We are currently working with 10 WAVE Youth Ambassadors from across Europe. They are representing Austria, Azerbaijan, France, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Serbia and UK (Scotland and England).
Laura Seidl
Austria
about
Laura holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Ghent University and Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium. After graduating, she began her career as a Project Assistant at Women Political Leaders, an organization founded by the former Vice President of the European Parliament to promote greater representation of women in political leadership, addressing the stark reality that women comprise only 25% of global parliaments. Laura’s passion for gender equality advocacy began early; at eight years old, she and her friends successfully campaigned for her school to include soccer slots for girls, challenging a long-standing exclusion in a male dominated sport.
Currently based in Vienna for the past three years, Laura has worked in international non-governmental organizations such as SOS Children’s Villages International, focusing on advancing gender equality, and is currently working at an institution within the World Bank Group. Her professional expertise spans gender equality, youth empowerment, and economic development, with a strong skill set in project management, research, and event coordination.
With dual citizenship in Brazil and Austria, Laura was raised in Brazil and has lived in the United States, France, Belgium, and Austria. Her interests especially include advancing sexual & reproductive health & rights across the globe, emphasizing the importance of intersectional feminism, and engaging men, boys & other genders in the fight against the patriarchy.
Aghgul Mehdiyeva
Azerbaijan
about
Aghgul is a passionate advocate for gender equality and social justice from Azerbaijan. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in State and Public Relations from Baku State University, where her studies focused on public affairs and policy-making. Currently, Aghgul is an intern at Gender Hub Azerbaijan and He for She by UN Women, actively supporting initiatives that advance gender equality.
Aghgul has participated in various trainings on gender equality, including the role of women in conflict transformation. She was also part of the Comprehensive Training Program by Women Engage for Common Future, known as the Women for Climate Programme. As a Youth Ambassador for Global Alliance of Universities on Climate (GAUC), she organised an event called “Social Equity in Policy-making” and facilitated discussions on social equity during COP29. Under this role, she also organized an event at her university on women’s roles in climate action as part of Global Youth Climate Week.
With a strong commitment to advocating for equity and intersectional feminism, Aghgul is dedicated to creating positive change in her community and beyond. She seeks to empower marginalized voices and ensure that all women have the opportunity to thrive.
Tamina Summersgill
England (UK)
about
Tamina was raised in London, in a half-French, half-English household. As an undergraduate, she worked at a reputed London-based organisation, Standing Together Against Domestic Abuse. She also volunteered at the National Alliance of Women’s Organisations, and worked on feminist projects at her university. From 2020 to 2024, Tamina worked at the UK’s largest domestic abuse organisation, Refuge (WAVE member). First, she administrated safeguarding multi-agency meetings (MARAC) for victim/survivors at high risk. She then was a refuge worker, directly supporting and advocating for women fleeing abuse. Her last role was in Development, working on growing and retaining services, grant-writing, and project implementation. She is now undertaking a Master’s in public administration, with a dedicated focus on social justice and human rights, hoping to tackle systemic enablers of gender-based abuse.
Juliette Font
France
about
Juliette Font is a 24-year-old French activist, young researcher, and policy analyst specializing in education, higher education, and research policies, as well as gender equality and the fight against all forms of discrimination. A graduate with a dual master’s degree in social sciences, she is currently pursuing a Master’s in Public Policy at Sciences Po.
Juliette has worked as a research assistant at several prestigious institutions, including the University of Oxford, and is dedicated to bridging research, policy, and activism. She currently serves as the Director of Research at the French Observatory on Gender-Based Violence in Higher Education and is an active member of the European project GenderSAFE.
In 2021, she spearheaded the #sciencesporcs movement, sparking nationwide conversations about gender-based violence in academia. At the Observatory, she leads studies on violence in higher education, producing critical insights to inform policy and institutional reforms.
Driven by her vision of a safer, more inclusive, and accessible academic and research environment, Juliette is committed to fostering educational systems that empower individuals and promote gender equality.
Anamika Jain
France
about
Anamika Jain was born and raised in India. She is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs in Sciences Po Paris, where she also completed her undergraduate degree in Politics and Government. She has been actively involved in volunteering and fieldwork with grassroot level NGOs focused on women’s empowerment in India and in France. As a youth ambassador with WAVE, she hopes to integrate an intersectional and post-colonial approach to discourse and policy practices on women’s rights. She is deeply committed to combating violence against women by amplifying survivors’ lived experiences, addressing systemic inequalities, and raising awareness about gender-based violence as a fundamental human rights violation rather than solely a women’s issue.
Panni Szirtes
Hungary
about
Panni is a social psychologist and dedicated advocate for diversity, equality and inclusion, particularly passionate about intersectional feminism, women’s rights and gender equality. Originally from Hungary, she studied in Finland and the Netherlands as well. Besides Psychology, she also took courses in Social Science, including Migration Studies, Inequality Studies and Gender Studies, writing papers on women’s experiences. After recently graduating with a master’s degree in Applied Social Psychology, she currently works in Vienna, Austria. As a WAVE Youth Ambassador, her main interests are sexual and reproductive health, women’s mental health, the experiences of migrant women, and violence against women. She is committed to raising awareness, preventing violence against women, promoting women’s wellbeing and contributing to creating a safer world.
Ilaria Nilges
Italy
about
Ilaria was born and raised in Italy. She has always been passionate about understanding people and society, which led her to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Criminology and Sociology at the University of the West of England in Bristol. After graduating, she spent a year travelling and experiencing different cultures, gaining a deeper understanding of the challenges women face around the world.
She is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Human Rights at the Central European University in Vienna, focusing on femicide and gender-based violence. She is particularly interested in raising awareness about the systemic factors behind femicide, the role of education in prevention, and the importance of addressing patriarchal norms in everyday life. Her goal is to contribute to meaningful change by advocating for policies and initiatives that empower women and combat violence in all its forms.
Julia Mazurkiewicz
Poland
about
Julia was born and raised in Poland. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Organization from Leiden University in the Netherlands. During her bachelor’s studies, she also completed a minor in Gender Studies during her exchange semester in Canada at Queen’s University in Kingston. Since then, she has been deeply inspired by the field of gender studies and academia. To integrate feminist theories, she decided to get involved in several activist NGOs focusing on reproductive rights, ecofeminism, and women’s rights. Currently, she is pursuing a Master’s in Critical Gender Studies at Central European University, where she focuses on the rising anti-gender discourse, specifically in Eastern Europe.
Deri Ronan
Scotland (UK)
about
Deri is 25 years old and currently resides in Edinburgh, Scotland. She works for a grassroots organisation which provides advocacy and immigration support to refugees, migrants, and individuals seeking asylum in Scotland. She holds a Master’s degree in Human Rights and Multi-level Governance from the University of Padua, Italy.
Deri’s primary interest lies in intersectional feminist theory and applying community-informed approaches to address violence against women. In the role of Youth Ambassador, she is eager to deepen her knowledge and is particularly excited about the opportunity to collaborate with other Ambassadors across Europe in a united effort to advocate against violence.”
Teodora Milosavljević
Serbia
about
Tea is a 24-year-old women’s rights activist from Serbia, currently interning at the Commissioner for Equality in the Department for Media and Communications. She also does project management for Fenomena (WAVE member), an NGO offering free legal services to women in need. With a degree in Communications and Public Relations from the Faculty of Philosophy in Niš, she is committed to using her knowledge to empower women worldwide.
To build her expertise, Tea participated in various programs, including the Network for Talents and Innovation in Media, the Laboratory of Digital Activism, and the Balkan Women’s Academy. She also spent two months in Phoenix, Arizona, representing her university at the School for Mass Communication, where she explored Journalism and the Challenges of Democracy in the 21st century. An annual volunteer at the Brave New Media Forum, Tea enjoys working both behind the scenes and in front of the camera.
In her free time, she runs an Instagram account called @teatrallna (meaning “theatrical”), where she publishes a feminism dictionary, one letter at a time. Engaging her community in topic selection, she aims to make feminism more accessible to younger generations and challenge its negative stereotypes—from A to Z.
