Nicos Peristianis (Chairman)
Nicos Peristianis is a sociologist (BA, MEd, PhD) with a long presence in public life. He is the Founding President of the University of Nicosia, as well as one of the founding executives of three other independent, international universities. He was also significantly involved in the creation and development of various institutes of research and applied policies. In 1999, he was a co-founder, with Andreas Sophocleous of IMME initially associated with the University of Nicosia and then with the Universitas Foundation. As president of the Association of Sociologists (1996-2009) he promoted sociological thought through systematic public interventions and has been actively involved in various research projects in the fields of social and political institutions and social change.
Nicholas Karides (Director)
Nicholas Karides was born in Britain, went to school in Cyprus and studied at Pennsylvania State University, Middlesex Polytechnic and the London School of Journalism. After a spell as a journalist in London he served as Head of the Press Section and spokesman of the Delegation of the European Commission in Nicosia. Following Cyprus’ accession to the EU in 2004 he set up Ampersand Public Affairs, was later among the founders and contributing editors of the news outlet Offsite (2007-2010) and in 2017 released Knowing One’s Place a collection of essays on journalism and the media, history and football. Since 2019 he is a member of the team drafting the Cyprus annual report for the EUI’s Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom in Florence. He blogs at www.nicholaskarides.home.blog
Natalie Alkiviadou
Natalie Alkiviadou’s research focuses on free speech, ‘hate speech’ and the far-right. She has published three monographs with Routledge and has several publications in a wide range of peer-reviewed journals. Natalie has worked in higher education, civil society and with journalists, educators and public servants in the framework of training and capacity building on the freedom of expression and related themes. Natalie is Senior Research Fellow at Justitia, working on the Future of Free Speech project.
Michalis Koumides
After completing his studies in Linguistics, German Philology and Journalism/Public Relations at the University of Münster, Germany, in 1987, Μichalis Koumides stayed at the University as a research assistant in a research program until 1990. In May 1990, he started working as Press and Information Officer at the Press and Information Office (PIO) of the Republic of Cyprus (RoC) in Nicosia and serving at the Foreign Mass Media Section and the Central Newsroom of the PIO until April 1995. The following month he was appointed Press Counselor & Head of Media at the Embassy of the RoC in Bonn transferring to the Embassy of the RoC in Berlin in December 1999, where he served in the position until August 2004. Upon his return to the head offices of the PIO in Nicosia, he served at the Central Newsroom and other sections of the PIO. In January 2007, he was appointed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, serving again as Press Counselor & Head of Media at the Embassy of the RoC in Berlin until August 2011, and subsequently at the Permanent Representation of Cyprus to the EU in Brussels until September 2013. In December 2011, he was promoted to Press and Information Officer A′. Between September 2013 and March 2018, he served as Head of the Central Newsroom, the Local Press Section and the Social Media Section of the PIO in Nicosia. In March 2018, he was promoted to Senior Press and Information Officer, a sub-director position within the structure of the PIO.
Soula Hadjikyriacou
Soula Hadjikyriacou was born in Nicosia. She studied History, Law and English Literature at the University of London and journalism and political science on a Fulbright Scholarship at Georgia State University, including training at CNN in Atlanta and later at Radio Netherlands in Amsterdam. She started her career as a journalist at ERT where she worked for three years. She was later employed at the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) where she reached the position of Acting Director of the News and Current Affairs Department. Apart from being an editor both in TV and radio, she was involved in the research and production of documentaries on the 1974 coup d’état, the Turkish invasion, the missing persons, the enclaved and more widely on issues related to the recent history of Cyprus. She visited Famagusta even before the opening of the checkpoints and took scenes of the area and was the first to present exclusive pictures of the fenced area of Famagusta. She made a number of documentaries on Constantinople, China, S. Africa, Cuba. As a political editor she covered many rounds of negotiations on the Cyprus issue, international congresses, European Summits, UN General Assemblies etc. and secured exclusive interviews with many personalities and political figures including the ex-Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, Fidel Castro and Noam Chomsky. She was a member of the board of the Nicosia Film Club and later president of the Cyprus Film Movement. She participates in bi communal organizations for the federal solution of the Cyprus problem and I is also a member of the board of OPEK and the Technical Committee on Gender Equality.
Christos Georgiou
Antigoni Themistokleous
After graduate studies in Classics, Antigoni studied Media and Communications Regulation and Policy at the LSE and then completed a Ph.D. at the University of Brighton. She has been working at the Cyprus Radio Television Authority for 15 years, where she coordinates its Media Literacy policy and projects and works on monitoring broadcast content. She is also a member of CRTA’s team that works on ensuring VSPs’ compliance with the requirements set on the AVMS 2018/1808 EC and Cyprus Law. She has been collaborating with European organisations in undertaking research and studies on Media Literacy and the implementation of AVMS Directive.
Katerina Υennari
Katerina Yennari is an accomplished professional with more than 20 years of experience in public affairs, communication, policy making, and International and European relations. She accumulated her experience working in diverse settings and with multiple stakeholders both in the private and the public sectors, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the UNDP, the European Commission, and public relations companies.
Myria Antoniadou
Myria Antoniadou is a Cyprus-based international communication consultant and trainer, and a former print, TV and radio journalist. Over the years she's been offering high-end, experience-based, services to notable clients, from both the private and the public sectors. For many years Myria provided her expertise to EU related projects, in some 18 countries. For nearly a decade she was a key driving force of the EU Neighbourhood Info Centre, one of the largest EU external relations information and communication service contracts. Myria has a keen interest in seeing civil society strengthened and has done communication and writing trainings for NGOs in Cyprus and abroad.