meet the jury
Sofia Afanasjeva
European Parliament
Youth Outreach Coordinator
Sofia, born and raised in Tallinn, has found her home in the heart of Europe. Having spent her first years navigating Brussels as a project and policy officer in a youth organisation, since 2019, she has been working in the Youth Outreach Unit of the European Parliament. From organising the European Youth Event to coordinating the European Charlemagne Youth Prize, she is now responsible for Parliament’s outreach to youth organisations.
Robert Helm-Pleuger
Eurodesk
President
Robert Helm-Pleuger has been active in the field of International Youth Work since the early 1990s. In his starting year, he was active in the scout movement as a participant, youth leader and volunteer in youth exchanges worldwide. Since 2001, Robert Helm-Pleuger has been working for the International Youth Service of the Federal Republic of Germany – IJAB and for more than 20 years, he has been responsible as national coordinator for Eurodesk in Germany.
Simone Lepore
Erasmus Student Network
President
Simone is President of the Erasmus Student Network (ESN). He holds a binational Bachelor’s in Political Science and International Relations and a Master’s in International Development and Public Policy. He previously held various roles within ESN at local, national, and international levels, including in the Education Office of ESN Italy and as a Policy Intern at ESN’s headquarters. His work focuses on advancing internationalisation of higher education, improving access to mobility opportunities, and integrating student perspectives into policy and practice.
Mathieu Orphanides
European Commission
Team Manager
Mathieu Orphanides is a Cypriot national working for the European Commission. He joined the youth unit in DG EAC as Programme Manager for Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps. He is currently in charge of the Eurodesk network. He is leading the teams responsible for the development and the implementation of the DiscoverEU action, the European Youth Portal and the general coordination of all the events and in particular the Youth Policy Dialogues with the Commissioners and the European Youth Week.
Milosh Ristovski
European Youth Forum
Secretary General
Milosh is the current Secretary General of the European Youth Forum. He started his professional career in the Center for Intercultural Dialogue (CID) of North Macedonia, first as a programme coordinator and later as the executive director. On a European level, he also served as a project coordinator in Out of the Box (OTB) International and the Secretary General of the Young European Federalists (JEF) Europe. He is passionate about youth rights, education, digitalisation, innovation and European integration. Milosh is the first Secretary General of the Youth Forum coming from the Western Balkans since the Forum was established in 1996.