Board of Directors

Geneva is a graduate of both PPE at University of Oxford and GDL at University of London, and has been involved in debating since 2013. She was captain of the New Zealand team at WSDC in 2017, and while at university Geneva has reached the semi-finals at both WUDC and EUDC, and is also a former Head of Oxford Debating. As a judge Geneva has been CA of various university and school competitions across the world, including being DCA of WSDC 2021, WSDC 2023 and EUDC 2023 and CA of WSDC 2024 and EUDC 2024.

Matija is a graduate of University of Ljubljana. He has been involved with debate since 2014. He trains debaters, judges and teachers and has been a guest trainer at international academies all around the world. He has helped organise and run several debate competitions, most notably as a DCA of WSDC 2021, as the Chair of the Motions Committee in 2023 and as the CA of the inaugural European Schools Debating Championship in 2024.

Scott has been involved in WSDC since 2009, when he represented Team Scotland in Athens. Since then, he has been an adjudicator, coached the UAE and Scotland, been on the CAP, and was Chief Adjudicator in 2019. In addition to this he was on the Organisation Committee for Dundee 2011, as well as in other years the Motions Committee and Complaints Committee. He was also the Director for Public Speaking and Debating at the Oxford Union from 2010-11 and is a World Masters Universities Debating Champion.

Joshua Park has been a member of the WSDC community since 2004, when he first attended as the coach of Team Korea. Since then, he has attended the WSDC every year, and has served or has been appointed to almost all available positions—Convener, CA/CAP, Board of Directors, Executive Committee, Motions Committee, Complaints Committee/Officer, and Working Groups. Joshua has been actively involved with the university debating circuit since 2011, serving in the CAP, working on the Executive, judging, and/or advising at WUDC, Australs, Asian BP, UADC, and other major international tournaments. Outside of debating, Joshua serves as the Dean of SolBridge International School of Business in Daejeon, South Korea.

Kallina first attended WSDC in 2006 as an adjudicator, and has coached Team Greece since 2009. She was a member of the Athens WSDC 2009 core org com, and at university level of WUDC 2016 and EUDC 2019. She coordinates a 400-student speech & Debate programme for a school in Athens, and outside debate manages large-scale business conferences.

Jami is a Deputy Chief Adjudicator and a Motions Committee member of WSDC 2024. He is a 2x WSDC breaking jugde in 2022 and 2023. He was the 2nd Best EFL Speaker at WSDC 2020. Recently, Jami became a ESL Quarterfinalist at WUDC 2024. Jami has CAPed 25+ debating tournaments, and judged outrounds of 50+ debating tournaments. 

Elisha Owusu Akyaw was introduced to the World Schools Debate format in 2017 when he competed for Presbyterian Boys Secondary School, Legon, which led to him being selected for the Ghanaian National team for the following year. Elisha’s high school debating days paid off when he entered the university, where he made the Pan-African Universities Debate Championship in his first three months at the University of Ghana, Legon. Since then, Elisha has won the national championship and made the final of the Pan-African Championships again in 2022, where he won the best speaker award. In 2023, Elisha became one of the first African teams to make the WUDC ESL finals in Madrid. Elisha is currently the Coach of Ghana’s WSDC team and a member of the WSDC Board.

Joy Hadome is a Law graduate from Ambrose Alli University, Nigeria. She has been involved in debating since 2020 at University level. She adjudicated her first WSDC in 2021 and has continued to participate in other WSDCs and served on Complaints Committee at Vietnam WSDC 2023. Joy has been actively involved in the debate circuit including being on CAP at several BP and WSDC tournaments, served as an equity officer at several majors such as Vietnam WUDC 2024, Malaysia UADC 2023, Togo PAUDC 2023, Sydney AWGMDC 2023, Campbelltown Australs 2022 etc. Her devotion to debating has made her well-known within and outside the African continent.

Viren is a graduate of both the University of St Andrews (BSc Honours Economics) and King’s College, London (MA International Political Economy ), and has been involved in debating since 2014. Viren is the Director of Coaching of the Debaters’ Council of Sri Lanka and was the Head Coach of the Sri Lankan WSDC 2023 team. He Led the SL team to 7 consecutive Grand Finals at international competitions and won 3 (including Oldham Cup 2023 and Doxbridge 2023). Viren was awarded Honorary Life Membership from the University of St. Andrews Students’ Association. Viren was the Vice Convenor and Chief-Whip of the Union Debating Society (UDS) of the University of St. Andrews- one of the oldest English speaking debating societies in the world and was one of the first South Asians to be a Vice Convenor of the UDS.