Our Expert Community

Public media policies, Digital rights, Media activism

Minna Aslama Horowitz is a Docent at the University of Helsinki, a researcher at the Nordic Observatory for Digital Media and Information Disorder (NORDIS),  and a Fellow at St. John’s University, New York. She is also a member of the Think Tank of the Nordic Council of Ministers to address platformization in the Nordics.  She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Helsinki and has taken part in several international research activities in the past decade.

Free time: dogs, horses, yoga, some jogging, true crime podcasts

International Relations, European Studies

Haris bin Aziz is currently postdoctoral visiting fellow at the Department of International History, London School of Economics and Political Science. He earned his Ph.D. in European Studies from Area Study Centre for Europe, University of Karachi and remained visiting doctoral scholar at the University of Cambridge, Columbia University, King’s College London and University of Bologna. Haris has held visiting academic positions at SOAS, Queen Mary and Goldsmiths University of London. Working as a journalist with renowned Pakistani organizations since 2005, Haris has taught European Studies to M.Phil. students and International Relations to graduate students at the University of Karachi and conducted research at the Pakistan Institute of International Affairs and Social Policy and Development Center, Karachi. 

Propaganda, Ethics in influence operations, Surveillance, Security and human rights 

Emma L Briant has a PhD in sociology from University of Glasgow, UK and is a scholar and expert on contemporary propaganda and information warfare, its governance in an age of mass-surveillance and its implications for democracy, security, inequality and human rights. She is an Associate at University of Cambridge Centre for Financial Reporting & Accountability and has held faculty positions at University of Sheffield, UK, University of Essex, UK and recently completed two years as an Open Society Foundation funded Visiting Researcher at Bard College, USA. She is now finalizing her third book Propaganda Machine: Inside Cambridge Analytica and the Digital Influence Industry.

Free time: dog-walking, swimming, friends, enjoying live music and spending too much time on Twitter

Journalism, Communication theories

Luis Miguel Carriedo is a professor of journalism and communication theories at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana- Unidad Xochimilco, in Mexico. He has a degree in Social Communication from that same university and a Master’s degree in Information and Communication Technology Law from the INFOTEC-Conacyt research center (Mexico). 

Miguel Luis is also an investigative journalist specializing in media analysis and elections in Latin America. He has been an electoral advisor on matters of transparency and access to public data. His journalistic experience includes being a columnist on the news portal La-Lista, and contributor to Zócalo magazine and various independent media projects. 

In 2007 he was awarded the German Walter Reuter Prize for Journalism. 

Free time: Diving, guitar, dogs and more dogs.

Trust and public perception, Media financing, Editorial independence, Democratization and human rights, Succession planning, Regulatory frameworks and education innovations in media  

Pooran Chandra Pandey is an International Visiting Fellow, Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD), Taiwan (R.O.C). Previously; he held senior leadership positions with UN, Times of India, and Nippon Denro including a three-year stint as Chief Executive Officer, Dialogue of Civilizations Research Institute, Berlin. Author of global policy reports, Pooran holds an M. Phil degree in International Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and has trained in China, UK, US, Japan, Sweden and Russia. Pooran has also acted as media spokesperson, internationally. He is also a Chevening Scholar.  

Free time: reading, writing, volunteering, nature walking, mentoring 

Content regulations, Copyright, Media law

Zsuzsa Detrekői is a TMT lawyer and a part-time academic. She was a consultant of OpenNet Initative at Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University for several months in 2007 and 2008. She was the general counsel of major Hungarian online content provider origo.hu. Currently she is legal counsel of a major ISP in Hungary. She also provides legal support for the Association of Hungarian Content Providers. Her research area is online content and internet related regulations about what she wrote her thesis on and achieved PhD in 2016.

Free time: sailing, podcasts

Civic freedoms, Digital rights, Artificial Intelligence, Neurotechnology, Regulation, Impact assessments

Francesca is an Italian/British lawyer who has worked in international and EU law for over 20 years. She currently serves as Senior Legal Advisor at the European Center For Not-Not-Profit Law (ECNL) where she mostly works on projects at the UN, Council of Europe and EU level aimed at developing standards and regulatory frameworks addressing the impact of new and emerging technologies on civic freedoms, including freedom of expression and right of peaceful assembly online and offline. Francesca also represents the Council of Europe (CoE) Conference of International NGOs (CoE_INGO) within the CoE Committee on Artificial Intelligence (CAI).

Free time: raising feisty teenage son, reading, gardening, watching movies (Netflix addict), training for triathlon, playing the piano, listening to jazz music

Media systems, Media theories, Media in transitioning societies, Journalism cultures

Peter Gross has a Ph.D. in Mass Communication/International Communication from the University of Iowa where he is now an adjunct professor.  He is professor emeritus and former Director of the University of Tennessee’s School of Journalism and Electronic Media (2006-2016). A former research fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, D.C., he frequently lectured at the U.S. Department of State’s National Foreign Affairs Training Center and served as consultant to the International Media Fund, The Freedom Forum, Freedom House, the U.S. Information Agency, and Voice of America. His latest book, The Cultural Core of Media Systems – The Romanian Case, will be released in 2023 by Lexington Books in the U.S., and by Polirom in Romania.

Free time: reading spy novels, biographies, and history books, weight training, movies, soccer

Web design, Visualization, Project management

Mihaela joined CMDS in January 2018, fulfilling throughout her time spent with the center a variety of roles ranging from administration to project management, and research. She has been since 2017 a climate policy and climate data analyst with Urban Nature Atlas, under a Horizon 2020 scheme managed by Central European University. Mihaela became more engaged with data and data visualization and as such she is pursuing a Master’s in Computer Sciences with Stockholm University, expecting to graduate in 2023.

Free time: gardening (orchards in particular), reading utopian and dystopian novels, bird watching.

Disinformation, Media Business, and Digital Policy

Giorgi Jangiani is a results-driven media policy professional with research expertise in disinformation, media business, and digital policy. He holds an MA in European Public Policy from the University of York and Central European University and previously led the USAID-funded Strengthening Democratic Resilience in Georgia Program at People in Need, which brought together regional fact-checking organizations, media outlets, and universities in Georgia to counter disinformation through a multi-level approach. He currently works as a consultant for the Brussels-based Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD). His research is focused on election-related disinformation and online content regulations in the Eastern Partnership countries.

Free time: travel, reading self-development books, playing basketball, and enjoying cooking. 

Human rights, Digital rights, Online Media

Nevena Krivokapic Martinovic is a lawyer specializing in online media, freedom of expression in the digital environment and information privacy. As of 2013, she has been a member of non-profit SHARE Foundation in Serbia as its Coordinator for freedom of expression and online media where she dedicates her work to exploring new features of the media ecosystem and the position of online media in the implementation of human rights standards in the digital environment. Since the same year, she has been collaborating with the University of Oxford where she serves as Moot Coordinator of the International Competition “Monroe E. Price Media Law Moot Court Competition.”

Free time: travel, bike riding and Netflix

Broadcasting, Radio, African broadcasting history

John Masuku is  a broadcast journalist,  media consultant and radio trainer, recently appointed as the UNESCO World Radio Day 2023 International Campaign Coordinator. John started his broadcasting career at the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) in 1974 as a radio announcer and producer rising through the ranks to become general manager of radio services. In 2002 he joined Radio VOP, an independent alternative radio station. John holds a BSc Honours degree  in Politics and Administration from the University of Zimbabwe and an MPhil in Journalism from Stellenbosch University in South Africa.

Free time: storytelling, reading about anything, writing biographies, gardening

Journalism, News media, Hungarian media market, Mis- and Disinformation

Robert Nemeth had a 15-year-long career in journalism, he worked for different Hungarian TV stations and online media outlets in various positions ranging from journalist to senior editor and news producer. Since 2018 he has been working as a communications professional and media advisor and trainer, while he participates in various research projects as well. He is also guest lecturer at the Department of Media and Communication at Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest, Hungary.

Free time: news addict, movies, soccer and football

News Ownership, Digital Trends, Regulatory History, Policy Studies, Curriculum Development

Vibodh Parthasarathi maintains a multidisciplinary interest in media policy, digital transitions, and policy literacy. Associate Professor at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, he has been a visiting scholar at the University of Queensland, KU Leuven, University of Helsinki, and Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. Parthasarathi has been at the forefront of media policy research in India and a winner of numerous grants including from the Ford Foundation, IDRC, and University Grants Commission. His edited works include Platform Capitalism in India (IAMCR-Palgrave, 2020), the double volume The Indian Media Economy (OUP, 2018), and Pedagogy in Practice (Bloomsbury, 2022). Currently, he is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Digital Media and Policy.

Free time: reading ancient history, music concerts, cricket (any) and football (live)

Copyright law, press publishers and press readers rights, media law, digital rights

Giulia Priora is Assistant Professor at NOVA School of Law Lisbon and Director of the NOVA Intellectual Property and Sustainable Innovation (IPSI) Centre. She teaches intellectual property law and legal research methodologies, while focusing her research on copyright law, online content moderation, legal incentives and access to information and education, distributive justice in (among others) the digital press sector. She holds a SJD in International Business Law from CEU and served as postdoctoral researcher at Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies Pisa, as visiting researcher at Columbia Law School, Hamburg University, and CIPPM Bournemouth University, and as visiting lecturer at the universities of Münster, Yangon, Szeged, and Bocconi Milan.

Free time: reading novels and travel literature, learning Portuguese, jogging

Technology Policy, Human/Digital Rights, Media Sustainability & Freedom, Regulation, Artificial Intelligence, Platform Governance

Dr. Courtney Radsch is a fellow at UCLA’s Institute for Technology, Law & Policy and a strategic advisor for mission-driven media development and human rights organizations. As a global thought leader on the intersection of technology, media, and human rights whose perspective is shaped by her experience as a journalist, scholar, and press freedom advocate, she regularly publishes and provides commentary and analysis in top media outlets and participates in expert consultations with tech platforms and policymakers.  Her work is based on empirical research with a focus on the Global South and the power dynamics that shape digitally inflected information ecosystems.  

Free time: Singing, hiking, travel, yoga, cooking and reading 

Digital trends, Business and revenue models, Journalistic practice and Media freedom

Damian Radcliffe is the Carolyn S. Chambers Professor in Journalism, a Professor of Practice, an affiliate faculty member of the Department for Middle East and North Africa Studies (MENA) at the University of Oregon. He is also a three-time Fellow of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University, and an Honorary Research Fellow at Cardiff University’s School of Journalism, Media and Culture Studies (JOMEC). Damian has worked in editorial, research, policy and teaching positions for the past two and a half decades in the UK, Middle East and USA.

Free time: (What free time?) watching TV and movies, spending time with my young family, travel, podcasts, doomscrolling! 

Media regulation, self-regulation and policy, Media freedom and human rights, Media in Ukraine, Russia and other post-Soviet countries, Propaganda and disinformation

Dr. Andrei Richter is Researcher Professor at Comenius University in Bratislava and Adjunct Professor of the Webster University in Vienna. In 2011-22 he served as Director and a Senior Adviser at the Office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media. Richter holds university degrees in law, journalism and foreign languages, a doctorate of philology in Russia and a habilitated professorship in media studies from Slovakia. He has authored more than 250 publications on media law and policy in 12 languages. Dr Richter sits on the editorial boards of a number of international journals on communications and the media. 

Free time: spending time with family, raising son, reading Russian novels and watching TV shows

Public Service Media, Public value, Media policy

Marta Rodríguez-Castro is Assistant Professor at the Department of Communication Sciences of the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (Spain). Her main research lines include public service media and media policy. She was visiting fellow at the Center for Media, Data and Society in Budapest and in the Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans-Bredow-Institute (Hamburg, Germany). She is part of the leadership team of the International Association of Public Media Researchers (IAPMR).

Free time: Galician traditional dance, plants, movies and wine

Local media, Media sustainability, Reporting in difficult environments, Project management

Zoltán Sipos is a journalist in a slow but steady transition into a managerial role. He is editor-in-chief and manager of Átlátszó Erdély, an investigative journalism outlet targeting the Hungarian community of 1.2 million living in Transylvania, Romania. His main responsibilities are fundraising, growing the project in a sustainable way, and experimenting with new ways to reach out to the community. Sipos is also a board member of N-Ost, a transnational network that aims to improve journalists’ reporting on Eastern Europe. He teaches Investigative Journalism Techniques at the Babeş-Bolyai University in Cluj, Romania.

Free time: being in nature, preferably in a forest either on a bicycle, walking or running

Public media, State media, Disinformation

Astrid Söderström is a Finnish political science and journalism student at McDaniel College Budapest. She has been a research intern at the Media and Journalism Center since the summer of 2021, most notably working on the data analysis, writing, and proofreading of the two State of State Media studies. In her university work, she has taken an interest in the role of disinformation and state-produced propaganda. Her previous positions include working as an administrative assistant for open-access journals as well as in different data harmonization projects.

Free time: ice skating, yoga, running, creative writing, building a forever-growing reading list

Sociology of algorithms, Internet governance, Media management, Media law and policy

Bouziane Zaid obtained his Ph.D. (2009) in Communication from the University of South Florida. He is currently associate professor at Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco. He presented his research in more than 20 countries in North and South America, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Dr. Zaid authored and co-authored two books and numerous journal articles, country reports, and book chapters. He has served as a consultant for UNESCO, Freedom House, Open Society Foundations, and other international organizations.

Free time: golfing, swimming, movies