Law and a Master’s Degree in Political Sciences. Mr. Shazly also holds several other degrees and diplomas from different institutions, such as a Diploma of American Law, a Diploma of English law, a Diploma in European Legal System, a Diploma of Higher Studies in International Law of Commerce, and a Diploma of Higher Studies in Private Law. He completed WIPO Distance Learning courses on Intellectual Property, Copyright, Biotechnology, and on Electronic Commerce and Intellectual Property. He was also selected to attend the WIPO Summer School 2005 on Intellectual Property as a result of his outstanding record of academic accomplishment, as well as professional experience.
Dr. Shazly also has a fruitful history of professional experience. He served as an assistant at the Faculty of Law, University Jean Moulin Lyon 3 and also Faculty of Law and political science, University Lyon 2. Prior to this position, he served as a Teaching Assistant, Department of Commercial and Maritime Law, Faculty of Law, Ain Shams University from November 2001, and as an Assistant, at the same university from October 2000- November 2001. Additionally, Dr. Shazly served as a member of the State Council of the Supreme Court of Egypt in 2000.
Dr. Shazly carried out an intensive research work, and had granted the First Price of Human Rights of the city of LYON 2007. He also wrote several papers in international journals.
Lejla Turčilo
Associate Professor, Department of Journalism, University of Sarajevo
Lejla Turčilo, Ph.D. is an associate professor at the Department of Journalism Faculty of Political Sciences University of Sarajevo, where she teaches the courses Theory of Mass Media, New Media, and Media and Politics. She is the author of books “Media-Politics – Business in Contemporary World and in B&H” (2011) and “On-line Communication and Off-line Politics in B&H” (2006) and co-author of books “Information Literacy” (with Senada Dizdar, Lejla Hajdarpašić and Beba Ešrefa Rašidović) (2013), “Media and Elections in 2010” (with Davor Marko, Radenko Udovičić and Tatjana Ljubić) (2011), “Minorities and the Media in Bosnia-Herzegovina” (with Jelenka Voćkić-Avdagić, Asad Nuhanović and Valida Repovac Pašić) (2010). Her articles were published in scientific magazines in B&H, Croatia, Serbia,Belgium, France, USA and Colombia. Lejla Turčilo participates in one COST Initiative, oneTempus project and two RRPP projects at the moment. She is a member of Higher Education Agency of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Edward Wanyonyi
Adjunct Lecturer, St. Paul's University in Kenya
With a background in Communications and Public Relations, Edward has been a regular studio commentator with the British Broadcasting Corporation Nairobi Bureau since 2007, tackling diverse topics with a specialty in Media Development, Foreign Policy, Trade Competitiveness and Culture.
Additionally, Edward is an adjunct lecturer at St. Paul’s University in Kenya (Faculty of Business and Communication Studies) where he teaches core units in broadcasting and media law and ethics.
He has also consulted for the Africa Union Commission, UNECA and East Africa Community Secretariat on various journalism and media regulation training projects.
Currently, he is a Program Researcher with BBC Media Action and also supports the United Nations International Strategy on Risk Reduction and the UNDP Country office in journalism training camps aimed at increasing editorial coverage of community resilience to disasters and climate change.
Edward’s research interests include the links between media, state regulation and development, new media discourse, data journalism, media economics and competitiveness in developing countries.
Additionally, Edward authored Eden In Turmoil-A Citizen Perspective To The 2008 Post Election Violence and currently working on The Conspiracy of Silence- An analysis of Media Conduct During The 2013 General Elections in Kenya.
Faheem Zafar
Research Coordinator, Bytes for All
Faheem Zafar is a Lahore based policy researcher and digital rights activist. Currently he is working with Bytes for All Pakistan as Research Coordinator. His areas of focus include monitoring of ICTs focused human rights violations, online privacy rights, digital security, Internet Freedom and e-governance.
Faheem has worked on numerous projects and contributed to a number of globally renowned publications relating to freedom of expression, privacy rights, digital security of journalists and activists, and access to information. Recently he contributed to a 'Freedom On the Net 2012' report from Pakistan, Global Information Society Watch Country Report for Pakistan, Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on internet and human rights in Pakistan and Open Governance Research funded by IDRC. Faheem is very active on social media and has an immense interest in the latest policy developments in the country and around the world, digital media tools and emerging trends in the use of ICTs.
Sani Zorro
Journalist, Nigeria
Sani Zorro launched into journalism as a newspaper reporter with the state-owned Triumph Publishing Co., Kano, in 1981, and acquired extensive experience on numerous beats, including Labour, legislature, judiciary, and politics. Sani earned a certificate in news reporting from the Nigeria Institute of Journalism (NIJ), in 1982, and has since attended many other programmes in Nigeria and abroad. As a former president of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), as well as the West Africa Journalists Association (WAJA), between 1990 and 1994, Sani worked closely with institutions including UNESCO, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Ford Foundation, Panos Institute and others, to shape media policies at global and regional levels. These include the declaration of every May 23, as World Press Freedom Day, in Windhoek, Namibia, in 1991, the West Africa Press Freedom Defense project, and a legal framework for the emergence of private radio (and television) in West Africa.
Additionally, Sani has travelled fairly widely both as a journalist, public officer and businessman, with 64 countries on his check-list, spanning Africa, America, Europe, Latin America and the Carribean.