Michael J. Oghia


Affiliation:	Fellowship Program, GNSO
Stakeholder Group(s):	,\|xyz\|xyz\| }}
Region:	Eastern Europe and Central Asia
Country:	Serbia
Email:	mike.oghia@gmail.com
LinkedIn:	Michael J. Oghia
Twitter:	@Mikeoghia

Michael Joseph Oghia is a Belgrade-based consultant, researcher, and editor working within the Internet governance and media development ecosystems, specifically focusing on digital rights, capacity building, access, and sustainability. He is currently the communications manager for the Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD). He participated as a Fellow at ICANN58 in Copenhagen, Denmark, and returned as a fellow and a first-time coach to ICANN60 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. His involvement with ICANN includes the Non-commercial Stakeholder Group (NCSG), Non-commercial Users Constituency (NCUC), and Middle East and Adjoining Countries Strategy Working Group (MEAC-SWG).

Biography[edit | edit source]

Michael is a third culture kid (TCK) with professional experience in conflict resolution, journalism & media, civil society, and academia across five countries: the United States, Lebanon, India, Turkey, and Serbia. He frequently collaborates with the Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA), and also supports DiploFoundation as assistant curator for the GIP Digital Watch observatory. Michael was formerly the communications manager of iGmena, a program launched in 2012 by Hivos, worked closely with Jane Coffin, the director of development strategy at the Internet Society (ISOC), for nearly two years, and has been a two-time ISOC ambassador to the Internet Governance Forum (IGF). He has lectured on Internet governance at the Media and Digital Literacy Academy of Beirut (MDLAB), and frequently writes about development, digital rights, and the relationship between the Internet, the environment, and sustainability. Michael holds a Master of Arts in sociology from the American University of Beirut (Lebanon), and a Bachelors of Science in sociology from the University of Louisville (USA). Additionally, He has completed various Internet governance and media policy-related training programs, including the 2017 European Summer School on Internet Governance (EuroSSIG) and the 2016 Annenberg-Oxford Media Policy Summer Institute. Michael also loathes referring to himself in third person.