Bram Peeters (1978) is a Dutch freelance journalist working from the city of Utrecht where he studied journalism from 1996 till 2000. During his studies Bram specialised himself in writing for magazines as well as the internet when he worked as a music journalist at the pioneering website 3voor12, where he would stay for another year after his internship. After study travels to Ukraine and Mexico Bram was pretty sure he wanted a career in international journalism.

To pursue this goal Bram attended the international masterclass Europe in the World. A one year course run jointly by the schools of journalism in Utrecht and Århus, Denmark. For his final exam Bram travelled once more to Ukraine to investigate the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and the current European nuclear lobby. The results led to publications in Dutch and Danish newspapers.

In 2001 Bram received the European Diploma in International Journalism. In the same year he used the gained knowledge during a journalistic journey to Latin America leading to publications in several Dutch magazines and newspapers. Back in The Netherlands he experienced in internet journalism at several major news sites like NU.nl.

South Africa

At the end of 2002 Bram and his girlfriend Jeanet left for South-Africa where he would work at the newspapers Cape Argus and Cape Times for half a year, sent by the Dutch ngo NIZA as a ‘junior professional’. On his return in The Netherlands Bram was asked to join the multi media department of the national news agency ANP. He would work here until his next foreign adventure that brought him to the United States during the presidential elections in 2004. Interviews and reportages in New York, Boston, Washington and Philadelphia led to publications in several Dutch magazines.

Back in the The Netherlands, Bram was hired as a reporter for Psy, the Dutch magazine on mental healthcare and addiction. During a time period of two years he produced many reportages, news stories and interviews about the world of psychiatric patients and drug addicts.

At the end of 2007 Bram developed a plan for a series of articles on Eastern European border regions. This project brought him and photographer Rainier Isendam to places like Kaliningrad, Lithuania, Belarus, Poland, Ukraine, Slovakia, Romania, Moldova, Russia and Norway. The stories appeared in 2008 in the Dutch daily De Pers as well as the Belgian newspaper De Tijd.

In summer 2008 Bram was selected to take parting the Dutch-Belgian Journalist Exchange Programme. In October and November 2008 he worked in Brussels at Knack magazine.

Awards

Bram also writes as an all-round journalist for several magazines, websites and newspapers about a range of subjects from business stories to lifestyle. Since 2001 he also works for the Spanish newspaper El Mundo on a regular basis. Bram is a member of the Dutch union of journalists as well as a member of the Dutch-Flemish union of investigative reporters. In the summer of 2009 Bram was chosen as the Dutch winner of the European Young Journalist Award. Later that year the European Commission awarded him with the For Diversity Against Discrimination Journalist Award.

In November 2009 Bram travelled from the West to the East of Turkey to investigate the attitudes towards EU accession, ten years after the country was accepted as a candidate member to the EU. In 2011 he worked for three weeks in Israel.

MA

In 2014 Bram graduated from the MA International Relations in Historical Perspective at the Utrecht University cum laude. His master thesis on jihadists / foreign fighters led to publications in Dutch and Belgian media and has also been included in the Foreign Fighters of Terrorism Bibliography of the Terrorism Research Initiative.

Guest lecturer

Bram works currently as senior editor of the Clingendael Spectator as well as senior lecturer at the Utrecht School of Journalism.