The World Youth Democracy Forum, co-sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson Center and LSRS
Meeting with the 2013 Ion Ratiu Democracy Award Winner: Dr. Angela Kocze, Roma rights activist and Visiting Assistant Professor of Sociology, Wake Forest University
Dr. Angela Kocze, a leading Hungarian Roma rights activist and scholar, is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor with the Department of Sociology at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, as well as a Research Fellow at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Dr. Kocze has an interdisciplinary approach, combining political activism and policy-making with in-depth participatory research studies on the Roma situation in Hungary and elsewhere. Dr. Kocze also worked as a founding director of the European Roma Information Office (ERIO) in Brussels (2003-2004), as well as the former director of the human rights education program at the European Roma Rights Centre (1998-2003) in Budapest. Dr. Kocze was the founding director of the Romaversitas program (1996) in Budapest which offers a scholarship and mentorship for underprivileged Roma minority university students.
The World Youth Democracy Forum (WYDF) was founded in December 2008 as a platform for the exchange of ideas, experiences, and projects among democracy practitioners, advocates, and emerging young democratic leaders. The Ion Ratiu Democracy Award (IRDA), established in 2005, aims to bring visibility and international recognition to the ideas, ideals and accomplishments of individuals around the world who are working on behalf of democracy. It brings recognition to the importance of the work carried out by democracy activists around the world. Previous awardees include Aung San Suu Kyi (Myanmar, 2012), Nabeel Rajab (Bahrain, 2011), Oleg Kozlovsky (Russia, 2010), and Adam Michnik (Poland, 2009).
Moderated by Eliot Sorel, M.D., D.L.F.A.P.A., The George Washington University
Founder, World Youth Democracy Forum and Senior Advisor, Ion Ratiu Democracy Award
Co-sponsored by The Ion Ratiu Democracy Award at the Woodrow Wilson Center and the League of Overseas Romanian Students