Viktoria Tomova

Experience

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  The University of Sheffield

  Sept 2017 - Jun 2018

  • Actively developed my professional insight by participating in the University of Sheffield Alumni eMentoring scheme;• Explored my options beyond graduation, gained valuable knowledge about the world of work, and developed my understanding of application andrecruitment processes;• Took a lead in setting personal development objectives and scheduling communication with my mentor;• Produced a reflective report about my mentoring experience, and assisted the Careers Service in evaluating the scheme itself, so that it can be developed to support future participants effectively. Show less • Successfully completed the University's Skill Buil Award, with a focus on employability;• Enhanced my understanding of business and how to get my ideas off the ground;• Learnt how to act in the fast-changing and ever-growing sphere of innovation by adjusting my ideas to the current business, social and political context;• Organised a project, wrote an investment-seeking strategy and built an advertising and communication plan;• Attended 10 employability lectures and completed an enterprise assignment, requiring to investigate the nature of enterprise itself and reflect upon my own knowledge of the subject. Show less

  • Mentee on Careers Service Mentoring Scheme

    Sept 2017 - Jun 2018

  • Skill Build Award (Employability Focus)

    Sept 2017 - May 2018
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  UNICEF on Campus Sheffield

  Sept 2018 - May 2019

  Campaigns and Volunteering Coordinator

  • Elected to the role by the society members and the previous committee board based on my strong motivation to be part of a society promoting the values of an international organisation aiming to support children around the world;• Maintained the social media accounts of the society delligently;• Attracted new members through social media campaigns and good networking skills;• Led online campaign on 'Keeping Refugee Families Together' which secured 200 signatures on the petition;• Developed good campaign and marketing skills on training ran by UNICEF UK in Manchester and London;• Coordinated and supported a group of volunteers by organising volunteering opportunities, delivering key information, managing with any last-minute changes and evaluating feedback;• Fundraised £250 by running a Talent Show for supporting the children in Yemen impacted by the crisis;• Gained international experience by working with people with different cultural background;• Got insight into how a role in international development would look like;• Successfully managed the running of the society as part of the committee;• Attracted new members through social media campaigns and good networking skills;• Developed good campaign and marketing skills on trainings organised by UNICEF UK in London and Manchester;• Produced reports and reflective forms about the work of the society;• Assisted new members with adapting to the aims and objectives of the society;• Organised a panel discussion as part of a campaign on Air Pollution which attracted 40 people;• Held an interactive lecture on 'Healthy life' for children which resulted in positive feedback from guests. Show less

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  The University of Sheffield

  Sept 2018 - May 2020

  • I showed great enthusiasm in providing support for fellow students as I wanted to help others to develop their skills and improve their experience whilst at the University of Sheffield;• Supported new students throughout their transition to University Life, providing relevant information and advice in order to secure their positive experience;• Organised meetings with my mentees and ensured they are adapting well to the new surrounding;• Demonstrated responsibility and reliability when organising activities with my mentees;• Seeing someone improve makes me feel happy and satisfied which is why I always seek opportunities to proactively encourage others to make use of the resources available to them and develop their potential further. Show less • Engaged with the academic life at the University by representing the voice of the students to a higher administrative level to improve the teaching and learning experience at class. • Rpresented the views of fellow students on formal and informal discussion sessions with the Politics Department;• Showed good skills in communication and negotiation on a number of departmental committee meetings;• Completed an initial training course to support the role. Further training was also offered by the Students' Union, including sessions on public speaking, chairing meetings and being effective in meetings;• Submitted written updates to the Students' Union, detailing meetings I have attended and my experiences and contributions. Show less • Utilised the knowledge I had of the University, the campus and the city to support new-coming students.• Organised Meet and Greet sessions for new students and supported them by providing help and useful information according to their needs;• Delivered campus tours to students and their families and approached each group in an appropriate manner;• Ensured that events are run by schedule; • Ran social, culturally sensitive and friendly, activities such as workshops, Icebreakers, social cafes, thematic nights;• Maintained an enjoyable and positive environment;• Comforted students to get involved and socialise;• Demonstrated creativity and problem-solving skills by creating opportunities for participants to get more engaged with the on-going activities and to share their feelings and thoughts; • Received training in teambuilding, University services and communication skills in order to perform the role.• As a result of my work, I was nominated for a Student Employee of the Year Awards 2019 Show less

  • Student Mentor

    Sept 2018 - May 2020

  • Academic Course Representative

    Sept 2017 - May 2020

  • Student Ambassador

    Sept 2018 - May 2019
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  AEGEE / European Students'​ Forum

  Sept 2019 - May 2020

  Public Relations Coordinator at AEGEE Sheffield

  • As a Public Relations officer in AEGEE- Sheffield, I benefited from numerous opportunities to expand my knowledge on social media publicity and campaigning as well as to improve the level of my communication skills.• Managed the social media account of the society on Facebook, Instagram and the website (e.g. drafting and posting publications, building and implementing communications strategy);• Learnt how to create clear and catchy media content and how to use content-creating tools like Canva.• My work increased the society's social media presence and broadened our audience with 40%;• Worked effectively in an international team by promoting equality, diversity and inclusion;• Built communication strategy for our activities and established connections with other societies for collaborative and advertising purposes;• Managed an exchange programme with 30 students from Tilburg, led a workshop on BREXIT and ran a European cultural night in collaboration with the national societies at the University;• Evaluated and voted on proposals, constitution amendments, candidacies for key roles in the organisation as a delegate to the general assembly of the European Students' Forum in Salerno, Italy;• Planned and ran events - booked venues, advertised events, filled out administrative forms, led meetings;• Demonstrated excellent organising skills by managing the information about the financial status of the society and keeping the bank accounts up-to-date and transparent. Show less

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  Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS)

  Nov 2019 - Nov 2019

  Insight Day at BEIS

  I attended an insight day at BEIS through which experience I developed a better understanding of the role of civil servant and how the department works. I demonstrated good communication and oral skills in a group discussion aimed at creating a communication and action strategy for a mock scenario. For instance, I actively engaged with constructing an activities plan by showing critical thinking in evaluating the different options that were suggested. My comments were positively accepted by the group and the official supervisor. I also showed initiative by suggesting to present my group's plan which presentation was quite successful as marked by the department's officials attending the event. Show less

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  Tickets for Good

  Jul 2020 - Sept 2020

  Research Intern

  • Completed a distant summer internship aiming to support those in most need across society by building a bridge between the ticket industry and charity work and social projects;• Conducted research, trend and priorities analysis and recommended courses of action based on findings and provided inputs for the development of strategies and approaches in light of the COVID pandemic;• Drafted policy briefs and reports;• Liaised with colleagues and partners of the organisation to define priorities and plan actions;• Built a consultation process and designed survey questionnaires, analysed results data and produced recommendations;• Identified strategic opportunities for the organisation and proactively built recommendations for programme development, which later became the biggest project of the organisation - social prescribing as a solution to social inequalities;• Created presentations for stakeholders, and designed visual and written content for public communication;• Proactively created an intersectional analysis of academic research and state policies on accessibility to mental health support and government healthcare programmes. This allowed me to support the organisation in developing well-informed, representative messages and framings on this topic. As a result, I published an opinion piece with the Digital Health London magazine that brought higher visibility to the organisation and placed it as a key stakeholder in the political debate on social prescribing. Show less

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  The University of Sheffield

  Aug 2020 - Sept 2020

  Leadership: The Boardroom Programme

  • Selected from over 130 applications to develop leadership skills by attending exclusive online masterclasses where successful alumni from around the world speak about the path of leadership, entrepreneurship and global innovation;• Engaged with alumni and other participants to create supportive and motivating relationships that make it possible for us to grow together by learning from each other;• Learnt from Ann Cairns, Alison Kay and Penelope Hughes about diversifying the workplace and managing our personal biases;• Gained insight into female leadership through examples of how to best interact with others and ways to implement diversity;• Engaged with the content to develop a higher level of self-awareness which allows me to evaluate better my skills and experience;• Key takeaways:1) Celebrate mistakes and learn from them;2) To be successful, you can never stop learning;3) Make use of mentorship and sponsorship to get advice and support. Show less

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  St Andrews Foreign Affairs Review

  Sept 2020 - May 2021

  International Relations Analyst

  • Developed and evaluated issues and initiatives through the study of international policy and standards, overseas developments, and reports;• Drafted in-depth analyses of assigned issues at the national, regional, and global levels;• Conducted independent research that is both quantitative and qualitative in nature;• Translated complex political and socioeconomic information into clear, concise messages for the general public.

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  De Re Militari

  Sept 2020 - now

  • Co-founded an NGO in Bulgaria to tackle political disinformation and misinformation.• Produce and publish news briefs, longer political analyses and a peer-to-peer reviewed academic journal.• Build connections with broader coalitions, including journalists, human rights defenders and universities nationally and regionally.• Run awareness-raising campaigns and give training to young people on how to address mis- and disinformation and protect their privacy and safety online. Show less

  • Co-Founder

    Apr 2021 - now

  • Analyst

    Sept 2020 - now
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  European Digital Rights

  Oct 2020 - now

  • Promoted to a senior position twice in 3 years (intern - junior - officer) due to my professional competence, great teamwork relationships and a results-driven attitude.• Coordinate cross-team work between the policy, and fundraising teams with the communications and campaigns team.• Build and implement communication and campaign advocacy strategies to influence EU policymakers.• Lead the organisation's narrative and framing formation on AI, political advertising online, state surveillance, encryption, platform power and AdTech, biometric tech, gender-based violence online, and disinformation.• Transform and tailor complex policy, legal, tech and academic language on digital rights into accessible, inclusive and relatable content to engage key stakeholders (policymakers, media, civil society, general public).• Successfully managed a project on storytelling for digital rights, enabling the general public to engage with a positive, collective vision of a future in which the digital rights of all are protected.•Develop a stories- and testimonies-based approach to public communication, ensuring the voice of especially marginalised groups is amplified in the digital rights field.• Manage strategic engagement with press and other media, as well as broader communication with partners.• Co-work with Digital Freedom Fund's team on building a communication strategy and producing public-facing outputs on the decolonising digital rights process.• Expand and diversify the organisation's reach to existing and new audiences using free and open-source tools.• Use a narrative-based approach to visualise monitoring and evaluation learnings of media and communication work.• Coordinate the drafting, producing, design and launch of publications like Annual Reports, policy papers, open letters, booklets, and explainers.• Draft and edit content (press releases, mailings, blogposts, social media, op-eds, quotes, press pitches, website content). Show less • Drafted and implemented a communications strategy that resulted in an increase of over 20,000 new followers across the organisation’s online channels.• Identified needed adjustments to my role’s objectives and responsibilities to address the lack of capacity and resources in the organisation.• Recognised the need for coordination of the communications work in the network and created a working group with the communications and campaigns experts from the network, allowing for knowledge exchange and amplification of the membership’s policy work.• Coordinated and liaised with key stakeholders like members, external consultants, researchers, policy advisors and press.• Drafted and edited press releases, website content, and social media content.• Ensured that communications outputs are coordinated with the policy and fundraising teams, following set timelines and the organisation's DARCI strucutre.• Developed the Annual Report of the organisation based on the membership performance, individual reports, news coverage and EU and national legislative changes evaluated against the network’s 4-year strategy.• Took the initiative to map key experts in the public space on technology and digital rights and established long-lasting relationships to support the organisation’s coalition efforts. Show less • Drafted and coordinated a weekly policy report to inform the organisation’s 50+ NGO members about current tech and digital policy developments in the EU.• Followed and tracked the work of the membership across Europe and coordinated a biweekly publication of the main national and EU-wide policy and advocacy updates.• Initiated an evaluation of the organisation’s public communications structure and strategy, resulting in better prioritisation of media channels and higher reach and engagement of key stakeholders.• Monitored and evaluated the organisation’s communications and campaign indicators to advise on best practices and implement concrete improvements.• Ensured content visibility on social networks.• Maintained press and media relations.• Drafted and edited written content. • Produced visual and audiovisual materials, and designed events and projects visual IDs.• Updated website content and liaised with web developers to improve user experience and Wesbite structure (WordPress)• Coordinated the publication and dissemination process of policy papers, open letters, PRs and statements.• Maintained a database of contacts and used statistics analysis for MEL.• Participated in public awareness campaigns.• Evaluated the impact of the organisation's communications. Show less

  • Communications and Media Officer

    May 2022 - now

  • Junior Communications Officer

    Aug 2021 - May 2022

  • Communications Intern

    Oct 2020 - Jul 2021
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  The OpEd Project

  Sept 2023 - Jun 2024

  Public Voices Fellow

  • Successfully selected to be one of the 20 fellows for a year-long training programme after completing a competitive application process;• Recognition by Women in AI Ethics in their selection of “Rising Stars in AI Ethics 2024”;• Learning how to prioritise a diversity of female voices and champion them as experts with knowledge and perspectives that are necessary to hear in the media;• Establishing strong relationships with diverse thought leaders from across the USA and Europe, working on the intersection of social justice and technology;• Developing my op-ed writing skills and building relationship with high-level journalists;• Applying intense training in practice to get innovative perspectives and solutions to shape public conversations in the media, and accelerate gender parity and forge an equitable future for all women and girls. Show less