Nenad Zakošek is a professor of political science at the Faculty of Political Sciences of the University of Zagreb, since 2008 as a full professor in a permanent position. In the period 2010-2014. he held the position of dean of the Faculty. The focus of his research is a comparative analysis of elections and parties in Croatia and Europe, as well as the political transformation of the order in post-communist countries. He was the head of Croatian scientific projects dealing with elections and the political behavior of voters.
In the period from 2011 to 2015, he was an external member of the Committee for the Constitution, Rules of Procedure and Political System of the Croatian Parliament. From 1996 to 2022, he collaborated with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Croatia. He was a member of the Gong Council on two occasions: 2008-2012 as deputy president of the Council and in 2015-2018 as the President of the Council.
Martina Horvat graduated in 2004 from the Department of Behavioral Disorders of the Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation at the University of Zagreb and obtained the title of prof. soc. pedagogues.
She is currently studying for a Doctorate in Social Policy at the Social Work Study Center of the Faculty of Law at the University of Zagreb.
She primarily engages in work with young people, psycho-social support and social inclusion, and the implementation of informal education programs with young people, but also experts in the field of education, social welfare and civil society. She is also very involved in the field of civic and media education.
She was employed in different systems, from the ministry, through elementary school to the center for social welfare. However, she spent most of her professional engagement in the civil sector, a significant part of which was also spent at Gong on educational programs. In addition, she is continuously engaged in various civil society organizations that deal with youth and education, from the Croatian Youth Network to the Ambidexter Club, where she has been employed since 2021.
Nikola Baketa, research associate at the Institute for Social Research in Zagreb. He studies youth and education policy, with a special emphasis on civic education and civic competence of young people. He is the co-author or author of more than 20 scientific and professional papers in domestic and foreign journals on the topics of education, political literacy of young people and civic education. He is active in numerous associations and initiatives focused on education and youth. He is a member of the Executive Board of the Croatian Political Science Society and the Program Council of Croatian Radio and Television. He was the project manager of several research projects, and as a member of the research team he worked on a number of domestic and international projects.
Melisa Skender graduated in journalism from the Faculty of Political Science at the University of Zagreb. A regular member for the past 24 years, she was elected Secretary-General of the Croatian Journalists' Association for the 2022–2026 term. Prior to that, she worked at Gong as an expert in open data and the right to access information. She has been professionally involved in journalism since 1996, starting in the city section of Večernji list. She has written for Nacional, the nonprofit platforms Lupiga, Forum.tm, Faktograf, and the Croatian Journalists' Association's publication Novinar. She also worked at Radio 1, Radio 101, and Yammat FM. Over the past decade, her focus has primarily been on data journalism.
Antonija Petričušić is an Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb, as well as a guest professor and member of the Academic Council of the European Regional Master’s Program in Democracy and Human Rights. During the 2022/23 academic year, she taught at the University of Minnesota Law School in the United States as a Fulbright Scholar.
She served as a member of the Advisory Committee, an expert body overseeing the implementation of the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, and was a member of the Human Rights Council of the Ombudsperson, which provides strategic recommendations for promoting human rights and freedoms and fosters collaboration between the institution, civil society, academia, and the media. Additionally, she was a member of the Supervisory Board of Croatian Radiotelevision.
Together with three colleagues from the Social Work program at the Faculty of Law in Zagreb, she advocated for the Croatian Government to provide free school meals for every primary school child, a measure implemented as of January 1, 2023.
Vanja Mladineo is the Executive Director of the Miko Tripalo Center. She coordinates the projects Decentralization and Local Self-Government and the Jean Monnet project European Values in a New Member State: Croatia in the First Five Years of EU Membership. She is a lecturer at VERN University, teaching the course Crisis Communication.
Previously, she served as Chief of Staff to the Minister of Science and Technology, a consultant for UNDP in Kyrgyzstan, and a project manager for the World Bank at the Government’s Public Relations Office. She holds a master’s degree in International Relations from Columbia University in New York.
She is a recipient of the Open Society Policy Fellowship in Budapest and received an Honorable Mention from the U.S. State Department’s Title VIII program for the best policy paper in 2007.
Igor Vidačak is a Professor at the Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb, where he teaches courses on the political system of the European Union, lobbying and interest groups, public policy evaluation, and EU support programs for civil society organizations. Since 2023, he has been the holder of the Jean Monnet Chair dedicated to active European democratic citizenship for strengthening societal resilience. For more than nine years, he served as the Director of the Office for Associations of the Government of the Republic of Croatia, and prior to that, he worked for several years as a research scientist at the Institute for Development and International Relations. He is actively engaged as a consultant for various international organizations on programs supporting civil society development and public administration reform in EU candidate countries. He leads the European Transformation and Integration Studies program at the College of Europe in Tirana. Additionally, he is a member of the Executive Board of the Croatian Political Science Association.
As a member of Gong's legal team, she has been involved in participatory budgeting, investigating corruption, and advocating for transparency in public institutions and the media. Since 2015, he has been working for Erste & Steiermärkische Bank d.d., in the control function, first in the field of money laundering prevention and terrorist financing, and then in the field of monitoring compliance risk.
Daniela Jovanova Ivanković graduated from the Faculty of Education in Skopje, and during her studies she worked in the Environmental Movement of Macedonia - FoE Macedonia. She was also a member of the Board of Directors of the Environmental Movement of Macedonia and a long-term volunteer at the Volunteer Centre Zagreb (VCZ), as the head of the office. She has been employed by Zelena akcija since 2002, where she works as an executive director. She is a member of the Steering Board of the Zeleni klik (Green Click) organisation, and she was a member of the Council of the Macedonian National Minority for the City of Zagreb for two terms. She was also a member of the local Advisory Board of TACSO, the National Committee for the Development of Volunteering, the Steering Committee of the VCZ and the Supervisory Board of the Operational Program - Human Resources Development 2007-2013.
Oriana Ivković Novokmet is Gong's executive director, who coordinates, designs and implements activities in the areas of anti-corruption, elections and the digital society.
Her area of interest is the fight against corruption, good governance and public policies. She graduated in journalism from the Faculty of Political Sciences in Zagreb. For years, she worked as a journalist and editor in several media. Before becoming a member of Gong's team, she was employed as an investigative journalist at tportal and Index.hr. Together with her colleague Ilko Ćimić, she is the winner of two HND journalism awards in 2019, for investigative and internet journalism.
Svjetlana Knežević graduated in journalism at the Faculty of Political Science in Zagreb. She gained work experience working for commercial and non-profit media, the Institution for gender equality and civil society organisations. Over the last ten years, she has been actively involved in the work and activities of several human rights initiatives. Activism taught her everything.
Josipa Dika graduated in Political Science at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Zagreb. Since the beginning of her studies, she has been actively involved in volunteer work with socially sensitive and economically deprived groups. Before coming to Gong, in addition to her activist engagement at the Center for Peace Studies and the Welcome Initiative, she dealt with the topics of migration and human rights as part of the research team of the Center for Research on Ethnicity, Citizenship and Migration at the Faculty of Political Sciences. At Gong, he works on electoral and anti-corruption topics.
Milica Bogdanović is a journalist by profession with more than ten years of work experience in the media and civil sector. At Gong, she works on the development and implementation of educational activities, with a special interest in media literacy. She previously worked in the non-governmental organizations Media Institute of Montenegro and the Center for Democratic Transition (CDT), and in the independent daily Vijesti iz Podgorica. She is the author and co-author of media analyzes and research. She graduated in Journalism at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Podgorica.
Oriana Ivković Novokmet is Gong's executive director, who coordinates, designs and implements activities in the areas of anti-corruption, elections and the digital society.
Her area of interest is the fight against corruption, good governance and public policies. She graduated in journalism from the Faculty of Political Sciences in Zagreb. For years, she worked as a journalist and editor in several media. Before becoming a member of Gong's team, she was employed as an investigative journalist at tportal and Index.hr. Together with her colleague Ilko Ćimić, she is the winner of two HND journalism awards in 2019, for investigative and internet journalism.
Svjetlana Knežević graduated in journalism at the Faculty of Political Science in Zagreb. She gained work experience working for commercial and non-profit media, the Institution for gender equality and civil society organisations. Over the last ten years, she has been actively involved in the work and activities of several human rights initiatives. Activism taught her everything.
Josipa Dika graduated in Political Science at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Zagreb. Since the beginning of her studies, she has been actively involved in volunteer work with socially sensitive and economically deprived groups. Before coming to Gong, in addition to her activist engagement at the Center for Peace Studies and the Welcome Initiative, she dealt with the topics of migration and human rights as part of the research team of the Center for Research on Ethnicity, Citizenship and Migration at the Faculty of Political Sciences. At Gong, he works on electoral and anti-corruption topics.
Lucija works on the development and implementation of Gong's educational programs and the construction of a democratic political culture. It is focused on developing programs in the areas of political, media and EU literacy. She graduated in political science at the Faculty of Political Sciences and Sociology at the Croatian Studies at the University of Zagreb.
Sara Maksimović completed her undergraduate studies in fine arts education at the Academy of Arts in Osijek and graduated in gender studies at the Central European University in Budapest. She gained experience in civil society by preparing and implementing projects and human rights advocacy. She is trained in project management and fundraising - her main role at Gong. She is happy to jump in as a graphic designer.
Matej Mikašinović-Komšo is a graduate of Political Science and a PhD student at the Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb. From the beginning of his studies, he dedicated himself to research and writing, in order to practically apply acquired knowledge. He gained his six-year scientific research experience by participating in research projects, and by regularly publishing research papers in scientific journals. His topics of interest are digital democracy, political communication, political participation, digital activism, as well as organizational methods and digital activities of right-wing extremist groups. At Gong, he holds trainings and conducts activities related to disinformation, media literacy, digital security and citizen digital tools. In his spare time, he likes to read books, play video games, watch memes and cook.
Milica Bogdanović is a journalist by profession with more than ten years of work experience in the media and civil sector. At Gong, she works on the development and implementation of educational activities, with a special interest in media literacy. She previously worked in the non-governmental organizations Media Institute of Montenegro and the Center for Democratic Transition (CDT), and in the independent daily Vijesti iz Podgorica. She is the author and co-author of media analyzes and research. She graduated in Journalism at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Podgorica.
He became a part of Gong after a little less than two decades of journalistic monitoring of the work of courts, domestic and foreign politics, culture and investigative journalism for a number of mainstream and non-profit media, mainly from Croatia. As a young journalist, he was the winner of the European Commission's "Young Journalist Award", and a few years later, HND awarded him the "Velebit Degenija" on two occasions, and once declared him 'investigative journalist of the year'. Despite all that, he still insists that everything he learned in his life was chosen by Đelo Hadžiselimović.
Tanja Štampar graduated in sociology from the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb. She completed the Peace Studies program of the Center for Peace Studies. She gained experience through many years of work in the civil sector, where she mostly dealt with issues of gender equality and public policies for harmonizing family and business life. In Gong, as part of the educational team, he works to strengthen the democratic political culture through civic literacy programs.
Jelena Pilipović was born in Belgrade in 1984, where she graduated from the College of Tourism in 2003 and holds the title of Tourism economist. Since then, she has worked in various small, medium and large companies in Serbia as an accountant, civil servant, assistant production manager, etc. She has gained extensive experience in administrative, financial, business and management areas. Jelena joined ERA and her first NGO in June 2016, where she spent practically her administrative and financial experience and significantly contributed to various projects related to LGBTI rights. With her skills and ambitions in Gong, she contributes to the promotion of solidarity and inclusion in society, as well as respect for diversity in Croatia.
Bruna has a Master’s degree in Political science at the Faculty of Political Science of Zagreb University. She interned at the European Parliament and worked as a Project coordinator. She is part of the Political Institutions and Processes team, and her areas of interest include political theory, political system and the European Union.
Iris Knežević is a coordinator of educational activities for youth and active citizens. She has worked as a researcher in the field of human rights. Iris completed her MA in Journalism at the Faculty of Political Science in Zagreb. During her studies, she was actively engaged in local student media. Shortly after, she also completed her MA in Human Rights and Democracy at the Global Campus of Human Rights. She gained previous work experience working in regional non-governmental organizations, focusing her research on topics such as youth civic engagement, intercultural dialogues in post-conflict communities, and political and media literacy.
