Category: Speaker

Věra Jourová, Vice President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency 

Věra Jourová is currently Vice President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency and deals with democracy, rule of law, media pluralism and fight against disinformation. From 2014 to 2019, she served as EU Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality. In 2014, before arriving at the European Commission, Ms Jourová held the position of Minister for Regional Development in the Czech Republic. Previous to this, from 2006 to 2013, she worked in her own company as an international consultant on European Union funding and was also involved in consultancy activities in the Western Balkans relating to the European Union Accession. She holds a Degree in Law (Mgr.) and a master’s degree (Mgr.) in the Theory of Culture from the Charles University, Prague. 

Twitter: @VeraJourova

Geesje van Haren has run her own media organisation VersPers for over eighteen years. Geesje is the driving force of the Lost in Europe project and leads a growing team of journalists in Europe. She coordinates the research on the ground, brings the team together, works in the field, and is responsible for fundraising. Geesje also has extensive experience as a media producer in the Netherlands and teaches investigative journalism, entrepreneurship, and photography. She is also founder of the private school for investigative journalism Open Eyes Amsterdam.

Annie Hylton is an award-winning investigative journalist and magazine writer from Canada. Through long-form narrative writing, she seeks to create empathy and illustrate the human stakes behind key policy debates. She has been published by The New Yorker, Harper’s, The New Republic, London Review of Books, Esquire UK, The Walrus, and many others. She is an associate professor at Sciences Po Paris, where she teaches investigative journalism, writing, and reporting. She is trained as an international human rights lawyer focusing on situations of conflict.

Twitter: @hyltonanne

Judith (Josée Déborah) Chetrit is a Paris-based features writer and audio documentary producer. She mostly covers labour issues, public policies, and business stories. Her documentaries have been broadcast on public radio (France Culture, France Inter) and podcasts (Louie Media, Le Monde), and her writings in news magazines (Capital, le Monde Diplomatique, Canard Enchaîné, Néon) and specialised publications (Liaisons Sociales, La Gazette des communes). She is a member of the journalists freelancers’ collective Extra-Muros.

Twitter: @judithchetrit

https://judithchetrit.wordpress.com/

http://onspecpodcast.com/podcast/fortress-europe-is-a-house-of-cards/

Gavin Rees is Senior Advisor for Training and Innovation at the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, a project of the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University in New York, which is dedicated to promoting ethical and innovative approaches to the coverage of trauma and violence. The organisation provides training and resources on the compassionate, professional treatment of victims, and survivors by journalists, narrative strategies for telling challenging stories, and how media organisations can safeguard the wellbeing of staff working on potentially traumatic assignments. To further this aim, Gavin works as a trauma awareness consultant for news organisations, NGOs, journalism schools and documentary production houses across Europe.

Twitter: @DartCenter

Michael Pfister is the special project photo editor at ZEIT ONLINE in Berlin and is member of the Dart Center Europe. As director of photography, Pfister developed, implemented, and redesigned the visual language of the news outlet ZEIT ONLINE since 2016. As a frequent lecturer, curator, teacher, and coach, he interacts with key decision-makers as well as upcoming talents in the field of visual journalism and beyond. He collaborated with investigative journalists, reporters, photographers, and filmmakers across the globe including winners of the Pulitzer Prize and World Press Photo Awards. He has been a member of Reporters without Borders, PEN (Poets, Essayists, Novelists), and the Federal Press Conference for years.

Twitter: @DartCenter

https://www.zeit.de/autoren/P/Michael_Pfister/index

https://dartcenter.org/resources/front-lines-syria

Jamie Wiseman joined IPI in 2020 as an Advocacy Officer, focusing on Europe. As part of the press freedom team, he researches, monitors and covers violations, assists with advocacy and campaigns and helps coordinate media freedom missions. Previously he worked as a newspaper journalist in the UK, where he grew up. He holds a bachelor’s degree in literature from the University of Liverpool and a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Leiden in the Netherlands.

Twitter: @Jamie_Wiseman_

Frederik Obermaier is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter and bestselling book author. He is deputy head of investigations at the Munich-based Süddeutsche Zeitung, Germany’s leading broadsheet. He co-initiated the Panama Papers as well as the Paradise Papers and the Suisse-Secrets revelations. In 2019, Obermaier was part of an investigative team which revealed the existence of a video showing the head of Austria’s far-right party FPÖ, Heinz-Christian Strache, promising government contracts to a woman claiming to be a Russian millionaire. The reporting led to the resignation of Austria’s vice chancellor. Obermaier is a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and co-founder of the Anti Corruption Data Collective.

Twitter: @f_obermaier