Leonie hails from the cross-border region of Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium. She has a master degree in European public policy and administration from Maastricht University and in International and European law from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. She has also lived in Budapest, Berlin and the Washington D.C. area.

Leonie has been active in JEF since the end of 2010, when JEF Netherlands was re-initiated. She was one of the co-founders of JEF Maastricht, has been active in many board positions in JEF Netherlands, ensuring that the organization would become a member section, and she stimulated inter-regional ties as one of the coordinators of the JEF Cross-Border Network. With her passion for communicating European politics and stimulating the political debate, Leonie has been active as Senior Vice-President for two mandates (2015 – 2019) and is full-time President since January 2020.

Michał was born in Poland and joined JEF Europe’s Secretariat after interning at the European Parliament and NATO as well as promoting human rights and youth civic engagement with several NGOs. Holding Master’s degrees in International Relations and Peace & Conflict Studies, he considers European integration the most successful peacebuilding process in history and is committed to taking it to the next level.

Théo Lecarpentier was born in France. He obtained two bachelor’s degrees related to sport sciences, during which he spent one year in Norway. He also holds a master’s degree in European Project Management. As part of his programme he interned the UNESCO WWAP Office in Perugia, Italy in which he worked on gender equality and water resources. He considers European Federalism as the most efficient way to tackle the biggest challenge of the humanity: climate change.
He is responsible of the 2020 Work Plan of Europe at School Programme: New Directives and works on the Youth SDGs project.

Alexandra was born in Munich, Germany and holds a Bachelor degree in Political Sciences and a Master degree in Intercultural Studies. Being involved in the Youth Peace Ambassadors campaign and working for the European Commission’s agency for education and culture made her passionate for European youth politics and active citizenship.

Alexandra is working on the administration of the daily finances of JEF Europe and is coordinating the Mindset project focusing on discrimination based on ethnic origin in cooperation with Euractiv. She is the coordinator of Next Chapter Europe – Youth voice on the Conference on the Future of Europe, organising local consultations and awareness raising events on the Conference on the Future of Europe for young people.

Elitsa Hadzhieva is a Political scientist from Ravda (Bulgaria). During her studies, she completed several internships in local and national governmental institutions like the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bulgaria and the Municipality of Nessebar. She is finishing her Masters in European Integration and Diplomacy in the EU with a master thesis on Youth policy-making and the EU Youth Dialogue.

Elitsa has been involved in volunteering and Civic society organisations from the age of 16 and she has been a member of AEGEE for 6 years where she has worked intensively on the European elections campaign of the organisation (Y Vote project) and in raising awareness on the topics of Gender Equality and Mental health (Europe on Track project). She has experience in several Erasmus+ European Youth Together projects (“My Europe. My Say”; “I Choose Europe”).

Elitsa has joined the European Secretariat of JEF Europe in February 2020 and she is currently the project officer of “Y-FED: Europe is what we make of it” and working on the European Youth foundation International Activity “GreenY: Environmental sustainability practices in youth organisations ” as well as project development and project applications.

Sean Ellul is a creative, Maltese youth, who has a passion for disruptive technologies and digital communications.

Having over eight years of experience in the youth field, Sean has been involved in multiple youth organisations and spaces; from the National Youth Council of Malta, to the Advisory Council on Youth of the Council of Europe. JEF Malta was one of the first organisations Sean joined in his first year of reading a Bachelors in European Studies with Communications, and has been a strong supporter of a federalist Europe ever since.

After finishing his Masters of Science in Risk Management, Sean began branching into the field of digital communications, due to its ever-increasing importance (and disruptiveness) in both the public & private sector, which eventually led to him to holding the Communication Officer position in the JEF Europe Secretariat.

Lorène was born in Bordeaux, France. She graduated with a Master’s degree in Political and Governance Studies at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium. She has been a member of JEF since 2015, volunteering at the local level, and was a member of the editorial board of The New Federalist. She previously worked in the think tanks and NGOs sector, and was a bluebook trainee at the European Commission.

Lorène is working on membership and engagement with JEF Europe’s sections, administrative tasks and project management support.

Rebecca is a Scottish, youth activist with a flair for critical and political theory, literature and writing.

After graduating with a joint degree in English Literature and French from the University of Glasgow, Rebecca moved to Brussels to complete a 1-year Blue Book traineeship at the European Commission’s Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA), working primarily on Youth Policy Reform and the Creative Europe Programme. With a budding interest in youth activism and political writing, she co-founded the youth-led, non-partisan think tank the Centre for Youth and International Studies, where she volunteers part-time as Chief Editor.

Rebecca joined the JEF team in April 2021 and is currently working on the implementation of the Y-FED: Europe is what we make of it project as a Project Management Intern.

Chiara was born in Bologna, Italy. In her final years of high school she developed a passion for politics and the EU. This brought about her motivation to obtain a degree in International Relations and Diplomatic Affairs. Following her Erasmus in Tallinn, Estonia, Chiara moved to Brussels where she is about to complete her Masters at the Institute for European Studies of the ULB. She has also been a member of JEF since 2016, volunteering at the local level in both Italy and in Belgium.

Her academic background, political activism and previous work experience as an intern in Project Management for an NGO, have all been driven by her interest in the civil dimension of European Affairs, with a focus on the promotion of active citizenship and youth engagement.

She joined JEF team in April 2021 and is currently working the implementation of the Next Chapter Europe – Youth voice on the Conference on the Future of Europe project and assisting the administration team.