Category: Speaker

Jelena Prtoric is a freelance journalist who has reported for a wide variety of publications in English, French, Italian, and her native Croatian. Her work has focused on gender and human rights, migration, the environment/climate, culture and social movements, through an investigative and (often) cross-border lens. As of 2020, Jelena has been the Arena Climate Network coordinator for Arena for Journalism in Europe, a non-profit organisation. She is also an occasional podcaster and translator of graphic novels. In 2022, Jelena is a Bertha Challenge Fellow and is working on in-depth research into the quality of water in Europe, focusing on agricultural pollution of water bodies.

Lars Boering is the director of the European Journalism Centre, an independent European non-profit working to support, strengthen, and develop journalism. In previous roles he has been actively involved with journalism, photography, and art. He was the managing director of the Amsterdam Art Foundation. In 2008 became an independent advisor and entrepreneur. As managing director of the Dutch Photographers’ Association, from 2010 to 2014, Lars advised photojournalists on copyright issues and entrepreneurial skills. As of 2015 he led the World Press Photo Foundation and has transformed it into an organisation that is more than a contest, becoming a global platform connecting professionals and audiences through trustworthy visual journalism, and storytelling. He has taught at academies throughout the world and been involved as advisor for festivals, contests, and other institutions. He is an experienced keynote speaker and moderator who believes lifelong learning is a necessity and a joy.

Twitter: @larsboering

Giacomo Zandonini is a Swiss-Italian journalist whose work explores mobility, identities, and European policies in the Mediterranean and West Africa. He contributed to investigations on human rights violations, surveillance programmes, corruption and diversion of public funds. He’s a member of Fada Collective and takes part in Lighthouse Reports’ migration and surveillance newsrooms.

Twitter: @giacomo_zando

Scott Griffen joined International Press Institute in 2012 as a press freedom adviser focusing on Latin America and the Caribbean. Currently, as the deputy director, he helps manage IPI’s long-term project work and press freedom advocacy and oversees IPI’s external and internal communications. He holds a bachelor’s degree in humanities from Yale University and a master’s degree in global ethics from King’s College London.

Twitter: @scott_f_griffen

Stefano Vergine is an Italian investigative journalist focusing on economics and foreign affairs. He mainly writes for Il Fatto Quotidiano. His works are published also by other media outlets such as RAI, Euobserver.com, RSI, BBC. The investigation “Chinese Underworld” has been conducted by Info.Libre, Il Fatto Quotidiano and Info.Nodes. The video has been made by Visionair Prod.

Twitter: @StefanoVergine

Anna Babinets is the editor-in-chief of SLIDSTVO.INFO investigative agency based in Kyiv, Ukraine and a regional editor of Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).
As a journalist Anna specialises in discovering high scale corruption, money laundering schemes, and crimes. She is part of the Panama Papers team. Several stories about Ukrainian president`s Petro Poroshenko offshore companies were written by her. One of authors of Killing Pavel documentary, which is about the murder of a famous journalist in Kyiv. The documentary won a DIG Award (Italy) and IRE Medal (USA) in 2018.
Since the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war, Anna and Slidstvo.Info focus on covering war crimes, reporting from the fields (Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities), researching on and identifying Russian military members in Ukraine.

Twitter: @Anna_Babinets

Max von Abendroth is the Executive Director of Dafne – Donors and Foundations Networks in Europe, soon converging with EFC to become Philea, representing 10.000 public benefit foundations across Europe. Philea will host the Journalism Funders Forum. Max developed the interest representation of Europe’s philanthropy sector vis-à-vis the EU institutions to further strengthen the operating environment for donors and foundations across Europe. He is the initiator of PEX, a European collaboration network of more than 70 philanthropy infrastructure organisations. In 2020 he started the Philanthropy Coalition for Climate and co-created the International Philanthropy Commitment on Climate Change.

Before joining Dafne, Max set up and ran the European Magazine Media Association, EMMA, representing 15.000 press publishers vis-à-vis the EU institutions. He is also the founder of the Future Media Lab. (2012-2017), an innovative European advocacy platform for media, technology, journalism, academia and politicians.

Max studied Economics and Business Administration at the Witten/Herdecke University in Germany.

Twitter: @bxlmax

Nikolaus von Peter is an official of the European Union, working currently in the Representation of the European Commission in Berlin where he is following digital policy, fundamental rights, the rule of law and other policies. Mr von Peter studied law and briefly worked as a lawyer and in the German administration before joining the Commission’s treasury department. Before moving to Berlin, he worked in the private office of the European Commissioner for mobility and transport.

Twitter: @emandova

Renate Schroeder is the Director of the European Federation of Journalists, In 1993, she joined the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and since 2003, she has worked for the EFJ. Advocacy at EU and Council of Europe level; presentation of EFJ at international meetings and fact-finding media freedom missions; member of juries of journalistic prizes, project work, communication and assistance in several EFJ expert groups including on freelancers, media literacy and digital journalism, cover her workload in the small dynamic Brussels office. 

Renate Schroeder studied International Relations and Political Science at Boston University (Bachelor’s Degree in 1988) and in Berlin at the Free University (Masters in 1992). She worked at the United Nations, New York, the research institute FAST in Berlin, and the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation in Brussels before she joined the EFJ. She is of German nationality and speaks English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish (passive).

Twitter: @renatemargot