Our Team & Governance

Nathalie Furrer is the Director of the Climate, Energy & Sustainability; Health; European Young Leaders (EYL40); and State of Europe programmes at Friends of Europe. Through her leadership, since 2002, the think tank has become the go-to place to connect, debate and change Europe. She founded its Africa, development, health, climate, energy and sustainability transition policy areas and launched its very successful European Young Leaders (EYL40) programme. She has been instrumental in developing a multi-stakeholder approach to the work of a think tank and in the organisation’s reach to the non-institutional sector. In her current role, she works with our talented team, members and partners. Prior to joining Friends of Europe, she worked at an institute for public policy research, organising international conferences throughout Europe.

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Nakoma is the Programme Assistant for Peace, Security & Defence, specifically working on the Ukraine Initiative. Having obtained a BA in History and Politics from the University of Stirling and an MSc in Development and Security from University of Bristol, her research interests lie in EU foreign policy, specifically conflict prevention policies. Prior to working for Friends of Europe, Nakoma has worked in fundraising for Legs4Africa, an NGO that recycles prosthetics and funds rehabilitation and she has joined the European Student Think Tank as a writer in Security and Defence issues. Nakoma is fluent in English and German and has intermediate knowledge of Spanish.

Prior to joining Friends of Europe, Dharmendra Kanani was director of policy at the European Foundation Centre (EFC). He was the England director at the Big Lottery Fund, the largest independent funder in the UK and fourth largest in the world. Dharmendra has held senior positions in the public and voluntary sectors and advisor to numerous ministerial policy initiatives across the UK.

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Francisco is a Programme Officer responsible for Global Europe. He has a multidisciplinary background focused on EU affairs and international cooperation. He holds an Erasmus Mundus Master’s degree in development economics with a focus on EU-LAC relations. Before joining Friends of Europe, he worked on green investment projects as a Junior Consultant at CARSA. Previously, he was a Cooperation Trainee at the EU Delegation in Quito and an intern at the EU-LAC Foundation. He is fluent in Spanish, English, French, Italian, and Portuguese and has an advanced level of German. In his free time, Francisco enjoys attending cinema festivals and preparing coffee.

Luke O’Callaghan-White is the Programme Manager for Climate, Energy & Sustainability. Prior to joining Friends of Europe, Luke served as the senior researcher at the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA), Ireland’s leading international think tank, where he specialised in energy and climate policy. Luke has written widely in this policy space and his publications have been covered in The Irish Times, Irish Examiner and Irish Independent. In 2021, he also served as an ‘expert reviewer’ of the TIMES-Ireland Model, which produced influential energy system pathways for energy supply and demand, in keeping with the Irish Government’s decarbonisation targets. Previously, Luke has also worked a policy analyst at the Canadian Centre for Responsibility to Protect (CCR2P), a Toronto-based research organisation. Luke is a committee member of the Irish Centre for European Law, where he contributes on matters relating to energy law in the European Union. He is also a member of the IIEA’s climate and energy expert working group. Luke holds an MA in Political Science from the University of Toronto and a BA in Political Science and Geography from Trinity College Dublin. Luke speaks English and Irish. 

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Amanda Rohde-Stadler is responsible for big picture programming coherence across Friends of Europe’s areas of expertise, as well as monitoring & evaluation. Through her previous roles in the organisation, she oversaw programme delivery across all areas of expertise, and carried out the production and delivery of activities and publications across a wide range of themes, including: digital & data governance; peace, security & defence; EU-Asia relations; and migration & inclusion. She was also involved in the inception phase of the Africa-Europe Foundation, with a focus on policy and partnerships. Prior to joining Friends of Europe in 2016, she worked in the Research Unit of International Crisis Group – tracking conflicts across Africa and Asia – and as a teacher in South Korea. Amanda holds a Master of Advanced International Studies from the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, where she focused her studies on conflict and crisis analysis, and a BA in linguistics from the University of Florida with a special focus on African languages and literature. 

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Davide is a Programme Assistant for the Climate, Energy & Sustainability and Health programmes at Friends of Europe. Before joining Friends of Europe, Davide has been involved in volunteering activities and projects with NGOs in Italy and Germany focusing on international cooperation, active citizenship and the fight against organised crime and corruption. He holds a BA in International and Diplomatic Sciences from the University of Trieste and an MA in European and International Studies from the University of Trento. He is fluent in Italian and English and has intermediate knowledge of German and French. 

Alexandra is the Head of Digital Strategy, Development & Performance at Friends of Europe. Previously, she has overseen the operations and events of the e-Crime & Cybersecurity Congress series in Europe, the United Kingdom and the Middle East. Prior to that, Alexandra has worked in the cultural and diplomatic field in roles related to public relations, projects, events and administration. She holds a BA in Cultural Mediation from the Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris, an MA in Near and Middle Eastern Studies, major in International Relations and Politics, from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and a diploma in Business Foundations from Wharton School. Alexandra is fluent in English and French, advanced in Italian and Spanish, intermediate in Arabic and native in Romanian.

Cyril is the Policy Officer for the Ukraine Initiative, the Peace, Security and Defence Programme. Prior to joining the team, Cyril worked at the Council of Europe, supporting public sector reform in Central Asia and the South Caucasus. He also did a Bluebook traineeship at the European Commission, DG NEAR, working with the Eastern Partnership and Western Balkans. Cyril holds degrees in journalism, international relations, and EU administration, having studied in Poland, the UK and Belgium. He speaks English, French, Ukrainian, Russian and Polish.

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Thomas Van Vynckt is the Programme Manager for State of Europe. Prior to joining Friends of Europe, Thomas worked in the private sector in London, organising defence and security conferences, and at NATO Headquarters, both in the Political Affairs and Operations divisions. At NATO, Thomas worked on partnerships between NATO and non-NATO countries in the South Caucasus and the Western Balkans, the KFOR mission in Kosovo and the Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan. Thomas has lived, studied, and worked in Bosnia & Herzegovina, the Netherlands, Slovakia and the United Kingdom (England and Scotland). He attended the United World College in Mostar (2009-2011) and is a proud UWC alumnus. He holds a BA in International Development from the Leiden University, an MSC in Strategic Theory and International Law from the Aberdeen University, and an MA in Intelligence from King’s College London. Thomas enjoys sports (swimming, cycling, running, hiking, skiing and sailing), travelling and the opera. He speaks French, Dutch and English, and holds both Belgian and Swiss citizenships.

Thomas is a member of the steering committee and the Friends of Europe representative at the Brussels Binder, a publicly accessible database of women experts, with the goal of achieving gender balance and equality of representation in policy debates.

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Rayan is the Programme Officer responsible for the Making Space Matter initiative. He hosts the Dark Matter podcast, a YouTube programme in which he interviews a diversity of experts on space policy, law and diplomacy. He also organises activities related to space at Friends of Europe. He previously worked for the Peace, Security and Defence programme and, prior to joining Friends of Europe, completed internships at the United Nations and Interpol. His academic interests include space diplomacy, conflict resolution and political sociology, with a particular interest in critical conflict studies and intersectional feminist analysis. He speaks French and English, as well as some Dutch.

Monica Frassoni is an Italian politician who previously served as the Co-President of the European Green Party. Prior to that, during her time as Member of the European Parliament, she was Co-Chair of the European Greens–European Free Alliance group in the European Parliament. She also served for ten years as an officer of the Greens group in the European Parliament and was Secretary-General of the Young European Federalists. In 2010, she co-founded the European Alliance to Save Energy, an organisation which aims to promote and advocate energy savings and a new energy model.

Prior to his current position at Teneo, Philippe Maze-Sencier served as Chair of Global Public Affairs of Hill & Knowlton Strategies (H+K) and Managing Director at McLarty Associates’ Brussels and Washington DC offices. He has been working at the nexus of policy, government relations and communications on transatlantic issues and oversaw operations in India, the Middle East and Africa in various sectors ranging from aerospace to energy to defence. Previously, Maze-Sencier held roles at the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, and at the delegation of the European Commission in Washington DC.

Jon is one the best-known political bloggers and commentators on all things EU politics and Brexit. His commentary on his blog (jonworth.eu) and Twitter account (@jonworth) are well known in Brussels and EU circles. His work around Brexit and especially his famous Brexit diagrams have been featured in international media, including The New York Times and ARD. Jon is a Visiting Lecturer on politics and online communication at the College of Europe in Bruges. He also leads workshops at the Graduate Institute in Geneva, the University of Maastricht and the Italian School of Public Administration in Rome. The Founder of Trains for Europe, a campaign that demands the European Union take action on the issues surrounding long distance rail travel in Europe, Jon is an experienced campaigner, having previously organised a number of online campaigns for United Kingdom politicians and the Atheist Bus Campaign.