Philippa Thomas has reported extensively for BBC News from 24 countries over the past 20 years. She has specialized in political and diplomatic coverage, and has spent seven years reporting from the White House, from the US election campaign trail, and across the Americas. Thomas is currently a Fellow at the Nieman Journalism Foundation at Harvard University, where she is on sabbatical from her BBC reporting duties. She came to Harvard to focus on the ways in which digital media platforms and citizen journalism are helping to empower communities.

About

Philippa Thomas previously presented World News Today, a daily newscast featuring the latest US and international headlines, in-depth interviews and reports from BBC correspondents on the biggest stories from around the globe.

An experienced foreign correspondent, Thomas has covered numerous breaking news and international events. She reported from flooded disaster zones in Honduras and Venezuela, analyzed politics in Cuba, witnessed football World Cup tensions in Argentina, and reported on the celebration of ten years of multi-racial democracy in South Africa and the repression of dissent in Mugabe's Zimbabwe.

In London, Belfast, and Dublin, Thomas covered the Northern Ireland peace process from paramilitary bombs to power sharing deals and, as a political lobby correspondent, covered British politics from Margaret Thatcher to Tony Blair.

"I'm enthusiastic about the lively debate we'll be hearing in Oslo on the issues of human rights, democratic development and the role of the international media. I'm looking forward to playing my part in framing questions and facilitating debate. The Oslo Freedom Forum could not be more timely - and relevant."

From 1997 to 2001, Thomas was a BBC North America correspondent, reporting from the White House on Bill Clinton's impeachment, in New York on Hillary Clinton's election to the Senate, and then from the campaign trail on the last two presidential elections.

Thomas has crisscrossed the United States looking at serious issues at the very heart of American culture, including investigating gun culture in Jonesboro, Arkansas, meeting gang members in Los Angeles, joining the debate on stem cell research in Ohio, and talking war with some of the United States' largest community of Iraqis in Dearborn, Michigan.

As a presenter, Thomas has fronted BBC News from studios in London, and the BBC bureau in Washington, DC, covering major stories including the 2008 US presidential election campaign, US led military action in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the aftermath of 9/11.

Thomas has presented numerous BBC News specials on major global events including days of coverage on the aftermath of 9/11; the Al Qaeda railway bombs in Madrid; the terrorist attacks on the London underground; youth riots in Paris; the chaotic fall from power of Silvio Berlusconi in Italy; and the Israeli government targeting Hamas militants.