Our Staff

Francesco Diasio


AMARC Europe Regional Coordinator

Francesco Diasio was born in Italy. After obtaining a degree in Political Science in 1992 and a Master Degree in International Affairs, he started working as a journalist for Radio Città Futura  – Popolare Network, a community FM radio station based in Rome. During the years 1994 and 1995 he worked as editor in the daily news program Immi-news, focused on migrant’s issues. After a few months experience at Spectrum Radio, London, he became in 1997 chief editor in Radio Città Futura. In 1998 he established AMISnet Multimedia Agency for Social Information, a web based radio agency providing content and journalistic productions in ‘ready to broadcast’ audio formats to a network of around 25 Italian independent radios. From 1998 to 2000,  he was elected in the Board of Directors of the European branch of AMARC, World Association of Community Radios, where he has been responsible for projects and campaigns. From 2000 to 2006 he worked in several projects for media and civil society  reinforcement in Middle East (mainly in Jordan 2000/2002, technical and journalistic set up of Ammannet radio project and Palestine 2003/2006, Med Hebron, community media canter in Hebron). In 2004 he was one of the founding members of the Community Media Forum Europe, a platform involved in national and European political lobbying for the complete acknowledgement and promotion of the community media sector, as a basic element of a democratic and pluralistic environment. Since 2005, as a follow up of the United Nations World Summit on Information Society, he is involved in the IFEX Tunisia Monitoring Group for the defence of freedom of speech and freedom of expression in Tunisia. IFEX head of mission in Tunisia in 2007, during the same year he was the founder of Med Info Radio (MIR, means “peace” in many languages), the first all news satellite radio channel gathering news and supporting freedom of expression in the Mediterranean basin. From 2006 to 2009 he was consultant for the French Institut Panos Paris and the Swiss Fondation Hirondelle for the technical and journalistic reinforcement of 34 community radios in Democratic Republic of Congo (Kisangani, Bukavu, Lumumbashi, Mbuji Mayi, Mwene Ditu, Kolwesi, Boma). In 2006 he has been appointed as Secretary General of Amarc – Europe (regional branch of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters). In 2010 he led the first emergency team of AMARC after the earthquake in Haiti. In 2010 and 2011 consultant for IMS – International Media Support for the development of the independent radio sector in Pakistan, and for advice on the technical set up of the Somali refugee radio stationin the Daabab camp, Kenya. From 2011 to 2016, he worked for the technical and political reinforcement of Tunisian community radio movement.  In 2012 he worked for the set up of the independent radio channel, Radio al Hurra in Libya. In 2012/2013 consultant for the UK based NGO Community Media Solutions to reinforce the community media sector in Tunisia and Libya. 

Since June 2014 he’s covering the position of  Secretary General of AMARC International.

In 2016 and 2017 he assessed on behalf of Unesco the media system in Jordan (technical consultant for the support of independent broadcasters and Universities with media labs) and in Mauritania (IDM indicators and media development in the country). In 2017 and 2018 he supported the Italian NGO Un ponte Per for the set up of 2 community radios in Iraqi Kurdistan (Erbil and the Arbat refugee camp, Suleymania). 

Speaker and panelist in many international conferences about freedom of expression and pluralism, he was also lecturer about Community Media at the Universities of Rome, Milan and Padova. Publications on different Italian national newspapers and academic magazines. He speaks six languages (Italian, French, English, Spanish, Polish, Flemish) and he manages a very basic communication in a seventh language (Arabic). At the International level, the activities are currently mainly related to the full political acknowledgement of the community media sector as a basic element of pluralism and democracy, digital switch over debate, promotion of cultural diversity and minority cultures through community media, networking, lobby and relationships with policy makers and International Institutions (i.e. European Parliament, Council of Europe, National regulatory authorities, UN agencies i.e. FAO, Unesco, UnWomen, ITU, public service representatives i.e. URTI, EBU, COPEAM). 

Phone: (+32) 484 309 822
E-Mail: contact@amarceurope.eu

Alexander Vojvoda


AMARC Europe Project Coordinator

Alexander is community media activist, community developer and journalism trainer. He holds a MSc in Sociology of the Johannes Kepler University in Linz (AUT) and a MA in Political Communication of the Goldsmiths College in London (UK). From 1999 he has volunteered as program producer for Radio FRO (Linz/Austria). In 2008 he has joined the Radio FRO staff as training coordinator and after took over the programme and project department. In 2014 he has joined the Civil Peace Service and collaborated with a community media network in Cameroon on the role of community media in armed conflicts. Since 2019 he is project coordinator at AMARC Europe. 

Alexander collaborated with the Council of Europe on anti-discriminative and inclusive media production, the ARS Electronica Art Festival in participation in community media, Festival of the Regions et al. He was member of the board of Radio Orange 94.0 (Vienna/Austria) and the Federation of Austrian Community Radios (VFRÖ).

Phone: (+43) 650 377 50 50
E-Mail: contact@amarceurope.eu

Mariacristina Sciannamblo


AMARC Europe Researcher and Communication Officer

I am a researcher working at the intersection of Science and Technology Studies, Feminist Technoscience, and Participatory Design. Currently, I work in the European H2020 project Grassroots Radio. Previously, I worked in the European H2020 project Commonfare. I received a PhD in Sociology and Applied Social Sciences from Sapienza University of Rome.

E-Mail: contact@amarceurope.eu