Janet Boston, Director of The Thomson
Foundation, has a strong background in working on media
projects and she brings with her knowledge of the media, the
environment, and development. During the 1980s she worked
for the European office of TV Asahi, the prime Japanese commercial
station, where she covered Eastern Europe during the collapse
of Communism.
But her interest in developmental issues relating to the environment
saw her as the Media Manager of the British NGO, The Intermediate
Technology Development Group (now called Practical Action).
And it was from there that Janet joined the Television Trust
for the Environment (TVE) in the late 1990s as a manager and
series director - and developed the ‘Hands On’ stream for
the Earth Report series.
Gareth Price, who recently retired as
Director of The Thomson Foundation, is Project Director of
The EU-India Media Initiative on HIV/AIDS. A senior
TV management expert, Gareth has vast experience in shaping
and moulding television initiatives in his role as advisor
to directors-general and general managers in several broadcasting
organisations all over the world.
He
joined The Thomson Foundation in May 1990 and oversaw the
global strategy of the Foundation. Gareth’s BBC background
includes 10 years’ production experience in radio and 16 years
as a broadcast manager. He was the project leader on the development
of the BBC’s national radio services for Wales and also for
the BBC's contribution to the establishment of the Fourth
TV Channel in Wales. Gareth is an honorary Professor of Communications
at the University of Wales , Cardiff.
Ian Masters, Operations Head of The
EU-India Media Initiative on HIV/AIDS, has about
45 years’ experience as a broadcasting editorial manager,
producer, presenter, and reporter. Ian has been Controller
of Broadcasting at The Thomson Foundation since 1993. He
has spent several years training media organisations worldwide
in the art of packaging news.
The
Indian media is an area of special interest for Ian. Before
joining The Thomson Foundation, Ian worked for more than 25
years with the BBC, first presenting news and current affairs
programmes, then becoming the Managing Editor at BBC local
radio stations before returning to TV management at BBC TV
South, where he was in charge for some six years.
Savyasaachi Jain,
Project Editor of The EU-India Media Initiative on HIV/AIDS,
has been making television films since 1990, first as Producer
of Eyewitness, a premier Indian current affairs programme,
and then as an independent television producer, media consultant,
and trainer.
As
an independent producer, he has directed more than 110 TV
films for domestic and international broadcast. Saachi was
the first Indian to take a mid-career course in television
at The Thomson Foundation, and he won the Don Rowlands Prize
for Excellence for his work there. He was awarded the Commonwealth
Vision Award in 2002.
Atul Dev Sarmah, a development consultant, represents
the partner organization Media Management Group for Literacy
and Development (MMGLD) on the project. A former government
official, Atul has implemented a large number of development
projects in the non profit sector as general secretary and
chief executive officer of MMGLD. Atul has been working as
a core member of the team managing The EU-India Media Initiative
on HIV/AIDS.
Khorrum
Omer, a management consultant,
also represents MMGLD and is an integral part of the core
project management team. With more than 10 years of experience
with various national and international organizations, Omer
is currently the Project Coordinator for MMGLD. He also a
founder director of Global Peace Works, an interfaith non-profit
based in the US.
Arwel Ellis Owen,
who conducted the training courses for the television journalists
in The EU-India Media Initiative on HIV/AIDS, is
a well-known factual programme consultant. He works
with such organisations as The Thomson Foundation and the
Soros Foundation. He has enabled media training programmes
for journalists in most parts of the world.
Arwel
is a leading independent producer, who founded Cambrensis
Communications after a 25-year career in the BBC. His last
Corporation posting was as Head of Programmes, BBC Northern
Ireland. He is a Churchill Fellow and a Nuffield Fellow. Arwell
is a Thomson consultant in news, current affairs, and documentary
programmes. He has worked for the Foundation in Africa, The
Middle East, Eastern Europe, India, China, and Russia. Arwel
is a keen filmmaker himself and has received several awards
for his films.
Jyrki
Kakonen, the international relations expert for The EU-India
Media Initiative on HIV/AIDS, is the Jean Monnet professor
at the University of Tampere, Finland.
He is director of the Jean Monnet European Centre of Excellence
and also head of the university’s Department of Political
Science and International Relations.
Jyrki
is an expert in his field, with over 15 books, which he has
written, and another 20 books, which he has edited, in both
Finnish and English. Jyrki has participated in countless international
conferences and is currently interested in researching regionalisation
in Europe and environmental conflicts.
Derek Woodcock is a journalist who spent 14 years
in newspaper journalism and 25 years in the British Broadcasting
Corporation (BBC), interrupted by two years’ National Service
in the army. He served an apprenticeship on a weekly
newspaper, attending college to study for professional qualifications.
Derek joined the BBC in 1968 when an experiment in local
radio was started in Leeds, becoming news editor.
He was later promoted to Head of
Radio in the South and West Region, responsible for
network production and the planning, building and development
of seven local radio stations. He eventually rose to
Head of Regional and Local Programmes, adding three
regional television operations to his local radio responsibilities
and the title, Head of Journalism. Derek became Head
of Broadcasting, South and West until the region was
merged with the South and East, during which time he
was responsible for all network, regional and local
output, personnel, administration and finance. Since
1993 he has worked for the Thomson Foundation in many
parts of the world and on the three-month, annual summer
course for international journalists in Cardiff.
A Ph.D from the University of Tampere,
Finland, Mika Aaltola has worked as assistant professor
in the same University since 2000. He was previously
senior assistant from 1998 to 2000. Mika served as the President
of the Finnish International Studies Association and as
board member of the Finnish Political Science Association.
Mike has received several awards including the University
of Tampere's Science Fund Award
for the Best Dissertation in the
University of Tampere, 1998-1999 and the Finnish Political
Science Association Award for the Best Masters Thesis
in Political Science in Finland in 1995.
Hazel Duffy is a journalist with lots of experience as a
reporter and feature writer on two of the major national
daily newspapers in Britain: The Guardian, and the Financial
Times. She was also business editor of Investors’ Chronicle.
She started her journalism career on The Times. Her particular
interest in cities led to a study tour, backed by the German
Marshall Fund, in the US, Canada and Europe, and her book
‘Competitive Cities’ (Succeeding in the global economy)
was published by E&FNSpon in 1994.
She collected board appointments
in urban regeneration and planning and the arts, and
started to work for the Thomson Foundation in the mid
1990s. Her experience led naturally to business journalism
training, but her keen interest in women and work, women
and children, and women and health, and minorities has
also led to training which aims to get such important
topics exposed in the media.
