Our People

Václav has been involved in debating for more than 16 years. Starting as a high school debater at the age of 16, he quickly became a judge, coach, and trainer. In 2013, Václav was elected President of the Czech Debate Association and has been leading it ever since. During this time, he held various volunteer positions in the organization’s leadership, and finally, in 2020, he managed to raise enough funds to become its first full-time employee. Now he serves as the CDA's Executive Director, coordinating all of its activities and projects. He is like a more experienced older brother to many generations of Czech debaters and a vital member of the Czech debating community.
In 2024, he also became the IDEA Board President, and since then, he has been supervising all IDEA activities.

Apart from debating, Václav has extensive management experience in medium and large-sized IT companies, which he also applies to the world of debating.

Gedminė Marija Račkienė (Lithuania) has been a significant contributor to Lithuanian Debating Community in the capacity of a debater, coach and organizer for more than 13 years. Currently she serves as a board member for Educational Debate Center Lithuania. She debated as part of Team Lithuania in World Schools Debating Championship (WSDC) ’06 Wales and ’07 South Korea. Later on, she moved on to coaching: WSDC in ’12, South Africa; ’10 Qatar, IDEA forum in ’09 Bosnia, ’11 Turkey and ’12 Mexico.

She was a trainer and a coordinator of debate projects in Lithuania, Finland, Thailand and China.

Gedmine has a degree in political science and work experience in management consulting and account management.

Raminta Dereskeviciute (England/ Lithuania) has transferred her successful experiences as a debater, coach, and adjudicator in Lithuanian into an international legal career.

As a debater, she was the founder and president of the Lithuanian University Debate Society, participated in numerous moot court competitions, and volunteered as an adjudicator and coach at countless debate events.

She is active in the community and has been involved as a board member and president of the Lithuanian City of London Club (LCLC) and is actively involved in Global Lithuanian Leaders and Invest Lithuania. She contributes to the law firm's Pro Bono program and participates in various initiatives for university students, including LT Big Brother, where she mentors aspiring law students.

As a board member of IDEA, she is very passionate about the role of education in support of emerging economies

Dr. Parmanand (England/ Philippines) is an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Gender Studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She has a PhD from the University of Cambridge on a Gates Scholarship and a master's in Development Studies from the University of Melbourne on an Australian Awards scholarship.

She was previously a lecturer in speech and rhetoric at the University of Vermont (USA) and Ateneo de Manila University. She has also served as an invited trainer or chief judge in debating events in over 45 countries, including the world championships at both the universities and schools levels, and major tournaments in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and North America.

Radka Pudilova (Germany/Czechia) was a debater and coach in the Czech Debate Association during her high school studies and subsequently founded Debate and MUN clubs at her university. She has worked mainly in international development, concentrating on issues related to tech for
good, innovation and youth empowerment.

Radka's regions of interest are primarily Western Balkans and MENA and as a Media for Peace fellow she is currently working on finding a digital product to support work of journalists in (post-)conflict areas.

Mrs. Blerina Guga-Kurrizo (Albania) has been involved with debating since 1996, first as a debater, then as a coach and later national team trainer, IDEA certified trainer, and coach at two IDEA Youth Forums. “Once a debater, forever a debater” is her motto.

With 20 years of experience in the civil sector, Mrs. Guga counts extensive work in research, training and developing advocacy campaigns in Albania. She is an experienced trainer in strategic planning, organizational development, leadership and individual learning, critical thinking, public speaking and debate, grants making and partnerships, organizational behavior and the communication in the administrative structures, project monitoring and evaluation tools and practices.

Mrs. Guga holds an MSc degree in Political Philosophy and a BA degree in Philosophy - Sociology from the Social Sciences faculty of Tirana University. She is a World of Difference Award Winner of Vodafone Foundation Albania for 2011 and alumna of Albanian Schools of Political Sciences and McCain Leadership Institute. She joined Junior Achievement Albania in April 2019 and has been the CEO since January 2021.

Jan Libicek (England/Czech Republic) actively participated in debating at both school and university levels, representing UCL and Oxford, and was a member of the Oxford Squad. He debated twice and judged three times at World Schools Debating Championships (WSDC), and attended multiple IDEA Youth Forums. He won the Czech national debate competition and received top speaker awards at various national and international events.

In addition to his competitive endeavours, Jan played a pivotal role in organising the annual Heart of Europe debating tournament in the Czech Republic. Jan also took part in moot court competitions at Oxford, led public speaking workshops for university students, coached debate teams at various levels, and was involved in model UN conferences in three countries.

Jan holds an MA in Jurisprudence (Law) from the University of Oxford. Throughout his career, spanning four continents, Jan has consistently focused on investments in the energy transition space. Currently, he serves as Investment Director at Triple Point in London, where he continues this focus.

Aaron Fishbone (Slovakia/ USA) debated for the University of Vermont (USA) from 1998-2002. He spent five years actively involved with the IDEA network, including 4 times as a trainer at IDEA Youth Forums and 3 times as a curriculum committee member. During this time he also served 3 years as a member of the board of the District of Columbia Urban Debate League.

Despite doing other things like getting a masters degree in public administration, running political campaigns, serving four years in the Mayor's Office of the City of Seattle (WA, USA), and being a Robert Bosch Foundation Fellow in Germany, Aaron has kept returning to debate projects, serving as the founding director of the Silicon Valley Urban Debate League summer institute in the summer of 2015 and on the curriculum committee of the Debating Threats to Democracy Program in Bratislava in March 2017.

For the last several years Aaron has been the communications director of two electric mobility companies based in Bratislava - GreenWay and Voltia.

Bojan Marjanović works to support debate-based education, foster critical thinking, and promote the pedagogy of empowerment. He has over 20 years of experience in the education sector, starting with competitive debate and on to expand debate methodology to support young people become critical thinkers and active citizens. Bojan has received several national awards for educational excellence from the Croatian Ministry of Education and the Education and Teacher Training Agency for his work with debaters.

At IDEA, he is responsible for delegating tasks to other employees, advising on tough decisions, and communicating with strategic partners from both the debating and non-debating worlds.

Bojan isn't a fan of having his picture taken, but a can of Coke might just change his mind. For now, his preview image is illustrative only.

bojan@idebate.net

Nuša Stamejčič is a pedagogist dedicated to enriching youth work through debate-based methodologies. Her commitment to integrating debate into educational settings empowers young people by enhancing their critical thinking and communication skills. Nuša's innovative approach transforms debate from a purely competitive activity into a powerful educational tool, fostering greater engagement and personal development among students.

She embodies understanding and cohesion and serves as our primary equity contact at all events. Nuša is also responsible for fostering connections between our member and non-member organizations and deepening those relationships.

Nuša is passionate about board games, so feel free to join her—but be careful: if you ever misspell her surname, she definitely won’t let you win.

nusa@idebate.net

Toon Vos is a writer and designer with a passion for science, biodiversity and ecology, media literacy, and human rights. He worked for Are We Europe Magazine as an editor and organizer and loves working on editorial and multimedia projects that are accessible, educational, and good-looking.

Toon aims to make information more engaging and exciting, with the goal of empowering young people to stay curious and communicate their own messages.

toon@idebate.net

Matija Pušnik is a former debater and now serves as a fundraiser at the International Debate Education Association (IDEA). Originally from Slovenia, Matija leverages his background in debate and his academic training in philosophy to support IDEA's initiatives to promote debate education globally.

He has a unique ability to engage and educate debaters of all ages, with methods that make learning both informative and entertaining for everyone.

Aside from debating, he is a climber and an avid planespotter. At any event, ask him which plane is the best, and the conversation will likely last for minutes.

matija@idebate.net

Jakub is exeperienced event organizer with the Czech Debate Association, where he has accumulated years of experience in managing debate-related activities. His expertise encompasses the planning and execution of various national and regional events, including tournaments and educational workshops.

If you are attending our event, he will probably be able to answer any questions you may have.

jakub@idebate.net

Daan Welling was a highly succesful debater at university, winning the European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC) for Leiden University.

He moved from competitive success to co-organising large-scale events, giving workshops on three different continents, and developing opportunities for civil engagement for at-risk youth. Daan is in charge of the Utrecht office of IDEA and has been involved with IDEA since 2018.

daan@idebate.net

Devin van den Berg is an experienced debater and coach.  Starting in high school, Devin quickly found a passion for the art of debate and went on to become a four-time Dutch National Champion, and reached the semi-finals at the World Championships (ESL).

In addition to competing, Devin has also made contributions to the debate community as an author, writing a chapter for the book ADAPT, which explores the use of the debate methodology in the philosophy classroom. Devin's experience and knowledge has also been valuable as a coach, having served as the Head Coach of the Dutch National High School Debating team for six years and training over 500 teachers from around the globe on how to implement debate methodology in their classrooms.

Devin is dedicated to fostering the development of young debaters and helping them to achieve their full potential.