Democracy at the Crossroads: Civil Society, Media Literacy and Resilience in Europe

Nikola is a knowledge engineer at a semantic technology company Ontotext and a data consultant at a Bulgarian fact-checking platform Factcheck.bg. He is also one of the founders of the Data for Good Association, which provides know-how and services related to data processing and analysis to the civil sector. 

Nikola holds a PhD from University of Toulouse  in applications of automatic language processing of aviation incident reports. Nikola is interested in related open data, both from a structural point of view and from the perspective of their social significance. He also teaches Semantic Technologies at Sofia University and the New Bulgarian University.

Inga Spriņģe is an award-winning investigative journalist, and one of the founders of the Baltic Investigative Center Re:Baltica. Her career started in 1998 in Latvian Television, after which she started working as an investigative journalist in the leading Latvian daily Diena. In 2010-2011, Spriņģe became a Fulbright/Humphrey scholar and spent a year at the University of Maryland. Inga has worked as an intern at the Washington Post and at the biggest US non-profit investigative journalism organization, The Center for Public Integrity. After returning to Latvia, she established Re:Baltica and introduced the topic of social inequality in Latvian politics and public discourse. For this work, she received the Best Investigative Journalism award from the Latvian Journalism Association. In 2014 Springe was named one of the "outstanding challengers from Central and Eastern Europe" in the project NewEurope 100 supported by Google and Financial Times. Spriņģe is a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). 

Her topics cover propaganda, disinformation and social justice. She was also part of the team of the investigative documentary Masterplan (2016) uncovering the Kremlin's soft power and propaganda tactics in the Baltics.

In order to become a successful moderator, Margo has developed and refined his moderation skills for over 20 years. Since 1998, he has been conducting argumentative persuasion, debating and decision-making trainings for adults and leading discussions at seminars and conferences. Margo has given trainings in several programs where he shares practical examples of how to identify and address disinformation and strengthen critical thinking in society.

Margo has advised the launch and development of debate programs in several foreign countries (Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Nepal) and has worked as an educator at the international level (lectures at Chiang Mai University, Thailand, Istanbul).

In addition to his work as a moderator and trainer, Margo is a co-founder and a technology evangelist at CitizenOS, an Estonian NGO, which develops e-democracy.

Ilmar Raag is a well-known strategic communications expert, journalist and filmmaker. He has worked as director of Estonian Television and as a strategic communications adviser in the Government Communications Office, where he was involved in developing crisis communications capacity. Ilmar has also participated in the Defence Forces mission to Mali as part of the United Nations force and is a reserve officer and member of the Defence League. Raag has published numerous articles and opinion pieces on information warfare and propaganda.

Holger Roonemaa is one of Estonia's most respected investigative journalists and Head of the Investigative and Fact-Checking Desk at news portal Delfi. Holger has extensively studied and written on topics related to Russian propaganda and disinformation. 

His work continues to be among the most awarded stories in Estonia: he received the 2021 and 2022 Bonnier Prize for Investigative Journalism. The stories written by Holger have an international impact and a growing societal significance and he has led several international journalistic projects. 

In addition to his work as a journalist, he trains and teaches young people who are interested in investigative journalism. Holger has been actively involved in improving the quality of news and information and is known for his commitment to promoting critical thinking and truthful information.

Raul Rebane is an Estonian media and communication expert with extensive TV and training experience. Raul has been researching the theories of information warfare for over twenty years and is an active speaker in the current war situation, analyzing the topic of war and propaganda from the perspective of media and communication expert and sociologist. He was the first one to introduce the theory of information warfare and psychological operations to the Estonian public. He has written articles and edited books on this topic and presented at numerous conferences.

Raul has also worked in television for twenty years as a reporter and program director, and at several Olympic Games as an information coordinator for the European Broadcasting Union. In addition, Raul is active as a consultant, trainer and lecturer. He participated in consulting on the media strategy for Estonia's accession to the European Union and has trained hundreds of organizations and individuals on media over the years. In 2017, he was chosen as an Estonian opinion leader by Estonian daily Postimees. 

H.E. Kaimo Kuusk is the ambassador of the Republic of Estonia in Lithuania. In 2019-2023 he served as ambassador to Ukraine. Additionally, he has worked at the Estonian Foreign Intelligence Service.

Ms Vivian Loonela is the Head of the Commission Representation in Estonia since January 2022. Previously she worked as the Commission’s Coordinating Spokesperson for the European Green Deal, leading the Commission’s communication on this priority, in the areas of climate, energy, environment, oceans, transport and cohesion. Before, she was the Foreign Policy and Cybersecurity Advisor in the Cabinet of Andrus Ansip, Vice-President for the Digital Single Market. She has been a member of several EU-U.S. negotiation teams on justice and home affairs, the Secretariat-General’s rule of law and economic governance teams, and contributed to efforts to develop justice and home affairs cooperation with Ukraine and within the Eastern Partnership. Before joining the Commission, she was an Estonian diplomat, including a posting at the Estonian Permanent Representation to NATO. Ms Loonela holds a law degree from the University of Tartu in Estonia.