openDemocracy's Publishing Network

The Publishing Interns of openDemocracy work to ensure the timely and accurate publication of articles and pictures on the website, and help with many other aspects of website management. Some work on our daily publishing shifts, others help out on special projects. Most contribute to oD's blogs.

Read more details on how to volunteer as a Publishing Intern

The team is led by Julian Stern.

Current publishing interns

Kim Andersen is a student studying Political Science at Aarhus University, Denmark. Upon graduating he would like to continue to work at the university as a researcher. His predominant interest is in international politics.

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 has worked as a full-time intern for the Tuscany Regional Council on the URBAL Program, a project financed by the European Commission. Besides being translator for an NGO based in Tuscany, she recently worked within the team of an ECC elected deputy during the run-up to the European Parliamentary Elections. Her current research interests are social capital and the emergence of new models of governance.

Michael Clemence graduated from University College London with a first class undergraduate degree in Anthropology. He is now a Masters student at the same institution studying Democracy and Democratisation. His primary interest is in integration between nation states (particularly Britain) and the European Union.

Karim Khashaba is a researcher based in Giza, Egypt. He has recently completed a research internship regarding politics and economics in the construction sectors of numerous sub-Saharan African countries, and attended cultural events promoting cultural and political unity in the Mediterranean. He is currently researching issues surrounding the identity of the Egyptian youth for the British Council.

Jagdish Kumar, from Mumbai, India, holds a Masters in Journalism & Mass Communication, and now has over nine years of online media experience. He also holds a certificate in Online Journalism and Web 2.0, as well as a PG Diploma in Journalism and Communication. He has worked in numerous roles related to online journalism, from reporting to editing and proofreading.

Alexandra Lamb is currently doing her masters in international political science at the Graduate Institute in Geneva. She received her bachelor's degree in history and international politics from the University of Melbourne with a year at Sciences Po in Paris. She has done internships with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Cresent Societies (IFRC). She is currently interning for http://www.globaldetentionproject.org/ 

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.

Tito Mburu holds an undergraduate law degree from the University of London, in addition to a post graduate diploma in law from the Kenyan School of Law and a masters law degree from the University of Kent, where he is now situated. His research topics cover a wide swathe of human rights issues, including minority rights and sex slavery. He is currently working for an immigration-law NGO, but plans to pursue a law PhD on power-sharing governments in Africa. 

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.

Michele Monni received his undergraduate degree in Media Studies from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, with sociology, journalism, linguistics, semiotics and history as his main subjects. Since then he has completed a Masters degree in International Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, in Preston, UK. His research areas are centred on the Italian press; having undertaken a comparative study with the Belorussian press, and investigated the representation of immigrants in the Italian media.

Dennis Nottebaum is a PhD candidate in Political Science at the Graduate School of Politics, University of Münster, Germany, and a Fulbright grantee at the John C. Whitehead School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University, USA. His current research focusses on the link between international trade and democratization processes, as well as on issues of European integration and transatlantic relations.

Ozgur Taskaya is currently studying for an MA in Political Studies at Istanbul Technical University, Turkey. In 2008 he graduated from Hacettepe University, Ankara, with a degree in English Language and Literature, after previously working in 2007 as an intern in the Secretariat General for EU Affairs. His interests include politics and religion in modern Turkey, secularism, and the philosophy of religion. 

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.

Other volunteers and former interns

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 for Knowledge Politics and the Online Journalism Blog.

Marta Cooper graduated with a 1^st 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 intern at openDemocracy, Marta co-edits a journal for a youth-led social policy think tank, is an intern at Untold 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.

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.

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.

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 Manchester, UK, and works for openDemocracy from there. 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 spent last year working in Bristol in the financial services industry, and is currently taking time to explore alternatives and focus on a growing interest in web design and development.

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.

John Sahid is a freelance journalist and IT engineer based in Freetown, Sierrra Leone. He writes for the Copenhagen-based NGO Freemuse which 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.