Ivan Ivanov is the Executive Director of the European Roma Information Office (ERIO).
Previously as an Attorney for the Budapest-based European Roma Rights Center, Ivan Ivanov was involved for five years in the research and building the legal strategy of ground-braking civil rights cases filed with the European Court of Human Rights and the domestic courts of several countries in Central and Eastern Europe. From 1996 to 1998 he served as a legal adviser for the Human Rights Project a national human rights and legal defense organisation based in Sofia, Bulgaria. In this period Ivan Ivanov spearheaded the development of a number of strategic litigation cases and key advocacy initiatives.
Ivan Ivanov holds degrees in medicine and law. In 1999-2000 he was a visiting scholar at the Law School of Columbia University in New York, where he specialized in international human rights and anti-discrimination law. He has a number of publications focusing on issues related to discrimination and access to education and health care. He is fluent in Romanes,English, Bulgarian, Russian and Turkish.

e-mai: ivan.ivanov@erionet.eu

Angel has experience in management and administration and prior to joining the ERIO team in January 2011, he worked as adjunct administrative assistant at the social department of "Jan Palfijn" hospital in Gent and as administrative assistant for the provincial domain "Puyenbroeck" region Gent. Angel holds degrees in English and Theology and since September 2009 follows a Master’s program in practical and business psychology at University of Gent. He worked as consultant for the "Refugee Support Organisation" - Sint-Niklaas in developing integration strategies for all minority groups in the province of East –Flanders. He works hard on the problems of Roma integration and Roma issues since 1996. He is fluent in Romanes,Bulgarian, English, Dutch and Russian.

e-mail:office@erionet.eu, angel.ekov@erionet.eu

Marta Pinto joined ERIO in November 2010 as a Policy Officer. Prior to joining ERIO, she worked as a researcher and administrator in the HR sector in London for four years. In the past, she worked as a volunteer for almost three years for the charity Age Concern (London).

Marta holds a PhD in Education Research from King’s College London. Her thesis explores young people’s constructions of European identities in state and European schools in Belgium, England and Luxembourg. She also gained an MSc in Social Identities at London South Bank University and a BSc in Psychology at London Guildhall University. She is fluent in Portuguese, English, French and Spanish.


email: marta.pinto@erionet.eu

Since November 2011, Lien Bauwens works for ERIO as project coordinator. She holds a Master’s Degree from the Free University in Brussels on History with a specialization in contemporary labour history. Her Master thesis focused on the subject of child labour in Belgium around 1900. Following her studies in History, she completed another Master program on International Relations and Geopolitics in the Institute for Political Science (IEP) in Toulouse, France. Prior to joining ERIO, Lien worked as an intern and then as an assistant at the European Parliament. Furthermore, she completed an internship at the Permanent Representation of Belgium to the United Nations in New York and she worked for the NGO Doctors of the World. She is fluent in Dutch, English and French.


e-mail: lien.bauwens@erionet.eu