contributors

Charles Groenhuijsen (1954) has been the US Correspondent for the main public news program in the Netherlands, the NOS Journaal and the daily current affairs program NOVA (1996 – 2006).

He also was the news anchor of NOVA between 1989 and 2006 and international reporter for the NOS between 1983 and 1989. On the occasion of the 50^th anniversary of the NOS Journaal Groenhuijsen was by Dutch TV-viewers chosen als The Best Foreign Correspondent. Before his television career Mr. Groenhuijsen was reporter for the Dutch daily newspaper De Volkskrant (1974 – 1983) and de national news agency ANP.

Groenhuijsen has written eleven books. In oktober 2019 he published a book about the upcoming US-elections: “Everything passes; even Donald Trump”. In 2017 he wrote a book about optimism (“Optimisten hebben de hele wereld”, “Optimists rule the world”). He did a onemanshow in theaters about the same subject   

He also wrote (2006) the bestseller (top-30 list of Best Sellers for over a year) “Amerikanen zijn niet gek” about the cultural and political differences between the US and Europe. He also published books about US elections and the Iraq War. He mostly writes about Dutch and European politics. He co-authored a textbook about TV-journalism(‘Live’).

Charles Groenhuijsen is an experienced and soughtafter moderator and public speaker on subjects ranging from international economic developments and new technology to sustainabilty and TV-journalism. Among his clients in recent years  are AbnAmro, AON, Bosch, Carnegie Foundation, Cofely, Deutsche Bank, DNB (Dutch National Bank), Defense Department, Energy Academy Europe,  Fugro, ING, Microsoft, Nutreco, Peace Palace (The Hague), Oracle, Rabo-bank, Shell.

Groenhuijsen has appeared numerous times in prominent Dutch TV-shows to comment on international affairs and particularly on US-politics.

Andrew Taussig worked for 30 years in the BBC where he held the post of Director of Foreign Language Services in the BBC World Service [1996-2000].

Earlier in his BBC career Andrew was a senior editor and programme-maker in Television Current Affairs where he was involved in drafting the BBC’s first Editorial and Production Guidelines.

At WSIS Geneva in 2003 Andrew was Consultant to the British Council, editing a bi-lingual weblog written by journalists from the English- and Arabic-speaking communities and in recent years has participated in framing UNESCO documents on such topics as the utilization of ICTs for people with disabilities and the protection of indigenous languages

Andrew was educated at Winchester College and Magdalen College, Oxford University, where he graduated in Modern History and then went on to get his Ph.D. in the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.

Andrew is a former Trustee of Voice of the Listener &Viewer (UK), of the International Institute of Communications [IIC], and Council Member of Chatham House; he is a Director of the Commonwealth Partnership for Technology Management [CPTM]’

Andrew has contributed articles to the Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Media Asia, Commonwealth Broadcaster and Intermedia

Urška Umek is Secretary of the Committee of experts on quality journalism in the digital age and works on standard setting within the area of freedom of expression and media freedom, one of core areas of activities of the Council of Europe.

Since having joined the CoE’s Information Society Department in 2016, Urška has contributed to the elaboration and implementation of several instruments covering media pluralism and transparency of ownership in the digital media environment, financial sustainability of journalism, gender equality in media, etc. Urška has a strong human rights background, having previously worked as a legal advisor for the Slovenian Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights. She also contributed to the Commentary of the Slovenian Constitution (2011) and other works on constitutional justice. 

Dr. Nad’a Kovalcikova is a program manager and fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy in GMF’s Brussels office. While working on ASD’s European outreach, she focuses also on transatlantic cooperation, NATO, EU – U.S. relations and emerging security challenges. In addition, she analyses information operations, efforts to counter disinformation, and other threats to democracy.

She has developed her expertise through working at NATO, European Parliament, French and Canadian embassies, American Field Service, and several NGO and think thank projects in Belgium, Canada, France, and Slovakia. Nad’a Kovalcikova obtained her PhD. in international relations with a focus on security threats, and masters’ degrees in politics and government, European affairs, and international economic relations. In addition to being a native speaker of Slovak, she is fluent in English, French, and Czech, speaks Spanish, and has a basic knowledge of German.

As a serial enterpreneur he started multiple IT companies in networking, document management & internet video. He has been a trendwatcher and talked about the way technical innovations influences and have severe consequences on the way the media, government, businesses, politics, education & healthcare is run. He does 100+ public speeches a year and is often contributing on radio/tv. He creates 400 videos a year on digital innovations