Media Diversity Research Center

Dr Verica Rupar has been Academic Advisor to MDI since 2012. Verica has written on media, politics and journalism in historical and comparative contexts. Her publications include Journalism: Themes and Critical Debates (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2017), Getting the facts right: Reporting Ethnicity and religion (MDI/IFJ, 2012), Scooped: Politics and power of journalism in Aotearoa New Zealand (AUT Media 2012), Journalism and meaning-making (Hampton Press, 2010). She has worked previously as a journalist in several countries. She is a past Chair of the World Journalism Education Council (2019-2023).

Naomi Sakr’s research covers the intersection of journalism and cultural production with human rights in the Arab world, primarily from a political economy perspective. Her published work has covered issues such as developments in television, the sustainability of news start-ups, prospects for public interest reporting in hostile settings, children’s media and women’s media activism under authoritarianism. She has been a consultant to UNESCO, UNDP and IMS among others and worked on MDI’s mentoring programme for teachers of human rights and diversity.

Jovanka Matic started a professional carrier as a journalist and later transferred to the academic field of media and journalism. She worked at the Yugoslav Institute of Journalism and the Institute of Social Sciences in Belgrade. She is the author of three books and about 100 articles dealing with the role of media in transition processes and conflicts, media system of Serbia, media policy, media coverage of political issues, audience studies and journalism culture.

Dr Anna Szilágyi has taught classes at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Hong Kong, Central European University in Budapest, and Saint Louis University in Madrid. Her writings have appeared in academic journals and books, including The Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict and Advances in the History of Rhetoric. She has authored numerous GTTO publications including “Linguistic Guide against Antisemitism”, “Linguistic Guide against Islamophobia”, “Propaganda, Disinformation, and the Power of Words, Media and Language Use — A Guide for Journalists.”

Dr. Milivojevic was also a Full professor at the University of Belgrade – Faculty of Political Sciences where she chaired Doctoral program in Culture and the Media, MA program in Communication and was the founding chair of the Center for Media Research (1982-2022). She was Visiting professor and International guarantor at University of New York in Prague (2014-2018), Co-director of the international post-graduate course Comparative Media Systems at the IUC Dubrovnik (2011-2022) Fulbright visiting scholar at Columbia University, Chevening scholar at St. Antony’s College Oxford University and visiting lecturer at several European and American universities.

Dr Edmundo (Ed) Bracho-Polanco is also the School’s Doctoral Researcher Development Programme Coordinator. He obtained his BA (Hons) degree and MA degree in communication studies at Central University of Venezuela and at Cardiff University, respectively, and a Doctoral degree in media and communication studies at the University of Westminster. Dr Bracho-Polanco has extensive teaching experience at postgraduate and undergraduate levels and has developed curricula for both practice-based and theoretical academic courses in Higher Education. He has over 15 years of experience as a tri-media journalist, editor, consultant in media diversity and political communication, and is also a published creative writer.

Jean-Paul Marthoz is Belgian journalist and writer. He is a columnist for Le Soir (Brussels) and has taught international journalism at the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL.) He is the author of Couvrir les migrations (Reporting migration, 2013) and Terrorism and the Media (UNESCO, 2017). He has been European press director for Human Rights Watch and EU correspondent for the Committee to Protect Journalists. He is currently the editorial director of the annual report of the Council of Europe’s Journalist Safety Platform.

Dr. Yearry Panji Setianto teaches courses on communication theories, data journalism, and digital research methods. In 2019, he was a Visiting Researcher at the Digital Ethnography Research Center (DERC) at RMIT University. His research focuses on the mediatization of politics and religion, as well as the effects of datafication on Indonesian society. More recently, he has been investigating the role of Indonesian media in shaping public discourse on artificial intelligence.

Dr Haiyan Wang received her Ph.D. from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, MA from University of Westminster, UK., and BA from Fudan University, China. Before becoming an academic, she was an award-winning investigative journalist in Southern Metropolitan Daily, China. Her academic interests include the impact of digitization on media and journalism, and women in media. She is the author of Disrupting Chinese Journalism: Changing Politics, Economics and Journalistic Practices of the Legacy Newspaper Press (2023, Routledge) and The Transformation of Investigative Journalism in China: From Journalists to Activists (2016, Lexington Books).

Tiko Tsomaia professional career spans education, journalism, communications, research, and training.

An MDI alumna, she serves as a board member of the European Journalism Training Association and is a convenor of the IRCT communication advisory board. She also represents Georgia as a Management Committee Member in the COST Action GLITSS.

Tsomaia runs the www.femicide.ge platform, dedicated to raising public awareness about murder crimes, and is the founder of the “Open Movement,” which promotes open discussions on mental health issues.

As an expert speaker on journalism education, she has extensive experience in organizing large-scale projects related to media and communication.

Her research interests include femicide during war, prenatal sex selection, trauma and addiction, ethical decision-making, and health communication.

Anne Leppäjärvi is also a Doctoral Researcher at Tampere University, serves as an Executive Board Member of the International Press Institute (IPI) and chairs the Finnish IPI National Committee. She is a specialist in media literacy and an experienced speaker on the topic at media and education sector events internationally. Leppäjärvi has also worked as a journalist for several Finnish news media outlets.

Nadia Vissers is a former radio journalist and has been a staff member of Artesis Plantijn UAS Antwerp for over more than 30 years as Coordinator of Internationalisation, Head of the international programme of Journalism and Communication, Coordinator of Work Placement and Coordinator of many international student projects. She teaches Interviewing techniques and constructive news reporting. She has an elaborate international network of journalism lecturers and active media professionals and has been guest lecturer in many cities around the world.

Dr. Olunifesi Adekunle SURAJ is the Executive Director of African Centre for Media and Intercultural Dialogue (ACMID), an affiliate of Information Panel on Information Environment (IPIE), a Fellow of Deuche Welles Academy, a member of United Nations Global Expert Group on addressing hate speech through Education and Co-lead, UNESCO University Network on Media and Information Literacy & Intercultural Dialogue (UNITWIN-MILID). He holds Master (M.Inf.Sc) and Doctorate (PhD) Degrees in Information and Data Science and Postgraduate (PGD) Degrees in Mass Communication. He has contacts in many African and European Universities and is well connected with UNESCO  MIL people – all academics from all around the world). He is presently helping countries around the world to develop their National Media and Information Literacy Policy.

Dr. Tobias Eberwein’s research focuses on media accountability and media governance, journalism and media innovations, as well as comparative media and communication studies. Tobias has contributed to multiple cross-national research initiatives. Amongst others, he currently serves as the Austrian partner of the Horizon Europe project “Fostering capacity building for civic resilience and participation: Dialogic communication ethics and accountability” (DIACOMET).

Lenka Waschková Císařová teaching and research focus on local media, media ownership, changes in journalistic work, and the transition of media markets. She is the author of a forthcoming monograph The Margins of Journalism; and the author of several journal articles and book chapters on related topics. She is active in organising thematic conferences in the field, creating a network of local media researchers, and collaborating with journalists and journalistic organisations on applied research. Previously, she worked as a local journalist.

Michał Głowacki has conducted research projects funded by the European Commission, Poland’s National Science Center, the National Agency for Academic Exchange, the Thomson Foundation and the Polish-American Fulbright Commission. Michał was the Programme Advisor to the Advisory Group on Public Service Media Governance at the Council of Europe in 2010. He is Editor in Chief of the “Central European Journal of Communication”. His research interests are media policy, public service media and innovation culture. 

Dr Zahera Harb is co-editor Middle East journal of Culture and Communications, former Associate editor of Journalism Practice, Co-editor Political Communication and Media Practices in the Middle East and North Africa, IB Tauris/Bloomsbury book series. Published widely on Arab Journalism and Political communication, Arab Journalism Cultures, Journalism Ethics, Representation of Muslims and Ethnic Minorities, Journalism and Hate Speech. 

Ingrid Bachmann is also the director of the Millennium Nucleus on Digital Inequalities and Opportunities (NUDOS), a research project funded by Chile’s National Agency for Research and Development.  A former reporter, her teaching and research focuses on the intersections of exposure to news and misinformation, political communication, and gender.  Her research appears in journals such as Digital Journalism, Feminist Media Studies, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, International Journal of Communication, and International Journal of Public Opinion Research, among others.