Adelheid Feilcke (*1962) is Head of the European Languages Desk at Deutsche Welle since 2016. The European desk consists of nine East- and Southeast European language departments, including Albanian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Greek, Macedonian, Polish, Rumanian and Serbian. Theses languages departments have a daily media outlet on different platforms such as online, radio, TV and Social Media. Adelheid Feilcke joined Deutsche Welle in 1992 and became the founding head of the Albanian Service. From 2005 to 2012 she was director of the International Relation Department at DW, from 2012 to 2014 head of the Culture Department and from 2014 to 2016 she headed the department of Strategic Partnership at DW. She has worked as a trainer for DW Akademie since 1995. She is an experienced reporter and editor on crisis and peace journalism.
She studied cultural anthropology and has been involved in media since 1981. After obtaining her high school diploma, she obtained a vocational training at the Schleswig-Holsteinischer Zeitungsverlag and then worked as an editor for the newspaper until 1984. She subsequently studied musicology, science of theater, film and television as well as anthropology in Cologne and as a DAAD scholar in Tirana, Albania. She obtained her master’s degree in ethnomusicology in 1990 and a second diploma in cultural management at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg in 1993. She worked also as a freelance journalist and cultural manager for regional and national radio stations such as WDR and for the State Music Council of Schleswig-Holstein (Landesmusikrat) before joining DW in 1992.

Director, Media Programme for South East Europe Europe of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung
Bulgaria
Christoph Plate is Director of the Media Programme for South East Europe of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, based in Sofia, Bulgaria. In the 1990s he worked as contributing Africa Correspondent for the German Newsmagazine “Der Spiegel”, based in Nairobi, Kenya, reporting the war in Somalia and the genocide in Rwanda. Thereafter he covered the Middle East for ten years as editor and reporter for the Sunday edition of “Neue Zuercher Zeitung” in Switzerland. Before joining the Foundation, he was the Deputy Editor-in-chief of “Schwaebische Zeitung”, a big regional newspaper in Southwestern Germany. For the past six years he was head of the Media Programme Sub-Sahara Africa, based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Katerina Veljanovska Blazhevska, PhD is a political scientist and analyst whose work bridges public policy, strategic communications, security, and geopolitics. She is a Full Professor at the Faculty of Security Studies, MIT University in Skopje, North Macedonia.

Her academic and professional journey spans leading international institutions, including the War Studies University in Warsaw, the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Germany, and Babeș-Bolyai University in Romania. She has been awarded competitive international scholarships and fellowships, such as the Jean Monnet Scholarship (in partnership with the Ukrainian Institute for Crisis Management), the University of Oslo Media program, the Visegrad Fund, and the Austrian Study Center for Peace and Conflict Resolution.

A U.S. State Department SUSI Scholar in American Foreign Policy and a Postdoctoral Fellow at Croatia’s Institute for Development and International Relations (IRMO), Dr. Veljanovska Blazhevska brings an interdisciplinary perspective to conflict resolution, data governance, media and strategic communications, and policy development. Her portfolio includes designing and leading EU-funded initiatives, consulting on communication strategies, and serving as an external verifier on international projects.

She is the author of eight books and numerous scientific papers, contributing to the fields of media influence, public policy, and security governance. Her research and publications are widely recognized for linking theory with practice in communication and decision-making processes.

Beyond academia, she serves on multiple leadership and advisory boards, shaping strategic dialogue in both the public and private sectors. She currently contributes as an expert within the DSC2 – Defence, Democracy, and Security Strategic Communication Community and is a member of the Scientific and Academic Standards Board at the Stirling Centre, University of Stirling, UK.

With certifications from Carnegie Mellon University, the Center for Executive Education in Technology Policy, WIFI Austria, and TAG International, Dr. Veljanovska Blazhevska combines scholarly insight with hands-on expertise in communication, governance, and leadership. She is a frequent speaker at international conferences and forums, where she shares perspectives on the interplay between media, policy, and security in an evolving global landscape.

Noel took up the role of Director General of the EBU in September 2017.

Noel is the former DG, Managing Director of Television and Editor of Current Affairs of RTÉ, Ireland’s national television and radio broadcaster. As Director General, he radically restructured RTÉ following the financial crisis that began at the end of 2008 and successfully positioned RTÉ as a robust digital media organization.

A strong and long-time advocate of public service media, Curran is also an award winning investigative journalist and producer. As an editor and producer, Noel’s programming won numerous awards for journalism and he was Executive Producer on a range of live television events, including the Eurovision Song Contest in 1997, general election coverage, live entertainment series and factual programming.

Noel attended Trinity College, Dublin, and graduated from Dublin City University in both European Studies and Communications, specialising in national and international broadcasting policy. He is currently Adjunct Professor of Journalism at Dublin City University.

Noel is married to the singer and former Eurovision Song Contest winner Eimear Quinn and they have two daughters.

Ralitsa Stoycheva is a Research Associate and Project Coordinator at the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Media Programme South East Europe. Her main topics of interest are digitalisation, social networks and their influence on society as well as on the foreign malign influence in the region. She obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science at Freie Universität Berlin and Master’s degree in Political Economy of European Integration at the Berlin School of Economics and Law. Currently, she is a PhD candidate at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”.

Graduated in International Relations and Diplomacy at the University of Trieste, Barbara Fabro is Senior Executive Officer at the Central European Initiative (CEI) – Executive Secretariat. She is responsible for the CEI activities and programmes in the fields of intercultural cooperation and media. She is the Focal Point for the
CEI Parliamentary Dimension. She runs the CEI partnership with the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) in the context of the annual South East Europe Media Forum and coordinates the CEI SEEMO Award for Outstanding Merits in Journalism.
Previously, she was in charge of communication and media relations and coordinated the CEI working groups/networks of experts in the fields of culture, education, minorities, media. As short-term observer, she participated in OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Missions.