About us

Our Team

• Firat Akova

  PhD

  

  Senior Research Fellow

  

  Firat Akova PhD

  Senior Research Fellow

  Fırat is a Senior Research Fellow and holds a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Warwick, where his thesis focused on effective altruism. He was a Global Priorities Fellow at the University of Oxford’s Global Priorities Institute, as well as at the Forethought Foundation for Global Priorities Research. He served as a Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at Koç University. Fırat founded Effective Altruism Turkey and served as its Director, and he is the Founder of Poedat, an academic community. He won international grant competitions for postdoctoral research and civil society projects.

• Eamon Aloyo

  PhD

  

  Senior Research Fellow

  

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  Eamon Aloyo PhD

  Senior Research Fellow

  Eamon is an assistant professor at Leiden University’s Institute of Security and Global Affairs and a Senior Fellow at Power for Democracies. He is interested in a range of topics in international relations, political philosophy, and effective altruism. He holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a BA in Economics from Lehigh University.

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• Cláudia Araújo

  PhD

  

  Senior Research Fellow

  

  Cláudia Araújo PhD

  Senior Research Fellow

  Claudia is a Senior Research Fellow. She has a PhD in Citizenship and Human Rights from the University of Barcelona, where she studied the securitisation of protest in the Iberian Peninsula. Her research interests are social movements, protest and protest policing, political communication and democratisation. She is also a researcher with the V-Dem Regional Centre for Southern Europe.

• Markus N. Beeko

  MBA

  

  Executive Director & Co-Founder

  

  Markus N. Beeko MBA

  Executive Director & Co-Founder

  Markus is a civil society activist, and campaign and communications strategist with many years of NGO experience. Most recently Secretary-General of Amnesty International in Germany, he has held various leadership roles at Amnesty in Germany and on the global level over the last 20 years.

  Among other things, as Chair of the Global Steering Group, he drove forward Amnesty's international work on Human Rights in the Digital Age.

  Markus advises various institutions, is on the Advisory Board of the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), and a Board member of Forensis e.V., in the network with Forensic Architecture at London's Goldsmith College.

  Markus holds a master's degree in Business Administration from the University of Cologne.

• Giada Buralli

  BA

  

  Operations Manager

  

  Giada Buralli BA

  Operations Manager

  Giada studied political science and international relations at the University of Florence followed by several years of training as a systemic coach, sustainability manager, and international project manager with focus on development cooperation, humanitarian aid, and climate change. Before joining Power for Democracies, she worked on projects and organisational processes at various non-profit organisations and societies in the areas of women's rights and interreligious dialogue, social and gender justice, citizen participation, and climate policy.

• Roxanne Escobales

  MA

  

  Head of Communications

  

  Roxanne Escobales MA

  Head of Communications

  Roxanne brings more than 20 years’ experience in journalism, international affairs, policy and advocacy, and media relations. Her work as a journalist at Chatham House, BBC World Service, and Oxfam has connected purpose-driven, international organisations with the audiences who matter most to their mission. As a strategic communications expert, she’s helped third sector clients and global brands create impact through stakeholder engagement. As a reporter, Roxanne covered human trafficking, underrepresented youth cultures, and activist communities. She holds a Master’s degree in Journalism with Distinction from Goldsmiths College, University of London.

• Karoline Helbig

  Dr des

  

  Senior Researcher

  

  Karoline Helbig Dr des

  Senior Researcher

  Karoline is a Senior Researcher with a special expertise in democratic theory and the measurement of democracy, as well as the impact of digital technologies on democracy. She has successfully defended her PhD thesis in Political Theory and Sociology and holds a bachelor's and a master's degree in sociology and mathematics. She started her academic career as a lecturer and researcher at the Helmut Schmidt University in Hamburg. She was a doctoral researcher at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin (Berlin Social Science Center), where she continues as a fellow along with the Weizenbaum Institute.

• Jon Helfers

  MPA

  

  Senior Consultant Impact Evaluation

  

  Jon Helfers MPA

  Senior Consultant Impact Evaluation

  Jon is a public policy researcher whose work has focused on generating an evidence-based approach to enhancing the accountability of governments to their citizens. He has experience managing research projects, programs, and teams across various sectors and countries. Before joining Power for Democracies, Jon was a research consultant at UN-Habitat, and prior to that, he served as the Director of Research and Strategy at Georgetown University's Initiative on Innovation, Development, and Evaluation, where he oversaw a wide portfolio of impact evaluations. He holds a Master of Public Administration from NYU’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.

• Samuel Hilton

  MPhysPhil

  

  Senior Research Fellow

  

  Samuel Hilton MPhysPhil

  Senior Research Fellow

  Sam is a Senior Research Fellow at Power for Democracies with a background in prioritisation research, policy, and charity entrepreneurship. He was Director of Research at Ambitious Impact, where he led a team that evaluated and prioritised thousands of ideas for new non-profits. He has also contributed to charity evaluation research for Giving What We Can, The Life You Can Save, and Effective Altruism UK. He has also worked for a number of years in UK public policy. He was Head of Nuclear Power Safety Policy at the UK's energy department and a policy adviser at the UK Treasury. He coordinated the UK Parliament’s cross-party Future Generations group investigating long-term decision-making in democracies.

  Sam was a Research Affiliate at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at the University of Cambridge. He holds a Master’s degree in Physics and Philosophy from the University of Oxford.

• Peter Lang

  MA

  

  Research Fellow

  

  Peter Lang MA

  Research Fellow

  Peter holds a Master’s degree in International Public Affairs from Central European University (CEU) and a Bachelor's degree in International Relations from Corvinus University of Budapest. Before joining Power for Democracies, Peter was a Research Assistant at CEU’s Department of Public Policy, where his research focused on democratic backsliding in Central and Eastern Europe, the EU’s rule of law mechanisms, party politics, and media freedom in Europe. He has contributed to studies on political elites, illiberal democracy, and journalistic autonomy in Hungary.

• Aurora Mane

  MA

  

  Research Fellow

  

  Aurora Mane MA

  Research Fellow

  Aurora holds an MA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Witten/Herdecke and a BSc in Economics and Management from the University of Salerno. Prior to joining Power for Democracies, Aurora assisted with research for the Chair of International Political Economy, and she took part in the the EU-funded 'Democracy Anger and Elite Responses' project. Additionally, she interned with the OECD Directorate of Education and Skills and has worked in various capacities for both private and non-profit organizations.

• Adriano Mannino

  PhD

  

  Advisor

  

  Adriano Mannino PhD

  Advisor

  Adriano is a philosopher, social entrepreneur, and policy consultant. He's currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Kavli Center for Ethics, Science, and the Public (UC Berkeley) and a Visiting Scholar at the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy (LMU Munich). Adriano’s research is in normative and applied ethics, decision and social choice theory, and political theory. His applied interests include big data and AI, public health, climate change, animal welfare, liberal democracy and authoritarian threats, international security, and European federalism.

• Stephan Schwahlen

  MBA / CEMS MIM

  

  Non-executive Director & Co-Founder

  

  Stephan Schwahlen MBA / CEMS MIM

  Non-executive Director & Co-Founder

  Stephan is a strategy consultant, entrepreneur, and investor with nearly forty years of experience in the commercial and non-profit worlds. In recent years, he has focused on advising high net worth individuals and families on how to give most effectively to address humanity's most pressing problems. He strongly believes that global democratic backsliding is the 'mother of all risks' to human flourishing. Stephan currently works as a senior philanthropic advisor at Effektiv Spenden, the leading non-profit donation and advice platform for effective giving in the D-A-CH region. He is also a co-founder of the social impact holding company gut.org and the associated non-profit organisations betterplace.org and betterplace-lab.org, as well as a board member of the non-profit organisation Future Cleantech Architects. Stephan holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Cologne and a Master of International Management from CEMS.

• Samantha Sekar

  PhD

  

  Head of Research

  

  Samantha Sekar PhD

  Head of Research

  Samantha is an interdisciplinary social scientist with a background in political science, social psychology, and several climate and environmental topics. She has contributed to the social science research portfolio at the US Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. At the Analyst Institute, Samantha designed, managed, and analyzed projects aimed at improving the effectiveness of progressive civic and political campaigns. She holds a PhD from the Emmett Interdisciplinary Programme in Environment and Resources at Stanford University and MSc in both Applied Economics and Environmental Science from Ohio State University. She lives in Washington, DC.

• Orlando Van der Bell

  MSc

  

  Research Fellow

  

  Orlando Van der Bell MSc

  Research Fellow

  Orlando brings a strong interdisciplinary social science background, holding an MSc in Research Methods in Psychology from the University of St Andrews and a BSc in Anthropology from University College London. Before pivoting their career in 2022 to tackle more humanitarian concerns, Orlando focused their academic studies on primatology, resulting in several publications and a PGCert in Evolutionary & Comparative Psychology from the University of St Andrews. They have since earned their Master’s degree with a focus on Social Identity Theory and worked in various research capacities for philanthropic organisations.