Aleš Kocjan, MPhil, was born in 1981 in Maribor. He holds a university degree in journalism and a master’s degree in political science. He began his professional career in the media, where he spent more than twenty years working as a journalist, editor, and commentator. During his studies, he collaborated with the daily Večer, Radio Maribor, and the Slovenian Press Agency. After graduating in 2006, he joined Radio Slovenia, later continued his work at Večer, and subsequently returned to the public radio.

In his journalistic and editorial work, he focused primarily on political analysis and the functioning of democratic institutions, as well as on issues of integrity, transparency, accountability of public office holders and the rule of law. He paid particular attention to matters of national and international security. His experience reporting from international crisis areas (Israel, Lebanon, Kosovo, Afghanistan) also provided the basis for his master’s thesis, in which he analyzed the effectiveness of international security operations and their exit strategies.

In his coverage of domestic political affairs, he regularly addressed matters within the remit of the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption and consistently promoted, through his reporting, the core principles guiding its work: integrity, transparency, professionalism, expertise, and respect for the rule of law.

From 2019 to 2023, he served as editor for domestic political and economic programmes at Radio Slovenia, after which he continued his work as a commentator in the foreign affairs editorial team. While serving as editor, he contributed to the strengthening of high-quality, in-depth public discourse and to the development of new editorial and content formats. Notably, he co-created the political podcast Umetnost možnega, for which he and his co-author received the RTV Slovenia Award for Outstanding Achievements.