Marilyn Clark (key-note speaker) is an Associate Professor with the Department of Psychology at the University of Malta. She trained in social psychology at the University of Liverpool and was awarded a PhD from the University of Sheffield. Her main research interests surround the study of crime and victimization as well as media studies. She has published widely in a number of edited texts and peer reviewed journals. Apart from her commitments at University, Prof Clark has been engaged with a number of both local and international entities, most notably the Council of Europe, in her areas of specialization.
Victor Chinedu Eze is an Information Retrieval Specialist with Nigeria Watch and IFRA research fellow. He holds a Masters degree in Communication and Language Arts, University of Ibadan and a BA in Philosophy, University of Ibadan. He has worked in the Media and some Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) consultancies at various levels. He is a member of International Communication Association (ICA). He is currently a PhD student in the department of
Communication and Language Arts, University of Ibadan
Sadia Jamil has completed her PhD in Journalism at the University of Queensland, Australia. She holds postgraduate degrees in the disciplines of Media Management (Scotland) and MassCommunication (Karachi). To date, she is the recipient of awards and scholarships including: The University of Queensland’s Centennial Award, UQ’s International Postgraduate Research Support Award, Union Insurance’s Cairo Air Crash Journalists Victim Memorial Gold Medal and Daily Jang’s and The News’ Sardar Ali Sabri Memorial Gold Medal. She is affiliated with the International Association of Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) and currently acting as the Co Vice-Chair of IAMCR’s Journalism Research and Education Section. This year, her ongoing research work includes studies into: safety of journalists, mobile journalism and fake news trends in Ghana and Pakistan, urbanization and digital culture in Karachi, and the role of journalism in bolstering public’s dignity and representing the issues of inequalities in Pakistan.
Dr. Sarphan Uzunoğlu is an Associate Professor in UiT Arctic University of Norway Language and Culture Department. He was previously a senior lecturer at Kadir Has University (Istanbul) across New Media, Public Relations and Information Departments. Dr. Uzunoğlu is also a founder of Newslabturkey.org, Journo.com.tr, TGS Academy (Journalists’ Union of Turkey Academy) and Media Innovation and Technology Network of Turkey (mint360.org), as well as a regular contributor to Punto 24, Medyapod podcast network and other independent media organizations. Dr. Uzunoğlu received his Ph.D. degree from Galatasaray University Media and Communication Studies Programme with his thesis focused on precarious work in Turkey’s newsrooms.
Co-Author:
Mine Bertan Yılmaz is a Research Assistant in the Department of Public Relations at Kadir Has University. She is also a PhD student in the Department of Media and Communication Studies at Galatasaray University. She received her MA degree from the same university where she studied the use of virtual reality technologies in experiential marketing. She completed her undergraduate studies at Istanbul Bilgi University, Department of Media and Communication Systems and Public Relations.
Miral AlAshry, Associate Professor at Modern University for Technology and Information (MTI) Department of Journalism. Media Advisor at International Federation of African Women. Middle East Editor at passion Islam in UK. Journalism, freedom of expression, press freedom, journalists’ safety and protection, and trauma and journalists. She has published widely on a range of topics, about laws, legislations and media ethics, the role of journalist and media coverage war and conflicts in the Middle East.
Saumava Mitra is currently a post-doctoral fellow at the UN-mandated University for Peace (UPEACE) in Costa Rica. In his role, he teaches courses on media ethics, peace journalism and representation of distant suffering at the Masters level. He has also designed the new MA programme on Media and Peace that will be offered at UPEACE from the next academic year. Previous to his post-doctoral position, Saumava had completed his doctorate at the University of Western Ontario in Canada on the topic of the working conditions and journalistic practices of Afghan photojournalists working for international media. His research interests are in international journalism and representations of conflicts and crises in news media. He is also engaged in international collaborative research project on UNESCO agenda-aligned research on journalists’ safety. He has also been invited to be part of the second wave of the global research project called Journalistic Role Performance study. Along with his work as a peer reviewer for several academic journals, Saumava is serving as the guest co-editor of a special issue of Journalism Studies on the role of local journalists working for international news media, to be published in 2019. Before turning his attention to academic research, Saumava had worked in international journalism and communications in South Asia, Europe and East Africa.
Janina Islam Abir, Lecturer, Department of Media and Communication, School of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, Independent University, Bangladesh. Janina Islam Abir is the Lecturer of Media and Communication at Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB). She is the co-author of book chapter titled ` Press Freedom Dynamics in Bangladesh’ in book` Negotiating Journalism: Core Values and Cultural Diversities’ (Nordicom, Sweden: 2017). She has published research articles on press freedom, Media representation and Gender Identity in journals. She is also the co-author of `Gender based violence reporting guidelines for Bangladesh’. Janina has been presented conference paper in Norway, Portugal, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Her research interest includes Press freedom, Freedom in cyberspace, gender identity and women in journalism.
Shukria Barakzai is an Afghan politician, journalist, and a prominent Muslim feminist. Born and educated in Kabul, Barakzai was in 2003 appointed as a member of the loya jirga, a body of representatives from all over Afghanistan that was nominated to discuss and pass the new constitution after the fall of the Taliban. In the October 2004 elections she was elected as a member of the Lower House of the Afghan Parliament, where she was one of 71 women out of 249 MP’s. Barakzai is a prolific writer and op-ed commentator, and is regarded as a staunch activist for women’s rights and democracy. She currently serves as Afghanistan’s ambassador to Norway, Denmark, and Iceland.
Dr. Olunifesi Adekunle SURAJ is a Social Media & Information Literacy (MIL) Thought Leader and Intellectual Capital Expert, who has been at the vanguard of Internet Neutrality and promoting cyber safety for the past 15 years. Dr. SURAJ’s research focus is on the dynamism of knowledge/free/open/digital society as advanced by the new and social media and how its contemporary issues of freedom of expression and its inherent vices of radicalization and extremism can be simultaneously promoted and curtailed using Media and Information Literacy as a behavioral change and intercultural dialogue tools. Dr. SURAJ believed a critical understanding of the media and its developmental trend will help moderate the vices in the Social media while promoting the ideas of open society and liberal democracies. Dr Olunifesi is a certified Tutor in Design thinking and also in ESEFA SAP Training. Dr. Olunifesi is the present National Coordinator of the UNESCO-initiated Universities Network on Media and Information Literacy (Nigerian Chapter), member of UNESCO International Scientific Committee on Global MIL Week Conferences and a key member of UNESCO Global Alliance Partnership on Media & Information Literacy (GAPMIL). He is a Resource Consultant to UNESCO on Media development and freedom of expression. He consults for a number of International organizations including Nigerian Army School of Public Relations and Information (NASPRI), Digital Bridge Institute (ITU accredited Telecommunication Training Centre), Media Institute of South Africa (MISA), Media Awareness and Information for All Network (MAIN) and United Nations Information Centre (UNIC). Dr. Olunifesi holds a Master (M.Info.Sc) and Doctorate (PhD) Degree in Information Science from University of Ibadan and a Postgraduate (PGD) Degree in Mass Communication from University of Lagos. Dr Suraj international research network includes Journalism Safety Research Networks (JSRN) affiliated with Centre for Freedom of the Media (CFOM), Department of Journalism Studies, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom; and Global Knowledge Research Network (GKRN) affiliated with Department of Information Science, University of Applied Sciences, Potsdam, Germany.
Murat Akser is a Lecturer at the School of Arts and Humanities, Ulster University, UK and holds a Ph.D. in Communication and Culture from York University, Canada. Previously he was an Associate Professor of Cinema and Media studies at Kadir Has University where he was head of Department of New Media. Previously he has taught communication and media studies in Canada between 1999-2006 at York University, Ryerson University and University of Toronto. His research is on the freedom of expression, alternative journalism, citizen media, social movement media and hacktivism. His work was published in Middle East Journal of Communication and Culture, New Media & Society, NECSUS, Historical Journal of Film and Canadian Journal of Film Studies. His most recent edited book is from Rowman & Littlefield titled: Alternative Media in Contemporary Turkey: Sustainability, Activism, and Resistance. He is also currently serving as an executive member of ECREA.
Dr Diana Maynard Senior Research Fellow, Natural Language Processing Group, University of Sheffield, UK. For the last 20 years I have been developing tools for text analysis, querying and making sense of large amounts of information, such as media and social media. Recent projects involve improving and understanding communication and information flow during disasters, analysing hate speech, analysing misinformation, fake news and rumour detection, and in analysing and formalising information about violence towards journalists. I am also a Member of the Centre for Freedom of the Media (CFOM).
Gerald Walulya, Ph.D, is a Lecturer at the Department of Journalism and Communication, Makerere University in Uganda. His areas of teaching and research include Political Communication, media and governance and print media journalism. Before joining the academia, he previously worked as a Political Reporter at Uganda’s Daily Monitor newspaper
Aytekin Kaan Kurtul is a junior researcher, PhD student and lecturer in the field of law at Middlesex University, London. Born and raised in Turkey, he obtained his bachelor’s degree and master’s degree at LUISS Guido Carli University in Rome, Italy. His main research interest is freedom of political expression and his articles on public comparative law, public international law and international politics have been published in Turkish, Italian and English. He is currently working on his doctoral thesis on the crime of lèse-majesté under the supervision of Prof. Laurent Pech and Dr. David Keane.
Michelle Betz is a senior media development consultant with 15 years of experience in assessment, project design, implementation, management and evaluation. Her areas of expertise include media in conflict and post-conflict, military-media relations, safety issues and rapid response interventions and she has a particular interest in the use of media in conflict prevention and resolution. Betz is also an active researcher and has authored numerous book chapters and papers including a recent background paper on media and conflict prevention for the UN-World Bank study, Pathways for Peace. Before returning to the U.S. in 2016, Michelle was based overseas in Ghana, Egypt and Austria where she consulted for numerous international NGOs, U.N. agencies and bilateral organizations. Michelle has conducted workshops and implemented or assessed activities in more than 25 countries including: Ghana, Nepal, DRC, Burundi, Burkina Faso, Iraq, Tunisia, Algeria, Mali, Nigeria, Central African Republic and Ukraine. Michelle began her career as a network journalist with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation where she covered both national and international stories. She then spent six years teaching journalism at the University of Central Florida. She continues to mentor university students at Monash University’s graduate program in international development as well as for early career journalists for National Public Radio’s Next Generation Radio projects. In 2003, Michelle was awarded a Knight International Journalism Fellowship and spent four months working with journalists in Rwanda. Michelle was awarded a second Knight International Press Fellowship in 2005 and spent five months in Morocco training journalists. Michelle received a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada (1990) and a Master’s of Journalism from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada (1994).
Yennué Zárate Valderrama is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Metropolitan Autonomous University, Mexico City. She is currently researching on violence, gender and journalists in Mexico. Yuennué hold a doctoral degree in Journalism & Mass Communication from Communication & Media Research Institure, University of Westminister, and a MA Sociology, University of Birmingham, UK. She is a former human right’s journalist, she also directed the press department in Amnesty International (Mexico) and the Latin American team in Article 19 (Londo
Ilmari Hiltunen (M.Soc.Sci) is a researcher and a doctoral candidate of journalism in the Faculty of Communication Sciences of University of Tampere, Finland. His PhD research project focuses on external interference experienced by Finnish journalists. He has previously studied populist counter-media websites and fake news in the Finnish media sphere.
Malvika Kaul is an Associate Professor with the Bennett University, located near Delhi, India. She teaches reporting and editing in the School of Media. Malvika is currently working on a PhD exploring news frames used by print media in the conflict zone. She has been a journalist for close to two decades, working with several established dailies, including The Indian Express, The Hindustan Times and The Times of India as a correspondent, chief reporter and senior editor. Malvika has reported on topics ranging from crime, higher education, civil aviation, human rights and gender justice. She also won the Panos Media fellowship in 2003 for her research on how Information Technology has empowered rural women in India.
Barış Çoban is a Professor in the Communication Sciences Department, Doğuş University, Turkey. He call himself an activist-academic. His research interests include alternative (new) media, new social movements, surveillance and journalism safety. He edited the book“Social Media and Social Movements” (Lexington, 2015) and co-edited the books “Alternative Media in Turkey” (Kafka, 2015), “Panopticon 2.0: Alternative Media and Counter-Surveillance” and co-authored research articles: ‘The Gezi Resistance and Activist Citizen Reporters’ published by De Gruyter’s Communications journal in Vol. 42, issue 1, in March 2017; ‘How safe is it? Being an Activist Citizen Journalist in Turkey’ published in an edited book titled ‘The Assault on Journalism’ (Carlsson & Pöyhtari, 2017) by Nordicom and ‘Counter-surveillance and alternative new media in Turkey’ published by Taylor & Francis’s Information, Communication and Society journal in Vol. 21, issue 7, in March 2018.
Bora Ataman is a Professor of Communication Sciences at Arts & Sciences Faculty, Dogus University. He is currently studying on topics such as activist citizen journalism, media activism and counter-surveillance, and journalism safety. Recent co-authored research articles include; ‘The Gezi Resistance and Activist Citizen Reporters’ published by De Gruyter’s Communications journal in Vol. 42, issue 1, in March 2017; ‘How safe is it? Being an Activist Citizen Journalist in Turkey’ published in an edited book titled ‘The Assault on Journalism’ (Carlsson & Pöyhtari, 2017) by Nordicom and ‘Counter-surveillance and alternative new media in Turkey’ published by Taylor & Francis’s Information, Communication and Society journal in Vol. 21, issue 7, in March 2018.
Dr. Mulatu Alemayehu Moges is an assistant professor of journalism at the School of Journalism Communication, Addis Ababa University. He did his Ph.D. at the University of Oslo- Media and Communication Department. He has been a practitioner, trainer and researcher of media in Ethiopia. His area of research is mainly on media in a case of conflict, migration, election, peace journalism, the Safety of Journalism in Ethiopia, hate speech on online media.
Mr. Md. Harun-Or-Rahid is a Young bureaucrat of the Government of People’s Republic of Bangladesh. Mr. Harun is now working as an Senior Assistant Secretary at Ministry of Planning, Bangladesh. His primary responsibilities are to look after the development project of the government. Prior to joining in Civil Service, Harun achieved Regional Masters degree in Journalism, Media & Communication from the University of Dhaka with NOMA scholarship in 2012. The program was supported by Oslo Metropolitan University. In 2015, he also received another Masters Degree in Public Policy from the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) in Tokyo, Japan with Japanese Government scholarship.
Florence Namasinga Selnes is an assistant lecturer at Makerere University. She defended her PhD at the University of Oslo in August 2018. Her doctoral thesis is a study of how print journalists in Uganda use social media in routine news coverage. The PhD was funded by the Norad supported Norhed project between University of Makerere, Uganda and Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway.
Behlül Çalışkan, received a Master’s Degree at Marmara University based on his research into user interactions in online newspapers. In 2016, he completed his PhD in journalism at the same university with a dissertation entitled “The Impact of Information Leaks on Journalism in a Networked Society”. In his academic works, he has mostly focused on theoretical and empirical studies on media, communication and culture in Turkey. His research has concentrated on topics such as new media, digital journalism and information leaks.
Roy Krøvel Professor of journalism at Oslo Metropolitan University. Member of research group MEKK. Roy Krøvel has a PhD in History. His dissertation was on the relationship between the media and guerrilla organizations and indigenous peoples in Mexico and Central America. He is a civil engineer specializing in the environment and risk -analysis.
Eric Chauvistré is a Professor at the Institute of Journalism at Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences in Magdeburg, Germany. He studied Political Sciences and International Relations at Freie Universität Berlin and at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra before starting his career in journalism as a news editor with German public TV broadcaster ZDF and subsequently with international news agency Reuters. As a freelance journalist, Eric focused on military affairs and was repeatedly embedded with German troops in Afghanistan and other areas of armed conflict. Immediately before taking up his current position in 2016, Eric Chauvistré served as a Monitoring Officer with the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Eastern Ukraine
Nermeen N. Abd-Alaziz is associate professor in Journalism Department at faculty of Mass Communication, Cairo University. Her main interests are media legislations and ethics, journalists’ rights and responsibilities, ownership and Arab media. For more than 15 years she has been teaching curriculum of media laws and ethics. She conducted a paper for the safety of journalists’ conference entitled “Laws of journalists’ protection and journalists’ syndicates’ procedures in Arab World & its implications for assuring the safety of journalists: Multidimensional study”. She worked as coordinator for specialized diploma of media laws and ethics. She participated in different academic meetings and workshops to develop press laws and laws of journalists’ syndicate to support the rights of the journalists and to define their responsibilities. From her recent published works are chapter in (Debates for the digital age, PRAEGER, ABC-CLIO, LLC, (2016) and Chapter in (Cyber Islam: Global media and boundaries of religious identity, Routledge, 2016). She participated in many conferences; the last one was “Media History” in Lund University, Sweden, May 2017. Her paper entitled “Entangled socio-political and transnational frameworks of Egyptian press legislations: Historical multidimensional study (1828-1960)”.
Dr. José Luis Benítez is a communication and media researcher and consultant based in Uganda. He has been professor at the Department of Communications and Culture at Central American University in El Salvador. He was Technical Director at Internews for the Promoting Journalism and Freedom of Expression Project in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. He has several publications on communication, ICT and migrations, journalism and freedom of expression, media policies and democracy. He holds a PhD in Mass Communication and Master´s degree in Communication and Development from Ohio University.