Ulrik Haagerup is the founder and CEO of Constructive Institute. He is member of the advisory boards of People’s University in Denmark, Bolius and Dalberg Global Media.
For 10 years he was the Executive Director of News at the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, Denmark’s public service broadcaster. He was previously Editor-in-Chief at NORDJYSKE Media from 2002 to 2007, Editor-in-Chief at the national daily Jyllands-Posten from 1994 to 2002 and an investigative reporter the same place from 1986 to 1991.

He graduated as a journalist from The Danish School of Journalism in 1986, and his journalism education includes being a John S. Knight Fellow at Stanford University, in addition to furthering his education at INSEAD, IMD, the Stanford Research Institute and the Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania. He won the Danish version of the Pulitzer, The Cavling Prize in 1990. He is awarded the knighthood of Dannebrog by Danish Queen Margrethe.

Cynara Vetch is Project Lead for international projects and partnerships. Previously she worked for over a decade with international news broadcasters including Al Jazeera, BBC and CCTV Africa in the Middle East and Africa. She also led media development projects using media programmes to both inform and entertain.

Cynara’s background is in journalism innovation, looking for new and better ways to reach and hear under served audiences. She has an Erasmus masters in Journalism, Media and Globalisation.

Orla Borg has been head of the Fellowship Program of Constructive Institute since the opening in 2017, organizing the teaching in constructive journalism, both at the institute and at workshop for media in Denmark and internationally. Before that he held positions as head of reportage and investigative journalist at Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten.

Orla graduated from The Danish School of Media and Journalism in 1989. In the same year he started working as a reporter at the Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten, covering politics, integration and social issues. For 10 years he was part of the paper’s investigative team. He has been awarded with The European Press Price, EU’s Anti-discrimination prize and the annual prize from the Organization of Investigative Journalists in Denmark.

Peter Damgaard Kristensen, MSc Political Science, CFOO (Finance and Operations), Constructive Institute. Peter is overseeing and co-developing a number of CI’s development projects.

He has previously worked in the university sector and has extensive experience in project management, public affairs and policy advice. Furthermore, he has worked as a consultant on various large scale research applications and has helped develop the scopes and frameworks for several research projects.

Gustav Aarup Lauridsen is Data Analyst at Constructive Institute and has previously worked as a Research Assistant at Aarhus University. At Constructive Institute, Gustav is involved in the Constructive Institute News Lab, where he works on developing complex AI algorithms capable of automatically detecting constructive news.

Gustav is studying a masters in Neuroscience at Humboldt University, Berlin, and has a lot of experience with natural language processing, machine learning and big data. He has developed multiple natural language processing tools for Danish and used his skills with different research projects before joining the institute.

Jesper Himmelstrup is running our Youth- and Democracy-Project focusing on how we can encourage The Next Generation to take part in our Democracy through Better Listening and Participating in our Public Conversation in a more Constructive way.

Jesper Himmelstrup has 20 years of experience as a journalist. He has been working 10 years as a news reporter at the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, as an editor at the Ministry of the Environment, teaching at the Danish School of Journalism – and teaching the journalism-students at Krogerup Folk High School from 2013-2022. He was a fellow at the Constructive Institute 2022-2023.

Sonja Morell Lundorff is a project assistant at Constructive Institute where she is working at the Youth- and Democracy-Project focusing on planning, developing and facilitating workshops that encourage The Next Generation to take part in our Democracy and in the Public Conversation in a more Constructive way.

Sonja has a master’s in Analytical Journalism from Aarhus University and has written her thesis on Youth, Media and Democracy. She has years of experience with teaching children and young people and has extensive knowledge on youth engagement and participation. She took her bachelor’s in Religious Studies at Copenhagen University during which she worked at the daily newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad.

Johan Horsmans is a member of the data analyst team at Constructive Institute. Previously, he worked as a research assistant at Aarhus University, and currently, he is doing his internship at the Constructive Institute News Lab, where he works on developing complex AI algorithms capable of automatically detecting constructive news.

Johan is currently taking a master’s in Cognitive Science at Aarhus University. Through his education, he possesses extensive knowledge about machine learning, complex language models, and explainable AI. Before joining the institute, Johan has done extensive work on using natural language processing to automatically detect hate speech on social media.

Simon is the MSc Management Accounting, CFO at Constructive Institute. Simon drives the financial agenda including planning and reporting.

Simon is a financial and commercial generalist working with start-ups and in the corporate world. He has studied at Aarhus University, London School of Economics, San Diego State University and Lehigh University. He has worked in LEGO including several years abroad and is currently working for CI as an external while running a management consulting business.