Course Directors

The CCIC will always ensure that there are never more than 2.5 students per teacher. As Course working languages vary with demand, the teaching faculty is made up of highly experienced and respected conference interpreters from the following pool of volunteers:

Christopher Guichot de Fortis (A-EN, B-FR, C-ES) M.A. (Cantab); PDLS; BACI; M.A. in Conference Interpretation (University of Bath); AIIC, has had an eclectic life.

At 18 he briefly played professional tennis, then began competing as an amateur rally driver. He obtained BA and MA degrees from St. John’s College, Cambridge, going on to serve 9 years in the British police.

In 1988 he began a staff interpreting career at NATO Headquarters, becoming Senior Interpreter (servicing inter alia 400 committees at all levels, and countless Ministerial and 14 HOSG Summit meetings) and running NATO’s recruitment tests and practice programme for 10 years.

He has also organized volunteer interpreting teams for several NGOs, trained and worked for 15 years as an ambulance paramedic, and founded a refugee social and legal service, “l’Olivier 1996”.

He has taught, examined and lectured at over a dozen interpreting schools in Belgium, France, the USA, the UK, the Czech Republic, Germany and Mexico, has taught for AIIC in France and Germany, and currently chairs the Belgian AIIC Network of Trainers (BANT). Chris was for several years a member of the Geneva International Model United Nations teaching team, and has spoken during every edition of the #TerpSummit. He began teaching on the CCIC in 1991, and has been its co-director since 2002.

Recently retired, he now freelances and spends much of his time training Master’s students and providing specialized and targeted individual CPD coaching to (primarily) young interpreters in many countries. He continues to run and develop the “L’Olivier 1996” registered charity, and to compete regularly and successfully in regional and international level motorsport rallies.

Julia Poger (A-EN, B-RU, C-FR), M.A.C.I. (MIIS); ATA; AIIC, has been a freelance interpreter for over 30 years. As a long-time bi-active contractor with the U.S. State Department, she worked at Presidential and Cabinet levels.

In Europe she has freelanced for the OECD, the UN family of organizations, the Council of Europe, the World Bank, and the private market. She has helped negotiate business deals, drafted legislation, argued arbitration cases, built nuclear power plants, gone on fact-finding missions, and put on a show.

She has been invited to train, speak, or examine both novice and experienced interpreters in schools and venues in 7 countries, including her alma mater.

She is a proud member of the International Association of Conference Interpreters, and is a member of the Belgian AIIC Network of Trainers (BANT), and the AIIC Social Media Committee (LinkedIn).

She has been co-director of the Cambridge Conference Interpretation Course since 2002. If all that weren’t keeping her busy enough, she also runs Know Your Worth: a seminar by Julia Poger, training interpreters in marketing and negotiating skills.

Marie-Jeanne (MJ) Vanleynseele (A-FR, B-EN, C-DE), M.A. in Conference Interpreting (ISTI, Brussels), Post-Graduate Diploma in Conference Interpreting (University of Manchester), SFT, AIIC; has been working as a freelance interpreter on the Parisian market since 2018. She is a member of the AIIC France VEGA Mentoring scheme.

She has taught simultaneous and consecutive interpreting from EN and DE into FR at the ULB in Belgium.  Interested in a vast array of topics, she specializes in human rights and in counter-terrorism.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, she oversaw the smooth running of online multilingual meetings for international organisations, remotely liaising with technicians and interpreters, and was a co-administrator of the Paris Interpreters Practice Sessions (PIPS) for qualified interpreters wishing to hone their skills through deliberate practice.

MJ has been part of the CCIC team since 2017 and heads the CCIC Succession Team, aiming at taking over the administration of this Course, with a view to running it in the future.

Eva Bodor (A-DE, C-EN, C-NL, C-HU); B.A., University of Vienna (Austria) Institute of Translating and Interpreting; cand.iur. University of Amsterdam (Netherlands); NGTV, AIIC, was born in Budapest, grew up in Vienna, and lives in The Hague. She studied interpreting at the University of Vienna (Austria) and law at the University of Amsterdam (Netherlands). During a long family break, she followed her husband twice around the globe, studying law and business in Leyden, Durban, and Baltimore.

Around the fall of the Berlin Wall, she resumed her professional career as an interpreter, accompanying German delegations to the US Senate, State Department, Pentagon and White House. After Hungary joined the EU, she was invited to sit the FL test for the European Institutions, where she worked almost exclusively until (and beyond) her official retirement age.
Since moving to The Hague, she has worked as an FL for all the International Courts and Tribunals seated there. Eva works at the highest political and diplomatic level and in the private market.

Eva is a member of the Cooperative Society Congrestolken in Amsterdam and has served on their board. After joining AIIC in 2003, she has been active in various capacities: Council Member for the Netherlands, 2006-2012; Vice-President, 2009-2012; Budget Committee, 2012-2020; Disciplinary and Dispute Resolution Committee (chair), 2020-2025.

Alessandra Bonatti Harabin (A – SPA / IT, B – ENG, C – FR), MA, University of Florence, School of Higher Studies in Interpretation and Translation, Conference Interpreter, member of AIIC since 1991, was born in Johannesburg, her family moving to Mexico when she was 2. She was educated at the American School of Monterrey then obtained a degree in Art History at Florence University, before enrolling in the School of Higher Studies in Interpretation and Translation, obtaining a degree in Parliamentary Interpretation.

Alessandra began her career in conference interpretation at the Palazzo dei Congressi in Florence, interpreting for Florence dignitaries and the purchaser of the “Leicester Codex” by Leonardo. After working in Europe, she moved to the United States with husband Michael. Her career has taken her on G7, G8 and G20 assignments, inter alia to Japan, China, Korea, Mongolia and Malaysia. She passed the State Department Conference Interpretation and Federal Court system exams in 1985. In 40 years as a conference interpreter Alessandra has worked for international organizations and agencies such as the UNO, the IMF, the World Bank and the IDB. She was General Branch Chief at the Office of Language Services at the United States Department of State for some 3 years.

Aside from Art History, Literature, and spending long periods of time in Lucca, Alessandra enjoys being with her husband and son Alessandro, practicing yoga, and clean, healthy food preparation.

 Camille Collard (A-FR, B-EN, C-DE), M.A. in Conference Interpreting (2014, ISTI Brussels), Ph.D. in Translation Studies (2019, Ghent University). Currently director of the Conference Interpreting and the Translation Studies Masters programmes at ESIT, Paris, where she teaches consecutive, simultaneous and sight translation classes.

She is a board member of the EMCI consortium, chairs the Quality Assurance committee, and is a member of the Training of Trainers Committee (ToT).  Until 2019, she originated and managed the interpreting training module at the Geneva International Model UN. She took part in several continuing education programs for interpreting trainers (SCIC Academy of Trainers, AIIC Training of Trainers). She regularly gives presentations, teaches and writes publications in the area of interpreting studies.

Marie Diur (A-FR, C-EN, ES, IT, PT, SV) Maîtrise en langues étrangères appliquées (Université Toulouse-le-Mirail); DEA en littérature française, francophone et comparée (Université Bordeaux 3); Post-graduate Diploma in Conference Interpretation (PCL-London); Ph.D. in humanities (Universidad Pablo de Olavide- Sevilla), has been a freelance interpreter since 1988 working for UN agencies, the EU, and the private market, and became an AIIC member in 1992.

In 2001, she joined UN New York as a staff interpreter, became Chief of the French booth at UN Vienna in 2008, where she became Chief Interpreter in 2016.  Since 2018 she has been Chief Interpreter at the UN Geneva.  She has been a visiting examiner in interpretation schools in France and Belgium (ESIT; ISIT, ISTI; EII; LSTI/Marie-Haps).

Bjørn Fossberg (A – FR,EN C – NO, UA, RU) Honours BA in Translation (University of Ottawa, School of Translation and Interpretation); AIIC, Bjørn Fossberg (A – FR,EN C – NO, UA, RU) Honours BA in Translation summa cum laude (University of Ottawa, School of Translation and Interpretation); AIIC, began his career as a linguist in 2000 at Canada’s Federal Translation Bureau as a translator and reviser, becoming a staff interpreter in 2002. In November 2005, he joined the NATO Interpretation Service in Brussels, becoming a Senior Interpreter in 2013. After years of intensive study, including eight summers at a language school in Odesa, Ukraine, Bjørn was accredited with Russian as a C-language by NATO in 2018, followed by Ukrainian in 2023.

Languages have been a lifelong passion for Bjørn. He grew up in Canada, with a Norwegian mother and an anglophone father, and was primarily educated in French. He became enamoured with Hebrew in his early twenties, and achieved a certain level of proficiency. Since adolescence, he has been a staunch proponent of the French language in Canada.

Bjørn is passionate about sharing his love for our profession. For several years, he has taken part in practical training sessions for Master’s students in Belgium. He also actively contributes to mentoring and professional development activities at NATO HQ, and has been involved in NATO terminology standardisation efforts. He has been a visiting examiner in Belgian interpretation schools (Université catholique de Louvain, Université libre de Bruxelles). And he recently joined AIIC Belgium’s mentoring program.

Carola Garth (A-DE, B-EN, C-ES) M.A.C.I. Heidelberg University, has joined the German Federal Ministry of Defense in 2013 as a staff interpreter. Prior to that job, she worked as a translator and interpreter at the U.S. Embassy, Berlin for two years.

In her current job at the Defense Ministry, Carola accompanies the Defense Minister and other executive staff on their trips across the globe, but also has the opportunity to dive deep into what the German armed forces call the “mud zone” and has been in and on frigates, tanks, and fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft. Career highlights include NATO Defense Ministerials (where she had the pleasure of working with Chris!), the Munich Security Conference and, as part of that, lending her voice to President Biden on German television.

She gained teaching experience – and improved her already impressive English – while working as a teaching assistant at the University of Leeds in 2010.  Carola is Julia’s partner in sequin crime…

Tatiana Kaplun (A-RU, B-EN, C-FR), Degree in Translation Studies and Interpreting (St Petersburg State University); M.A. Interpreting and Translating (University of Bath); AIIC, worked extensively on the Russian market, and has been based in Strasburg since 2017 working mainly for international organizations such as the Council of Europe and the ECHR.

She also works on the ministerial level, and for private companies with a special interest in the arts, marketing, legal, and oil and gas.  Tatiana teaches at ITIRI (Strasburg) has also helped organize Julia Poger’s Know Your Worth seminars, both in person and online.

Bruno Oliveira (A-PT, C-EN/FR) BA and MA Translation and Interpretation (Porto, Portugal), EMCI (Lisbon); AIIC, began his professional career in 2009 as a freelance interpreter for ECOWAS, and has since worked with a range of institutions, including the African Union, IMF, World Bank Group, WHO, UNDP, and the U.S. Department of State, among others.

Bruno has been a member of the International Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC) since 2018 and currently serves as Regional Secretary for Africa.

In addition to his interpreting practice, Bruno is actively engaged in interpreter training and assessment. Since 2022, he has been collaborating with the University of Ghana’s Conference Interpreting programme as an assessor, and was recruited as a trainer by the ECOWAS Commission’s Directorate of Conference and Protocol, where he co-designed and delivered a foundational course in Consecutive Interpretation for absolute beginners. He has also served as a member of selection panels for Portuguese staff interpreter recruitment at both the ECOWAS Commission and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

Claudia Ricci (A-IT, B-EN/ES, C-FR/PT); Post-graduate degree in Conference Interpreting Techniques (University of Westminster, formerly known as PCL); Honours Degree in English and Spanish languages and literature, (IULM, Milan); University Degrees in Translation and Interpreting (Bologna), AIIC, exclusive member of Calliope-Interpreters for Italy; regularly works as a freelance interpreter for the EU Commission, Council, Parliament and Court of Justice since 1998. Her EU work has ranged from rural audits in Italy to committee sessions in Brussels, all the way to top-level and sensitive meetings involving Ministers, Heads of State and Government and the Presidents of the EU Commission and EU Parliament.

Claudia also works actively on the private market in small corporate meetings, trade union congresses, medical symposia, EWCs, conferences and mega events. Her activity as an interpreter on the private market is matched by her role as a consultant interpreter (an interpreter who also organises teams and provides equipment), an activity she performs as exclusive member for Italy of Calliope-Interpreters, the only global network of consultant interpreters, accredited by AIIC.

Her professional volunteer work includes 10 years as a member of the Standing Committee of the Private Market Sector (PRIMS) of AIIC. During Covid, Claudia was recruited by the European Parliament to train other interpreters in Remote Simultaneous Interpretation.

Bernd Saure, (A-DE, B-EN/FR); M.A., Diplom-Dolmetscher (Cologne), Bordeaux (Université de Bordeaux III) and Paris (ESIT), AIIC has been a part-time staff interpreter for German, English and French with the German Parliament (Deutscher Bundestag) since 2017.  From 1994 he started working full time as a staff interpreter with the German Ministry of Defence, which included a four-year period (1998-2002) as Head of Linguistic Services of Eurocorps, then moving to part time in 2008.

Bernd has much experience as an interpreter in politics and diplomacy, working regularly with all the German ministries, including the Federal Chancellery and Federal Presidency, and at international conferences such as the G7, EU and NATO summits, and the Munich Security Conference.  As a free-lance interpreter in Berlin, he works for political foundations, the Berlinale Film Festival and for ARTE, N24 and ZDF, as well as being a fully accredited interpreter at the European Patent Office.

He is a lecturer (chargé d’enseignement) at La Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris (ESIT) and teaches at present at Cologne University for Applied Sciences, and Leipzig University, both simultaneous and consecutive interpreting.

Ekaterina Shutova (A-RU, B-EN, C-FR), MA in Translation and Interpretation from the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS), AIIC, accredited interpreter (ACI) for EU institutions, has been working as a freelancer since 1996 in Russia and internationally.

She has worked for a range of government structures, international organizations, private companies and NGOs. She also has considerable experience in diplomatic interpreting at international fora and as a personal interpreter for high-level politicians, members of royal families and other leaders.

Since 2008 she has been in charge of curriculum design at the St. Petersburg School of Conference Interpreting and Translation (SCIT) where she also teaches consecutive and simultaneous interpreting. She has participated in numerous DG SCIC and EMCI training-of-trainers courses and delivered training modules to corporate interpreters and university trainers

Gabriella Verdi (A-IT, B-EN, C-ES), Degree in Conference Interpreting  and Translation from Trieste University and M.A. in English Literature from Bologna University, AIIC; has been a freelance interpreter on the Italian private market since 1985, working in a wide range of areas, with a special interest in medical and scientific disciplines, politics, business, TV & radio, literary and journalistic translation.

She taught simultaneous and consecutive interpreting at the School of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Interpreting and Translation of Bologna University, Forlì Campus, Italy from 1992 to 2000.

Since 1996 she has been a member of InterMed, Italian Association of Medical Interpreters. She teaches courses of English in Optics and Optometry in cooperation with Aston University in Birmingham since 2013.

She is a member of AIIC, and currently a member of AIIC’s THC (Technical and Health Committee), working on a projects on hearing protection and interpreter health.