Write to Jehona Roka >>  

Write to Artur Najaryan >>  

Donau-Universität Krems

He studied mathematics and philosophy but he has been working as a youth researcher since 1997. His main fields of interest are youth cultures, political participation of young people as well as attitudes and values. Furthermore he is active in evaluation studies on youth policy and on the implementation of preventive concepts and health promotion in youth work.

From 1997 to 1999 he was a researcher at the Austrian Institute for Youth Research where he became scientific director in 2000. From 2001 to 2013, he worked in the fields of research and knowledge transfer at the private research organisation jugendkultur.at in Vienna. Since 2013, he is engaged at the Danube-University Krems in the Department for Migration and Globalization as researcher and lecturer. Furthermore he is a lecturer at various teacher training colleges in Austria.

Already in the late 1990s, he was involved in the network of experts on youth research and one of the national correspondents for the EKCYP since its start.

In 2007, he was raporteur in the Council of Europe international review team for the national youth policy in Hungary and four years later for the international review of the youth policy in Belgium.

Write to Manfred Zentner >>

Write to Narmin Aslanbayova >>  

Ghent University, Department of Social Work and Social Pedagogy

Prof. dr. Lieve Bradt obtained her PhD in Educational Sciences at Ghent University in 2009. Since 2016 she is Professor of Social Pedagogy at the Department of Social Work and Social Pedagogy at Ghent University. She is promotor coordinator of the Youth Research Platform (Jeugdonderzoeksplatform), a policy research centre subsidised by the Flemish Government. The Youth Research Platform is an interdisciplinary and interuniversity cooperation between Ghent University (social work and social pedagogy), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (sociology) and KU Leuven (youth criminology). The Youth Research Platform’s main tasks are:

• expanding our knowledge on youth by drawing up an inventory of existing youth research in both a national and international context,
• and recurrently conducting large-scale survey research on the life-conditions, attitudes and activities of young people in Flanders.

Write to Lieve Bradt >>

Ministère de la Communauté française - Observatoire de l'Enfance, de la Jeunesse et de l'Aide à la Jeunesse

Write to Eleanor Miller >>

PRONI Centre for youth development

Child Protection officer in PRONI Brcko, an “A”, “B” and “B+” level certified educator and General Manager of the PRONI Center for Youth Development. He has served on the national BH Commission for youth since 2006. He holds several Training of Trainers certificates focused on youth worker trainings, with a focus on engaging youth in conflict mitigation activities. Jasmin was involved in youth policy and youth work development since 1998. Jasmin is currently engage as a Correspondent for Youth Policy Development from BiH within a program of the European Knowledge Centre for Youth Policy (EKCYP). He was the first trainer from BiH to be included in the online list of trainers of the SALTO-YOUTH Resource youth center, and is also a President of the Management Board of Anna Lindh foundation - BiH Network and a previous member of the Executive Board of the US Alumni Association Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since 2012, Jasmin is BIH Country Director for YouthBuild International. 

Write to Jasmin Jasarevic >>

Youth Policies Directorate - Ministry of Youth and Sports

Write to Desislava Teodosieva

Central State Office for Demography and Youth

Valentina Cesar, Master of Primary Education, has been the Head of Service for Youth since 2019 at the former Ministry of Demography, Family, Youth and Social Policy and now at the Central State Office for Demography and Youth in Croatia. 

During Croatian Presidency of the Council of the EU, she was appointed as co-chair of the Youth Working Party. She was also appointed as Head of the Working Group for National Youth Programme and Amendments to the Act on Youth Advisory Boards, a strategic and legislative document in the field of youth in Croatia, adopted in June and July of 2023.

She also participates in numerous international and national conferences, round tables, and other events as an expert in the field of youth policies.

Write to Valentina Cesar

Youth Board of Cyprus

Write to Anna Lytra 

Youth Department - Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports

Write to Šimon Presser 

Ministry of Education and Research, Youth and Talent Policy Department

Reelika Pirk is an analysist at the Ministry of Education and Research, Youth and Talent Policy Department. She is also a PhD candidate in sociology at Tallinn University. Her research interest is in youth studies, precisely youth and social-political participation.

Write to Reelika Pirk >>

Finnish Youth Research Society

Tomi Kiilakoski, PhD, is a senior researcher in the Finnish Youth Research Network and an adjunct professor in the University of Tampere.  His areas of expertise include youth work, youth participation, educational policy, school violence and its prevention, cultural philosophy and critical pedagogy.  He has worked in the university of Tampere and Humak University of Applied Sciences. He has authored eight books on youth work, youth participation and critical pedagogy in his native language, Finnish. He engages actively in promoting participation and developing youth work on the local and state level in Finland.

Write to Tomi Kiilakoski >>

Jeanne GORNY

Ministry for Education and Youth

Write to Jeanne Gorny >> 

Youth Agency of Georgia

Nino Mikhanashvili has been working in the field of youth since 2016. She is the coordinator for international relations at the Youth Agency of Georgia. She is the contact person for international correspondence, reporting and cooperation. 

Nino holds a Bachelor's Degree in Economics and Masters in Public Administration.

Write to Nino Mikhanashvili >>

IJAB – International Youth Service of the Federal Republic of Germany

Write to Kerstin Wondratchek >>

Department of European and International Affairs on Youth / Youth Directorate /General Secretariat for Vocational Education, Training, Lifelong Learning and Youth / Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs

 Write to Chrysanthi Papadopoulou >> 

Ministry of Culture and Innovation

 Write to Enikő-Varga Végvári >> 

Ministry of Education and Children

 Write to Tinna Ros Steinsdottir >> 

 Write to Maurice Devlin >>

Prime Minister’s Office

Department for Youth and National Civic Service

 Write to Marialuisa Silvestrini >> 

Write to Dāvids Garšva >>

Office of Social Affairs

Write to Stefan Batliner >>

Lithuanian Social Research Centre, Institute of Labour and Social Research

Ruta Braziene holds a PhD in Social Sciences (Sociology). She is Chief Researcher at the Lithuanian Research Centre, Labour Market Research Institute. Her areas of expertise include youth transition from the education to the labour market, youth labour market integration, youth social exclusion and living conditions, housing provision for the youth, youth policies development and evaluation and etc. She held a research grant and was a Chief Researcher –project leader “Transition of Youth from Education to the Labour Market in Lithuania: development of monitoring system’ (2012-14) from Lithuanian Science Council. She holds a research grant and is a Chief Researcher – project leader “Housing Provision for the Youth: Processes, Problems and Solutions in Lithuania” (2017-18) from Lithuanian Science Council. She has written and published monographs, articles and reports on youth: for example: “Transition of Lithuanian youth from education to the labour market: theoretical presumptions and empirical evidence” (2013, ISI Web of Science, in Lithuanian), “Youth and Housing in Lithuania: Different Opportunities, Pathways and Challenges” (2018, monograph, in Lithuanian).

She has more than 20 years of scholarly and practical experience with Universities, local Governments and NGOs in Central and Eastern Europe, the United Nations (UN) and the European Commission, as well as more than 8 years of experience of ESF evaluations.

Write to Ruta Braziene >>

University of Luxembourg

Hannes Käckmeister is a research scientist at the Centre For Childhood and Youth Research (CCY) at the University of Luxembourg. He completed his doctoral thesis in 2021 as part of a joint doctoral programme between the Fribourg University of Education (Germany) and the University of Strasbourg (France), focusing on the reception and integration of unaccompanied minors. From 2021 to 2023, Hannes has been working as a lecturer and researcher at IAE Nancy School of Management (France).

His research interests lie mainly at the intersection of three areas: child protection and social welfare, international mobility and (forced) migration, and comparative public policy. In his current research project at the University of Luxembourg, he is working on the topic of young people (12-29 years) and digitalisation. Besides his research activities, Hannes worked as an expert for the EU Commission and as a legal advisor in a reception centre for young refugees in Strasbourg.

Write to Hannes Käckmeister 

Aġenzija Żgħażagħ

Write to Miriam Teuma 

Jason Zammit has been engaged with Aġenzija Żgħażagħ, the Maltese National Youth Agency, since 2010 where he currently serves as a senior manager focusing on research, strategy and youth policy implementation. A youth worker by profession, Jason holds a master's degree in public policy.

Write to Jason Zammit

Laura Rio has been a youth worker with Aġenzija Żgħażagħ, the Maltese National Youth Agency, since 2021. She forms part of the Youth Empowerment Unit.

Write to Laura Rio

Creative Development Association

Currently, Mariana Turcan is the Executive Director of Creative Development Association.  She has a good experience in the youth sector, she was the President of the National Youth Council Moldova (2003-2005), Bureau Member of the European Youth Forum (2005-2006), trainer and co-ordinator of different projects, member in different committees and working groups at national and international level etc.

Write to Mariana Turcan >>

Ministry of Sports and Youth

Write to Martin Lulgjuraj >>

Norwegian Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs

Sigrid Benjaminsen works as an advisor in the Norwegian Directorate of Children, Youth, and Family Affairs. In her department, she works on improving the conditions for upbringing and ensuring the rights of children and young people. Her areas of expertise include youth participation, inclusion in leisure activities, and children and young people growing up in low-income families. 

Sigrid holds a master's degree in sociology from the University of Oslo and has been working in the Directorate since 2022.

Write to Sigrid Benjaminsen >>

Polish Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps National Agency

Mateusz Jeżowski is a Research Unit coordinator at the Polish National Agency of Erasmus+ Programme and Youth Wiki national correspondent. Since 2006 he has been involved in research projects on youth, education and international mobility, with a special focus on transnational volunteering activities. He co-authored three books on youth policy in Poland and in the Eastern Europe and Caucasus countries and authored several research reports on international mobility impact on young people, local communities, youth organisations and schools. He is working on a PhD on social engagement of ex-EVS volunteers.

Write to Mateusz Jezowski >>

Portuguese Institute of Sport and Youth (IPDJ)

Ana Cristina Garcia works in the Portuguese Institute of Sport and Youth (IPDJ) with programmes and projets connected with free time and volunteering. She belongs also to the team of Lisbon Youth Centre where she is the responsible for non informal education, democarcy, citizenship and social inclusion. For a long time she is a trainer for trainers  in Portuguese language.

Write to Ana Cristina Garcia >>

PhD in Political Sciences (Comparative European Youth Policies in Romania and Turkey), with extended expertise in grassroots youth work and youth work methodologies and practices, youth participation methodologies and inclusion policies. MA in Comparative European Social Studies (MACESS) at London Metropolitan University, holding a BA in Political Sciences and one in Social Work – University of Bucharest. Her research interests are in the field of social policies for young people, structured dialogue and participatory youth structures, youth led movements, as well as into the transfer mechanisms of European policies and programmes to the local realities. 

Write to Adina Marina Șerban >>

Ministry of Tourism and Youth

She is a specialist in school psychology, and she has been working at the Ministry of Tourism and Youth of Serbia as a adviser to the Minister for Youth Policy. Over 20 years of working experiences in the position of associate professor, and headmaster in primary and secondary schools in Belgrade. From 2001 to 2007 worked on following positions: Chief of the department for professional training in the Ministry of Education and Sport; Head of Centre for professional development of employees in education; project director of World Bank and Ministry of Education and sport project “Serbia Education Development Project”.

Over 16 years of working experiences in the field of youth policy in the Ministry in charge of youth, of which 10 years as Assistant Minister for Youth (from 2008 until retirement in 2018). Adviser to the Minister for Youth Policy from 2019.

Participant and speaker in many international conferences in the field of education and youth; authored many articles in professional publications; manager of many researching projects and teams in the education and youth fields; member of working groups and councils in the field of youth at the national and international level (Commission of the Republic of Serbia for Cooperation with UNESCO, European Steering Committee for Youth, Council of Europe, National Coordinator for Global Education, North-South Centre of the Council of Europe, Regional pool of experts, Youth Policy Lab on Youth unemployment and on Youth mental health RCC, etc.).

Write to Snežana Klašnja >>

Office of the Republic of Slovenia for Youth, Ministry of Education

Maja Skalar is a program officer, researcher, trainer and professional coach with over 15 years of experience in higher education and non-profit sectors in Austria, Hungary, Denmark, and Slovenia. She currently serves as the Program Officer of Open Society University Network (OSUN) Secretariat at Central European University (Vienna). She holds a BA degree in Policy Analysis and Public Administration from University of Ljubljana (2009) and an MA in Human Rights (Department of Legal Studies) from Central European University (2010).

After implementing human rights education projects with Amnesty International Slovenia, Zavod Voluntariat, and International People’s College in Denmark, Maja joined CEU in 2011 as a Research Fellow at Human Rights Initiative. She also worked in a Professional Development Unit of School of Public Policy, and as an Internship Coordinator at Department of Public Policy. Between 2013 and 2020 she managed higher education support programs (Modular Doctorate Program, Visiting Research Fellowship, Yehuda Elkana Center's projects in Myanmar), and in 2020 she joined the newly established OSUN Secretariat and serves as grant management, HR and financial administrative support to more than 20 ongoing OSUN financed CEU projects (individually managing 9 projects). 

Maja’s research interests include Roma rights (MA thesis on “Access to Pre-school Education for Roma Children in Slovenia”), Roma-integration policies (author of 2019 and 2020 Slovenia reports on implementation of the national Roma integration strategy under the Roma Civil Monitoring project supported by the EC), and youth policies (researcher on the 2023 interim evaluation of the European Union Youth Strategy for Slovenia). 

Write to Maja Skalar >>

Department of Youth, Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic

Write to Peter Papšo >>

The Swedish Agency for Youth and Civil Society (MUCF)

Write to Katarina Falk >>

Netherlands Youth Institute (NJi)

Letty Darwish is Adviser and researcher at Netherlands Youth Institute (NJi), the national knowledge centre about the youth sector, in Utrecht.

Main activities: Contributing to several NJi projects about strengthening children and youth wellbeing in cooperation with the youth field; Collecting, writing and publishing online and offline in English about youth policy and participating in expert meetings; National correspondent on Dutch youth policies for Youth Wiki, the online encyclopedia on youth policies in Europe. Assessing and monitoring youth participation projects: one about promoting active world citizenship (SBOS) from the ministry of Foreign Affairs and the other the European programme promoting youth mobility (Youth In Action / Erasmus+ Youth).

Write to Letty Darwish >>

Coalition of youth organisations SEGA

Tomislav holds bachelor degree in Public Administration and has extensive experience in youth policy development over the past 9 years. He was consultant in the preparation of the National Youth Strategy 2016 – 2025, and holds expertise and extensive knowledge in youth participation. Additionally, Tomislav holds expertise in continuous research process on the right to participation of children and youth and expertise in Results Based Approach in PCM. He is an author of several publications such as the Youth Participation Manual, Lobbying Advocacy Manual, Creating Local Youth Policies manual and Report on Monitoring of child rights.

Write to Tomislav Gajtanoski >>

Civil society organization: The initiative center to support social action “Ednannia”

Iryna holds a master’s degrees in Public Administration and International Relations. She has extensive experience in youth policy development. Over the past nine years she was Head of Youth policy department at the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine. She coordinated the work on the development and approval of the National Youth Strategy 2030, State Target Programs “Youth of Ukraine” for 2016-2020 and 2021-2025. She also represented Ukraine in the Council of Europe Steering Committee on Youth (2015-2023), chaired the Programming Committee on Youth of the Council of Europe (CPJ) in 2017, and was Deputy chair of the Programming Committee on Youth of the Council of Europe in 2016.

Iryna is currently working at the civil society organization “The Initiative Center to Support Social Action “Ednannia”.

Write to Iryna Bieliaieva >>