Youth Board

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”Youth Advisory Board” font_container=”tag:h1|text_align:center|color:%230a0a0a” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]

The youth advisory board is Index on Censorship’s project aimed at engaging with young people aged 16-25 from around the world and gathering their views on freedom of expression issues.

What is the youth advisory board?

The youth board is a specially selected group of young people aged 16-25 who advise and inform Index on Censorship’s work, support our ambition to fight for free expression around the world and ensure our engagement with issues with tomorrow’s leaders. The current members are sitting from January to June 2020.

Why does Index have a youth board?

Index on Censorship is committed to fighting censorship not only now, but also in future generations, and we want to ensure that the realities and challenges experienced by young people in today’s world are properly reflected in our work.

Index is also aware that there are many who would like to commit some or all of their professional lives to fight for human rights and the youth board is our way of supporting the broadest range of young people to develop their voice, find paths to freely expressing it and potential future employment in the human rights, media, and arts sectors.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row disable_element=”yes”][vc_column][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]

Applications now open!

We are looking for enthusiastic young people, aged between 16-25, who must be committed to taking part in monthly meetings, which are held online with fellow participants. Applicants can be based anywhere in the world. We are looking for people who are communicative and who will be in regular touch with Index.

Each youth advisory board sits for six months, has the chance to participate in monthly video conferencing discussions about current freedom of expression issues from around the world, which sometimes include guest speakers. There are exciting opportunities to be interviewed for the podcast and contribute to Index’s Instagram page.

The next youth board is currently being recruited, and will sit from July to December 2020.

How to apply

Please send us the following:

  • Cover letter
  • CV
  • A 250-word blog post about any free speech issue

Applications can be submitted to Orna Herr at [email protected]. The deadline for applications is 26 July at 11:59pm GMT.

What is the youth advisory board?

The youth board is a specially selected group of young people aged 16-25 who advise and inform Index on Censorship’s work, support our ambition to fight for free expression around the world and ensure our engagement with issues with tomorrow’s leaders. The current members are sitting from July to December 2019.

Why does Index have a youth board?

Index on Censorship is committed to fighting censorship not only now, but also in future generations, and we want to ensure that the realities and challenges experienced by young people in today’s world are properly reflected in our work.

Index is also aware that there are many who would like to commit some or all of their professional lives to fight for human rights and the youth board is our way of supporting the broadest range of young people to develop their voice, find paths to freely expressing it and potential future employment in the human rights, media, and arts sectors.[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner disable_element=”yes”][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][staff name=”Shini Wang” title=”USA” profile_image=”108370″]Shini Wang is a poet, journalist, and BA student of philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin. She is a member of her university’s liberal arts council, the editor of The Liberator Magazine, and a host of open discussions on campus. Interested in how freedom of expression plays into the creative and imaginative process of international writers and artists who witness injustice, her research investigates censorship and its effects during our post-truth political era.[/staff][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][staff name=”Nikhil Singh” title=”India” profile_image=”108371″]Nikhil Singh is a law student based in Kolkata, India. He has a keen interest in advocating the right to free speech and often spends his free time promoting it. In the past he has interned with senior advocates in the Supreme Court of India, and has worked on cases involving violation of the right to free speech, civil liberty, and human rights. After graduating from college, Singh intends to work in the legal industry, to fight for people’s rights.[/staff][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][staff name=”Charles Terroille” title=”France” profile_image=”108373″]Charles Terroille is a French dual degree student in political science and international relations at Sciences Po (Lille) and the University of Kent. His field of work covers media and journalism. After directing his first TV documentary about Dharavi in India at 16 years old, he continued to report in different types of newsrooms in France and the UK. Terroille also specialises in the issue of whistleblowers and has worked on the Luxleaks and Football Leaks cases. He collaborated with the Signals Network Foundation for advocacy and research on the leaks. Terroille is also the founder and director of the International Consortium of Student Journalism (ICSJ).[/staff][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][staff name=”Emma Quaedvlieg” title=”Serbia” profile_image=”104865″]Emma Quaedvlieg is a Master’s graduate from the Institute of Development Studies, where she focused on popular movements and inequality. She also holds a BA (Hons) in politics and international relations from the University of Nottingham. She has actively campaigned for various gender issues and was elected women’s officer for the student’s union in Nottingham. Her research largely focuses on the western Balkans, where she is contributing to freedom of expression and wider development in local government. Quaedvlieg has also worked in various (international) human rights organisations.[/staff][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner disable_element=”yes”][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][staff name=”Arpitha Desai” title=”India” profile_image=”104862″]Arpitha Desai is a lawyer based in New Delhi, India. As an avid student of constitutional law, she is passionate about civil liberties with a keen interest in censorship, surveillance, and digital rights. Keeping in mind the ever-evolving nature of technology and the needs of the government, industry, and common man, Desai believes that law and policy must strike a holistic balance between conflicting rights.[/staff][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][staff name=”Krzysztof Katkowski” title=”Poland” profile_image=”108374″]Krzysztof Katkowski is a student of Czacki High School in Warsaw. He is a young activist and journalist cooperating with “Krytyka Polityczna” where he focuses on youth’s community-minded engagement and education. Passionate about science, literature, and philosophy, he wants to popularise the idea of free speech and dialogue between different environments. In the future, Katkowski wants to fight for open society and tolerance which is endangered in recent years, especially in Poland.[/staff][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][staff name=”Elyse Popplewell” title=”Australia” profile_image=”108372″]Elyse Popplewell is the social media editor at The Australian, the most widely circulated national newspaper in Australia. After attaining a bachelor of communications (journalism) at the University of Technology, Sydney, she began her career at the Institute for Economics & Peace, the think tank that publishes the Global Peace Index annually. Popplewell focuses on the issue of Australian defamation laws gagging important journalism and movements like #MeToo.[/staff][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row disable_element=”yes”][vc_column][three_column_post title=”Recent posts” full_width_heading=”true” category_id=”6514″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Meet the Board

The current board is sitting from July to December 2020.[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][staff name=”Aliyah Kaitlyn Orr” profile_image=”112187″]Aliyah Kaitlyn Orr (pen name A.K. Nephtali) is a college student in Britain. Orr has been inspired by the power of words ever since a novel helped them realise their gender-neutral identity. Orr writes inclusive fiction that aims to empower LGBTQ+ people around the world. One of their short stories will be published in a digital anthology by the end of 2020. [/staff][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][staff name=”Subhan Hasanli” profile_image=”114478″]Subhan Hasanli is a 25 year old lawyer, who works with local and international human rights organisations in Azerbaijan. He holds a bachelor’s degree in law from Nakhichevan State University. His goal is to promote the rule of law and human rights, and he hopes to achieve changes in these fields. Hasanli’s hobbies include catching fish, playing chess and reading books about science, politics, and philosophy. His favourite book is Diplomacy by Henry Kissinger. [/staff][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][staff name=”Carmen Ferri” profile_image=”114479″]Carmen Ferri is a digital rights activist based in Canada. She obtained an undergraduate degree in cultural studies and sociology at Maastricht University, Netherlands, and a master’s degree from the University of Amsterdam in new media and digital culture. During her studies, she worked on projects related to disinformation, hate speech and subcultural expression on digital platforms. Ferri has completed two internships with the Association for Progressive Communications. She worked as a policy analyst intern researching counter-hate speech movements in Asia, then as a communications research intern where she implemented a project examining actors and discourses within digital rights spaces on social media.[/staff][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][staff name=”Sneha” profile_image=”114480″]Sneha graduated from the Asian College of Journalism with a postgraduate diploma in journalism (new media) and is now a journalist for The Times of India. She previously worked as a reporter for the International Business Times. Sneha is concerned about the issues around press freedom in her country. She is an advocate for open discourse in the hope that it will lead to solutions. Sneha has an avid interest in governance, ecology, environment and urban planning.[/staff][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][staff name=”Pablo Aguera” profile_image=”114481″]Pablo Aguera is a research fellow for Research ICT Africa working on digital rights, data justice and internet access and use. Aguera has produced creative multimedia projects and worked with social enterprises and youth movements across multiple countries. He holds a BSc in philosophy, politics and economics from the University of Warwick, and is currently completing a dual master’s degree in global media and communications at the London School of Economics and the University of Cape Town.

 [/staff][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][staff name=”Siphesihle Fali” profile_image=”114482″]Siphesihle Fali is in her final year studying English literature & language, and media and writing at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Fali is passionate about expanding her knowledge on societal constructs and the definitions of freedom. She aspires to create real conversations around the right to freedom of expression for the most censored and vulnerable communities, to safeguard and protect their rights. Fali’s interests lie mostly with the rights of women and children, and she intends on dedicating her career to being a voice for those who are denied one.[/staff][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][staff name=”Claes Kirkeby Theilgaard” profile_image=”114483″]Claes Kirkeby Theilgaard works as the editor-in-chief of the Danish online newspaper 180Grader. He is set to begin his studies in business and communications at the Copenhagen Business School. Theilgaard has worked in journalism and in various political organisations with the aim of furthering democracy and freedom, which has resulted in violent threats and other forms of intimidation. These experiences have made him more motivated to fight for the cause of free speech. Theilgaard is currently working to launch a campaign against “hate speech” laws in Denmark, as well as an organisation to fight censorship and work for free speech both in Denmark and abroad.[/staff][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][staff name=”Cecily Donovan” profile_image=”114484″]Cecily Donovan graduated from Boston University with degrees in International Relations and Political Science in 2019. She currently lives in New York City working in economic development for Invest Northern Ireland, a UK government agency. She has a background in state government, French language and politics, and European affairs. Donovan is passionate about women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, the Black Lives Matter movement and the impact of authoritarianism on freedom of expression globally.

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