Our Board of Trustees
Meet Our Board of Trustees
Stephen Jukes
Worked in Europe, the Middle East and the Americas as a foreign correspondent, regional editor and Global Head of News at the international news agency Reuters before moving into the academic world. He is Emeritus Professor of Journalism at Bournemouth University where his research focuses on issues of objectivity and emotion in news with an emphasis on trauma and conflict journalism. In addition to his work with the European Centre for Journalism and Trauma, he is a trustee of the Institute for War & Peace Reporting and Vice President of the Kurt Schork Memorial Fund, a charity which supports local journalists, freelancers and fixers worldwide.
Jana D. Javakhishvili
Jana D. Javakhishvili PhD, is Professor of Psychology at Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia. She is actively engaged in projects of the Federation Global Initiative on Psychiatry (FGIP), focusing on developing institutional mechanisms for rights-based mental health care in countries affected by war and political oppression. Her work includes mental health support for media professionals operating under ongoing threat. She is a trustee of the European Center for Journalism and Trauma (ECJT). A Past President of the European Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ESTSS), she has been serving on the Board of Directors of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS) since 2022. She sits on the editorial boards of the European Journal of Psychotraumatology (EJPT) and the Journal of Trauma and Dissociation (JTD), and leads an Armed Conflict Thematic Group at the Global Collaboration on Traumatic Stress (GCTS).
Emma Thomasson
Emma Thomasson is a senior journalist, media adviser and facilitator based in Berlin. She is an expert in leadership, innovation and workplace mental health after a long career running teams and news coverage in multiple countries for the global news agency Reuters. She now works as a consultant, trainer and executive coach for media organisations and NGOs.
Barbara Hans
Barbara Hans is Professor of Media and Cultural Management at the Hamburg University of Music and Theatre and Director of the Institute for Culture and Media Management (KMM). Before moving into academia, she worked as a journalist and media executive, serving as Editor-in-Chief of SPIEGEL ONLINE and later Co-Editor-in-Chief of DER SPIEGEL. Her research focuses on leadership, resilience and mental health in journalism and media organizations. She leads the Mindful Media Lab, a research and transfer initiative dedicated to strengthening resilience and responsible leadership in the media sector. Alongside her academic work, she works as a trainer and therapist with individuals and teams, often supporting leaders in complex organizational environments.
Karen Fowler-Watt is Professor of Journalism and Global Narratives and Head of the Journalism Department at City St George’s University of London. As a former senior journalist for BBC News and Current Affairs, she worked in the Middle East and United States and has a particular interest in conflict reporting and trauma awareness. Karen is a Fellow of the Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change. Her research and publications focus on building resilience in journalists, reporting marginalised voices, and re-imagining journalism practice, theory and pedagogy.
Karen Fowler-Watt
Kirsty Cunningham
Kirsty Cunningham is an award-winning Executive Producer specialising in feature documentaries and factual series for the BBC, Netflix, Channel 4 and Sky. She has a particular interest in developing trauma informed practices and protocols in this space and a track record in supporting teams to deliver ethical, high-impact films including the recent Grierson and BAFTA winning Grenfell: The Untold Story, Grierson winning Life and Death Row and Emmy nominated Aileen: Queen of the Serial Killers.