Bas Auer was part of the leadership team of the training course on Euro-Mediterranean Cooperation for youth organisations, which was run at the European Youth Centre in Strasbourg at the beginning of 2000. He currently lives and works in Egypt, where he is engaged in activities to develop and strengthen community youth development work. Next to his work as co-ordinator of programs supporting small & informal businesses in Egypt, Bas is a freelance writer and trainer on issues of youth development. Before working in Egypt, he worked as Secretary General of YDC (Youth for Development and Cooperation), a network of youth organisations that aims to strengthen the role of young people in North-South cooperation.

 Articles:

Training for Euro-Mediterranean Cooperation (Issue 3)

David is a retired police officer who specialised in community policing and was the police Youth Issues Manager for Cornwall which is a European region in the UK.

Whilst in the police he founded the TR14ers Community Dance Charity Limited and continues to give young people access to their social rights as a director of the TR14ers and in his work at the Eden Project in Cornwall, supporting young people to find their way into education, training and work.

In his spare time David cycles, keeps a shoal of tropical fish and enjoys gardening.

  Articles:

Taking chances – dancing dances. Issue 29

Luis Amorim is Portuguese, of mixed Angolan origin, and lives in Brussels with his Swedish partner. He works in Brussels as Senior Project Manager for the external agency of the European Commission (SOS for EVS), responsible for supporting the management and implementation of the European Voluntary Service (EVS). In his current job he is responsible for research & development, conflict mediation, as well as social inclusion policies in relation to the EVS programme. Before that, he worked as Project Officer for Education and Mobility for the European Youth Forum. He started his professional career in Portugal as Secretary General of Intercultura-AFS Portugal. He also works as a trainer on issues such as: crisis management, conflict mediation, intercultural learning and organisational management. He has an academic background in Sociology, Human Resources Management and Education.

 Articles:

Reflections from a Partnership Training Course: Volunteering in Transition - Or why I don't need 1960s idealists to tell me all about it (Issue 3)

Daniel Briggs is Professor of Criminology at the Universidad Europea in Madrid, Spain and a poet.

Articles:

Conveyor belt poem. Issue 24

Goran Buldioski is co-director of the Open Society Initiative for Europe and director of OSF's hub-office in Berlin. He oversees grant making portfolios of over $35M and manages over 40 staff members based in Berlin, Barcelona and London. Throughout most of his career, he focused on the democratic transition in Eastern Europe, the development of policy research on social and political affairs, and the role of civil society in Europe. He has also extensive experience in grant making, not-for-profit management, youth mobilizing, intercultural learning and human rights education. His articles are published in Foreign Policy, Politico, EurAktiv, EU Observer and E!Sharp Magazine among others. He is a member of the European Council of Foreign Relations (ECFR).

 Articles:

What’s emotion got to do with Erasmus? Issue 27

Mette Bram teaches group dynamics at the Common Communications Courses at Copenhagen University and communication and psychology at the Youth Pedagogue College/Denmark. She has been working as a freelance trainer and self- employed consultant since 1993, and is mainly occupied with training courses, lecturing and design of organisational development projects, locally as well as internationally. She is the director of Training Consult, a network of trainers in Europe. Fields of expertise include training of trainers in participant-centred training approaches and experiential learning, counselling, difficult interviews, mediation and conflict management, leadership, and personal and organisational management including Total Quality Management, intercultural earning, supervision and reflective processes, team-building and group dynamics plus evaluation and gender related issues like assertiveness.

 Articles:

Resistance in Non-formal Education (Issue 3)

Véronique is currently working in the co-ordination office of Youth Express Network (Y-E-N) in Strasbourg, France as Secretary General.

As a pure product of the youth centres where she spent most of her free time during childhood and adolescence, she moved to the other side of the glass and became a youth worker while pursuing studies in political sciences.

Her fields of expertise are: inclusion and participation of young people, non-formal and experiential learning.

 Articles:

• Entering the Enter! Youth Week, Issue 29
• 12 Action Days of ENTER! Issue 29

Bojana is associate professor of pedagogy at the University of Rijeka in Croatia. She has worked on youth issues in research, practice and policy throughout the past decade. She has served at the National Committee for Volunteering Development, and the National Council for Youth. She leads a lifelong learning programme, “Youth in Contemporary Society”, tailored for the European community of youth workers, at the University of Rijeka, first of its kind in the region.

 Article:

Synergising theory with research (Issue 31)

Natalia works as an educational advisor for the Youth Department of the Council of Europe. She has been involved in youth work and training for the last 10 years, and at the moment in her role supports the implementation of the Youth for Democracy programme of the Council of Europe’s Youth sector.

 Articles:

• Training and education at the Youth Department of the Council of Europe, Issue 28 (with László Milutinovits)
• Do we leave enough space for experiential learning? Issue 28

Pascal Chaumette is a project advisor at the "Mission Locale-Espace Ressources Jeunes" in Roubaix, in northern France, which serves as a branch office for the Youth for Europe programmes. He is also the coordinator of a European network. This work gives him the possibility to put his convictions into practice on a daily basis. His considers this a chance that he attributes to his perserverance, but mainly it means that he puts his skills and competencies at the service of the local organisations.

 Articles:

European training courses : A springboard for locally-based European projects (Issue 0)

Sulkhan is a freelance trainer and youth worker, human rights believer, foodie and traveller, based in Tbilisi, Georgia.

He became involved in youth work and human rights education in 2010 and believes that joy of empowering young people makes his job a piece of cake.

 EDC/HRE in Wonderland?! (Issue 25)

Dirk De Vilder works part-time as a project manager in a residential youth care centre in Leuven, Belgium. He is also a free-lance trainer, working a.o. for the European Youth Centres, Youth for Europe Agencies and Outward Bound School. Special interest in experiential learning in outdoor activities, social exclusion, teamwork, communication and leadership training and intercultural learning.

 Articles:

Some thoughts about experiential learning (Issue 0)

Nuno is an educational activist interested in innovation, systems change, paradigm shift and the magic of life. He was one of the trainers who delivered the European Citizenship In Youth Work Training Courses, a part of the National Agencies Network Trainings between 2007 and 2016. He is based in Faro, Portugal, from where he reaches out to the world working as a freelancer, involved in the emergence network and coordinating RECIFE – Network of Collaborative Initiatives for an Ecosystemic Future.

 European Citizenship at the Edge of Our Times: Reconfiguring Youth Work Practices in a World in Transition (Issue 25)

Valentin has worked in the youth, education and sport NGO sector for the last 10 years. Actively engaged in the European youth field as a member of the Erasmus Student Network, as Secretary General of JEF Europe he is also a member of the Advisory Council on Youth of the Council of Europe. Valentin is currently travelling the world for a year.

 Articles:

What will be the next ladder of youth participation? Issue 27

Kurt has been German EDC/HRE Co-ordinator since 2009, appointed by the Standing Committee of Ministers of Education (Berlin). He was a teacher in Hamburg from 1977 to 2004, then Head of the “Society” Department in the Hamburg Institute for Teacher Training (LI) until retirement in 2015. He has been a Green activist since 1981 and member of parliament in Hamburg. His special interests are: raising awareness of anti-democratic ideologies and tendencies, contribution of political background information and analysis to social networks, support of democratic development in schools and youth centres, counselling students’ representatives, school staff and political decision makers.

 Articles:

• Extremism prevention: some remarks on the German experience (Issue 25)

Ulrika Eklund works as a free lance trainer and web designer. She has run projects for Youth for Europe in Sweden, in particular as a trainer in the Cocktail projects I and II. She has also been working in the National Council of Swedish Youth Organisations (LSU). Her interests and experiences are especially focused on gender issues, leadership training and organisational development.

 Articles:

Gender Equality and Education - Gender Sensitive: Why Important? (Issue 2)

Maria Frerichs is a trainer on intercultural learning for the international centre for youth and adult education in Berlin, Germany, Jagdschloss Glienicke - Internationale Begegnungsstatte fur Jugendliche und Erwachsene. Her major areas of work include intercultural learning, international team work, communication and leadership training and organisational development.

 Articles:

Open Space is Everywhere – Open Space Technology: a New Way to Hold Large International Meetings of Youth Organisations (Issue 2)

Nynoshca Fecunda has been living in Holland for 13 years. She was born and grew up on the sunny Island of Curacao, Dutch Antilles (Caribbean Sea). For the past 11 years she has been activeky involved in intercultural youth work. She has also worked as a freelance trainer for the Council of Europe. She is self-employed and works in the field of consultancy, training and research focusing on the subjects of diversity (intercultural/gender) and skills management. Her workis based on scientific knowledge as well as personal experience in traveling to various European countries (with her daughter), as a black woman and mother, and working with different organisations, with different histories, organisational structures and traditions of dealing with people of different background and/or colour.

 Articles:

Let your Heart Beat in their Community (Issue 1)

Asier is a youth worker, a freelance international youth work trainer and consultant living between Scotland, Spain and Denmark.

  EDC/HRE in Wonderland?! (Issue 25)

Dariusz is a youth worker and a trainer/consultant in educational projects across Europe addressing violence, discrimination, hate speech, racism, peace and human rights. But most of all, he is a human rights educator.

Rooted in local youth groups, his international work experience includes the Amnesty International Secretariat in London, where he worked as a human rights education advisor. He also worked for in the Council of Europe as an educational advisor at the European Youth Centres in Strasbourg and Budapest. In 2016 and 2017, he was a part of the team responsible for the review of the implementation of the Council of Europe Charter on EDC/HRE and the evaluation of the Human Rights Education Youth Programme of the Youth Directorate of the Council of Europe. He is also the author of several educational materials on human rights education. 

Dariusz currently works in Szansa, a local NGO is Glogow (Poland) advising and monitoring the work of the youth workers who work with the issues of violence, including gender-based violence.

  Articles:

• Just a minute… about EDC/HRE? (Issue 25)

Demetrio Gomez-Avila works as a youth worker and trainer with young people, Roma and others, in difficult living-situations and neighbourhoods. He has been involved in serveral projects including drug abuse and intercultural work. Born in Mexico, he lives in Valencia, Spain.

 Articles:

The patchwork of Roma culture : Exploring a world of diversity (Issue 0)

Mara works as youth work and policy officer at the EU – CoE youth partnership. She has worked in the field of youth in different capacities: as a local youth worker and human rights educator, as project officer and trainer in civil society organisations and in the Youth Department of the Council of Europe as educational advisor. Her main areas of interest are youth work, social inclusion, intercultural learning and dialogue, human rights education and participation.

  Articles:

• Snapshots at European level (Issue 25)
• Voice of Young People (Issue 25)

Rui coordinates the programme of education and training activities of the Youth Departments of the Council of Europe, including those held at the European Youth Centres of Budapest and Strasbourg. He has been active in human rights education since the launching of the Human Rights Education Youth Programme in 2000 with the specific purpose of including human rights education in the mainstream of youth policy and youth work. He has authored and co-authored various publications such as Compass – the manual for human rights education with young people.

 Why do we need EDC/HRE? (Issue 25)

Youth work specialist at the intersection of policy, education and research distilling learning from educational practice, grassroots youth work and activism as a basis for making policies and programmes work better for the young people at which they are aimed. Designs youth work programmes, shapes youth policies, designs participatory processes and implements them in critical contexts to empower young people to be agents of change.

 Article:

One contribution to courageous dreaming of youth work (Issue 31)

Bryony  holds a chair in Comparative Social Science at the University of Roehampton, London. She is an internationally renowned expert on political socialisation (learning politics), specialising in political engagement across European countries. Her current research projects are on inequalities and political engagement, political socialisation, and volunteering.

Bryony has considerable experience in policy-making as she previously worked at the Council of Europe (CoE) leading on youth research, at the European Commission (EC) in Belgium and then at the EC in Italy leading the development of indicators on Active Citizenship.

She is currently performing a consultancy for UNESCO on developing indicators for Target 4.7 of the Sustainable Development Goals and develops a survey on Citizenship for UNICEF for the MENA region. She has recently completed a consultancy for the CoE analysing questionnaires from the member states as part of 2016 review of the implementation of the CoE Charter. 

 Articles:

• Socio-economic inequalities in political engagement: the consequences of limited citizenship education within vocational education and training Issue 25
• European youth work: a hub for global critical citizens? (with Zara Lavchyan) Issue 27

Vegard Hølaas worked as National Expert in the European Commission for the two and a half years, until December 1999. He has now returned to the Ministry of Children and Family affairs in Norway, where he has been working on child and youth policy since 1989.

 Articles:

Training of Youth Workers in the new Youth Programme of the European Commission (Issue 2)

Triin Ilves is a journalist and project co-ordinator in European Youth Press’ Orange magazine. Seeking new opportunities and experiences, she joined the Coyote editorial team to discover the world of youth work.

Articles:

• Overcoming the fear of the unknown. Issue 24
• Training plan for youth work - Inclu-Fit & Mobi-Dance. (with Marlies Poschl) Issue 24

Sylviane Jeanty is Belgian and has a degree in physical education and physiotherapy. She works for Info-Handicap, a national information and meeting centre dealing with disability in the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg. She is also a co-ordinator for all-inclusive tourism. In 1999, she ran a training course for the European Youth Forum on the subject of " How to organise a conference in an accessible way ".

 Articles:

A Basic Guide to Organising Events for All (Issue 4)

Anne is a manager for data projects in the Estonian Youth Work Centre and teaches youth work at the University of Tartu Narva College. She has worked for more than 14 years at the Ministry of Education and Research, including 11 years as a Director General for Youth Affairs. She has been involved in EU co-operation in the youth field and in co-operation on youth issues with the Council of Europe for many years. Previously, she has worked as a local level youth worker.

Articles:

Thinking data (Issue 26)

Erzsébet Kovács lives in Budapest and works as a trainer and consultant in the fields of human resource development and the EU-accession process of Hungary. She has a background in adult education. She worked at different levels of Hungarian youth structures for several years, from local youth work up to the governmental youth department. Since 1992 she has been invited to be part of educational teams for long-term training courses and study sessions run by the European Youth Centres and European youth organisations. She has also been involved in in-service teacher training activities and training for trainers courses at European level. Her main interest is quality assurance of non-formal education.

 Articles:

Participants said - More Attention Should be Goven to Gender Issues in All Kinds of Training – with Paul Kloosterman (Issue 3)

Ewa Krzaklewska, PhD, is a sociologist and youth researcher, and associate professor at the Sociology Institute at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland. She continues to reflect on young people’s lives in Europe and topics such as youth transitions, learning mobility, participation in the Erasmus programme, youth work, migration and gender equality. She is a member of the EU-Council of Europe youth partnership Pool of European Youth Researchers. She was active in scouting and the Erasmus Student Network, both as participant and leader.

 Articles:

Throw the smartphones away?! Opinions of youth workers and young people on internet usage in youth work (Issue 26) - with Marzena Ples

Jacob works at the European Commission, Youth Unit, where he is in charge of the Structured Dialogue with young people, relations with the European Youth Forum, EU presidencies and the Council of Europe, while also providing data protection advice related to the running of the Youth Unit’s databases with online registration tools (EVS, Solidarity Corps, Traineeship Office). Jacob has previously worked in the European Commission, Sport Unit, on data protection aspects of the anti-doping fight, and in the secretariat of the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS). In addition to various academic degrees, he holds a Certificate for Data Protection Officers and other Data Protection Professionals from the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA) in Maastricht.

Articles:

Young Europeans and Digital Activism (issue 26)

Leo Kaserer lives in Tirol/ Austria. He is an experienced social worker and lectures at the University of applied science in the department of social work in Innsbruck. Training and consultancy work brought him over the years to cooperate in almost all European countries and more than three other continents. He is the initiator of the Rückenwind strategy, which helps young people since 2006 with fewer opportunities to unfold their potential for a happier and healthier life. Recently he published the film “Last Fisherman” which tells about the fisherman Malcolm Baker and his unlikely friendship with Leo.

 Articles:

A very personal testimonial. Issue 27

Linas Kukuraitis (22 years old) is co-founder and project co-ordinator of the Pal. J. Matulaitis Social Centre in Vilnius, Lithuania. He first came in contact with youth work seven years ago when he joined a very active Catholic parish in Vilnius. Since then he has become deeply involved in the youth community organising projects, and is now responsible for children, youth activities and the training of young volunteers.

 Articles:

Going Back to Awareness (Issue 3)

Manja Klemencic comes from a little village in the vineyards region in the East of Slovenia. She graduated in International Management from the University of Maribor. As a student in the U.S., she got involved in competitive debatting, imported the concept to Slovenia and started a Slovenian high school and university debate programme. She became a trainer in formal debate for the Soros network and, in 1997, a member of the Governing Board of the International Karl Popper Debate Association. Since 1998 she has worked as Director of ESIB - The National Unions of Students in Europe. The highlights of 1999 for her were ESIB's projects in Kosovo. Manja has just moved from Vienna to Brussels, where ESIB has its secretariat since January 2000.

 Articles:

Students for Stability in South Eastern Europe (Issue 2)

Enzo Kultus lives in Berlin and has been active in Europe as a trainer for 20 years, and for 10 years alsoas a director of 4 enterprises that provide computer training, material and software, Internet servers and home page design for organisations, institutions, small and middle-sized enterprises. For him, Internet is a working tool, which is essential to remain in touch with " the world ". Nevertheless, and even though technology is the centre of his life, he has remained an educationalist at heart.

 Articles:

The Role of Internet in Youth Work (Issue 3)

Nerijus Kriauciunas has been involved in youth work and youth work training since 2000. He works as an international trainer, online learning facilitator and developer of digital solutions tailored to the youth work and non-formal education sectors. He is mostly involved with developing, using and promoting the platform for Cities of Learning. He focuses on digital youth work developments, validation and recognition of learning using digital Open Badges, promoting international youth work and participation of young people.

Articles:

Smart and digital youth work resources: where to find more (Issue 26)

Reet Kost has worked as head of the Estonian Youth Fir Europe Agency since the establishment of the agency in Tallinn in 1997. Before that she worked as a youth commissioner dealing with training f youth workers and international project management for a regional government for six years. At present, Reet is also finishing her low studies at the university, and is proud of it.

 Articles:

Crafting the Strategy (Issue 1)

Snežana Bačlija Knoch is a freelance trainer and facilitator, active in the European youth work field. She is motivated by diversity of thoughts, values and beliefs and inspired by travelling, playing, cats and clown noses. Oh, and a lot of questions! Coyote editorial team member.

 Articles:

• Why is it so difficult to include “inclusion” in mobility talks and discussions? Issue 24
• How inclusive is the (Erasmus ) Youth in Action programme? Issue 24

Soren Kristensen is from Denmark and has for many years been occupied with learning mobility, both at national and European levels. He is currently working as an independent research professional, based in Copenhagen.

Articles:

Effects of mobility and how to measure them. Issue 24

Viktoria works as a project officer at the EU-Council of Europe youth partnership. She co-ordinates the Coyote magazine, and is involved in geographical co-operation activities of the EU-Council of Europe youth partnership in Eastern Europe and Caucasus, Western Balkans and South-East Europe, and South Mediterranean.

Articles:

Coyote Voxpop: What is Smart Youth Work? (Issue 26)

Yoruk Kurtaran is a researcher in İstanbul Bilgi University’s Youth Studies Unit.

Articles:

Fact and figures from the youth mobility “scene” in Turkey. Issue 24

György Lissauer has been living in the UK for 12 years. He was introduced to international youth work through his involvement in the European Union of Jewish Students and as a Member of Presidium was involved in the preparation of study sessions and participated in Youth Forum conferences. He graduated from the University of Kent with a law degree in 1999 and has spent the last 13 months working as Students’ Activities Co-ordinator for the Reform Synagogues of Great Britain. In March of this year he participated in the training course ´Training for Trainers´ at the European Youth Centre in Strasbourg. In October, György returned to university to follow a Masters course in law at the University of Oxford … however, he hopes to remain active in international training!

 Articles:

Changes in the Weather - Training for hand-over in youth organisations (Issue 3)

Maija works for the SALTO South East Europe Resource Centre, which promotes cooperation between Erasmus+ Programme countries and the programme's neighbouring partner countries in the Western Balkan region. In the past years she has been working predominantly on activities focusing on the topic of Europe from the perspective of integration, citizenship and identities.

 Is European citizenship still relevant in youth work and non-formal education in today’s Europe? (Issue 25)

Nadine has worked with migrants and refugees for Doctors of the World, UNICEF and the Red Cross in various countries. From 2006-11, she was an educational advisor for the Youth Directorate of the Council of Europe. Currently,

Nadine is a co-manager of the Intercultural Institute of Systemic Competences (iiCoS) in Marlenheim, France. She offers various training courses around systemic coaching and therapy, psychotraumatology, intercultural competences and social inclusion.

 Articles:

Enter! – in and out. On roots, sources, origins and impact of Enter! (Issue 29)

Zara is a youth trainer with a youth worker background rooted in open youth. In Armenia she has worked both for governmental youth bodies and national NGOs, widely promoting youth participation at all levels, community development, intercultural sensitivity and culture of peace. She is member of the Trainers’ Pool of the Council of Europe Youth Department, and also works extensively in the EECA region. Zara has carried out the mapping research of European citizenship Education actors and has been in the organising team for the European Citizenship Education thematic seminars of the partnership. Currently she works in KASA Swiss Humanitarian Foundation, coordinating the E-learning programmes and advising on its educational interventions.

 Articles:

European youth work: a hub for global critical citizens? Issue 27 (with Bryony Hoskins)

Ana has been working directly for and with schools since 2014. She believes in education as a form of self-discovery where self-esteem, trust and love are interwoven to generate possibilities for relationships and social transformation. Currently she works as a freelance consultant and trainer focusing on youth policies and civil and political participation of disadvantaged youth.

 Articles:

From “GIVING” voice to “BEING” the voice. Schools and NGOs working together on prevention of gender violence among young people through participatory action in school contexts (Issue 29)

Carol Ann Morris is the Project officer for membership services at the European Youth Forum secretariat in Brussels.

 Articles:

The story of Coyote (Issue 0)

The European Youth Forum pool of trainers : why? who? what? where? (Issue 0)

Dan is an independent researcher, expert and youth work practitioner in the field of inclusive youth participation with 20 years’ experience working with children and young people in the voluntary, public, for-profit and academic sectors. He comes from the North West of England and is Director of People Dialogue and Change, as well as a member of the Pool of European Youth Researchers.

  Articles:

Thinking seriously about social inclusion (Issue 29)

Jane is currently a Principal Lecturer and Programme Leader for the Undergraduate Work-based Learning Programme at the University of Brighton, UK, which includes a BA (Hons) Youth Work. She is Vice-Chair of the Professional Association of Lecturers in Youth and Community Work (TAG PALYCW) in the UK, and is a founder director of the Commonwealth Alliance of Youth Work Associations (CAYWA).

With over 25 years’ experience in both local authority and voluntary sector youth services (including three years working as an animatrice/educatrice in the French Alps), Jane came into youth work through outdoor and experiential education. Her research interests now centre on the use of digital technologies as a vehicle for engaging young people in informal and experiential learning contexts, and she has just completed a Professional Doctorate in Education researching the nature of digital tools, spaces and places as mediators of youth work practice.

 Articles:

Digital Tools, Spaces and Places as Mediators of Youth Work Practice (Issue 26)

László is an educational advisor at the Youth Department of the Council of Europe. Based at the European Youth Centre Budapest, he works regularly on study sessions on a wide variety of topics with youth organisations, as well as on the training of trainers and educational staff of youth centres, peace building and Roma youth participation.

Articles:

• Training and education at the Youth Department of the Council of Europe (with Natalia Chardymova, Issue 28)
• Do they need our education? (Issue 28)

Marijeta is a social worker from Montenegro, with most of her work experience in the youth policy field and youth activism. She is a member of the European Network on Independent Living Youth Network Board and Advisory Council on Youth of the Council of Europe. Disability activism is her passion and moral obligation, as she identifies as a person with acquired disabilities for more than half of her life. “Grow plants – not prejudices.”

 Articles:

Sexuality and relationships of young people with disabilities (Issue 29)

Peter Merry is a freelance trainer, practitioner and consultant. He works in the field of intercultural learning, group facilitation, conflict management, the citizen and green issues, among others. He specialises in participative education for transformation, which includes the interactive methods of the Theatre of the Oppressed. His experience extends to many different types of organisation Europe-wide, as well as having spent a year teaching English in rural Ghana. He has a background in theatre, human ecology and modern languages. He has also been seen brandishig a guitar and harmonica, to accomany highly subversive lyrics...

 Articles:

Theatre of the Oppressed and Youth –with Gavan Titley (Issue 1)

Rilke is a staff member at JINT, the National Agency for Erasmus+ Youth and the European Solidarity Corps in Flanders. She holds a Master in Political Sciences, and a PhD in Social Sciences. As a knowledge manager, she is passionate about bridging gaps between practice, research and policies. Youth work has offered her many things: a group of friends, competencies, self-confidence, warm memories and even a life partner - father of their two children.

  Article:

Mind the gap! (Issue 31)

Larissa is a youth policy activist with a passion for democracy and social justice. She has been actively involved in democratic school student organising and representation at local, national and European level for several years. Currently she is a member of the Advisory Council on Youth of the Council of Europe. Her main areas of expertise lie in the fields of democratic participation, education and social inclusion, as well as labour market issues.

 Articles:

• Organising for democratic education (OBESSU) with Ferre WINDEY. Issue 25
• Revitalising democracy within and through the youth sector. Interview with Anja Olin Pape and Luis Alvarado-Martinez. Issue 27

Susie Nicodemi is a freelance international youth work consultant living in the UK.

Articles:

We need more bowling and fewer boxes for the learning mobility of young people. Issue 24

Victoria Nash is the Deputy Director and Senior Policy Fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute. In the latter role, she is responsible for leading the department’s engagement in digital policy matters. Her particular research interests draw on her background as a political theorist, focusing on the interests and rights of both child and adult Internet users. Recent projects have included an analysis of age verification policies as a tool for balancing the interests of children and adults online, and a review of the risks and harms faced by children online. She is currently leading a research project examining the concept of the ‘algorithmic child’ and the data risks posed to children by connected toys and the Internet of Things. She holds several digital policy advisory roles, including membership of the UK Government’s multi-stakeholder UKCCIS Evidence Group, and is frequently called on to give expert evidence in UK and EU policy consultations on broader issues such as platform governance.

 Articles:

The opportunities for youth services in the digital age. Issue 27

Andrey Ozharovskii is a nuclear physicist by.training.he is a leader of the Russian NGO - International Discussion Club - Moscow (IDC).

 Articles:

The HSC Coefficient – Is Training Related to Real Life? (Issue 1)

Daniel has been working at the Lisbon City Council since 2000, first as Public Relations in the area of Planning and Urbanism and since 2010 in the field of adult education, especially in the field of autobiographical narrative processes.

From 2005 until 2011 he also worked as a founding member of the Agency MAL - Movimento Acorda Lisboa, focused on the use of urban public space for cultural purpose.

In 2015 Daniel attended a training for Facilitators of Human Rights and Democratic Citizenship and has been involved in EDC/HRE actions for City Council workers as well as for youth and citizens since then, including the three SOMOS Schools that took place so far. 

 Articles:

• SOMOS Lisbon Programme for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education (Issue 25)

John O’Regan lectures in the School of English language education at Thames Valley University, London. He has been a teacher on the EYC English language course since 1989 and the Course Director since 1993. At Thames Valley University he is also involved in teacher training, direct language teaching, and undergraduate and postgraduate studies. His interests include intercultural learning through language, teaching language through content, EAP, ESP and discourse analysis. In the 13 years since he became a teacher John has worked in Europe, south-east Asia and South America.

 Articles:

Methodological developments in intercultural learning through language –with John WATERMAN (Issue 0)

Reelika works as Head of the Youth Affairs Department at the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research.She led the youth field team of the Estonian Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2017.

Articles:

Youth in Europe: what’s next? EU Youth Conference (Issue 26)

Major Charly Pauwels was born in Germany, while his father, also an officer, was a member of the military force that occupied that country after World War II. He joined army and moved 15 times with his family to several places in Belgium and Germany. He completed two missions in former Yugoslavia and is now preparing to go to Kosovo. Besides his Dutch mother tongue, he learned to speak, read and write French, English, German and Serbian during his career. He lives with second wife in a small town in Belgium called Leopoldsburg. Together they take care of four daughters and one son.

 Articles:

Preparing Soldiers for a Peace-supporting Mission (Issue 1)

Hrönn Pétursdóttir is still active in the youth sector as a national board member of the Icelandic Boy and Girl Scout Association. She is furthermore involved in initiatives to increase the awareness of the non-formal educational aspect of youth associations. At the time of the publication of this article, she is changing professional positions and taking up a post in management education at Gallup.

 Articles:

After European Youth Work (Issue 3)

Josyane Pierre is French and lives in Brussels, where she has been Director of Mobility International since January 1998. She has always been working with disabled people, first at the Rehabilitationand Re-education Centre in Mulhouse where she was involved in setting up an individualised training system for young disabled people doing vocational training, then as an expert for the European Commission within the HELIOS programme for the integration, social and political participation of young people with disabilities. Josyane has a background in social studies and economics, education and information sciences.

 Articles:

Partners for Change – The Integration of Young Disabled People in Society is Everyone's Responsibility (Issue 2)

Lana is a youth research and policy officer at the EU-Council of Europe youth partnership. She has been working in the development sector since 2007, in the area of civic activism and youth participation, and she has worked and consulted with a number of local and international NGOs, research institutes and international organisations in Europe and internationally.

 Articles:

Can digitalisation facilitate social inclusion of young people? (Issue 29)

Lucija Popovska worked as the head of the Civic Society Department of the Macedonian Centre for International Co-operation in Skopje, "the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia".

 Articles:

Aliens on the Balkans : Trainer ?!! What on earth is that! (Issue 0)

Maari works as a Project Coordinator of the ‘Youth for Human Rights’ in the Estonian National Agency of the Erasmus+ programme.

She also coordinates the Estonian No Hate Speech Movement campaign in the field of youth.

She is currently Tallinn-based. Prior to working for the Estonian NA, she has been living in Brussels, Stockholm and Budapest. Her main fields are gender and migration.

 Articles:

• “Youth for Human Rights” – Erasmus+ National Agencies and their partners join forces (Issue 25)

Marzena Ples is a research assistant at the Institute of Sociology (Jagiellonian University), project co-ordinator, trainer and educator. She specialises in intercultural communication, non-formal education, youth participation, educational tools in youth work, conflict resolution and mediation in youth work. She is working on her PhD thesis devoted to youth work. Most of the time she spends between Kraków (Poland) and York (United Kingdom) or travelling. In her free time she plays board and role-playing games.

 Articles:

Throw the smartphones away?! Opinions of youth workers and young people on internet usage in youth work (Issue 26) - with Ewa Krzaklewska

Michele is a freelance trainer, especially in digital youth work. He started working on what is now called digital youth work in 2008, with the action 4.4 project Non Virtual Youth Citizenship in a Virtual World. After that, he developed the digital media education activities called Praterie del Web for his organisation Spazio Giovani in Italy. He then co-ordinated ImageME, one of the first research projects on sexting among youngsters in Italy. He is part of the team behind Dig-It Up!, the Erasmus+ training course running since 2015 and aimed towards experiencing and designing digital youth work activities. He has designed trainings and curricula for schools and educational agencies using coding, videogames and robotics. His blog HandShaKing can be read in Italian and English at www.dipaola.me.

Articles:

Digital in youth work. A practitioner’s perspective after some years of doing and training digital youth work (Issue 26)

Patrick Penninckx has been a tutor and trainer at the Youth Directorate of the Council of Europe since 1989, where he coordinates the educational team and programme. Hi is also in charge of the co-operation with the European Commission in the field of European Youth Worker Training.

 Articles:

Pools and Networks of Trainers - From a Database to a Pool of Expertise: The Trainers Pool of the Youth Directorate of the Council of Europe (Issue 1)

Ruxandra works as an educational advisor for the Youth Department of the Council of Europe. She has been involved in the Human Rights Education Youth Programme for the past seven years, including in the civil society review of the Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education. 

 What’s love got to do with … human rights education? (Issue 25)

Tali Padan runs her own organisation, Mellem Education, in Denmark and delivers training courses on how the personal connects with the political.

Articles:

• Learning through mobility: the story of Habib, an asylum seeker from Iran. Issue 24
• Fix the system or ourselves? Issue 24

Alexandra Raykova is a Roma from Bulgaria, married and has a seven years old son. She studies governmental administration and international law at university. For 2 ½ years, she was working in Roma Bureau Sofia Foundation. Currently, she is the Controller of the Board of the Roma Youth Independent Organisation "Ternipe". This year, she has created the Foundation for Promotion of the Roma Youth, of which she is the Executive Director. From its very beginning she has been working for the development of FERYP, of which she is now a board member.

 Articles:

Young Roma and their Communities : Training can make a difference (Issue 0)

Calin Rus is director of the Intercultural Institute of Timisoara, Romania, and has been involved in Council of Europe projects since 1998. He was Pedagogical Coordinator of the ROMED programmes and co-author of the Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture. He works on education for democratic citizenship and human rights, intercultural education and training, intercultural relations, Roma inclusion, migration and participatory community development.

Articles:

• What can we learn from outside the youth field? (Issue 28)

Juliana Roth teaches Intercultural Communication at Munich University/Germany. Her academic background is in Slavic studies, East European history and ethnology. A native of Bulgaria, she lives and works in Germany and has often had teaching assignments in Russia and the US.

 Articles:

Intercultural learning in European youth work: Some east-west perspectives (Issue 0)

Nol Reverda is a sociologist and lives in Maastricht, the Netherlands. He is the course director of the MA omparative European Social Studies and has co-operated intensively with the Council of Europe Directorate of Youth and Sport since 1993.

 Articles:

Formal and Non-Formal Education in Higher Education - The MA Comparative European Social Studies (MACESS) as an example (Issue 3)

Claudia Schachinger is working as European Secretary of JECI-MIEC (International Young Catholic Students). She studied communication in Vienna (final thesis on AIDS education in Uganda), is Austrian and at present living in Belgium.

 Articles:

To walk in your shoes...: Training course on intercultural learning (Issue 0)

Edgar is Director of the National Centre for Youth Policy and Work. He has participated in the development of youth policy and youth work in Estonia for more than 16 years and is involved actively in international cooperation. He has worked for the Ministry of Education and Research's Youth Affairs Department and in a municipal youth centre as a youth worker, He was member of the board of the national umbrella organisation for youth centres. He holds an MA in Public Governance.

Articles:

The road to smart youth work (Issue 26)

Jacques Spelekens is Corporate Social Responsibility Co-ordinator Benelux for ENGIE.

Articles:

The lonesome rider... Issue 24

Lucie is a freelance trainer, facilitator, coach, (green) events manager and education manager for Wikimedia CZ. Over the past 15 years she has been involved in youth work and youth training, and as an external expert of the E+ Czech National Agency. 

Her roots come from IYNF (International Young Naturefriends). She calls herself a product of the Youth in Action programme. 

Her professional path has been influenced by social work practice, international youth work, and focusing on youth and social entrepreneurship and social innovations.

 Articles:

Training and “sustainability”. What role do trainers and training providers have on our burning planet?! (Issue 28)

Maïssa is from Quebec in Canada. She is a master’s student in psychoeducation at Université de Montréal. She is passionate about youth, science and international problem-solving initiatives. She is a student member of a research laboratory on scientific knowledge transfer. (Her master’s thesis consists of evaluating an artificial-intelligent technology in mental health called Myelin. During her studies, she is also an assistant co-ordinator of a dropout prevention programme for teens from a multi-ethnic and socio-economically precarious neighbourhood, within the community organisation Les Fourchettes de l’Espoir.

 Articles:

What we brought and what we take away Canadian perspective on the Enter! Youth Week (Issue 29)

Dr Maria Schreiber is a media researcher, currently working on a project about biographies and social media at the Department of Sociology, University of Vienna. She has spent some time at research centres in Germany and Australia. Maria loves travelling, cat content and reaction GIFs and calls the internet her second home.

Articles:

Show me your self(ie)! (Issue 26)

Marinela is a trainer and facilitator in the youth work field and currently working as the training and project manager for South East European Youth Network. She is also a permanent human rights fighter, frequent cake-maker, shameless shower-singer, occasional writer and biggest fan of non-formal education.

 Articles:

Beyond the full circle. Self‑assessment of trainers in the youth field with Snežana Bačlija Knoch (Issue 28)

Mónica Salas Corrigan has experience in international co-operation through her participation in development projects in the north of Africa and has volunteered in Senegal, Nicaragua and Cape Verde (New Friends). Currently living in Lisbon, Portugal.

She is the president of Bué Fixe and co-ordinates local and international projects mainly on migration, youth, gender and media literacy. She is a trainer and responsible for the fundraising department.

 Articles:

Bué Fixe. The life and adventures of a young youth organisation, Issue 29

Oana Nestian Sandu conducts training and research on intercultural education, human rights education, Holocaust education, migration and Roma inclusion in Europe and the United States. She is the International Program Director of The Olga Lengyel Institute, New York and Program Director of the Intercultural Institute, Timisoara. She consults for the Council of Europe and the United Nations.

 Articles:

Intercultural learning – A solution in the post-truth era. Issue 27

Ozgehan Şenyuva is an associate professor at Middle East Technical University, Ankara.

Articles:

Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Issue 24

Felisa has carried out internal and external evaluations for two decades, including formal and non-formal education initiatives, with a focus on human rights and citizenship education with youth. She teachers monitoring and evaluation in the International Comparative Education Program at Columbia University (NYC) as well as online for Human Rights Education Associates (HREA).

 Articles:

• Have we made a positive difference? Evaluation of HRE (Issue 25)

Mark is a trainer and writer and plays ukulele from his current base in Strasbourg, France. Empowering learners is his passion. Commitment to the recognition of non-formal learning led him to contribute to the development of the European Portfolio for Youth Workers and Leaders and to work on the development of Youthpass and be a member of its Advisory Group. He is a partner in the via Experientia consortium which sets out to expand the contours of experiential learning and research. A founding member of the editorial team and now for several years editor of Coyote magazine.

Articles:

Marker : A historic farewell, gadgets and banners, and a thought for the future. Issue 24

Edito. Issue 25

Marker: Pourquoi le lapin est bleu? Issue 25

Edito. Issue 26

Marker: Don’t push a snake with bare feet. Issue 26

Edito. Issue 27

Marker: The egg is pounding on the door. Issue 27

Zara is a human rights educator and disability rights activist from the UK. She works with people aged 4 and up to explore human rights and disability. She has recently become  the Director of ENIL (the European Network on Independent Living) a disabled people's organisation working across the Council of Europe member states on disabled people's human rights, particularly the right to live in our communities.

 Articles:

• The limits of education. Simulating Disability (Issue 25)

Caroline Vink is the head of the National Agency of Youth for Europe and European Voluntary Service in the Netherlands. Since 1989 sha has been involved in European youth work through the Dutch youth council and CENYC and later in the European youth programmes. Her interest and experience are especially focused on non-formal education and training, intercultural learning and youth policy.

 Articles:

Giving Credit: Certification and Assessment of Non-formal Education (Issue 1)

Ivana is a youth worker and youth trainer, with a background in psychology. She is dedicated to positive change of people and believes that this is the way to change communities and the world. That’s the main reason why she is also working for years on the professional development of youth workers and recognition of youth work.

 Article: 

Why sustainable funding of youth work programmes? (Issue 31)

Jan Vanhee works on European and international youth policy in the Division for Youth at the Department for Culture, Youth, and Media in the Flemish Community of Belgium. He is youth affairs attaché with the Permanent Representation of Belgium to the EU (Flemish Representation), represents Belgium (Flanders) in the EU Youth Working Party and on the Council of Europe’s Intergovernmental Steering Committee for Youth (CDEJ) and follows all major political developments and debates on youth(work) issues in Europe and beyond. His special interests include EU-relations, the Council of Europe, the United Nations, civil society policy, youth (work) policy, human rights, democracy, youth mobility, co-operation on youth issues with South Africa, social work, migration and extreme poverty reduction. Follow at: https://twitter.com/jan.vanhee1

 Articles:

Putting youth work throughout Europe on the map. Issue 27 (with Howard Williamson)

Barbara has been Global Director for Human Rights Education at Amnesty International since October 2014. She has worked in the human rights field for the past twenty years, managing national, cross-regional and global teams. Prior to her current post, Barbara was Director of Amnesty International Austria, worked in the Anti-Discrimination field and established a Service Centre for HRE at the Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights. She has served on boards of academic institutions and civil society organisations.

 Articles:

• Amnesty International, Global perspective on HRE (Issue 25)

Ferre is a board member of OBESSU, living in Ghent, Belgium. At the moment he is studying at university but couldn’t say farewell to school student activism just yet. He started as a local activist in his school student council and extended his engagement to the regional level as a board member of VSK, the Flemish School Student Union. Being active as a school student activist for over 8 years now, he has gathered quite some experience in matters such as democratic citizenship education from a school student perspective.

 Articles:

• Organising for democratic education (OBESSU) with Larissa NENNING (Issue 25)

Howard Williamson is Professor of European Youth Policy at the University of South Wales, UK. He has worked on youth issues in practice, research and policy throughout his life, and has been involved with both the Council of Europe and the European Commission since the 1980s. His work with and for young people has been recognised with some high level awards in British society and he continues to support grass-roots youth work in Wales. When not co-editing Coyote with Mark, Howard is a football coach and is currently qualifying as a referee.

 Articles:

• Floor Van Houdt and Antje Rothemund reflect on the partnership. Issue 27
• Two coordinators – past and present – view the partnership. Issue 27
• Putting youth work throughout Europe on the map. Issue 27 (with Jan Vanhee)

John Waterman has been a practising language teacher for 19 years, and a teacher trainer for the last 15 years. During this time he has worked throughout Europe, and also in Latin America. He now lectures in the School of English Language Education at Thames Valley University, London. He has been a Course Tutor on the EYC language course since 1996. At Thames Valley University he is involved in Teacher education, English for General Purposes, and teaching English through Information and Communication Technology (ICT). His interests include intercultural learning through language, Reading, Learning English through ICT, and Taskbased learning.

 Articles:

Methodological developments in intercultural learning through language –with  John O'REGAN (Issue 0)

Nafula is a fierce advocate for gender equality and human rights and is passionate about pan-Africanism, youth empowerment and social justice.

Living in Nairobi, Kenya, she is currently the Vice Chairperson for Policy and Advocacy at the Commonwealth Youth Council. She is also the programmes director at Brydges Centre, an organisation that provides child rescue and protection services, education and economic empowerment to at-risk youth and out-of-school girls. She currently serves as an executive committee member of the Commonwealth Businesswomen Network.

 Articles:

Decolonising youth work, Issue 29

Sérgio co-founded and worked for 7 years in the local youth NGO Dínamo. He is working as a professional educator since 2010, on themes such as Youth Participation, Human Rights, non-formal Education and Euro-Arab cooperation. He was a member of the Portuguese National Youth Council (2010-15) Trainers Pool and is a member of the Pool of Trainers of the Youth Department of the Council of Europe since 2013. He was a junior trainer in the CoE ToTHRE (2013-14), co-facilitator on the European Youth Work Convention (2015) and trainer of the first Youth Delegation on the World Forum for Democracy (2013). Sérgio was co-translator of the CoE Charter on EDC/HRE and Compass 2012 edition, to which he contributed with a new chapter for the Portuguese translation of Have your Say!

He is presently a policy advisor for the Deputy Mayor of Social Rights in the Lisbon City Council, contributing to the Youth, Participation and Human Rights policies, while pursuing a PhD in “Democracy in the XXIst Century” in the University of Coimbra (CES). He also coordinates the SOMOS Programme since 2015.

  Articles:

• SOMOS Lisbon Programme for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education (Issue 25)