Ms. Jovana Perovska (MK)
Secretary General of SOFIMUN 8
Jovana Perovska, Secretary General SOFIMUN 8
Born and raised in Skopje, the capital of Macedonia, 22 years old Jovana is currently in the final year of her studies, pursuing a bachelor’s degree in International and European Law at the world’s international legal capital – The Hague, with a specialization in public international law and human rights.
Formerly involved into debating societies, Model United Nations proved to be the perfect outlet for Jovana once she started her law degree. Being a delegate and a chairperson at a dozen of international MUN Conferences, Jovana has decided to step up and undertake another challenge: being the Secretary General at SOFIMUN 2015.
Besides participating at Model United Nations Conferences, during her studies, Jovana has pursued a couple of national and international internships, including an internship at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, on the case of Dr. Radovan Karadzic, and has served as an international legal assistant in the oldest law firm in Macedonia, Mens Legis.
Being a young person passionate about international security, relations and law, Jovana is extremely happy and proud to participate at SOFIMUN 2015 and is looking forward to meeting you in Sofia in August.
Mr. Cody Meyer (USA)
Deputy Secretary General of SOFIMUN 8
Cody Meyer, Deputy Secretary General
Cody Meyer has been selected as the Deputy Secretary General for SOFIMUN 2015. He is from Pittsville, Wisconsin and is currently in his final year at the Minnesota State University Moorhead. He will be graduating with a B.A in Political Science with and emphasis in Legal and Strategic Studies. Cody expects to graduate with a ‘distinction in engagement’ in May of 2015.
Amongst his many accomplishments is the founder of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity at his university where he served as Grand Master for 3 years, bring back the first fraternity back to Moorhead in a decade. In addition to this, he is also the president of the student body at Minnesota State University Moorhead, and therefore is also a member of the Board of Directors at MSUSA, a statewide student non-profit association. Cody also serves his country in the US Army as an engineer. He enlisted in 2010 and continues to serve his country in the Engineer Corps.
Cody is currently working with the Obama administration on developing a sexual assault policy in Minnesota. In addition to this he is also collaborating with the Minnesota Legislature to form a comprehensive reform in the higher education policy of the state. He is extremely interested in the field of international affairs partly due to his time with the US Army, which sparked his interest in MUNs. His main areas of interest are in International Political Economy as well as Legal studies. Cody Meyer welcomes application for chairs and delegates and is looking forward to work with the Executive Board in order to make SOFIMUN 2015 and unbelievable experience for every participant.
Mr. Konstantin Velichkov (BG)
Chairperson of the United Nations Security Council
Konstantin Velichkov UN SC
Konstantin is a third year student of Economics and International Relations at the University of St Andrews, where he is also Vice-President for Finance of the St Andrews MUN Society and part of the Secretariat of SaintMUN, the university’s own conference. A native of Sofia, he is a veteran of two SofiMUNs and two dozen other conferences all around the world.
Konstantin has previously chaired the African Union at ScotMUN and directed a two-cabinet South China Sea Crisis in St Andrews, in addition to winning numerous awards as a delegate in committees such as the Security Council, DISEC and the Legal Committee. His MUN experience is primarily on topics regarding questions of international security and their implications for the international financial and legal systems, as well as dynamic crisis simulations.
In addition to MUN and international relations, his other academic interests include, but are not limited to macroeconomic theory, historical financial crises (such as the South Sea Bubble), and modern history. His hobbies include reading, calligraphy, writing epic poetry, and performing in the Victorian-era comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan.
He looks forward to returning to Sofia for what is certain to be another great conference!
Ms. Johanna Kresin (DE)
Chairperson of the United Nations Security Council
Johanna Kresin UN SC
Johanna Kresin, aged 21, was born and raised near Hamburg/ Germany. She is currently studying Political Sciences and Economics with focus on International Relations at the University of Erfurt. Besides speaking English and French she is currently learning Russian.
She started attending MUN conferences in December 2013 and got addicted right away, so that she participated in over ten conferences since, both as a delegate and a chair. Her most exciting experience so far was the representation of the Republic of Chad in the Security Council at NMUN New York in 2015. As Peace and Conflict Studies is her main field of interest, she is very much looking forward to preside over this year’s Security Council at SOFIMUN.
What she values most about MUN is the opportunity to exchange views with people from different nations, foster international understanding and friendships and by that overcome prejudices and mistrust.
Next to MUN she likes doing sports, playing the piano and watching films. But above all she enjoys travelling the world and getting to know new interesting people and cultures. Committed to intercultural exchange she is active member of AEGEE, a European student organization, and is tutoring the international students at her university. She is looking forward to meeting you all at SOFIMUN 2015!
Mr. Piotr Smitnik (PL)
Chairperson of the United Nations Human Rights Council
Piotr Smirnik UNHRC
Piotr is a student of law at University College London, having previously studied law at the Warsaw University (2012-14). He has been MUNing since 2012 and has chaired MUN committees in Poland, Belarus and in the United Kingdom. He takes particular interest in international law and international politics, with predominant focus on Eastern European affairs and influence thereof on the Western World. An active participant in the British MUN circuit, Piotr had the privilege of contributing to DurMUN in Durham, BathMUN (as chair) in Bath, LeedsMUN in Leeds, as well as MUNeX in Colchester (all in 2015). Also, he is involved in the student debating circuit in the UK and beyond, specializing in team debating.
Piotr is looking forward to leaving a positive and constructive mark on the conference. He is open to any questions regarding the MUN format, especially first-timers – the bigger the MUN family grows the more motivation and enthusiasm there is to keep holding conferences and cultivating the culture of MUN.
Outside MUN and academia, Piotr is a long-standing Wikipedia administrator as well as a published poet.
Ms. Yousra Shawki (EG)
Chairperson of the United Nations Human Rights Council
Yousra Shawki, UNHRC
Yousra is a 21 years old Egyptian graduate; she was born and raised in in Cairo and graduated from Modern Sciences and Arts University, Faculty of Management sciences while Majoring in Economics
She is very passionate about MUN as she participated in numerous local and international conferences; this will be her 10th MUN experience and the 1st SOFIMUN experience.
Aside from MUN, Yousra enjoys listening for different genres of Music and she loves traveling and exploring new countries; she also enjoys drawing especially doodling and Zentangle.
Yousra was the was secretary General for Arab League and Model United Nations in Cairo University this year and currently she works in a training company in Cairo called “Emmkan” that focuses on youth development and character building.
She is very excited to participate in SOFIMUN and she can’t wait to come to Bulgaria and meet you all!
Mr. Marko Simovski (MK)
Chairperson of the United Nations Economic and Social Council
Marko Simovski ECOSOC
Marko Simovski comes from Skopje, the capital of the Republic of Macedonia. He is in his final year of undergraduate studies at the University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius, Faculty of Economics, with focus on Foreign Trade.
For the past year and a half, Marko has been involved with Model United Nations, discovering his passion for international relations and debate. His MUN experience is comprised of 3 absolutely excellent conferences, , the London International Model United Nations 2014, the Oxford International Model United Nations 2014, and most recently, the London International Model United Nations 2015.
As a delegate at these three prestigious international conferences he has gained an extraordinary amount of experience, further developed crucial diplomatic skills, including but not limited to: negotiating and persuading, building blocks among countries, debating, defending an argument and public speaking. All of this broadens my interest in the field of international affairs, politics and of course, Model United Nations.
Marko’s favorite part of every conference is the networking. As a people oriented person, Marko makes his highest priority to create long term, life lasting bonds with the people he meets and works with during the conferences. Having a global mindset leaves you with no room for only local friends.
Ms. Anna Maria Urbanova (SK)
Chairperson of the United Nations Economic and Social Council
Anna Maria Urbanova ECOSOC
Anna Maria Urbanova finished the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program in Bratislava, capital of Slovakia, where her passion for Model United Nations began. Currently she is studying International European Law in the Hague, Netherlands with expected graduation date 2018.
At this point in time she is an active member of the International Law Student Association Chapter of the Hague University, being the main organiser and coordinator of the first event of International Law Discussion Panel organised by the Chapter. Besides her studies Anna Maria is passionate about current issues and is active participant when it comes to searching for solutions. An example from is a project “Fire up for folklore” aimed at younger generations which were drifting away from their roots and culture. She was both the initiator and organiser; and contributed to its publication in several mass media in the region where the project was aimed.
In 2012 she participated in Bratislava Model United Nations as an assistant chair to the Human Rights Committee and year later she became a chairperson herself. Chairing the committee with the topic of “The Permanent Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel“ made her more conscious about issues that were of importance, but seemingly ignored by the presence of more media-friendly topics.
As a young person passionate about International security, relations and law, Anna Maria is thrilled and honoured to attend SOFMUN 2015 where she hopes to meet more zealous participants while enjoying the top quality academic experience that SOFMUN offers.
Mr. Yavor Gochev (BG)
Chairperson for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
Yavor Gochev NATO
Yavor Gochev is a 4th year Business Management student at the University of Dundee, Scotland and hopefully, when the times come to meet all of you in Sofia in August, he will already have graduated his bachelors degree.
It is Yavor’s distinct honor and pleasure to be part of the chairing team of the SofiMUN 2015 conference, not only because he has heard great things about the team and the event itself, but because of the fact that this will actually be the first conference of such kind that he is part of in his home country. Being Bulgarian, Yavor has spent the last 4 years living in UK and has had the chance to take part (as a delegate and a chair) in a number of MEU, MUN and Model NATO conference all over Europe, but not even once in Bulgaria. Putting aside his interests in politics and business, Yavor is a motorsports aficionado, but not your usual Formula 1 fan. Before going to university, Yavor was a professional go-kart racing driver, now racing for the University of Dundee Formula Student team for more than 3 years and he holds an International Rally License.
Ms. Silvia Fiore (IT)
Chairperson for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
Silvia Fiore NATO
Silvia is a second-year-student at Bocconi University, major in International management. Her first MUN was MILMUN 2014 and from then on she fell in love with MUNs, in fact after about two months she joined SOFIMUN, where she met old and new friends. These experiences helped her build a huge network of great friends from all over the world, no matter what differences they might have.
From her point of view, this conference stands for a continuous challenge as well as a way to learn how to be proud of your achievements, while enriching your life in order to change your perspectives and to feel comfortable in diversity. That’s the reason why she is currently working in the tenth Executive Committee for MILMUN Conference.
Interested in Politics and International Affairs, she hopes to draw on this enthusiasm and make the best possible contribution to the Conference’s organization, she is honored to be part of SOFIMUN 2015!
She will spend the following four months in the lovely region of champagne, enjoying her exchange semester at Sciences Po in Reims, near Paris. She plays the piano since the age of 4. She loves Milan, even when it’s raining and when people push you in the street because they are in a rush, per usual. Since she grew up in a small town, the majesty of the city and its crowds are new for her.
Mr. Martin Dimitrov (BG)
Chief-editor of SOFIMUN News Network
Martin Dimitrov, Editor SNN
Martin Dimitrov will be the second editor at SOFIMUN, so those who want to join the conference as reporters will have to deal with him. He read Politics at the universities of Glasgow and Hong Kong, specializing in the fields of Central and East European studies and International Development, with special interest in the topics of policies for development, post-conflict state-building and refugee issues. Now he works as a politics journalist for the Bulgarian newspaper “Capital”, covering the opposition parties in parliament and the mishaps of the civil service. In terms of Model EU/UN experience, he has participated as a delegate at four conferences, including MEU Strasbourg 2011 and MUN Hong Kong 2013. Outside of the parliament and the editor’s office you can find him swing dancing, cycling or taking the train for a long weekend in the wild.