OpenDemocracy's volunteer network
The volunteers at openDemocracy work to ensure the timely and accurate editing and publication of articles and pictures on the website, and help with many other aspects of website.
Read more details on how to volunteer
Current volunteers
Bija Knowles
Ties Ramekers lives in Utrecht where he studied History of International Relations at the local university. He has focused on the history of globalization, of European integration and international conflict resolution.
Past volunteers
Kyla Sankey
Annabel Giger is currently completing a Masters at Paris Sorbonne Nouvelle (Paris 3) in British politics. Her research subject is constitutional reform in the coalition government, and in particular electoral reform. She is interested especially in constitutional matters and political thought.
Ariane Tabatabai is currently in the process of completing her MA in International Peace and Security at King's College London. Her dissertation addresses the issue of the compatibility of Islamic law and the laws of international armed conflict. Ariane previously completed an undergraduate career in New York, were she studied Political Science (International Relations and Political Philosophy) and Cinema and Cultural Studies. Ariane has also lived, studied and worked in Paris, Berlin and Tehran. She is hoping to pursue her studies by starting a PhD program in January, discussing the implications of the legality of nuclear weapons under Islamic law in the Muslim world.
Rick Wright is currently going into his third year studying modern and contemporary history at Queen Mary University. He is very interested in politics and current affairs, partly because understanding their contexts complements his university work nicely.
Rhoda Feng is a student at Wellesley College studying English literature and philosophy. She is interested in women's rights and international human rights and in her spare time, she volunteers with Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center.
Kim Andersen is a political science student at Aarhus University. He plans to continue to work at the university as a researcher after graduation. His predominant interest is International Politics.
Sara Angelucci graduated in Media and Communications from University of Perugia in 2005, since then she has had experience working in communications and cultural events. Sara is currently translates foreign press articles into Italian for the online editorial staff of Italia dall'Estero. Her aim is spreading news and information as much as possible, as she strongly believes in the importance of giving people the chance to hear more than one leading voice.
Vanessa Avila graduated in International Studies from the Universidad Central de Venezuela and finished an M.A. from the Università di Bologna (Italy) in 2008. She worked as a full-time intern for the Tuscany Regional Council on the URBAL Program -a project financed by the European Commission- on 2008, and as part-time volunteer for openDemocracy during 2009. She currently works as Project Asssistant in the UNICRI Security Governance and Counter-Terrorism Laboratory.
Dogus Ayparlar graduated from law school. He is finishing his Masters in criminal law and working as a freelance writer and researcher.
Taylor Burns is a student at the University of Cambridge, where his research focuses on the political psychology of ethnic conflict. He is the editor of BlueSci, the Cambridge science magazine. Previously, he studied History at Queen's University in Canada, where he wrote for the Kingston Whig-Standard and hosted a talk radio programme on CFRC 101.9FM.
Kyle Christie is studying for an MA in Web Journalism at the University of Sheffield, and graduated from the same institution with a BA in History and Politics in 2008. His undergraduate dissertation was on the relationship between Islam and Democracy in the Middle East and he retains a keen interest in the region. He has carried out research forKnowledge Politics and the Online Journalism Blog.
Michael Clemence graduated from UCL with a first class degree in Anthropology. Now he is a Masters student at UCL studying Democracy and Democratisation, with primary interests in British and European politics and the impact of the EU on Eastern Europe.
Marta Cooper graduated with a 1st Class Honours degree in History from the School of Oriental and African Studies in July 2008 and will begin a double Master's degree in Global Media and Communications at the London School of Economics, with the second year spent at the School of Journalism at Fudan University in Shanghai. Besides contributing to and being a publishing volunteer at openDemocracy, Marta co-edits a journal for a youth-led social policy think tank, is an intern atUntold London and volunteers at the Migrant and Refugee Communities Forum in west London.
Helen Coskeran is a freelance translator living in Delft, the Netherlands. She has a BA in Germanic Languages from Trinity College Dublin and recently graduated with an MPhil in International Relations from the University of Cambridge, where she focused on Latin American trade. This interest stemmed from her time working for a Guatemalan NGO on educational and community projects in 2006. She is an active member of Amnesty International and the U8 Global Student Partnership for Development.
Joseph Dedmon is a recent graduate of the London School of Economics and Political Science with an MSc in Politics and Government in the European Union.
Eskor Edem graduated from the University of Vermont with a Bachelors of Art in political science and sociology. The primary focus of his studies has been the socioeconomic relationship between the developed and the underdeveloped world. He has worked for DRCNet. His research has focused on the externalities of domestic drug policies and international anti-narcotic regimes.
Lorena De Vita graduated with a First Class Honours degree in Politics from the University of Roma Tre (Italy). She is currently completing a MSc in International Relations Theory at the London School of Economics. She collaborates with PeaceReporter and has worked for the NATO Defence College. She is interested in conflicts, international security and in the analysis of international and transnational relations.
Sofia Diogo Mateus is a final year Journalism student at City University, London. She was born in Porto, Portugal, where she lived until she moved to the UK, at the age of 18. She studied international politics at LSE and European issues in the Netherlands and Denmark.
Deepak Gauri has a degree in electronics and communication engineering. He is now a freelance writer based in Delhi, India. His interests lie mainly in the field of international affairs and politics. Over the past two years he has read extensively on the subjects of psychology and public administration.
Amy Green is currently a graduate student at the London School of Economics, completing an MSc in Sociology. Her primary interests lie in the sociology and languages of East Asian societies.
Adam Groves works for OneWorld UK supporting an innovative HIV/AIDS prevention programme in Nigeria. He has an MSc in Global Governance and Diplomacy from Oxford University and a BSc in International Relations from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. His primary research interest focusses on the unintended consequences of western NGO and corporate interventions into southern civil societies. He was a co-founder of the student-run international politics website, e-International Relations.
Nidhi Gupta is currently pursuing a Masters degree in Conflict Analysis and Peace Building. She is a journalist and has worked with The Economic Times a financial daily. She lives in Ghaziabad.
Jon Handcock is a former Marketing Executive who holds a BSc in International Relations from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. He has volunteered and worked in the Third Sector for the last four years and currently works for an international charity based in London.
Andrew Herweg is from Buffalo, New York. He is currently finishing his master's programme at King's College London in International Conflict Studies. He has spent time working for the Council on Hemispheric Affairs in Washington DC and the Crime-Conflict Nexus Project based in London.
Iltija Javed is pursuing a Masters from the University of Warwick in international relations. She has always been intrigued by politics, interstate relations and conflict resolution. Witnessing violations of human rights in Kashmir, where she is from, and seeing little or no political freedom there have strengthened her resolve to be involved in promoting human rights.
Dinesh Kafle worked for several years as cameraperson in various television companies in Kathmandu, Nepal. He then moved to Delhi to attend Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) where he received an MA in English and Culture Studies. Currently, he is pursuing Mphil research on South Asian Literature in JNU. His areas of interest include Translation Studies, Literary Theory, Marginal Literatures and South Asian political history.
Elham Kani is a freelance journalist and translator based in London. She is the editor of Muslim Association of Britain’s website and used to be an editor in Islamonline.net, European Muslims page. She will begin a Master's degree in feature writing and freelance journalism at the London School of Journalism.
Alexandra Lamb is currently doing her masters in international political science at the Graduate Institute in Geneva. She received her bachelor's degree from the University of Melbourne. She has done internships with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). She is currently interning for http://www.globaldetentionproject.org/
Elisa Marcon is completing an MA in Global Media and Post-National Communication at SOAS. She has a background in International Politics and Chinese Studies. In Italy she worked as a journalist for a local newspaper and on radio. She is working as a volunteer translator for a citizen journalism website.
Bethan Mathias recently graduated with a History BA from the University of Cambridge. Amongst other things, she has since worked to research the immigrant labour which powers the city of Dubai for innovation company Beyond Zero. In her spare time she teaches photography at a charitable organisation in South London which targets urban poverty. The combined result of my these experiences has informed her plans to study for an MA in Newspaper Journalism or International Studies next year alongside developing her French language skills.
Anirudh Menon holds a BA in Economics from the Mumbai University and is currently pursuing his Master’s programme in International Political Economy at the LSE. He is writing his dissertation on the Political and Economic transition of Zimbabwe. Before coming to London for his Master’s programme, he was working as a Research Associate at the Indian School of Business. His primary interests include Democracy and Indo-Africa relations.
Sara Mojtehedzadeh recently graduated with High Distinction from the University of Toronto, Canada and is beginning her Master's degree in Comparative Politics at the London School of Economics. She worked as a research assistant for the Program on Conflict Management and Negotiation at the Munk Centre for International Studies, volunteered for the Peace and Conflict Society, and served as President of a student-run international development organization during her time as an undergrad in Toronto.
Fintan Monaghan has a Masters from SOAS in London. He has most recently been working at Free Legal Advice Centres (FLAC), an NGO focused on access to justice.
Adil Naeem has a Masters degree in International Politics from the University of Manchester and a Bachelors degree in Political Science from the National University of Singapore. His primary interest is in Chinese foreign policy discourse and its involvement in developing countries. He has previously worked as a marketing manager for a Singapore based firm involving data analysis.
Alice Newton is currently at Harvard Graduate School, where she studies international relations and economics, with a particular focus on the Middle East. She graduated from Cambridge in Classics in 2010. Her research interests include development and international rights for women.
Michel Nienhuis is a postgraduate student of Geopolitics, Territory and Security at King's College London where he is currently writing his dissertation on the geopolitics of cyber conflict, in specific regarding the 'rules of the road'. Before this, he graduated with a MSc in Business Administration and a BSc in Business Information Technology from the University of Twente, the Netherlands, while being an active student leader and sports organizer. Currently he is a publisher/editor volunteer for openDemocracy.net's OurKingdom section and the Dictionary of Ethical Politics, and also writes for openDemocracy. Twitter
Dennis Nottebaum is a PhD candidate at the Graduate School of Politics, University of Münster, Germany, and a Fulbright visiting student at the John C. Whitehead School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University, USA. His current research focuses on the link between international trade and democratization processes, as well as on issues of European integration and transatlantic relations.
Jonathan Perfect is a former web designer who now works with the BBC promoting child safety on the web. In 2005 he ran a local NGO in Bristol called Something Political Sounding which aimed to provide the electorate with impartial and fair interviews with Parliamentary candidates. He is currently pursuing a MSc in New Political Communication at Royal Holloway, University of London.
Ales Petric recently graduated with a high merit MSc degree in European Public Policy from University College London. Prior to that, in 2002, he graduated with a BLL degree from Ljubljana Law School. He had afterwards and before relocating to UK worked for five years in the national government in policy and legal roles, focusing especially on Freedom of Information legislation. He is particularly interested in the EU foreign policy on Russia and the CIS region.
Andrew Pickin lives in Bristol, UK, where he is a PhD student in computer science. He has a BSc in mathematics from the University of Warwick, and an MSc in mathematics and BA in philosophy from King's College, Cambridge. He first volunteered for openDemocracy in 2009. He has also worked for Mendeley (a company making software for academics) and volunteered for Ashoka.org.
Alessandro Pisu recently completed a Master's in International Relations at Goldsmiths College, University of London, focusing on democracy and dictatorship, and analysing the works of Gramsci, Marx and Bobbio. In his native Sardinia he graduated cum Laude in Philosophy with a thesis on Nietzsche and Wagner. He has experience in England as an Online Coordinator and as a Trust Fundraiser for a UK Charity supporting orphans in Zambia. Currently he is collaborating with an Italian Cultural Association based in London.
Vladimir Puscalau is completing a BA Journalism course in London. He also works for Redress, an organization that is fighting for justice for torture survivors.
Vidhya Ramalingam holds a BA in Anthropology and Inequality Studies from Cornell University and is currently completing an MPhil in Migration Studies at Oxford University. Her research focuses on the organization and political strategies of anti-immigration movements and radical right parties. She has previous experience in non-profit consulting and policy research in the US, UK and Sweden and her primary interests include immigration policy and migrant rights advocacy.
Priyanka Raswant is a member of the bar and attorney from India. She graduated from Government Law College, Mumbai with First Class Honors. She also worked in Mumbai with a corporate law firm and the Bombay High Court. After moving permanently moved to the United States in 2009, Priyanka most recently worked with White & Case LLP, New York as a summer intern and is currently applying to law schools in the US.
Silvia Röthlisberger has just completed a Masters degree at City University London in international journalism. She has a BA in law from the Universidad Autonoma of Bucaramanga, Colombia. Her main focus of study is human rights in the developing world. In her free time you’ll most likely find her listening to music or in the park playing frisbee.
John Sahid is a freelance journalist and IT engineer based in Freetown, Sierrra Leone. He writes for the Copenhagen-based NGO Freemusewhich campaigns against censorship in music. He has degrees in Environmental Sciences and Communications from the University of Sierra Leone, as well as qualifications in ICT.
Farah Saleem recently graduated with a BA Honours degree in International Studies, Political Economy and Public Policy from the University of Toronto. Previously, she worked as the Lead Research Analyst for the G8 and G20 Research Groups based at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, Canada. Her work involved conducting and supervising research on the policies of the governments of Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa on topics such as energy security.
Jonathan Schaaf is a graduate of French and International Politics and is studying part-time for an MSc in Global Politics at Birkbeck College. He is interested in International Political Economy and French Politics, and is researching the globalisation of intellectual property rights.
Felipe Schroeder Franker is a Brazilian journalist interested in international affairs, online journalism, photography, cultural criticism and science journalism. He’s travelled through Latin-American and some European countries. He is interested in how regional problems evolve and how they can be solved within an international perspective.
Lilian Schulze holds a BSc in International Business from University of Maastricht and has worked in sustainable development (HIV/AIDS, education), human resources and public management consultancy. She has participated in several projects in the fields of media, film and culture. She has lived, studied and worked across countries in Europe, the U.S., Asia and Africa.
Tom Siddons grew up in Luxembourg and is tri-lingual (English, German, and French), He completed an MA in Political Communication at Cardiff University, after having studied a PGDip in Journalism at the London School of Journalism. He is currently working as a freelance political/current affairs reporter. He has lived, studied and worked in Ghana, Cuba, France and Luxembourg where he has acquired an intense interest in local human rights.
Millicent Teasdale is currently in the second year of a BA Honours degree in Media and Cultural studies at the London College of Communication. On graduating she plans to embark on a career path that combines her two areas of interest: news and humanitarian work. As well as supporting and being a member of charities such as Amnesty International she has also spent a period working with Peace Child and other in-country charities principally based in Bangalore, Southern India.
Lauren Williamson is working towards an MA in International Studies and Diplomacy from the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies. Originally from the US, I have several years of experience in journalism having worked in various media: print, radio, TV and web.
