My name is Joe Litobarski.
For my day job, I am Programme Lead of Training & Events at the European Journalism Centre (EJC).
I currently live in Maastricht, in the southern Netherlands, with my wife and two daughters.
My professional history has focused on European online deliberation; connecting citizens with experts and policymakers via digital tools and facilitated virtual group discussions, as well as planning and moderating online panels and workshops.
I have over 15 years of experience as a facilitator; earning a BA (Hons) in Conflict Resolution from the University of Bradford in 2006, then training in facilitative mediation with the Peace and Reconciliation Group (PRG) in Derry / Londonderry in 2005-6, then with Portsmouth Mediation Service in 2007.
I began blogging about European politics in 2008. In May 2011, I crowdsourced questions on The Guardian and (together with German political scientist Ronny Patz) put one to EU Commissioner Cecilia Malmström during a Justice and Home Affairs Council press conference.
Based on that experience, I started working with the think tank Friends of Europe, editing their citizen engagement project Debating Europe, an online discussion platform focusing on European politics that crowdsources questions and comments from citizens and puts them to European policymakers and experts.
On behalf of Debating Europe, I interviewed thousands of politicians and experts from across Europe over the past decade, including prime ministers, presidents, government ministers, European commissioners, MEPs, and national MPs.
In 2022, after 11 years (!) with Debating Europe, I joined the team at the European Journalism Centre (EJC) in Maastricht.
I regularly moderate panel discussions, focus groups, and online debates.
CREDITS
– I use the Beaumont theme by Anders Norén, plus an adapted version of the Bootstra.386 theme by Chris McKenzie (converted to WordPress by Sal Ferrarello).
– My website is powered by the wonderful, crazy engine that is WordPress.
– Thanks to the amazing Oryx for his pixel art.