Who Does What

Tony Howson, Project Team Leader: Tony has worked in Ukraine since 1996, running BBC led training courses in radio journalism, news management as well as specialist courses on reporting politics, social and health issues. He established the European Centre for Broadcast Journalism in Belgrade, Serbia, and courses in Kosovo, Bosnia and Montenegro. He has also worked extensively in Russia, Turkey, Africa and Indonesia. In 2003 Tony established the EU Top Media project in Odessa, serving southern Ukraine. Recently he was the radio programme consultant and trainer for the BBC World Service's project to establish a radio and television staion in Basra, Iraq. Tony started working as a journalist in 1974, first in print and later in broadcast.

Marek Bekerman, Key Expert - Education: Marek has been an international news and business journalist for 15 years. He has worked for a range of BBC news and current affairs programmes, including Newshour, Europe Today and World Business Report. He has worked for the US public radio broadcaster, WGBH Boston, and written for newspapers and journals in English and Polish. He has been teaching practical journalism in Poland, and has worked on educational projects in Eastern Europe. Marek is a keen long distance runner, and is currently training for his fourth marathon, which he says is nowhere near as hard as working for the Zhorna project.

Russell Peasgood, Key Expert - Training: Since early 1998, Russell has been working on media projects for IREX and the BBC variously  in Belgrade,  other parts of Southeastern Europe and the former Soviet states. Among other things, he is currently managing the IREX TV project in Serbia.  Russell launched the BBC's TV training schools in Romania, Bosnia, and Russia and worked for the BBC and other organizations on various projects in India, Bangladesh, Rwanda, Nigeria, Ukraine, Georgia, Estonia, and Armenia. He started his career in newspapers and news agencies in the north of England and began working for the BBC in 1986. He worked as a journalist in the BBC's News and Current Affairs Department before becoming an output producer, and ultimately, the Head of TV News and Current Affairs in the BBC's North of England Division based in Leeds. In this job, he was responsible for managing the BBC's fourth biggest regional newsroom, the daily news programs and weekly current affairs programs, and the BBC national news coverage in the North of England.

Andriy Kulykov, Key Expert - Media: A journalist who had worked in newspaper, radio and TV for 26 years until he decided that “ZHORNA” Project is way too important to stay aside. The expert says, success of the Project is important not only for providing Ukrainian media market with qualified professionals but can also be a good recommendation for the Project staff members in the future. Andriy is an author of numerous unpublished literary works, many of them yet to be written.  

Yuliya Panchyzhna, Administrator:  Julia, an Odessa-born specialist in International Relations, has experience in project administration (3 years with EU Tacis/ BBC WST TOP-Media project in Southern Ukraine), teaching English to children and to adults, teacher training, projects coordination (The British Council Odessa “Science Across the World” project local coordinator) etc. Julia is an addicted traveler, avid reader, self-taught photographer and part-time artist.

Dana Smolyak, Translator:  Dana has worked in international news and current affairs journalism for 5 years. She has been working as an editor and a presenter of English-language programmes for the Radio Ukraine International – a short-wave radio station broadcasting to international audiences. She has broad experience in written, consecutive and simultaneous translations between English and Ukrainian\Russian languages and good command of French. Dana does ball room dancing and loves Russian classical literature. She believes, a lot of things in this life depend on interpreting.

Yevhen Hnylov, Driver: Yevhen has been working on all types of cars for over 20 years. He took part in fighting consequences of accident on the Chornobyl nuclear power plant and worked a long time at Dovzhenko Film Studios in Kiev. He has traveled by car all over Ukraine, including Crimea and Carpathians. Yevhen likes nature, good science fiction, and dogs. And, of course, he knows a lot about cinema.