70 Years

Kancho Stoychev is a pioneer in the field of social and political research, market and media research and transition political analysis in the Balkans. For over 30 years he is a distinguished political expert and consultant on local and international affairs.

He is actively involved in the integration process in EU. He participates in various think-thank initiatives and lectured in Berlin, Budapest, Sofia, George Washington Universities, etc. He is often cited on local, international, political and business issues in top international media like the BBC, Reuters, France Press, Deutsche Welle, FT, Bloomberg, etc. Stoychev pioneered the Eurobarometer studies in South Eastern Europe as well the famous World Value Study (University of Michigan).

For his overall professional achievements and dedicated work for the integration of Europe Mr. Stoychev have been awarded Chevalier dans l’Ordre National de Mérite by the President of the French Republic.

Stoychev works with Gallup International Association since 1990, during the period 2001 – 2017 he is a Board member and a Vice President and since May 2017 (the Conference in Athens) he is the newly elected President of Gallup International Association.

Michael Nitsche is an entrepreneur in the Marketing and Communications Industry in Austria with international experiences in Western und Central Eastern Europe. Owner and CEO of Das Österreichische Gallup Institut GmbH (Austrian Gallup Institute) and D.N.S. Advertising Agency in Vienna.

He started his professional career more than 30 years ago as an interviewer for the renowned Austrian Gallup Institute and was then promoted research executive.

He studied Business Administration at the WU Vienna University of Economics and Business and Political Science, Sociology and Media & Communication Science at the University of Vienna. After finishing the studies with a master degree he worked five years as a lecturer and research assistant at the Vienna University of Economics and Business.

As a CEO of international advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi in Vienna he has a significant contribution in making the agency one of the best performing agencies of the network. In these years he worked with major clients like P&G, Hewlett Packard, Audi, Bwin and Telekom Austria. Later he decided to leave Saatchi & Saatchi and started his own advertising agency D.N.S. Advertising.

2014 Michael Nitsche went back to his roots and acquired the Austrian Gallup Institute. He currently also writes his PhD thesis about brand strategies of universities.

Steven Kang is a professional market researcher and consultant with 30 years experience both in the client side and supply side of research business.

After he graduated from Yonsei University majored in Business Administration, he started his professional career in IBM Korea as a Marketing staff and experienced various positions including Market Research Advisor of Asia Pacific HQ in Hong Kong and Tokyo. Returning back to Korea as the Manager of Market Research, he established IT market information system for precise market estimates and competitive analysis by product and industry.

After he moved to Gallup Korea, the first professional research company in the country established in 1974, he took the lead and realized a large number of big scale multinational comparative research projects over 50 countries around the world by means of Gallup International network. Also, he extended his expertise to Social Research and Opinion Polling area as well as Marketing Research conducting and supervising more than a thousand research projects with renowned domestic and multinational corporations and public organizations. He also served as an advisory committee member for Seoul Business Agency of Seoul City in Research and Communication area. Currently he is the Director of International Operation of Gallup Korea.

Kang has worked with Gallup International Association since 1995 with various responsibilities including Auditor position and Regional Leader of Asia Pacific.

Johnny Heald started in the industry as in interviewer in the mid-80s and now runs ORB International in the UK.  He has worked in more than 45 countries around the world and counts his work in Iraq, Somalia and Syria as some of his greatest achievements. The overwhelming majority of his research is social and political opinion research with a focus on research throughout the Middle East and Africa. Many studies measure the performance and effect of products designed to drive behavior change.

His particular interests are in campaign evaluation, target audience analysis and wider social, political, and religious trends. Closer to home he has worked on the previous four UK general election campaigns.

He is a Vice President of the Gallup International Association, a post his father and previously head of Social Surveys (Gallup Poll) in the UK held some three decades ago.

Arwa is Operations Manager at the IIACSS Group.

She holds a MSc in Business Informatics – Software Technologies from the University of Applied Sciences in Stuttgart/Germany and a BSc in Computer Engineering from the German Jordanian University in Amman/Jordan. She has experience with more than 100 quantitative projects delivered successfully, responsible for all data processes including designing, scripting, quality control and direct supervision over project manager staff and technical support.

Luis Hernández holds a degree in Economics from the Complutense University of Madrid and began his career working in a multinational media company, developing the new technologies division and adapting innovative solutions to new ways of communicating.

In 2002 he co-founded Eurostar Mediagroup, a leading company in Spain in the areas of social research, TV production, IT solutions, and communication.

SIGMA DOS, a pioneering social research company in Spain, is part of Eurostar Mediagroup whose social and political research studies and work are regularly featured in Spanish media. As SIGMA DOS CEO, Luis Hernández has managed relevant national and international research projects for public institutions and private companies from Europe, Latin America, and Africa.

Currently, he is Board Member of Insights + Analytics Spain Association and member of the Spanish Television Academy.

CEO Novus Group International AB (since 2011)
Chairman of the Board: Gallup Nordic AB
Member of the board: Novus Group International AB

Relevant other engagements
Vice president EAPC (European Political Consultant)
Communication consultant of the year (2015 Sweden)
Research published in Nature 2022
Speaker, writer, political opinion commenter, Novus political analyst, regularly commenting in news media: TV, Radio, Newspapers. Have worked with all major news outlets in Sweden.
Lecturer in survey methodologies and actively contributed to most Swedish news media’s checklists to validate reliable research as a basis for news coverage.

Active Member in:
ESOMAR, AAPOR, WAPOR, EAPC

Education
M.Sc.SE (Master of Science Software Engineering)

Pascal has occupied several leadership positions in the opinion polling and market research industry in the last 20 years. He was notably been in charge of running the Eurobarometer from 2000 till 2018. Pascal has a profound knowledge of all European Institutions, their organisation and their policies. He has a working experience with the European Commission, the European Parliament, the European Central Bank, The European Investment Bank, EBRD, EUROFOUND, EFSA, the World Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development to name a few. He is recognised as a Leading expert in International Research and has contributed to several Scientific Research programs in Political and Social Science in Europe. During his career, he provided advice and consultancy to build cross-national research instruments for several International Institutions amongst which: The Enterprise Survey of the World Bank, The ECB framework for quantitative and qualitative research, The EU Neighbourhood Barometer. As the new Managing Director of the European Region for Gallup International he will help strengthen Gallup International’s  European position as a leading institution in International Political and Social Research.

Dr. Munqith Dagher conducted Iraq’s first-ever public opinion poll and since that time has been responsible for undertaking 1,500,000+ interviews for a range of agencies and topics.  Munqith came up with idea of creating IIACSS back in 2003 while he was a Professor of Public Administration/ Strategic Management at Baghdad University.   He has managed more than 800 public opinion and various market research projects.  He has lectured widely and published several articles and books in different countries in the world.  Due to his wide experience and intense research, Munqith become one of the most cited and referenced source in public opinion in Iraq and Arab world. In 2007 he expanded his research base by completing a program on the Principles of Marketing Research, at the University of Georgia, in the US, models.

On June 16th 2015, he awarded the Ginny Valentine Badge of Courage for Bravery in keeping research alive in multiple conflict zones from the Research Liberation Front.

In 2017 Munqith was nominated Regional Director MENA at the Board of Gallup International Association, in charge of Middle East and North Africa Region.

Munqith holds a Ph.D. in Public Administration from the University of Baghdad, College of Administration and Economics and Master degree in war sciences. He was professor of public administration and strategic management in Baghdad, Basrah and National defense universities.