Doris Kristina Raave

Cohort 4

PhD Educational Sciences

University of Tartu

Research:

Personalized education and technology – the impact of meaningful classroom digital technology integration.

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Doris Kristina Raave is a PhD candidate and junior research fellow in educational sciences at the University of Tartu with research interests in educational psychology and meaningful digital technology integration in teaching-learning processes. She is a passionate advocate of contextually and situationally apt educational transformation. Her background is in teaching foreign languages and she has worked with different education systems around the globe. She holds two MAs, one in Teaching Arts and the other in Educational Innovation. She balances her work life with art, yoga, time spent in nature, and academic writing with creative writing.

You can find her on LinkedIn here.

Dylan Thurgood

Cohort 4

DPhil Social Data Science

University of Oxford

Research:

The relationship between the exposure to AI generated news and attitudes towards the EU, immigration and climate change.

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Dylan Thurgood is a DPhil candidate in Social Data Science at the Oxford Internet Institute. His work lies at the intersection of political science, data science and communication studies. He researches how citizens update their political beliefs when they encounter news online, focusing on AI-generated news, hyperpartisan news and public broadcaster news, and investigates interventions to mitigate political polarisation including the redesign of social media algorithms. Dylan has a German-British-Dutch background and holds an MSc in Social Data Science from the Oxford Internet Institute as well as a BSc in Economics from the University of Warwick, during which he spent one year studying at Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona.

Eva te Dorsthorst

Cohort 4

PhD International Law

University of Luxembourg

Research:

The impact of budgetary decision-making on international courts and tribunals.

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Eva is a PhD Candidate at Université du Luxembourg. Her doctoral thesis concerns the impact of budgetary decision-making on the procedure and design of international courts and tribunals. Before she joined the University of Luxembourg, Eva was an Education and Research Associate at Leiden University. She also worked as a project manager with the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights on behalf of the European Law Student’s Association.  Eva holds a LL.M. Public International Law (cum laude) from Leiden University, and an LL.B. European Law School (bene meritum) from Radboud University Nijmegen.

 

Find Eva on LinkedIn or read some of her work on ORCID.

Rohan Stevenson

Cohort 4

PhD Political, Societal and Regional Changes

University of Helsinki

Research:

Counterterrorism policy in post 9/11 Europe in relation to right-wing extremism.

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Rohan Stevenson is a PhD candidate in Political, Societal and Regional Changes at the University of Helsinki’s Centre for European Studies. His research is funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions doctoral network VORTEX (Coping with Varieties of Radicalisation into Terrorism and Extremism). Rohan’s research examines counterterrorism policies in Europe and how they have been applied (or not applied) to extreme right-wing violence. At the moment, he is particularly interested in using the work of Foucault to think about such questions.  Originally hailing from London, Rohan holds an MA (Hons) in Geography from the University of Edinburgh and an MA in Sociology from Goldsmiths College, University of London. His research interests are eclectic and previously he has studied everything from eco-fascist online groups to ‘gig economy’ workers to underground music subcultures. He is a firm believer in the compatibility of academic research and political activism.

Elisa Sisto

Cohort 4

DPhil International Development

The University of Oxford

Research:

Forced Migration, Humanitarian Action, and Rescue at Europe’s Mountainous Borderlands.

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Elisa Sisto is pursuing a DPhil (PhD) in International Development at the University of Oxford, focusing on border policy, landscape, and humanitarian action at Europe’s mountainous borderlands. Prior to her DPhil, Elisa worked at the International Organization for Migration in Geneva and with different organisations across Southern and Eastern Europe, encompassing roles in migration research and operations, refugee and migration law, as well as human rights advocacy. Elisa holds an MSc in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies from the University of Oxford, and a dual Bachelor’s degree in Human Rights from Columbia University and in Political Science from Sciences Po. Her doctoral research is supported by the Clarendon Fund, the Scatcherd European Scholarship, and the Merton College International Development Scholarship.

Beatriz Serra

Cohort 4

PhD Political Science & International Relations

Universidade Católica Portuguesa

Research:

Democratic institutions, climate-related conflict and the EU’s foreign, defence, and aid policy.

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Beatriz is a PhD student in Political Science and International Relations: Security and Defense at the Universidade Católica Portuguesa. Her doctoral research focusses on the role of democratic institutions in mitigating heightened risks of climate-related conflict. Before starting her PhD, Bia worked for the UK government as a Senior Policy Advisor at the Department for International Trade, advising on a number of issues in relation to the UK’s representation at the World Trade Organization. Later she moved to the private sector, working in the Public Affairs sector, advising companies and charities on the impact of political and policy developments across several issues, including NI Protocol, ESG, sustainable mobility and cybersecurity matters. Bia holds a BA in International Relations (with Applied Quantitive Methods) from the University of Essex and a MSc in Politics and Communication from the London School of Economics (LSE).

Filip Scherf

Cohort 4

PhD International Relations & Ethics

University of St Andrew’s

Research:

Ethics in Foreign Policy: Foreign intelligence agencies and the practice of humanitarian intelligence collection.

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Filip J. Scherf’s interdisciplinary research covers ethics in international relations, with a particular focus on Russia and European security. Filip pursues his PhD at the University of St Andrews where he earned a Master of Letters degree after having completed a Master of International Affairs degree at Columbia University. His professional experience includes Columbia University’s Harriman Institute for Eurasian Studies in New York, RAND Corporation in Cambridge (UK), NATO PA in Brussels, and political risk consultancy in St. Petersburg, Russia. Filip is a Research Associate at the Cambridge Margaret Beaufort Institute and an Associate Lecturer in political risk at Charles University. He is a recipient of multiple scholarships from the Columbia and St Andrews respective Universities. Filip’s book on post-Cold War Russia, The Lost Land, is due to be published by Host Publishing in Autumn 2024.

 

Filip can be found on LinkedIn.

Ömer Şahin

Cohort 4

PhD Social & Political Sciences

Universitat Pompeu Fabra

Research:

Over-education of different profiles across countries with different economic development levels in OECD countries

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Ömer is a doctoral researcher at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, under the government-funded HARDSOCIOGENDER project. Coming from an economics background, he is currently working on the relationship between economic development and groups vulnerable to over-education for his PhD. He previously held research assistant roles at Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internationale (IBEI) for the Horizon 2020 project TECHNO, at the University of Konstanz, and took part in research projects for UNHCR and Ministry of Industry and Technology of Turkey. Before starting his PhD, he completed a Bachelor’s in Economics at the Özyeğin University in Turkey, and a Research Master in Political Sciences at Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Ömer debated for 9 years and shared his public speaking experiences with people in many workshops. In his free time, he runs and reads on wide variety of topics.

Kledian Myftari

Cohort 4

PhD International Relations and Psychology

Charles University and the University of Copenhagen

Research:

Comparative study of Islamist radicalization among Muslim youth in Kosovo and Albania.

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Kledian Myftari is a joint Ph.D. candidate in International Relations at Charles University and Psychology at the University of Copenhagen. Earning summa cum laude honors, he holds an M.A. in Security Studies from Charles University and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Tirana. His research centers on foreign fighters, political violence, violent extremism, and terrorism, with a current focus on varying levels of religious radicalization in the Western Balkans. Specific interests include intergroup dynamics, social identity, conflict, religion, and their influence on social relations within this context. Myftari has notably contributed as the third author to a book chapter examining threat perceptions in violent extremism for the upcoming Cambridge Handbook of the Psychology of Violent Extremism, under consideration by Cambridge University Press. He has also published from an interdisciplinary, cultural studies -informed work on the Albanian media’s response to the 2007 economic crisis.

Ilona Poselużna

Cohort 4

PhD Political Science

Jagiellonian University

Research:

The EU’s innovation policy towards AI from an IR perspective, focusing on both interstate and EU-level considerations.

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European Union innovation policy towards artificial intelligence. Ilona is a PhD Candidate in Political Science at the Jagiellonian University, researching EU innovation policy towards artificial intelligence in the context of global competition for AI. She holds a Master’s degree with distinction in International Relations and is also an Alumna of the DFRLab (Atlantic Council) Digital Sherlocks Program. Ilona is a member of the Research Group at the Center for AI and Digital Policy (USA), specializing in AI policy and digital transformation in the EU/CEE. Her recent experience includes academic research on the EU affairs; strategic and technology foresight for business and government clients; disinformation analysis for NGO, and serving as the Department President of the Forum of Young Diplomats (Poland).

 

You can find Ilona on LinkedIn.

Amós del Castillo Petidier

Cohort 4

PhD Modern History

Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Research:

The contradictions in the Europeanization of Spain, Portugal, and Greece through mega-events (1992-2004).

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Amós del Castillo Petidier is a PhD candidate at Universidad Complutense de Madrid. His research assesses the impact of mega-events in the Europeanisation of Spain, Portugal, and Greece during the 1990s and early 2000s. Specifically, he applies a comparative and transnational approach to evaluate the links between the narratives and the materialisation of the mega-events projects, thus conceiving them as sites of negotiation for the modernisation strategies pursued in Southern Europe. This research combines elements of the history of international relations, urban history, and public diplomacy. He completed a Bachelor’s double degree in Geography & Spatial Planning and History at Universidad de Sevilla. He holds a master’s degree in European Studies from the same university and he received a Fulbright scholarship to study an MA in European and Mediterranean Studies at New York University. Beyond his academic pursuits, Amós is passionate about urbanism, maps, and an eclectic range of music.

 

You can find him on LinkedIn.

Frieda Ottmann

Cohort 4

PhD European Contemporary History

Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich

Research:

European efforts to tackle water pollution in the proclaimed name of the environment between 1975 and 2000.

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Frieda is a PhD candidate at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich. Embedded in the Franco-German research project ELEMENT, her thesis examines European political efforts to combat water pollution in the proclaimed name of the environment. In a transnational and global framework, she critically assesses the narrative of the EU and its predecessors as environmental pioneers. Her history-oriented study not only highlights significant achievements, but also explores instances of conflict and failure. This balanced perspective offers invaluable insights and lessons for shaping future environmental policy. She holds an MA in Contemporary History and a BA in History and Political Science, both from LMU Munich. Frieda has volunteered as a tutor for refugees and has been involved in the Berlin-based think-tank Young-Security-Conference. She is passionate about the European project, foreign languages and exploring the world.

Francesco Nasi

Cohort 4

PhD Social & Political Sciences

University of Bologna

Research:

The role of AI in promoting participatory democracy and citizens’ empowerment: the Citizens’ Foundation.

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Francesco Nasi is pursuing a Ph.D. in Political and Social Sciences at the University of Bologna, Italy. His research deals with the role of artificial intelligence in promoting democratic innovations, focusing on power relations. He holds a Master’s degree in International Security Studies and a Bachelor’s degree in Social, Political, and International Studies. During his undergraduate studies, he spent a semester at Sciences Po Paris (Reims campus). Beyond academic commitments, Francesco serves as a Cub Scout leader. He holds the position of chairman for the Democratic Party in his hometown, Albinea, and is a delegate for political training at the Reggio Emilia office of the party. Professionally, he is a member of the editorial board for Pandora Rivista. He has also been working for think tanks such as CeSPI and ISPI and as a research assistant for the Italian Democratic Party national office.

Sinéad Mulcahy

Cohort 4

PhD Law

University of Leiden

Research:

How “European sovereignty” informs policy in three specific fields and ultimately, impacts the EU’s constitutional set-up.

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Sinéad is a PhD candidate at the Europa Institute of Leiden University, where she researches the return of “sovereignty” in EU discourse. The notion of “European sovereignty” is conceptualised as an ambition to enhance the Union’s political capacity to act amidst crises and global instabilities. The emergence and persistence of “European sovereignty” suggests a significant shift in the Union’s self-understanding, how it relates to its citizens, Member States and the wider world. By researching this phenomenon, Sinéad aims to contribute to our understanding of the Union’s ongoing transformation. Her PhD project combines policy case-studies with doctrinal research in constitutional theory and political philosophy.  Alongside her research, Sinéad lectures on the European Law LL.M., from which she herself graduated in 2022. Before moving to the Netherlands, Sinéad completed her undergraduate studies in Law and Social Justice (BCL) at University College Dublin.

 

Find Sinéad on LinkedIn.

Ihor Moshenets

Cohort 4

PhD Political Science & International Relations

Central European University

Research:

Interest groups’ advocacy in defining the role of natural gas, nuclear energy, and the emerging hydrogen industry in EU energy transition.

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Ihor is a PhD candidate at the Central European University. His doctoral project is dedicated to the exploration of interest groups’ advocacy in defining the role of natural gas, hydrogen, and nuclear energy in EU decarbonization pathways under the EU Green Deal. His research interests encompass broader issues of international political economy of energy, energy geopolitics, and public policy theories. Additionally, Ihor’s independent applied research was published by such platforms as the Foreign Policy Research Institute (US), Energy Post (EU), and Dzerkalo Tyzhnia (Ukraine). Ihor has working experience as an MP assistant in the Ukrainian Parliament, as a Policy Officer in one of the largest Ukrainian business associations, and as an analyst in civil sector organizations.

 

You can find Ihor on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Saoirse McGilligan

Cohort 4

PhD International Relations

University of St Andrew’s

Research:

Decentralisation, as a conflict resolution mechanism, and ethno-national identity-divides, in Northern Ireland and Catalonia.

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Saoirse is a PhD candidate in the School of International Relations at the University of St Andrews. Her doctoral project is a socio-legal analysis, examining the relationship between identity tensions and their governances in Northern Ireland and Catalonia. Her research interests include collective identity formation, culture and nationalism, conflict resolution and constitutionalism, and identity in the Anthropocene.  Saoirse developed her interdisciplinary approach during her previous academic experience. She holds a MLitt in Global Social and Political Thought from the University of St Andrews and a BA in Classics from University College London.

Ebba Mark

Cohort 4

DPhil Geography & Environment

University of Oxford

Research:

Green industrial transformation’ impact on public revenues, public agency and reskilling policy, and backlash thereto.

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Ebba Mark is a DPhil student at the School of Geography and the Environment at the University of Oxford supervised by Climate Econometrics, the Calleva Project at Magdalen College, the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, and the Institute for New Economic Thinking. Her DPhil research focuses on applying econometric and complexity-based methods to the study of what constitutes a ‘Just Transition.’ Passionate about evidence-based policymaking and ensuring that urgent environmental action is compatible with ongoing fights for greater equality, her research interest is in advancing empirical work to discover and alleviate the potential adverse social and economic impacts of net-zero transformations. Previously, Ebba worked as Junior Policy Advisor to the OECD Chief of Staff and G20/G7 Sherpa in Paris as part of the Organisation’s Young Associate Programme.  Ebba holds an MSc in Environmental Change and Management from the University of Oxford and a BA in Economics from Harvard University.

 

You can find her on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Adam Kluge

Cohort 4

DPhil Criminology

University of Oxford

Research:

State-sanctioned shaming of offenders’ relatives.

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Adam is a DPhil candidate in the Centre for Criminology, University of Oxford. His research exists at the intersection of social anthropology, penal governance, and the nuanced ways in which the kin of offenders experience state-sanctioned stigmatisation following their relative’s offence. Drawing from the fields of social and political theory, his work offers a theoretical reconsideration of stigma as a political tool operated by state actors to systematically shame marginalised communities via criminal legal mechanisms. His broader research interests include social othering and state power, EU policy, and contemporary constructions of the family. Adam holds an MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice (Distinction) from the University of Oxford and a dual BA in Political Science and History from Columbia University, where he graduated with interdepartmental honours. He has experience in both the NGO sector and as an educator. Privately, Adam is an avid consumer of the arts and French literature.

Zoé Konsbruck

Cohort 4

PhD Contemporary History

University of Luxembourg

Research:

Steel deindustrialisation in southern Luxembourg 1970 to 1990.

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Zoé is a doctoral researcher at the Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C²DH) working on the history of deindustrialisation in Luxembourg. In her PhD project she examines deindustrialisation between 1970 and 2000, focusing on its impact on the steel towns in southern Luxembourg and the Greater Region. The research examines the effects of deindustrialisation while analysing how local actors such as politicians, workers, residents and trade unionists perceived and reacted to these changes at both local and transnational levels. She holds a MA in Contemporary History and a BA in History from the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich. The history of deindustrialisation, urban and cultural history are among her main academic interests.

Topi Juga

Cohort 4

PhD Political History

University of Helsinki

Research:

1990s EU integration and the Finland’s EU Policy during its early membership.

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Topi is a doctoral researcher in Political History at the University of Helsinki, where he studies Finland’s integration to the European Union. Topi’s doctoral monograph focuses on the post-Cold-War European integration and the forming of Finland’s EU policy in the country’s early membership years (1995–1999). Topi currently lives in Berlin, where he also writes articles as a freelance journalist focusing on Germany and the EU. Previously Topi has worked with EU affairs as a civil servant in the Prime Minister’s office of Finland, as an advisor to an MEP in the European Parliament as well as a journalist accredited in the Parliament of Finland. During his free time Topi enjoys playing tennis or football, reading and spending time with his friends and family.

Topi’s publications.

Mathilde Bro Hansen

Cohort 4

PhD Politics & International Relations

University of Copenhagen

Research:

‘Digital sovereignty’ and the EU’s technological legislation.

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Matilde Bro Hansen is a Ph.D. fellow at the Department of Political Science of the University of Copenhagen. She holds a master’s and bachelor’s degree in International Business and Politics from Copenhagen Business School with an exchange semester at Korea University in Seoul and internships in the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Silicon Valley and the European Commission in Brussels. Matilde Bro Hansen’s Ph.D. project broadly focuses on EU’s tech agenda specifically tracing the making of digital sovereignty as constructed, negotiated, and appropriated by the EU institutions. Through fieldwork in Brussels the projects explores the practices of negotiating and regulating technology in the EU to uncover EU’s claims to digital sovereignty.

Klaudia Grat

Cohort 4

PhD Social Anthropology and Modern Languages

The Univeristy of St Andrews

Research:

Ukrainian migrant place-making in Warsaw against the backdrop of the Russo-Ukrainian war.

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Klaudia Grąt is a PhD researcher in Social Anthropology and Modern Languages at the University of St Andrews funded by the Social Anthropology Departmental Scholarship and Gibson-Sykora Trust Scholarship. Her research examines the socio-cultural integration of Ukrainians- long-term migrants and war refugees- to the spatial and societal reality of Warsaw, Poland. The main themes of her research encompass the individual experiences of place, shared identity, migrational trajectories, socio-cultural transference, and linguistical patterns in diasporic settings. Her research aims to shed light on the experiences of migration and livelihoods of Ukrainian migrants re-established in the urban setting of Warsaw.  Klaudia has earned her BA in International Development from King’s College London and earned her position on the Deans’ List by receiving a Distinction from her fully funded MRes in Social Anthropology at the University of St Andrews. Klaudia comes from a museum and activist background. She speaks seven languages: Polish, English, Spanish, French, Ukrainian, Russian, and Latin.

Apolline Foedit

Cohort 4

PhD International History & Politics

Graduate Institute Geneva

Research:

Asylum movements in Geneva and Paris, spanning from the 1980s to the 2010s.

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Apolline is a PhD student at the Geneva Graduate Institute, specializing in the right to asylum, development, human rights, and social movements. Her doctoral research focuses on the emergence and reorganization of associations dedicated to defending the right to asylum within the context of the Europeanization of migration policies, and the institutionalization of some of these associations. She traces the roots of this opposition back to the 1930s. Apolline holds a BA in international relations from the University of Geneva and an MA in development studies from the Geneva Graduate Institute.

You can find her on LinkedIn.

Meike Fernbach

Cohort 4

PhD International Relations

Central European University

Research:

Genealogies of white German women’s reproduction of colonial relations.

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Meike Fernbach is a PhD candidate at the Central European University (CEU) in Vienna. Her project places an intersectional focus on coloniality in Germany and the white racialized body. Meike has an MSc in International Relations from the London School of Economics and an MA in International Relations from CEU. Outside academia, Meike enjoys all kinds of sports and is currently investing much of her time in triathlon training.

Babette Annabelle De Naeyer

Cohort 4

PhD Law

Universitat Pompeu Fabra

Research:

Constitutional limits, social media and free speech in the EU and the US.

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Babette is a PhD candidate at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona. She was awarded UPF’s PhD in Law scholarship to completely immerse herself in the Constitutional, European, and Supranational Integration Law department’s research and teaching activities. Her research focuses on the internet and social media’s impact on citizen’s right to freedom of expression. She specializes in the EU’s Digital Service Act, Article 10 ECHR jurisprudence, and comparative legal studies (mainly the European system and the US First Amendment doctrine). Babette holds an LL.M. in European and Global Law from Universitat Pompeu Fabra, a Master in Criminal Law from Vrije Universiteit Brussel, and a Bachelor in Law from Vrije Universiteit Brussel.

 

You can find her on LinkedIn.

Julia Furtado de Barros

Cohort 4

PhD Political Science.

University of Luxembourg

Research:

Socioeconomic and wealth inequalities among young people in Europe (housing policies, pensions and labour markets).

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Julia is a Doctoral Researcher at the Institute of Political Science at the University of Luxembourg. She holds a BA degree in Psychology from the University of Uberlândia (Brazil) and a MSc degree in Sociology from Tilburg University (The Netherlands). She works in the PRO-active Policymaking for Equal Lives – PROPEL project which investigates housing policies and inequality. Her research interests comprise the dynamics of poverty, socioeconomic and wealth inequality. Particularly, the interplay of housing policies, labour markets and pensions influencing socioeconomic and wealth inequalities among young people in Europe. Her work trajectory includes researching public policies for vulnerable populations in Brazil and working as a researcher at the European Values Study (EVS).

 

You can find Julia on LinkedIn.

Michele Collazzo

Cohort 4

PhD Social and Political Sciences

University of Bologna

Research:

The efficiency of the EU as an actor in conflict and crisis management.

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Michele Collazzo is a Ph.D. student in Political and Social Sciences at the University of Bologna, Italy, focusing on the cooperation between the European Union and African Union in tackling the root causes of conflicts. He holds a Master’s degree in EU International Relations and Diplomacy Studies from the College d’Europe, Belgium, and a Bachelor’s degree from L’Orientale University in Naples. He has garnered practical experience at the European Union Delegation to the U.S.A., the International Crisis Group in Brussels and at the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) in Rome. In his hometown in the Basilicata region, Italy, Michele has for years co-organised an international jazz festival, showcasing his dedication to music and cultural events.

Abha Calindi

Cohort 4

PhD International History and Politics

Graduate Institute Geneva

Research:

The rise of right-wing populism in France and the UK by comparative analysis of colonial wars in Kenya and Algeria.

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Abha Calindi is a PhD researcher in International History and Politics at the Graduate Institute Geneva. Her work centres on the intersection of history and contemporary security policy. Her research bridges critical theory with praxis, examining the genealogies of security policy and right-wing populism in France and Britain. Abha brings professional experience from the World Trade Organization, UNHCR in Geneva, and the UK Delegation to UNESCO in Paris. She holds a BA in History and Politics from the University of Warwick and an MPhil in Politics from the University of Cambridge. In her free time, Abha can be found playing the piano and reading.

 

Abha was recently part of a podcast series on Transimperial History discussing Tunisia and North Africa.

Esther Braun

Cohort 4

DPhil Philosophy

University of Oxford

Research:

A feminist reading of autonomous choice and consent.

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Esther is a medical doctor and bioethicist currently pursuing a DPhil in Philosophy at the University of Oxford. During her medical studies, Esther also completed a BA in Comparative Literature and History and Philosophy of Science, as well as an MA in Philosophy, at the Goethe University Frankfurt. Her research in experimental oncology for her medical doctorate was funded by the Mildred Scheel Scholarship of the German Cancer Aid. Esther was a postdoctoral research associate at the Institute for Medical Ethics and History of Medicine at Ruhr University Bochum while completing an MSt in Practical Ethics at Oxford between 2020 and 2023. She has published on bioethical topics including assisted dying, coercion in psychiatry, and psychiatric advance directives. Her DPhil project focuses on how voluntary consent can be affected by structural injustice.

 

Esther’s publications.

Péter József Bori

Cohort 4

PhD Environmental Policy

Central European University

Research:

Links between populism and environmental change in Hungary.

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Peter Bori’s research looks at environmental politics within authoritarian populist settings, focusing specifically on the case of Hungary. It maps how topics like climate change, conservation, and energy are transformed through populist discourse and investigates the effects that such changes have on the domestic and European political landscape; environmental attitudes of voters; and policy outcomes. Overall, his research aims to uncover possible pathways towards democratic revival and emancipatory environmental politics. Peter holds a BA (Hons) in International Relations and Development from the University of Sussex and an MSc in Agricultural Development from the University of Copenhagen. Peter speaks fluent English, Dutch, Hungarian, German, and is learning Portuguese and Danish.

 

Peter’s publications.

Rosebud Campion

Cohort 3

DPhil Migration Studies

University of Oxford

Research:

Creative and social processes of state-funded music programmes with forced migrants in North-Rhine Westphalia

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Rose Campion is a DPhil student in Migration Studies at the University of Oxford. Her project investigates the creative and social processes of intercultural music programmes with forced migrants in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Most recently Rose was a German Chancellor Fellow with the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. She has an MPhil in Musicology from Oxford and a BA in History and Music from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Beyond her research in which she meets new people and plays music, she can be found spending her free time meeting new people and playing music.
https://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/people/rose-campion/

Iris del Pino García Saavedra

Cohort 3

PhD Political Science and International Relations

Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Research:

The Rights of Asylum-Seeking Minors in Europe: Analysis of Challenges and Future Prospects

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Iris is a PhD candidate at Complutense University of Madrid. Her doctoral research focuses on assessing the real effectiveness of the guarantees provided by European and International law for the protection of the rights of asylum-seeking minors in Europe. The aim is to provide a guide to the main challenges faced by this vulnerable group in their hunt for international protection on our continent, in order to identify ways of moving towards a more protective scenario.
Originally from the Canary Islands, she holds a degree in Political Science since 2020, and a Master’s degree in European Union and the Mediterranean since 2021, both from the Complutense University of Madrid. In addition, she has deepened her knowledge of the European Union through a series of complementary courses and the development of small research projects on some key EU topics

Alessia Aspide

Cohort 3

PhD Political Economy

Leiden University

Research:

Political economy of sovereign debt in Europe, with a focus on the EU

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Alessia Aspide is a PhD researcher at Leiden University, Institute of Political Science. She holds a BSc degree in Economics from the University of Naples Federico II and an MSc degree in Political Economy of Europe from the London School of Economics. She works on a project titled ‘The Micro- foundations of Debt Crises’, hosted at the Leiden University and funded by the European Research Council (ERC). In particular, she studies the political economy of sovereign debt. Her research focuses on how institutions and citizens’ preferences interact to shape incentives and constraints in fiscal policymaking.

Jonathan Brosseau

Cohort 3

PhD International Law

Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne

Research:

Procedural Rules Implementing State Immunity from Execution

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Jonathan is a PhD Candidate (Doctoral Contract) at the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, and a Research Fellow at the United Nations University. He is a graduate from the BCL/LLB. Honours program at McGill University (Gualtieri-Doran & Cook Awards) and the LLM program at Queens’ College, University of Cambridge (Volterra Fietta & Nappert Prizes). A member of the Quebec Bar (Canada), Jonathan has gained practical training in international law at the global law firm Freshfields, the International Court of Justice, the United Nations, and Canada’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has authored or coauthored more than a dozen scholarly publications on diverse international law topics.

CVPhD ThesisPublicationsPresentationsSocial

Florence Felsheim

Cohort 3

PhD Classics

University of St Andrews

Research:

An interdisciplinary analysis of the interaction between the Roman Mithraic cult and Gallic religious practices

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Florence Felsheim pursues a funded PhD in Classics at the University of St Andrews, where she also earned an MA (Hons) in Ancient History with First Class Honours and an MLitt in Classics with Distinction. Her doctoral research focuses on cultural exchanges, identity, and social dynamics in Roman Gaul, using a specific religious cult as a case study. More broadly, her research interests include the political landscape of ancient Rome, the history of marginalized groups in Antiquity, and the instrumentalization of historical figures/events for modern political purposes.

Florence is Franco-German and grew up in Paris, Berlin and Brussels. She interned with the French Treasury and prepares to become a postgraduate tutor for Classical Studies and Ancient History at the University of St Andrews.

Outside her academic pursuits, she enjoys playing piano, practicing outdoor sports, and creating VR/AR models of ancient buildings. She also captained a martial arts club.

Jan Farfal

Cohort 3

DPhil Area Studies

University of Oxford

Research:

Ways in which émigré journals addressed their home societies behind the Iron Curtain

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Doctoral candidate in Area Studies (Russia and East Europe) at the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies. His doctoral project – ‘Defying the Iron Curtain: Émigré journals and their attempts to confront the post-war reality’ examines the ways in which émigré journals addressed their home societies behind the Iron Curtain. The focus of the project is placed upon the most prominent Polish, Czechoslovak and Yugoslav democratic centre-left émigré journals in the postwar period including their legacies in the post-socialist transition. Jan a Project Researcher for ‘Europe in a Changing World’, which is led by Professor Timothy Garton Ash and Professor Paul Betts, at the European Studies Centre at St Antony’s College, University of Oxford. Before starting his doctoral studies, Jan worked in Public Affairs sector and was awarded an MPhil in Russian and East European Studies at the University of Oxford (2016-2018).

Sébastien Fassiaux

Cohort 3

PhD Law

Universitat Pompeu Fabra

Research:

EU regulation to protect consumer autonomy in the age of artificial intelligence

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Sébastien is a PhD candidate at Universitat Pompeu Fabra. His research focuses on the impact of artificial intelligence systems on consumer autonomy and the regulation of their use by professionals at the EU level. Based on an interdisciplinary approach, his research aims at providing regulatory proposals to protect consumer autonomy in terms of preferences, decision-marking, and welfare. His broader research interests include EU law and policy, the impact of technology on society and fundamental rights, and social justice.
Sébastien holds an LL.M. from UC Berkeley, where he studied as a Fellow of the Belgian American Educational Foundation (2019), an Advanced Master of European Law from UCLouvain (2016), a Master in Transnational, Comparative and Foreign Law from UCLouvain (2015), and a Bachelor of Law from Université Saint-Louis – Bruxelles (2013).

Gina Haubner

Cohort 3

PhD Social and Political Science

UPF, Barcelona

Research:

The role of civil society in the environmental crisis: The potential of radical disobedience

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Gina’s research investigates the role of civil society in the environmental crisis, asking: What strategies do civic society actors have at their disposal, ranging from civil disobedience to radical disobedience? She develops the concept of radical disobedience in the environmental crisis, highlights the differences with civil disobedience and outlines its potential in this crisis. She further distinguishes radical disobedience from eco-terrorism.
Gina has started working as a Journalist since she was 18 and conducted a four-year training in multimedia journalism in Germany (JONA) in parallel to her university studies. Her latest and largest project was a multimedia story on the occasion of the 70-year anniversary of the state of Israel. She also works in campaigns, PR and project management on sustainability projects.
https://www.upf.edu/web/phd-political-and-social-sciences/entry/-/-/202029/adscripcion/gina-haubner

Johanna Jaschik

Cohort 3

PhD Contemporary and Digital History

University of Luxembourg

Research:

Perceptions of bordermeanings in the post-socialist Polish-Ukrainian borderlands

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Johanna is a doctoral researcher in Contemporary History and Border Studies at the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C2DH). In her PhD project she explores how notions of borders have evolved since 1989 by centralising the perspectives of borderland inhabitants in the Polish-Ukrainian borderland. Johanna holds a M.Ed. in History and English from the University of Hamburg and a BA in History and English from RWTH Aachen University. She has experience in teaching in the secondary school system and of multicultural classes. She is passionate about Eastern European politics, literature from around the world, travelling and teaching.

Carolina Gerli

Cohort 3

PhD Political and Social Sciences

Alma Mater Studiorum – Universitá di Bologna

Research:

Artificial Intelligence in public organizations to curb public procurement corruption 

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Carolina Gerli is a PhD Candidate in Political and Social Sciences at the University of Bologna. Her research explores the role of AI systems in public organizations to tackle corruption in public procurement, with a special focus on Italy, Germany, Estonia, and Cyprus. Prior to her doctoral studies, she worked at PwC on digital transformation projects for Italian public administrations, at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Bangkok on anticorruption issues, and at the Embassy of Italy in Beijing.

She holds a MSc in Economics and Management of Public Organizations (2017) and a BSc in Business Administration (2014), both gained at Bocconi University. During her academic years, she also studied at Corvinus University in Budapest (2013) and Fudan University in Shanghai (2015).

Cyprian Liske

Cohort 3

PhD Society of the Future

Uniwersytet Jagiellonski

Research:

Exporting values. The Effectiveness of Trade and Sustainable Development Chapters of Free Trade Agreements concluded by the European Union

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Cyprian graduated in Law from the Jagiellonian University and in Business Linguistics from the Tischner European University in Kraków – both with distinction. He is also an alumnus of the American Law Program conducted by the Columbus School of Law and of the English Law and Legal Methods International Summer Programme held at the University of Cambridge.

Currently, Cyprian is pursuing his doctorate on the nexus between sustainable development and international trade law in the context of EU external policy. He is also a practising lawyer and legal translator. Cyprian’s main academic interests include: international trade and investment law, sustainable development, comparative constitutional law, the external policy of the European Union, as well as legal English and legal translation.

Privately he is a keen cyclist, tea-drinker, and avid reader of modernist literature.

https://linktr.ee/cyprian.liske?

Sašo Gorjanc

Cohort 3

PhD Geography

University of St Andrews

Research:

Marine Protection in the European Union: How do social constructions of marine wilderness and nature influence policy?

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Sašo focuses on how the socio-psychological backgrounds of policy-makers and experts across the EU influence the interpretation and implementation of common EU legislative frameworks, with a particular focus on EU marine environmental policies and understandings of marine nature and wilderness. He has previously earned a MSc at University of Oxford and a BSc at Aberystwyth University. Before starting his PhD, he worked on a variety of conservation and environmental projects in Central, South-Eastern, and Mediterranean Europe, including planning conservation strategies for the Western Balkans, designing pro-biodiversity business solutions for protected areas in the Danube Region, and managing UNESCO World Heritage-inscribed ancient and primeval beech forests, as well as working on improving coherence and coordination of EU marine environmental policies both on Slovenian level, as expert support to the ministry and in the wider Mediterranean region.  Sašo is also an avid hiker, who loves travelling and cosying up with a good book.

https://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/saso-gorjanc(d5c9d075-bf17-4b19-95e2-4609adf7ec57).html

Hadil Louz

Cohort 3

PhD Social Anthropology

University of St Andrews

Research:

Relationships between memory, trauma, and solidarity amongst Palestinian refugees in Berlin

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Hadil Louz is a PhD candidate in Social Anthropology at the University of St. Andrews on a fully funded scholarship. Her research examines relationships between memory, trauma, and solidarity amongst Palestinian refugees in Berlin. She does so by examining how memories of political violence and exile are subtly shaped by present-day circumstances, and vice versa (i.e. how current life possibilities and pressures reconfigure memories of the past) in a diasporic community. This research promises to shed light on the political and social pressures facing Palestinian refugees in Germany, how they respond to them, and otherwise build new lives in exile.

Hadil is a Palestinian refugee, born and raised in Jabalia Refugee Camp, Gaza, and now based in the UK as a political refugee. Before coming to the UK to pursue her higher studies, she worked as a visibility officer assistant in the main headquarter at the United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). Hadil was awarded a fully funded Gaza scholarship from Oxford Brookes University for her master’s degree in International Human Rights Law and was chosen as a Success Story in the university’s publications and a cover story for the university’s annual journal. Recently Hadil earned a second master’s (MSc) in Social Anthropology at the London school of Economics (LSE) with Distinction.

Marie Martine

Cohort 3

DPhil Modern Languages

University of Oxford

Research:

Women Writers at the End of the Nineteenth Century in France, Germany, and Norway

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Marie Martine is a DPhil student in Modern Languages (German and French) at the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on women’s writing at the end of the nineteenth century in France, Germany, and Norway. She is particularly interested in disability and gender studies.  

Before starting her DPhil, Marie studied at La Sorbonne and Bonn in French and German studies and completed a Master in Comparative Literature in the universities of Bonn and St Andrews.

Marie is fluent in French, English, German and speaks Norwegian (Bokmål), Russian and Italian. 

Claudia Negri Ribalta

Cohort 3

PhD Computer Science

Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne

Research:

Data protection and other socio-technical requirements for new technologies, focused on the GDPR

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Claudia is a PhD candidate from University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, researching data protection and other socio-technical requirements for new technologies, focused on the GDPR. Her thesis aims at studying requirements from an interdisciplinary and user-centered perspective, taking special consideration of regulation.
Apart from her academic interest, Claudia is an active member of the Chilean civil society. She has cooperated in several NGOs, collaborated with the Chilean Congress and authorities’ work, and participated in various seminars. She is also one of the founding members of OptIA, a South American NGO focused on algorithmic accountability, transparency, and inclusion.
Claudia is also a political scientist from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and holds an Ms.C. in Interactive Digital Media from Trinity College Dublin. In her free time, she loves a good cup of coffee with jazz.”
website link: https://csnegri.github.io/

Isabel Oakes

Cohort 3

DPhil History

University of Oxford

Research:

The intellectual and epistemological roots of ‘green consciousness’ in post-war Germany and ordoliberlism

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Isabel is a DPhil candidate in the Faculty of History at the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on the ways in which ordoliberal thought engaged with concepts of nature and the environment and the ways in which this influenced environmental policy making in Germany in the twentieth century. She has published articles on the intellectual history of ordoliberalism and the ways in which ordoliberal competition theory can address power in the digital age. Prior to this, Isabel completed the MPhil in Social and Economic History at the University of Oxford and the BA in International Relations at King’s College London. She has also worked in the private sector, primarily analysing ESG ratings for publicly listed companies in the DACH region. She hopes to promote intellectual engagement with climate change across disciplines and institutions and enact real change. Isabel grew up in Luxembourg to British-German parents.

https://history.web.ox.ac.uk/people/isabel-oakes

Ann-Katrien Oimann

Cohort 3

PhD Philosophy

KU Leuven / Royal Military Academy

Research:

The Morality of the Use of Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems

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Ann-Katrien Oimann is a researcher and PhD candidate at the Royal Military Academy of Belgium in collaboration with the KU Leuven Institute of Philosophy. Her research focuses on the military use of AI in the context of the development of semi-autonomous and fully autonomous weapon systems. In her doctoral thesis, she investigates the morality of the use of LAWS and the problem of attributing moral responsibility. More broadly, her main academic interests are focused on the intersection of ethics, artificial intelligence and law.

Before starting as a PhD researcher, Ann-Katrien obtained her Bachelor and Master in Philosophy at the KU Leuven and an LLM in IP and ICT law at the KU Leuven where she mainly dealt with privacy and data protection.

https://hiw.kuleuven.be/ripple/people/00134743

Toine Paulissen

Cohort 3

PhD Social Sciences

KU Leuven

Research:

Referendums in European countries and use of finances to shape voter behaviour

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After finishing his Master in Western Literature, Toine Paulissen graduated as a Master in Comparative and International Politics at KU Leuven. In 2021 he became the laureat for the third prize of the Wilfried Martens Thesis Prize for his thesis on the interest representation of higher education institutions at the European Union. After a career in the hotel sector and an employment as a policy officer for the European Office at Provincie Vlaams-Brabant, he started working for the Public Governance Institute as a PhD student and teaching assistant in January 2021. His doctoral research under supervisor prof. dr. Bart Maddens and co-promotor prof. dr. Steven Van Hecke centers around (regulation concerning) the financing of referendum campaigns. In his research, Toine focuses on comparative and European politics with a special interest in direct democracy, political finance and the European Union.

https://soc.kuleuven.be/io/english/staff/00117160

Keith Prushankin

Cohort 3

PhD Political Science

FU Berlin

Research:

Economic discourses of populism in Poland and Czechia

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Keith is a doctoral candidate with the Cluster of Excellence “Contestations of the Liberal Script” (SCRIPTS) at Freie Universität Berlin, where he studies populist economic discourses in former socialist countries and how the inequalities of the transition to capitalism affect the continuing stability of the liberal order. Keith’s dissertation is entitled “The Discourse of Economic Discontent in Czech and Polish Populist Movements: Rhetorical Choice or Pragmatic Policy?” His research interests include political economy, inequality, post-communism, and neoliberalism. Keith earned his MA in international relations from Charles University in Prague and previously worked for the International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC.

Keith’s institutional profile is available via the link: https://www.scripts-berlin.eu/birt/bgts/bgts_people/phd-students/Prushankin/index.html

Bradley Reynolds

Cohort 3

PhD Political History

University of Helsinki

Research:

Overcoming Ghosts of Finlandization: The Finnish-Russian OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship 1995-1996

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Bradley Reynolds is a grant-funded doctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki where he studies changes and continuity in European security thinking in the 1990s. Bradley’s doctoral monograph focuses on Finnish foreign policy in the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) as an example of the role smaller states played in conditioning European security as well as EU – Russian relations in the post-Soviet space. His research is funded by the US State Department’s Title VIII Grant Programme, the Finnish Foreign Policy Research Foundation, and others.  Bradley is an outdoors enthusiast and in his free enjoys time biking, skiing, rock climbing, and volunteering in local outdoor organizations. Bradley also volunteers as an OSCE election observer throughout Eurasia.

https://researchportal.helsinki.fi/en/persons/bradley-reynolds

Lena Riecke

Cohort 3

PhD Intelligence and Cybersecurity

Leiden University

Research:

Regulating the Proliferation and Export of Dual-Use Cyber Surveillance Technologies (DUCST)

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Lena Riecke is a PhD candidate at Leiden University’s Institute for Security and Global Affairs in The Hague. Her research interests include good governance, accountability, and regulating the proliferation of spyware through its export to States that use it to violate human rights. Her research is interdisciplinary, drawing on the disciplines of law, history, cybersecurity, and intelligence. Prior to her PhD, Lena graduated Cum Laude from Leiden University with an LLM in Public International Law and obtained a First Class BA(Hons) in Law from the University of Cambridge. During her undergraduate and postgraduate studies, Lena researched the protection afforded by international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law to civilian data from targeting during international armed conflict and evaluated the regulation of lethal autonomous weapons systems under customary IHL from a postcolonial perspective.

Alix Ricau

Cohort 3

PhD Comparative Literature

FU Berlin

Research:

US Dime Novels and Americanisation in Europe

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Alix Ricau is a PhD candidate at the Friedrich Schlegel Graduate School (Freie Universität Berlin) and a member of the Cluster of Excellence “Temporal Communities” since October 2021. Her doctoral research focuses on the representation of farm animals in 19th-century French and German popular fiction. This project questions the cultural and literary roots of contemporary framings of animals in a European rural context and puts into perspective diverse strategies of devaluation of nonhuman lives.

Alix holds two Master’s Degrees in Art History and Comparative Literature from the Paris Nanterre University. Prior to her PhD research, she studied dance theories, worked in several museums and dance companies and wrote for art newspapers.

Viktor Salenius

Cohort 3

DPhil Management

University of Oxford

Research:

Disruptive Innovation in Traditional Industries – Theorising a Nordic Model for Innovation in the Green Industry Transition

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Viktor is a PhD candidate in Management at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. With an interdisciplinary social science background, Viktor’s research interest is to understand the impact of societal and political institutions on innovation and sustainable development. His PhD research is set in the Nordic countries and examines how disruptive innovation processes emerge in traditional industry-sectors (such as energy or steel) that are facing pressure to transform in response to climate change, but where innovation looks very different than in the Silicon Valley’s start-up environment.
Before his PhD, Viktor has worked as a research policy analyst, writing reports for the Nordic Council of Ministers (Nordregio) and the EU Joint Research Centre. He was also a trainee at the EU Delegation to the United Nations in New York, assisting multilateral negotiations in sustainable development and science, technology and innovation.
Viktor holds a BSc in Politics and International Relations from the LSE (2018) and an MPhil in Innovation, Strategy and Organisation from the University of Cambridge (2020).

Lucia van der Meulen

Cohort 3

PhD European Law

KU Leuven

Research:

The use of the EU legal framework for fundamental rights litigation

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Lucia is a PhD candidate at the KU Leuven Institute for European Law. Her research is part of the ERC-project RESHUFFLE and looks at European fundamental rights in Dutch, Belgian and German courts. In her project, she analyses judgments on the European Arrest Warrant and Dublin Regulation to find out how national judges evaluate the human rights risks associated with transfers to other EU Member States.  More broadly, Lucia has an interest in finding ways to improve fundamental rights realisation and protection within the European legal order, from the international to the local level.

Before starting her PhD, Lucia studied Public International Law and Legal Research at Utrecht University as well as Liberal Arts and Sciences at University College Maastricht.

https://www.law.kuleuven.be/eur/en/Staff/00141627

Stephanie Arnold

Cohort 3

PhD Political and Social Sciences

Alma Mater Studiorum – Universitá di Bologna

Research:

European development programs and EU, China, US in the digital development in Sub-Saharan Africa

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Stephanie Arnold is a PhD candidate at the University of Bologna and a PhD fellow at the United Nations University CRIS in Bruges. Her research concentrates on the international politics of digital development in developing countries with a special focus on how international development programs and financeshape the digital transition in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Before embarking on her PhD journey, Stephanie pursued a five-year master’s degree in law at the University of Bologna. As a law student, she spent an exchange semester at Leiden University as well as the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing. Besides several legal traineeships in Italy, Romania, and Estonia, she also interned at the Embassy of Italy in Tanzania and at the NATO Headquarters in Brussels where she gained practical insight into international affairs and the policy-making process.

Finally, Stephanie is passionate about foreign languages. She is fluent in English, German, Italian, and Swahili, and speaks some French, Dutch, and Mandarin.

https://www.unibo.it/sitoweb/stephanie.arnold2/en

Savannah-Rivka Powell

Cohort 3

PhD Literature and Cultural Research

University of Tartu

Research:

Minority identities, culture, gender and state (Seto of Estonia / Ainu of Japan living on Russian border)

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Savannah-Rivka researches minority identities in connection with UNESCO heritage with a focus on the Ainu of Japan and the Seto of Estonia. She works with communities on the local level and examines engagement with heritage institutions and transnational movements. Her MA research in Folkloristics and Applied Heritage was supported by the Estonian Research Council and focused on the intersection of privilege and oppression in the realm of creative expression. She has interned for the Netherlands Open Air Museum (NOM) with support of the Meertens Institute and the Rijksmuseum to aid in the creation of their first museum choir reflecting local culture including migrants and refugees. Savannah-Rivka has a BA in Social Justice and International Cross-Cultural Awareness from the Metropolitan State University of Denver in the United States. She has experience working in museums, archives, and non-profits. When not researching she can be found exploring a mountain pass or playing music.

Nathalie Koubayová

Cohort 3

PhD Media and Communication

Univerzita Karlova, Prague

Research:

The effects of chatbots’ identity disclosure and the transparency of AI

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Nathalie is a PhD candidate at the Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism, Charles University in Prague. In her research, she investigates the effects of different framing of the chatbot’s disclosure to the users in a text-based interface. She holds a Research Master’s in Communication Science from the University of Amsterdam and earned her bachelor’s degree in Marketing Communication and Public Relations from Charles University.

In the past, Nathalie was an algorithmic accountability fellow at AlgorithmWatch, a civil society organization based in Berlin, which evaluates the social impact of automated decision-making and AI-based systems. She also worked as a data analyst at the National Contact Centre for Gender & Science at the Institute of Sociology at the Czech Academy of Sciences, was a Blue Book Trainee at the Representation of the European Commission in the Czech Republic and interned at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic in the Public Diplomacy Department. She has been involved with various NGOs where she volunteered as a tutor for socially disadvantaged kids and a teacher of the Czech language to foreigners.

Iris Jugo Núñez-Hoyo

Cohort 3

PhD

Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Research:

Cultural Leadership: symbiosis for social improvement

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A native of Salamanca, Spain, Iris Jugo completed her Bachelor’s in Cello Performance in Holland and holds a Master’s degree from the Royal Northern College of Music (UK) and a Master´s degree from the UNED University as fundraiser and project management. She is a doctoral student at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, focus on researching about cultural leadership and artistic mediation.
Iris has received awards including the Dámaso (Spain) and Sir Charles Groves 2ndPrize (UK) in chamber music. Iris has taken part in important European Musical festivals and played in many European orchestras, in addition to recording part of the chamber music of E. Homs (VERSUS), contemporary sketches of Amelia’s Will (RC Holland), and works by the composer Grazyna Bacewic (INAEM).
Iris has collaborated with institutions in Europe, Africa and Latinamerica and national governments to create and empower social musical programs for youth. Her NGO inspiration persona is now focus in international cooperation and artistics programs to develop social justice.
Currently, she enjoys fundraising for social projects with Inspiration Persona in Ghana, mentoring young leaders in Chile and Colombia and she is also a cello and chamber music teacher at the Conservatory of Music “Manuel de Falla”, Madrid.
Since June 2021 Iris Jugo is an international adviser for the Teatro Educativo de las Artes de Panguipulli (Chile).

Alena Zelenskaya

Cohort 3

PhD Anthropology

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

Research:

The Impact of the Border Regime on the Immigration of Spouses from Non-EU Countries into the European Union. The Case of Russian Marriage Migration to Germany

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Alena Zelenskaia is a research assistant and a PhD student at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany. In the project, developed at the Cooperative Research Center “Cultures of Vigilance”, Alena focuses on practices and strategies of the EU border making towards marriage migrants from Third countries and ways how the migrants and their spouses undo the borders. Due to the changed environment of the fieldwork during the pandemic, besides the traditional ethnographic methods of interview and participant observation, Alena has also undertaken thematic discourse-analysis of Facebook groups and TV-Shows. Her training (BA from the Southern Federal University, Russia) and experience in journalism has vastly contributed to it.

Alena holds an MA in International Relations from St. Petersburg State University and an MA in Anthropology from the European University at St. Petersburg. Her second Master thesis was dedicated to the identification of Russian-speaking refugees in Germany. After graduation Alena worked as an instructor at the American University of Central Asia in Kyrgyzstan, where she taught courses on migration and mass media research methods. Her research interests include migration, bureaucracy, minority issues, nationalism, identity development, and mass media communication.

Sophie Vériter

Cohort 3

PhD Security and Global Affairs

Leiden University

Research:

The role of small states in the development of European security governance

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Sophie is a doctoral researcher at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) of Leiden University. She specialises in strategic communication, EU policy-making, European democracy, and global governance. Sophie takes an inter-disciplinary approach to her research, building on her background in law, political science, international relations, and security studies. Her dissertation critically analyses the development of counter-disinformation policies in Europe and how they affect society.

Alongside her PhD, Sophie contributes to the Global Governance Institute as a Research Fellow and to The Hague Journal of Diplomacy as Book Reviews Editor. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, yoga, and electronic music.

Previously, Sophie worked for the EU’s public diplomacy programme in the Eastern Partnership countries, where she developed the ‘Young European Ambassadors’ initiative. Sophie holds a MPhil in European Politics and Society from the University of Oxford and a BA (summa cum laude) in International Affairs from Vesalius College in Brussels

Nil Barutel

Cohort 3

PhD Political and Social Sciences

Universitat Pompeu Fabra

Research:

The relationship between cultural policies and social cohesion.

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Nil Barutel is a PhD candidate at Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Department of Political and Social Sciences), under the supervision of Dr. Javier Arregui and Dr. Nicolás Barbieri (UOC). As part of his industrial PhD scholarship, he works as a cultural manager at ICUB, the Department of Culture of Barcelona City Council. He is also the director of Riborquestra.

His research focuses on the relationship between cultural policies, social cohesion and social capital, analysing the policy approaches of various cultural institutions, such as the Liceu Opera House. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music (Erasmus Hogeschool Brussel, Belgium) and a Master’s Degree in Public and Social Policy (UPF in collaboration with The Johns Hopkins University).

He previously worked for the Jaume Bofill Foundation, the JHU-UPF Policy Centre, PEN Català (Youth at the centre of cultural production) or the Barcelona Libraries Consortium (Master Plan 2030), among others. He has also given seminars at the Erasmus Mundus Master in Public Policy (IBEI) and at the Master’s Programme in Social and Public Policy (UPF-JHU).

Kseniia Soloveva

Cohort 3

PhD Public International Law

Leiden University

Research:

Instances of extraterritorial conferrals of nationality considered excessive and in violation of Public International Law (‘PIL’)

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Kseniia is a PhD Candidate at Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies, Leiden University, The Netherlands. Her doctoral thesis focuses on the large-scale extraterritorial conferrals of nationality. The aim of the research is to identify the international legal framework that governs such conferrals, simultaneously questioning them from the perspectives of stability and international security. Prior to joining Leiden, Kseniia graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Law (with distinction) from National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow, Russia) and an Advanced LL.M. in Public International Law (cum laude) from Leiden University. Her professional experiences include working for a law firm specialising in major inter-state disputes before the international courts and tribunals as well as a consultancy position in an international organisation.

Caroline Bertram

Cohort 3

PhD Political Science

University of Copenhagen

Research:

EU trade policy and sustainable development

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Caroline’s research dives into the possibilities and limitations of using trade policy to foster sustainable development objectives. Her research focus on the inclusion of social, environmental and climate protection provisions and instruments in the European Union’s trade policy. More specifically, she investigates (new) institutional developments within the EU’s trade regime and asks questions relating to the coherence and consistency of EU external action. Overall, the PhD project hopes to contribute to understanding how EU trade policy is evolving in the context of globalization and the 21st-century international political economy, and in the context of the emerging global sustainability agenda.

Caroline holds a MSc in Political Science with a specialization in International Political Economy from the the University of Copenhagen. She has previous work experience from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, Denmark’s Permanent Mission to the WTO in Geneva, and from the Danish Parliament’s International Secretariat. In addition to her field of research, Caroline is passionate about global climate governance and biodiversity, human rights, gender equality, and issues within the domain of international political economy.

Hasan Akintug

Cohort 3

PhD Political, Societal and Regional Change

University of Helsinki

Research:

A comparative historical analysis of the external policies of the Faroe Islands, Greenland and the Åland Islands

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Hasan Akintug is a doctoral student at the Centre for Nordic Studies at the University of Helsinki. He holds a master’s degree in European and Nordic Studies from the University of Helsinki and a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Public Administration from Hacettepe University. He is particularly interested in contemporary political history, regional integration processes and minority issues. Akintug’s doctoral project focuses on the external policies of the autonomous polities in the Nordic region. He is also affiliated with the Åland Islands Peace Institute.

Jens Meijen

Cohort 3

PhD Social Sciences

KU Leuven

Research:

Populist discourse and the impact of populism on international relations and diplomacy, with a specific focus on Europe

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Jens Meijen is a PhD Candidate in Political Science at the University of Leuven. His research focuses on European right-wing populism, with particular attention for its relationship with diplomacy, cultural policy, democracy, and technology. More concretely, he has thus far published on the populist exploitation of the Covid-19 pandemic, the EU’s value-based cultural policy, and the anti-populist cordon sanitaire in Belgium. During his PhD, he has studied and taken seminars at the University of Oxford, Freie Universität Berlin, and Trinity College Dublin. He is currently in the start-up phase of an Artificial Intelligence consultancy and development company concentrating on ethical practices, predictive systems for international AI governance risks, and machine learning workflow optimization. He is also a journalist and editor for various Belgian media and an author at the Dutch publishing house De Bezige Bij, where he publishes books exploring the fragile equilibrium between humanity, technology, and nature.

Claudia Marà

Cohort 3

PhD Sociology

KU Leuven

Research:

Workers’ agency in the context of the digital platform economy in three different institutional settings – Belgium, France, Italy

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Claudia Marà is a PhD candidate in the Employment Relations and Labour Markets research unit at the Centre for Sociological Research of the University of Leuven. She conducts her PhD research within the scope of the ERC Project “ResPecTMe”, which investigates precariousness across the paid/unpaid work continuum. Claudia’s research interests focus on working conditions and workers’ collective action in the digital labour platform economy in Europe. Since 2021, she is part of the Belgian team of the Fairwork project, which certifies best employment practices in the labour platform economy.

Claudia holds a Master’s degree in International Relations from the University of Bologna and an Advanced Master’s in Public Policy and Social Change from the Collegio Carlo Alberto in Turin. Her graduate studies included visiting studentships at the University of Washington and at the University of Cardiff.

Peeter Vihma

Cohort 2

PhD Social Sciences

University of Helsinki

Research:

Bringing innovation and socio-ecological coherence into governance of ecosystems

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Peeter’s research focusses on how to bring innovation and socio-ecological coherence into governance of ecosystems through cooperative and projectified governance. He earned a MA and BA in sociology at University of Tallinn, Estonia, where he also lectured for several years. He is currently pursuing PhD in social sciences at Helsinki University. In 2019 he received a Fulbright Fellowship at Cornell University. Besides consulting Estonian government agencies he sails, drives a motorcycle, renovates a 100-year-old barn made of clay, and has a daughter. He has written a book about his work as a volunteer in Kenya and directed three documentary films, two of them for Estonian Public Broadcasting.

Mariana Vega Martinho

Cohort 2

PhD Labour Law and Social Security Law

University Complutense Madrid

Research:

Study of Healthcare law and Social Security law at national and international level. The challenges to be faced in a more diverse Europe.

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Mariana’s doctoral thesis focuses on the right of access to the public health system in Spain and in the European Union. The aim of this thesis is to propose a reform of our national law that takes into account the impact of the migratory flows, emphasizing the situation of refugees and irregular immigrants. In addition, she is a public servant here in Spain, being part of the “Social Security Technicians”, a group of state officials responsible for the recognition of rights at national and international level in the field of Social Security. In this role she connects daily with a multicultural European environment, which, unfortunately, is not adequately dealt by the current legal framework.
Mariana was born in Brazil and her native language is Portuguese.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariana-vega-martinho-936b47126/

Alice Trinkle

Cohort 2

PhD History/Sinology

Free University Berlin

Research:

Exchanges on economic matters between China and Europe in the late 20th century

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Alice is a research assistant and PhD student at the research cluster Contestations of the Liberal Scripts (SCRIPTS) at Free University Berlin. Within her research, she analysis knowledge transfers on economic matters between China and Europe during the reform and opening up period in the 1980s and 1990s from a Global History point of view. Before starting her PhD, Alice studied Chinese studies, history, German language and literature and education at SOAS University of London, Potsdam University and the University of International Business and Economics Beijing.

She gained work experience as a German language lecture for German Academic exchange service at China University of Political Science and Law Beijing, in local politics management and PR for the German Greens in the Berlin district of Tempelhof-Schöneberg, as an intern at the communications department of Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS) and as a student employee in the field of TV news broadcasting at Berlin-Brandenburg broadcasting (RBB).

https://www.scripts-berlin.eu/birt/bgts/bgts_people/phd-students/Trinkle/index.html

Elodie Thevenin

Cohort 2

PhD Political Science

Jagiellonian University, Krakow

Research:

Migration in the context of the future of Europe

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Elodie Thevenin is a PhD candidate in Political Science at the Institute of European Studies of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. She also works as research assistant on the EU Horizon 2020 project “EU Differentiation, Dominance and Democracy (EU3D)”. Her academic interests encompass subjects related to migration, parliamentary discourse and identity construction. Her doctoral research focuses on the discussion on migration in national parliaments, in relation to the development of European integration.

Sue Anne Teo

Cohort 2

PhD Law

University of Copenhagen

Research:

Human Rights 2.0: A Primer for the Age of Artificial Intelligence

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Sue Anne Teo is currently a PhD Fellow at the Faculty of Law at University of Copenhagen. Her PhD research project is entitled ‘Human Rights 2.0: A Primer for the Age of Artificial Intelligence’ and centers around a structural rethink on the role of human rights and its protection framework in light of developments in the field of artificial intelligence.
Prior to her PhD, Sue Anne was a Senior Programme Officer at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights in Sweden. Before that, she worked for several years with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as a Senior Refugee Status Determination officer and also served in the UN peacekeeping mission in East Timor.

Sue Anne Teo holds a First Class Honours Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) degree from University of London, a Master of Laws (LL.M) from University of Cambridge and a Master of Science in Human Rights from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

Zea Szebeni

Cohort 2

PhD Social Psychology

University of Helsinki

Research:

Online disinformation and political polarization

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Zea Szebeni is a grant-funded PhD candidate at the University of Helsinki. In her PhD research project, she explores the functions and effects of online disinformation, and its impact on society and political polarization. Her research interests include politicized media, active citizenship and populism. She conducts research primarily on Hungary.

In the past Zea obtained a MA degree in social psychology in Budapest, and worked at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences as a research assistant. She also led a project at a Hungarian NGO, which aimed at integrating people in society, who are at the risk of social exclusion. Currently she is involved in advocacy work for young psychology researchers in the Finnish Psychological Association.

In her free time, Zea enjoys reading fake news and exploring conspiracy theories.

https://researchportal.helsinki.fi/en/persons/szebeni-zea-k%C3%A1rmin

Inga Steinberg

Cohort 2

PhD Social Policy

University of Oxford

Research:

Family background and earnings returns to Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths degrees in the UK

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Inga is a PhD candidate in Social Policy at the University of Oxford. In her thesis, she is investigating the earnings returns to Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) degrees in the United Kingdom, and how they differ by family background. Through this research, Inga hopes to contribute towards more evidence and transparency in policymaking regarding (STEM) education.
Outside of her PhD, Inga is involved in campaigning for greater access to graduate study. For example, she participates in the running of the Nuffield Undergraduate Scholars Institute, the first programme of its kind at the university.
Before starting her PhD, Inga obtained a BSc in Liberal Arts and Sciences (majoring in Policy Science) at Leiden University College in The Hague, and an MSc in Comparative Social Policy from the University of Oxford, which she was able to pursue thanks to partial funding from the Europaeum.
https://www.nuffield.ox.ac.uk/people/profiles/inga-steinberg/

Lukas Spielberger

Cohort 2

PhD European Political Economy

Leiden University

Research:

Cooperation of central banks during the financial crisis in Central and Eastern Europe

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Lukas Spielberger is PhD researcher at the Institute of Political Science. He holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Twente, and postgraduate degrees from the London School of Economics and the College of Europe, Bruges. He has organised several simulation games of EU politics. Lukas’ research interests concern the political economy of economic and financial integration in Europe. In his PhD research he investigates how central banks cooperated during the financial crisis in Central and Eastern Europe.

Irene Soriano Flórez

Cohort 2

PhD Applied Linguistics

University Complutense Madrid

Research:

Internationalisation practices and academic literacies, language ecology within European higher education

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Irene is a PhD student in English Linguistics at Complutense University of Madrid (UCM). She holds a MA with Distinction in Applied Linguistics from University College London (UCL), and she graduated with Distinction in the BA in English Studies at Complutense (Premio Extraordinario de Grado, 2017). She was an Erasmus Student at Sussex University (Brighton) and she collaborated as an intern in the Linguistics Department at Complutense, where she is an honorific collaborator since 2017.

She is a member of UCM’s Research Group ‘The Role of English in the Internationalization of Spanish Higher Education’, and her main academic interest focuses on policies and practices of internationalisation within higher education, analysing disciplinary biliteracies in EMEMUS contexts and their potential impact on language use. As a Blue Book Trainee in the Executive Agency of Culture, Education and Audiovisuals (EACEA) at the EU Commission, she is devoted to education and language policy implementation.

https://clue-project.weebly.com/team.html

Christoph Semken

Cohort 2

PhD Economics

Universitat Pompeu Fabra

Research:

Behavioural determinants of altruism and redistributional preferences

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Christoph Semken investigates behavioural determinants of altruism and redistributional preferences. The goal of his research is to understand how people form these preferences, address potential biases and, ultimately, increase voluntary giving and support for redistribution. His fields are behavioural economics, political economy and scientific methodology. He has previously published in the journal International Peacekeeping.

Since 2012, Christoph works for the Federation of Young European Greens. He also interned with the Bundesbank and the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies.

Christoph holds an MRes Economics (2019) from Universtat Pompeu Fabra, a Master (2018) from the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics and an MA Economics and International Relations (2016) from the University of Aberdeen. He also studied International Economic Policy (2017) at Sciences Po Paris and is a state-certified Assistant for Information Technology (2012) in Germany.

Lewin Schmitt

Cohort 2

PhD Political and Social Sciences

Universitat Pompeu Fabra

Research:

The EU’s role in the Global Governance of AI

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Lewin Schmitt is a predoctoral researcher at IBEI within the framework of the Horizon 2020 project “GLOBE- Global Governance and the European Union: Future Trends and Scenarios.” He is also PhD candidate in Political and Social Sciences at Universitat Pompeu Fabra. In his research, he investigates the EU’s role in the global governance of artificial intelligence.
Previously, Lewin worked as a Policy Analyst at the European Political Strategy Centre (EPSC), the European Commission’s in-house think tank. There, he focused on the nexus of technology and geopolitics.

Prior to joining the EPSC, he worked at the German Institute for Economic Research, on the editing board of St Antony’s International Review and as an independent consultant.
He holds a BSc in European Economic Studies from the University of Bamberg (2016) and an MSc in Latin American Studies from the University of Oxford (2017).

Nils Renard

Cohort 2

PhD Modern History

University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne – IHMC

Research:

Henri Grégoire (1750-1831) and the birth of a European religious anthropology during the French Revolution

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Nils Renard is a PhD candidate at the University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, within the IHMC (Institut d’Histoire moderne et contemporaine). His research centres on the anthropological thinking of Henri Grégoire (1750 – 1831) and of the French constitutional clergy during the Revolution and the Empire. The central question is to understand how the environment was perceived as the central element of the religious anthropology which developed as an answer to political and religious crisis in France at the time.

Before the start of his PhD, Nils graduated both at the University Paris 1 and at the Ecole Normale Supérieure – PSL University. In the course of his studies, he also taught French abroad, at Oxford University and at the ELTE Eötvös Collegium in Budapest, before passing the Agrégation in History. His interest in Literature led him to organize a seminar on Tolkien with the joint publication of a book in 2019.

http://www.ihmc.ens.fr/RENARD-Nils

Elena Porter

Cohort 2

DPhil History

University of Oxford

Research:

Changes to policy since 1950, affecting privately-owned historic houses in Britain

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Elena’s research is on the history of heritage lobbying in Britain, focusing on how policy that affects privately-owned historic houses has changed since 1950. Her doctoral thesis reassesses the active construction of the British country house as a symbol of national identity, and offers an alternative perspective on the influence of inherited wealth in British politics. It contextualises British governments’ approaches to built heritage preservation within broader cultural and political shifts in Europe and the wider world. Elena holds an MA in History of Design from the Royal College of Art and Victoria & Albert Museum, and a BA in History from the University of Oxford. She has experience of interpretation and education in museums, and is passionate about the educative power (and, with that, responsibilities) of arts institutions and heritage sites.

She is working in collaboration with Historic Houses, under the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Collaborative Doctoral Partnership scheme.

https://www.history.ox.ac.uk/people/elena-porter

Ariadna Petri

Cohort 2

PhD Conflict Resolution

Complutense University, Madrid

Research:

The agency of second track negotiators in feeding the peace industry in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

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Ariadna Petri is a conflict resolution and security researcher, analyst, consultant and lecturer. Her vision for building solutions for communities with high-potential for growth led her to found and manage 10 training programs for leaders, teachers and youth, that helped over 480 young professionals from 32 countries across the EU and Middle East to catalyse their professional and personal development and skills.

Ariadna enjoys building partnerships utilizing tech-for-impact and led international strategy and fundraising of €4million for social impact projects with various teams, such as the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel.

Currently she is a PhD Candidate in Conflict Resolution at Complutense University, Madrid. Her thesis analyses the agency of second track negotiators in feeding the peace industry in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Previously, Ariadna held researcher and lecturer appointments at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv University, Institute for National Security Studies, Israel, Bard College and Al-Quds University.

https://ucm.academia.edu/APetri

Thalia Ostendorf

Cohort 2

PhD Social Anthropology and Modern Languages

University of St Andrews

Research:

War Literature and its influence on contemporary peace activism and remembrance practices in the UK and the US

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Thalia is the recipient of the St Leonards Interdisciplinary Scholarship and is conducting her PhD research at the University of St. Andrews, in the departments of Social Anthropology and Modern Languages. Her research focusses on war literature and its influence on contemporary peace activism and remembrance practices in the UK and the US. She holds a BA and MA (research) in Comparative Literary Studies from Utrecht University, the Netherlands. During these degrees she went on exchanges with UC Davis (California, US) and Napoli L’Orientale (Italy).
Thalia is Dutch-Surinamese and a co-founder of Chaos Press (Uitgeverij Chaos), the only intersectional feminist publishing house in the Netherlands, where she edits and translates (English to Dutch). She also writes and publishes short stories.

Frederik Forrai Ørskov

Cohort 2

PhD Nordic Studies

University of Helsinki

Research:

Nordic Intellectuals with National Sympathies thought about Europe

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Frederik Forrai Ørskov is a Doctoral candidate at the Centre for Nordic Studies as part of the ReNEW (Reimagining Norden in an Evolving World) PhD-programme. Here, he researches how Nordic intellectuals with National Socialist sympathies thought about Europe, the Nordic region, and National Socialist Germany during the 1930s and 40s. He is trained as a historian from the University of Southern Denmark and Central European University, where his MA-thesis dealt with Danish promotional efforts in National Socialist Germany. He has published articles and book chapters on the history of educational testing, the OECD, visual history, and transnational social political dialogues among other subjects.

https://researchportal.helsinki.fi/en/persons/frederik-forrai-oerskov

George Nikolou

Cohort 2

George Nikolou

University of Oxford

Research:

Emergencies in Constitutional Law

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George Nikolou is a DPhil (PhD) student at the University of Oxford. His research focuses on emergencies in constitutional law, comprising mainly of economic crises, national security crises and natural disasters. In particular he examines the courts’ response to public emergencies and the appropriate extent of the relevant judicial review.

More broadly, his academic interests include constitutional theory, legal and political theory and the history of constitutional institutions. He has been funded in his studies by the Foundation for Education and European Culture (IPEP), the Oxford Faculty of Law and the Clelia Haji-Ioannou Foundation. Before starting his DPhil, George completed MJur and MPhil (dist.) degrees at the University of Oxford. He has worked as a trainee lawyer at the Greek Council of State and he is currently a jurisprudence tutor at the University of Oxford.

Originally from Greece George holds an LLM (dist.) in Public Law and an LLB in Law from the University of Athens.

Riccardo Nanni

Cohort 2

PhD Political and Social Sciences (International Relations)

University of Bologna

Research:

China’s influence in Global Internet Governance

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Riccardo Nanni is a PhD candidate in Political and Social Sciences (field: International Relations) at the University of Bologna “Alma Mater Studiorum”. His research interest is on China’s influence in Global Internet Governance. After getting an MA in Human Rights and Multi-level Governance at the University of Padova, he worked for four months at the Italian Helpline against Human Trafficking, then for one year at Centro Veneto Progetti Donna, the civil society organisation running the four anti-violence centres of the Province of Padova.Before starting his PhD, he was selected for a traineeship at the Political Section of the Delegation of the European Union to China. In this context, he engaged in researching and analysing data and information on human rights laws, policies, and situations in China.

Finally, he plays bass guitar and is an activist in Amnesty International, carrying out human rights education sessions for primary and secondary school pupils.

https://www.unibo.it/sitoweb/riccardo.nanni9/en

Carlotta Mingardi

Cohort 2

PhD Political and Social Sciences

University of Bologna

Research:

EU foreign policy towards the Western Balkans

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Carlotta Mingardi is a PhD student in Political and Social Sciences at the University of Bologna, and currently Visiting PhD student at the Brussels School of International Studies-BSIS, University of Kent. Her research focuses on EU’s foreign policy towards the Western Balkans, considering the impact of international actors such as Russia, Turkey and China.

After graduating from Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, she took her master’s degree in Middle East Politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies-SOAS University of London. In 2017, she became a Blue Book Trainee at the European Commission, where she worked on the Justice reform in the Western Balkans, setting the first bricks of her PhD research project. Before starting her PhD, she worked as Junior Research Fellow at the European Institute of the Mediterranean in Barcelona.

Besides being an activist with Amnesty International since 2016, Carlotta writes for different newspapers and magazines, such as BresciaOggi, InPrimis-Today and Pandora Rivista, an Italian magazine of political theory.

https://www.unibo.it/sitoweb/carlotta.mingardi3/en

Arron McArdle

Cohort 2

PhD International Human Rights Law

University of Luxembourg

Research:

Judicial and Regulatory Approaches toward Hate Speech under European, German, UK and Irish Human Rights Law

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Arron Mc Ardle is a PhD candidate at the research unit in law at the University of Luxembourg. Arron’s research topic aims to comparatively examine the current European legal framework for hate speech, ultimately the research is centred on developing a theoretical model of interpretation which can be applied in cases of hate speech.

Alongside his research interests, Arron is an active member of a Luxembourg based NGO which advocates for the protection of vulnerable groups and works to protect and promote European human rights values. He is currently involved in an advocacy project which aims to facilitate a discussion on the lack of protection afforded to domestic workers in Europe. In collaboration with partners including Danish NGO the Why foundation and the UN-funded Ciné-ONU Brussels, they seek to engage with human rights advocacy through film.

Originally from the Republic of Ireland Arron holds an LLM in Human Rights and Criminal Justice from The Queens University Belfast and LLB in Law from Letterkenny Institute of Technology.

Antonia Markiewitz

Cohort 2

PhD Communication Science

LMU Munich

Research:

On the connection between media and suicides: Journalists and their (ir)responsible reporting on suicide

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Antonia Markiewitz is a predoctoral researcher at LMU Munich and PhD candidate in communication science. Her research focuses on health communication and journalism research and their interaction. Antonia is currently working on a DFG-funded project on how the media–precisely journalists–can contribute to suicide prevention. She also investigates depictions and portrayals of self-harming and suicidal behavior on social network sites and their possible effects on children and adolescents. Antonia’s efforts lie in promoting (the value of) mental health both in society and regarding its depiction in the media.

https://www.ls1.ifkw.uni-muenchen.de/personen/wiss_ma/markiewitz_antonia/index.html

Chiara Lovotti

Cohort 2

PhD History

University of Bologna

Research:

The role and impact of the Soviet Union on the state-building processes in three postcolonial Arab countries: Egypt, Syria, and Iraq

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Chiara Lovotti is a PhD candidate at the faculty of History and Cultures at the Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna. Her academic research delves into the role and impact of the Soviet Union on the state-building processes in three postcolonial Arab countries: Egypt, Syria, and Iraq. Chiara is also an Associate Research Fellow for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Centre of the Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI). At ISPI, her research interests are focused on socio-political transformations in the MENA, mostly Syria and Iraq; relations between Russia and the MENA countries; and Russian foreign policy towards the area. She holds a Bachelor’s in Foreign Languages from the Catholic University of Milan, a Master’s in Development Studies from the University of Louvain, and another Master’s in Middle Eastern Studies from the Postgraduate School of Economics and International Relations, Milan. She has recently co-edited a Routledge book entitled “Russia in the Middle East and North Africa. Continuity and Change”.

https://www.unibo.it/sitoweb/chiara.lovotti

António Leitão Amaro

Cohort 2

PhD Law

Catholic University of Portugal

Research:

Institutional Independence in Monetary and Fiscal Policies

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António Leitão Amaro is preparing his PhD dissertation at Universidade Católica Portuguesa (Lisbon, Portugal) on Institutional Independence in Monetary and Fiscal Policies. For 7 years he taught several law courses at Universidade de Lisboa, and published articles in Portuguese law and economics journals. He is a current Marshall Memorial Fellow at the German Marshal Fund of the United States.
He served for three terms as elected Member of the Portuguese national Parliament (Assembleia da República) (2009-2019), where he was Vice-President of the Social Democratic Party (PSD/EPP) Parliamentary Group (2015-2019). He also served as Secretary of State for Local Government in the national Government of Portugal (2013-2015). Previously he worked as associate lawyer (Cuatrecasas, Lisbon, Portugal) and business consultant.

He holds a Masters (LLM, 2008) from Harvard Law School, Harvard University, an LLB (Licenciatura, 2003) from Universidade de Lisboa (2003), and two Post-graduate degrees in Economics and in Antitrust and Regulation from Universidade de Lisboa (2016), and Universidade de Coimbra (2005), respectively.

Joshua Hill

Cohort 2

PhD Modern History

University of St Andrews

Research:

Everyday Patterns of Drug Consumption in Modern Spain, 1939-1975

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Joshua Hill is a PhD candidate at the University of St Andrews. His research looks at drug use within the context of the Franco Dictatorship, mapping changes in patterns of drug use against societal changes during the four decades of the dictatorship. More broadly, his academic interests encompass identity, subjective experience, memory formation, and gender.

Joshua is also working as part of the ERC-Funded Project: ‘Dictatorship as experience: a comparative history of everyday life and the ‘lived experience’ of dictatorship in Mediterranean Europe, 1922-1975′. Prior to beginning his PhD at St Andrews, Joshua completed a Masters in Contemporary History at the University of Birmingham, with a focus on globalisation and development in post-colonial contexts.

https://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/joshua-alexander-hill(c2586871-88b8-4d96-9ef4-632a636cbcd6).html
https://arts.st-andrews.ac.uk/everyday-dictatorship/

Ilana Hartikainen

Cohort 2

PhD Political Science

University of Helsinki

Research:

Celebrity Populist Success in Hybrid Media Systems: The Czech Case

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Ilana Hartikainen is a PhD candidate at the University of Helsinki, studying celebrity populist leaders and their strategies for success in the hybrid media system. She did her BA at Northwestern University in English and Slavic Studies and her Erasmus Mundus double Masters at the University of Glasgow and Corvinus University of Budapest in Russian, Central, & East European Studies and Political Science, where she researched the continuing success of the Czech communist party. Between degrees, she spent a year in Liberec, Czech Republic as a Fulbright English teaching assistant.
Ilana is also a member of the Department of Education at the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes in Prague, where she co-created the educational website Socialism Realised: Life in Communist Czechoslovakia, 1948-89. Before her PhD, she worked as a journalist. When she’s not thinking about populism, Ilana is most likely pole dancing or hanging out with her corgi, Jupi.

https://researchportal.helsinki.fi/en/persons/ilana-seelinger-hartikainen

Eduardo García Cancela

Cohort 2

PhD Political Science, Public Administration and International Relations

University Complutense Madrid

Research:

EU foreign policy strategy

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Eduardo García Cancela is a PhD candidate at Complutense University (Madrid). His current doctoral research focuses on the most recent changes in the European Union’s foreign policy strategy, their consistency with the promotion of EU’s core democratic norms and values, and their impact in the Eastern neighbourhood. More broadly, Eduardo’s main interests relate to European affairs and international politics, democratisation processes, anti-corruption policies and civil society development.

Before starting his PhD, Eduardo completed a Master of Arts in European Interdisciplinary Studies at the College of Europe in Natolin (Warsaw) and graduated in Journalism and International Relations at Nebrija University (Madrid).

He also worked as an intern in the Embassy of Spain in Washington, D.C, and in the Secretariat of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum in Brussels. Moreover, he is currently engaged with the Spanish Federal Council of the European Movement, being an active member of its youth section.

Cerni Escale

Cohort 2

PhD Law

Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona

Research:

Statutory efficacy gains through collective intelligence

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Cerni’s research is on how legislation can be improved by using technology and collective knowledge. He wants to understand how laws can transform to adapt better to digital formats and how the instruments that legislatures use can be improved to leverage higher quality information when making norms.

Cerni worked for the World Bank in Washington DC for five years, where he prepared and implemented projects in the fields of service delivery and social protection. He participated in over 20 international missions, including in pre-revolutionary Sudan and Sierra Leone during the Ebola epidemic. Prior to joingin the World Bank, Cerni was a coordinator in the Andorra government, worked as a researcher at Columbia University, as a consultant for Moody’s and as a delegate in the United Nations General Assembly. He is an Ambassador for the charity One Young World.
He holds a Master of Public Administration (MPA, 2012) from Columbia University, where he was a Fulbright Fellow, a Bachelor of Political Science (BSc, 2009) from Pompeu Fabra University, and other degrees in law/economics from the Hertie School and Sciences-Po Paris.

https://linkedin.com/in/cerniescale

Silke Creten

Cohort 2

PhD Linguistics

KU Leuven

Research:

Memorandum: Discourse-analytical research of dementia communication

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Silke Creten is a PhD student at KU Leuven. She researches dementia communication, with a strong emphasis on the (media) representation of the disorder. She aims to propose strategies to counter stigmatic attitudes towards the disorder and the people living with it. She is a member of the KU Leuven MIDI Research Group, where language and interaction are studied as a social and/or conceptual practice.

She has a multifaceted background, with a MA in Italian and French Language and Literature (summa cum laude), a postgraduate degree in Literary Translation (cum laude), and a MSc in Artificial Intelligence, with a major in speech- and language technology (cum laude). Aside from her research interests, Silke is keen on learning new languages and exploring different cultures. As a student job, she worked at the Belgian Centre for Fine Arts, where she organised several (multi-)cultural events on literature with a social touch.

https://www.arts.kuleuven.be/midi/members/silke-creten

Alex Clark

Cohort 2

DPhil Geography and Environment

University of Oxford

Research:

The role of state-owned enterprises in the low-carbon transition and management of public sector stranded asset risks

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Alex Clark is a DPhil (PhD) student in the Department of Geography and the Environment at Oxford University. His research focuses on the role of state-owned enterprises in the low-carbon transition and management of public sector stranded asset risks, with a particular focus on China. As Director of the GeoAsset Project, Alex is also working to develop open-source asset-level datasets across carbon-intensive sectors. Previously, Alex was an Analyst at the Climate Policy Initiative, covering topics including alignment of development finance with the Paris Agreement, low-carbon transport, and tracking of climate finance flows. Alex is a former Henry Fellow at Harvard University. He holds an MSc (Global Governance and Diplomacy) from Oxford University, and a BA (Hons) in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Warwick University. He is Senior Advisor (Youth Financing) to SDSN Youth.

Kateřina Chadmiová

Cohort 2

PhD Economics and Finance

Charles University Prague

Research:

Behavioral economics in the public sphere

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Katerina is a PhD candidate at the Institute of Economic Studies, Charles University in Prague. Katerina’s research seeks to understand the factors that determine human behavior and decision-making process by designing and running economic experiments. She is especially interested in how insights derived from behavioral and social science can be applied in the public sector to improve outcomes by helping people to make better decisions. Her current projects involve fields of public media, health, and the environment. She also works as an analyst at the Institute of Health Economics and Technology Assessment, a non-profit organization that supports research and education in economics and public health in the Czech Republic and promotes evidence-based policies. Besides this, she is an environmental activist and serves as a volunteer firefighter.

https://ies.fsv.cuni.cz/en/staff/chadimova

Tuukka Brunila

Cohort 2

PhD Social and Moral Philosophy

University of Helsinki

Research:

1920s Intellectual Crisis of Liberalism in the Weimar Republic

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Tuukka Brunila studies at the University of Helsinki as a PhD student in social and moral philosophy. He is working in the Centre of Excellence in Law, Identity and the European Narratives (Eurostorie) at the faculty of social sciences. He specialises in political theory and philosophy. Tuukka’s doctoral thesis is about the 1920s intellectual crisis of liberalism in the Weimar Republic. The work will discuss concepts such as sovereignty, de-politicisation and the public economy. These concepts, as the thesis emphasises, are still relevant and crucial to understanding today’s Europe. Tuukka’s teaching responsibilities at Eurostorie include courses on populism and classics in the European political tradition.

https://researchportal.helsinki.fi/fi/persons/tuukka-brunila

Simon Cecchin Birk

Cohort 2

PhD History

University of Copenhagen

Research:

Populism in Italian Politics

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Simon Cecchin Birk is a PhD Fellow at the Department of English, Germanic and Romance Studies at the University of Copenhagen. Simon’s research examines the extent and expression of the populist turn in Italy during the past three decades and its effects on Italian democracy.

In 2017, he graduated in Italian language and culture with a specialization in Europe’s cultural identities. He has been the political editor of the Danish magazine on European politics and culture, Magasinet Europa, since 2018. He contributed to Europas Mange Omveje (2019), an anthology about the relationship to Europe of five large member states, including Italy. He has written articles about Italian politics, appeared on Danish radio and organized seminars on Populism and the European elections of 2019 at the University of Copenhagen.

Simon was born and raised in Denmark by Danish-Italian parents. His native language is Danish

Ashlee Beazley

Cohort 2

PhD Comparative Criminal Law

KU Leuven

Research:

Quality of criminal defence lawyers in England and Belgium

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Ashlee Beazley is a PhD candidate at the Institute for Criminal Law, KU Leuven. Her research centres around the quality of defence lawyers in England and Wales, and Belgium, and whether it is possible to determine a minimum standard of effective legal representation. Alongside her PhD research, Ashlee is also a teaching assistant and a contributing researcher to a number of inter-jurisdictional research projects, including EmpRiSe, a European Commission-funded study on the right to silence during criminal investigations.

Prior to the commencement of her PhD, Ashlee was based in Oxford, where she worked as a legal editor, freelance research assistant and exhibition designer, and an English tutor for Jacari, a not-for-profit organisation that works with disadvantaged children who don’t speak English as a first language.

Originally from New Zealand, Ashlee also holds conjoint BA (History) and LLB (Hons.) degrees from the University of Auckland (2015), and a MSt in British and European History from the University of Oxford (2016).

Alessandro Ambrosino

Cohort 2

PhD International History

Graduate Institute, Geneva

Research:

Regional inequality and cooperation beyond nations in sensitive contexts

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Alessandro Ambrosino is PhD student in International History at the Graduate Institute Geneva. He obtained his Master’s Degree in International Relations (European Affairs) from the University of Bologna. He completed an internship at the European Committee of the Regions, after having worked at the Liaison Office of the Autonomous Region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia in Brussels. He collaborated with the Municipality of Bologna in the design of “Concives 1116-2016”, Celebrations for the IX centenary of the Municipality of Bologna, and with the Faculty of Education organizing the International Fest of Bologna’s History. He is author for “Pandora Rivista”, edited by the association “Pandora” of which he is a member, and for the Journal “Europea”.

Anna Wennäkoski

Cohort 1

PhD Communication Law

University of Helsinki

Research:

Digitalization and Law – A Dynamic Interplay

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Anna Aurora Wennäkoski (L.L.M., M.Sc.) is a lawyer who has served in various legal and compliance roles for a number of international companies in Finland, France, and in the United States. Anna has also acted as researcher, guest lecturer, and writer for various universities, e.g. recently at the Digital Futures Forum of the University of Columbia in New York. She has been involved in several international organizations and journals, and she has received several academic awards. Currently, she is a doctoral student at the Faculty of Law of the University of Helsinki, Finland. She is passionate about current world affairs, history, and art.

Igor Tkalec

Cohort 1

PhD Political Science

University of Luxembourg

Research:

Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure in Motion: Prospects for Adequate Pensions in the Euro Area

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Igor TKALEC holds summa cum laude BA degree from University of Zagreb and with merit MA degree from Central European University, both in political science. His academic interests include political economy, governance, and comparative politics, notably in the context of the European Union. He has experience in journalism, blogging, and research projects. Igor’s PhD project encompasses policy coordination and the social policy of the European Union, with a particular focus on pension systems. In his free time, he likes to read graphical novels and do sport.

https://wwwen.uni.lu/recherche/fdef/research_unit_in_law/dtu_rems/people2/igor_tkalec
https://www.linkedin.com/in/igor-tkalec-769188120/

Anna Lukesova (Simbartlova)

Cohort 1

hD International Area Studies | Migration and integration of immigrants in Europe

Charles University, Prague

Research:

Civic Integration of Immigrants in Europe: Assimilation or Multiculturalism?

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As a graduate student of international relations, Anna is interested in the topic of migration and integration of immigrants in Europe. In particular, she is fascinated by the question of how respecting differences (either in a cultural way or concerning contradictory opinions) unites with the question of promoting moral and ethical issues. She hopes to find the right balance between those two fundamental values and to be able to spread its message further, as did Václav Havel, the first post-communist Czech president, with his motto: “Truth and love will triumph over lies and hatred” that Anna endeavours to follow.

https://cuni.academia.edu/AnnaSimbartlov%C3%A1

Elisa Schramm

Cohort 1

DPhil in Geography and the Environment

University of Oxford

Research:

Exploring Non-human Affect in Sustainable Living Experiments: The Case of the Degrowth Village Can Decreix in Cerbère, France

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Elisa Schramm graduated cum laude (top 10%) with a BA from Sciences Po Paris at age 19, an MSc in International Relations (Research) from the London School of Economics (Distinction), and an MSc in Nature, Society and Environmental Governance from the University of Oxford (Distinction). For her DPhil thesis, funded by the German National Academic Foundation and Rotary International, Elisa focuses on understanding how various ‘non-humans’ can enable more sustainable ways of living in the context of a French eco-community and influence the motivations of long-term residents. Elisa speaks fluent English, French, German, and Spanish and intermediate Mandarin and Italian. Outside her academic interests, Elisa currently coordinates the Languages Plus project to tackle educational inequalities in Oxford, sings in the Hertford College Choir, and enjoys bouldering.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/elisa-schramm-23257a68/

Luis Santos

Cohort 1

PhD Political Science

Institute for Political Studies, Catholic University of Portugal, Lisbon

Research:

Strategic Implications of FDI from China in the EU (the cases of Portugal vs. Hungary)

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Luís Santos completed his undergraduate education in Economics in Portugal (Nova University of Lisbon) and his MBA in New York (Columbia University). For ten years, he was a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Co., having worked in 16 countries and visited over 100. Since 2014, he is the co-founder and Managing Partner of Alpac Capital – an European Investment Management Company focused in Technology and Renewable Energy. Luis’ PhD thesis investigates the relationship between China and the EU, with an emphasis in the strategic implications of the increasing flow of Chinese FDI in Portugal and Hungary.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/luis-santos-6b41081

Rafael Ruiz Andrés

Cohort 1

PhD in Religious Studies

Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Research:

Behind the Traces of the Religious in the Secular Era. A Sociohistorical Study of the Secularization Concept in Western Europe through the Spanish Case (1960-2010)

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After finishing his History degree with BA prize at Valladolid University, Rafael decided to focus his postgraduate studies on religions in the contemporary world. During his PhD years he has presented at several International Congresses such as EASR in KU-Leuven (Belgium) and the 1st International Congress of Religious Studies in Chile, becoming an Honorary Member of the Chilean Association for the Study of Religions. With AJICR, an organization of young researchers in religions, he has developed several activities to create spaces of dialogue between religions and politics. Alongside his studies, Rafael volunteers in the Sant Egidio Community where he works with people at risk of social exclusion.

https://ucm.academia.edu/RafaRuizAndr%C3%A9s
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rafael-ruiz-andrés-2b7082156

Giulia Raimondo

Cohort 1

PhD International Law

Graduate Institute, Geneva

Research:

European Integrated Border Management: Human Rights and International Responsibilities

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Giulia Raimondo is a Research Assistant at the Global Migration Centre and a PhD candidate in International Law at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies. Her current research contributes to the existing scholarship on European migration law and policies by linking two different discourses: the first being legal research on the international responsibility of the European Union; and the second being the investigation of migration law through the lenses of contemporary legal and political philosophy. Giulia holds a law degree from the Catholic University of Milan and a Master of Laws from McGill University. She worked both as a trainee lawyer and as a Judge assistant in Italy, researching and assisting on cases relating to asylum and immigration law.

http://graduateinstitute.ch/fr/home/research/centresandprogrammes/global-migration/Whoweare/giulia-raimondo.html

Andrei Petre

Cohort 1

PhD Civil Law

Université de Paris | Sorbonne

Research:

La distinction entre dommage et préjudice

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Andrei is very passionate about Law and Civil Law in particular. He has an international academic background, having studied French, Romanian, and European Law in Paris, Montpellier, and Bucharest. Alongside his studies, Andrei has assumed the position of a debate and public speaking trainer. He transformed his high-school debate club into an NGO that promotes democracy and educates young minds think critically and analyse evidence rationally. He organises debate competitions with a national attendance and is a Chief Adjudicator or a judge at other tournaments.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrei-petre-b92764124
https://univ-paris1.academia.edu/AndreiPetre

Laura Nordström

Cohort 1

PhD Political Science – World politics, Global political economy, European studies

University of Helsinki

Research:

Power of Knowledge Producers in EU – Networks of Decision-making and Consultancy in the European Debt Crisis

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Laura Nordström is a PhD researcher at the University of Helsinki (Political Science). She has completed degrees both in World Politics and in History. She has extensive experience as a political advisor in the Finnish parliament, the Foreign Ministry, the European Parliament, and as the International Officer for the Finnish Greens. She has worked on EU, international, human rights, and development politics. This insight in the field of politics is a great aid in conducting her research on the use of analysis and knowledge and the role of consultancy and lobbying in the European debt and banking crisis.

https://tuhat.helsinki.fi/portal/en/persons/laura-nordstroem%28da286daa-43f3-424d-816d-fe2a2c1b7faa%29.html

Antonia Niehuss

Cohort 1

PhD International Relations

University of St Andrews

Research:

The Visual Construction of Gender in Discourses on Terrorism

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Antonia researches the visuals used in terrorist groups’ communications and the state and media discourses on terrorism. She applies feminist theory to understand how gender is constructed in them. She is especially interested in European discourses on terrorism and in European security more broadly, and has worked on two research projects on Brexit and European security policy. She cares about contributing to a positive student experience and has organised multiple student-led events on European politics, leads workshops to raise awareness in the student community on issues around sexual consent, and works as an Assistant Warden in a hall of residence.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/antonia-niehuss/

Ana Martins

Cohort 1

PhD Political Science

Institute for Political Studies, Catholic University of Portugal, Lisbon

Research:

Two Concepts of Nation in Liberal–Pluralist Thought: A Comparative Analysis of J.S. Mill’s and Isaiah Berlin’s Perspectives

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Ana V. Martins is doing her PhD in Political Science and at the Catholic University of Portugal (UCP), where she has also been collaborating as a Teaching Assistant in the ‘Contemporary Political Theory’ course. Her background is in Law (BA) and in Governance, Leadership and Democracy Studies (MA). Ana studied Isaiah Berlin’s conception of value-pluralism in her award-winning MA Thesis, researched at the University of Oxford as a visiting student. She is currently focusing on the institutional conditions for coexistence in diverse societies with conflicting identity-based claims within a liberal framework in an interconnected world.

Gerard Llorens DeCesaris

Cohort 1

PhD History

Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona

Research:

Spain and the United States, an Atlantic History 1868-1874

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Gerard Llorens earned an undergraduate degree in Humanities, majoring in History and Contemporary Studies, and a Master’s degree in World History at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona. During his undergraduate studies he spent a semester each at Boston College and King’s College, London. He is currently studying nineteenth-century Spanish and Atlantic history, and focuses on questions of slavery, citizenship, and republicanism. He aspires to a career in higher education and public service. He loves tennis, poetry, and the occasional nice cold glass of rum.

Maximilian Kiener

Cohort 1

DPhil Philosophy

University of Oxford

Research:

The Voluntariness of Informed Consent

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With a background in Philosophy and Public Law, Maximilian is presently reading for a DPhil in Philosophy focusing on informed consent to medical procedures. His research aims to contribute to a better understanding of the voluntariness of informed consent and how it can make actions permissible that would otherwise be impermissible. Since he was a board member of Young Europe (the University of Regensburg’s politically neutral and multidisciplinary discussion forum) as an undergraduate, he has long been passionate about European politics. He is also an enthusiastic jazz musician and currently play the guitar in the Oxford University Jazz Orchestra.

https://www.philosophy.ox.ac.uk/people/maximilian-kiener

Franziska Hobmaier

Cohort 1

PhD EU Law / International Public Law

Ludwig-Maximilian-Universität München

Research:

The Transfer of Competences from the EU to International Institutions

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Franziska is a research and teaching assistant at the chair for Public and European Union Law at LMU Munich. Her current research focuses on the impact of the transfer of powers from the EU to international institutions to democratic legitimacy and the rule of law. Besides her passion for law and good education she has a love of sports and nature, especially hiking as well as playing tennis with family and friends.

http://www.jura.uni-muenchen.de/personen/h/hobmaier_franziska/index.html

Stephanie Haywood

Cohort 1

Stephanie Haywood

University of St Andrews

Research:

Individual Decision-Making in Philanthrocapitalism

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Stephanie’s PhD research explores the field of philanthropy, focusing on the individual decision-making processes involved in philanthrocapitalism. She previously completed both her Undergraduate (First Class Honours) and Masters (Distinction) degrees at the University of St Andrews, where she received the Principal’s Scholarship for Academic Excellence. Alongside her PhD, Stephanie works as a tutor for undergraduate students in the School of Management and as a research assistant with the Centre for the Study of Philanthropy and Public Good. She also enjoys volunteering with various charities and social enterprises in her local community.

https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/management/aboutus/people/researchstudents/stephaniehaywood/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/smhaywood/

Claudia Hartman

Cohort 1

DPhil Social & Cultural Anthropology | Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS), School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography

University of Oxford

Research:

Moral Dilemmas of Migrant Care Work: An Inclusive and Relational Understanding of ‘Global Care Chains’ and Disability Care Networks in South East England

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Claudia took part in the programme until April 2019, when she decided not to continue on the Programme due to health issues. Claudia’s DPhil project is about the intersection of care work, migration, and disability care networks in the UK. She is passionate about the topics of migrants’ rights, accessible care for older and disabled people, and furthering strategies of personal and societal resilience. Claudia combines her doctoral research with volunteer work relating to disability rights and global health issues.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/claudia-hartman-897569150/

Cristina Güerri Ferrandez

Cohort 1

PhD Law | Criminology

Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona

Research:

Prison Officers and Quality of Prison Life in Catalan Prisons

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Cristina Güerri Ferrández holds a bachelor’s degree in Criminology and Public Prevention Policies from Universitat Pompeu Fabra and an inter-university master’s degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice. During her studies at UPF, Cristina received a fellowship as research assistant and spent one semester at Utrecht University through the Erasmus Programme. She was also awarded the Prize for the Outstanding Graduate of the Year after graduating with the best average mark in the university. Cristina is currently researching the impact of prison officers on the daily life of Catalan prisons with a FPU Scholarship. She is passionate about research and enjoys debating on social issues and learning about other ways of living and understanding the world. Mainly for this reason, she loves reading and travelling to other countries.

https://www.upf.edu/en/web/criminologia/entry/-/-/72596/adscripcion/cristina-g%C3%BCerri

Mladen Grgic

Cohort 1

PhD Law

Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona

Research:

Chinese Infrastructural Investments in the Balkans

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Mladen’s research concerns Chinese infrastructural investments in the Balkan region, focussing on how these massive infrastructural investments affect impact both democratisation processes and EU integration. He holds a BA in Political Sciences, International Relations and European Studies (University of Bari), a Master Degree in International Relations Management (Catholic University of the Sacred Heart – ASERI Graduate School of Economics and International Relations in Milan) and a Master Degree in International Relations at the University of Bologna, for which he was awarded an Italian Government Scholarship. Mladen is a former Fulbright Researcher at the East Asian Institute, University of California, Berkeley, and a former fellow of the Chinese Government at Xiamen University, who has internships at a number of international organisations. Alongside his studies, he is currently working as a consultant in the private sector.

https://berkeley.academia.edu/mladengrgic

Daniel Gołębiowski

Cohort 1

PhD Cultural Studies | Faculty of International and Political Studies

Uniwersytet Jagiellonski, Krakow

Research:

Culture as an Instrument of Social Dialogue in EU External Actions. The Example of Arab Countries.

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Daniel is a PhD candidate at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow where he received a Master’s Degree in Middle Eastern Studies. His research concerns culture and its potential role as an instrument in EU external actions in general and relations between the EU and the Arab countries in particular. Daniel is also an entrepreneur and co-founder of the Nahda Foundation, a non-profit organization which has been established to increase awareness among Polish people about the Middle East and its cultural diversity. He has experience of working for public institutions such as the European Parliament.

www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-golebiowski

Timothy Glover

Cohort 1

DPhil English

University of Oxford

Research:

Forms of Devotion: Structure, Genre and Literary Form in the Writings of Richard Rolle

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Timothy Glover graduated from Oxford University in 2014 with a First-Class BA in English Language and Literature. In 2015 he received an Amelia Jackson Studentship to study a MSt in Medieval English Literature, also at Oxford, which he passed with a Distinction. In the following year he received a Mellon scholarship to study Post-Classical Latin literature from across Europe at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is currently completing a DPhil in English at Oxford University, exploring the spiritual writings of Richard Rolle in their literary and intellectual contexts, and his broader research interests encompass late-medieval religious writing, Latin literature, medieval Europe, literary theory, and folk culture. He has also spent time teaching overseas in Thailand and Brazil and enjoys playing percussion.

https://oxford.academia.edu/TimothyGlover
https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothylglover

Thomas Gidney

Cohort 1

PhD International History

Graduate Institute Geneva

Research:

Colonial Member States of International Organisations

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Thomas researches the paradox of colonial member states at the League of Nations, with a special focus on India and the British Empire. His dissertation analyses how European sovereignty norms have changed and been defined by perceptions of ‘civilisation’, as well as how British imperial politics were reflected at the League of Nations. He holds a BA in European Studies from Maastricht University and has a keen interest in the development of international organisations and their role in global governance.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-gidney-4b1b62104/

Jennifer García Carrizo

Cohort 1

PhD Audio-visual Communication, Advertisement, and Public Relations

Universidad Complutense Madrid

Research:

The City as a Space for Communication: Analysis and Application in Cultural Districts

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Jennifer García Carrizo is a PhD Student supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports (FPU14/05886). Having obtained a first class degree in Advertising and Public Relations, she completed an MA in Audio-visual Communication with distinction. Currently, she is a member of the Research Group ‘Art, Architecture, and Communication in the Contemporary City’. Her research explores cultural districts in cities and how they can be communicated to the society in order to develop a strong brand which would empower them.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-garcía-carrizo-0b1aa332/
Google Scholar: https://goo.gl/LVBQEF

Tamara Fröhler

Cohort 1

PhD German Studies / Comparative Literature

Ludwig-Maximilian-Universität München

Research:

Captivating Extras – The Materialization of the Tragic in Nineteenth Century Dramatic Figures. During the first year of the Programme Tamara was offered a fellowship in the USA starting in 2019 which was incompatible with the timings of the remaining Programme modules.

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Tamara Fröhler graduated from Universität Tübingen with a BA in International Literature and Islamic Studies and completed an MA in Comparative Literature and an MA in German Studies at LMU and UC Berkeley. Her doctoral research explores tragedy’s remodelling in nineteenth century European literature, with a particular focus on its role for new concepts of sovereignty and the processes of exchange between aesthetic and scientific knowledge. In addition to her studies, Tamara co-founded the interdisciplinary network Trans_it, she works as chief strategist for the intercultural organisation 3ALOG e.V. in the sector ‘Gender and Sexuality’, she co-organised the Intercultural Theatre Festival Stuttgart, and volunteers for the Germany-wide association arbeiterkind e.V.

http://www.prolit.uni-muenchen.de/personen/doktoranden/tamara-froehler/index.html

Manuel Dorion-Soulié

Cohort 1

hD International History

Graduate Institute, Geneva

Research:

Research: The Carter Doctrine and European Oil Consumption: A Diplomatic and Cultural History

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Manuel’s research focuses on the interplay between American military strategy in the Middle East and European oil consumption, seen as an economic and cultural phenomenon. He has published several peer-reviewed articles in journals such as Canadian Foreign Policy, Relations internationales, and The Canadian Journal of Political Science. In 2014 Manuel guest-edited an issue of Études internationales on the neoconservative turn in Canadian foreign policy, and currently edits the journal’s review section. His first book, on American neoconservatism, was published in 2016. He teaches the history of the Cold War at Sciences Po (Paris).

https://www.linkedin.com/in/manuel-dorion-souli%C3%A9-0ba4b8b9/

Caroline Damgaard

Cohort 1

PhD Geography and Sustainable Development

University of St Andrews

Research:

Energy Ethics and Valuation – Assessing Citizens’ Preferences in Denmark and the UK

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Caroline holds a first-class MA (Honours) in Geography from the University of St Andrews, and an MSc with distinction in Environmental Policy from the London School of Economics. Her research and publications explore interactions between energy and society, addressing the roles of justice, citizenship, and democracy in different energy contexts. With a passion for both environmental and social wellbeing, Caroline has been involved with various NGOs in Denmark, Ghana, and Nepal. She also co-organised the charity fundraising expedition, PedalAfrica. Caroline is an enthusiastic traveller, hiker, and cyclist; she has crossed Eurasia by train, reached Everest Base Camp, and cycled across Africa.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Caroline_Damgaard
https://www.linkedin.com/in/caroline-sejer-damgaard-216a8b64/

Céléste Bonnamy

Cohort 1

PhD Candidate

Cotutelle Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and Université Libre de Bruxelles

Research:

Culture through the Test of Europe. Writers’ Status facing the European Reform of Literary Property (France, Germany, Great-Britain, 2014-2017)

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Céleste Bonnamy’s research project focuses on the mobilisation of British, French, and German writers’ representatives on the current EU project of reform on copyright. More broadly, it deals with issues relating to cultural policy at the EU level and the links between Europe and the cultural field. She is a teaching assistant at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. Aside from her research interests, Céleste is very attached to today’s challenges regarding ecology and gender equality. She proudly describes herself as a feminist.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/c%C3%A9leste-bonnamy-98468091/

Felix Biermann

Cohort 1

PhD in Political Science

Ludwig-Maximilian-Universität München

Research:

Unused Potentials: Explaining the Marginalization of the EU’s CSDP Institutions

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Felix Biermann is an IR research fellow at the Geschwister-Scholl-Institute for Political Science (LMU Munich). He studies European integration in general and the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy specifically. Having worked on the so-called refugee crisis and researching the “Eurocracy”, Felix is keen to develop a broad perspective on European studies. Felix is also part of a DFG research project analyzing states’ defense procurement and export strategies. Felix holds a BA degree in Philosophy & Economics from Bayreuth University and a Master of Public Policy from the Willy-Brandt-School of Public Policy. After graduating, he worked for two years as a senior public sector consultant for an international management consultancy.

http://www.en.gsi.uni-muenchen.de/people/academic/felix-biermann/index.html

Bernard Bernards

Cohort 1

PhD in Public Management / Social Welfare

University of Leiden

Research:

The 21st Century Public Professional. On the Uncertainty Experiences of Social Welfare Professionals in the Municipality of The Hague

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Bernard holds an MA in Ancient History and an MSc in Public Administration from Radboud University Nijmegen. After an internship at the Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice, he began working for Leiden University as a lecturer and a PhD-candidate. For his research, Bernard works in close corporation with the municipality of The Hague, focusing on uncertainty and the role it plays in the performance of professionals in the social welfare teams in this municipality. In this way, his research contributes to a better understanding of the way the public sector is organized in Europe at the local level and how this impacts public professionals and citizens. Bernard furthermore teaches courses on public management in both the Public Administration Bachelor and Master programmes at Leiden University.

https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/staffmembers/bernard-bernards#tab-2

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bbernards/

Frederik Behre

Cohort 1

PhD Finance / Law

University of Leiden

Research:

A European Ministry of Finances? Charting and Testing the Legal Limits to European Fiscal Integration

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Frederik is a PhD-student at the Europa Institute of the University of Leiden, where his research focuses on the legal feasibility of fiscal integration in the Eurozone. He is part of the research programme ‘The Progression of EU Law: Accommodating Change and Upholding Values’. Frederik graduated from the University of Leiden in 2016 with a LL.M. in European Law (cum laude). Previously, he studied in Germany (University of Hanover) and Finland (University of Lapland). The main motivation for his legal studies is his fascination with the role of law in a societal context – namely how law can serve (societal) justice. Next to his legal research, Frederik is interested in travelling and exploring different cultures.

https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/staffmembers/frederik-behre#tab-1

Ioannis Asimakopoulos

Cohort 1

PhD Financial Law

University of Luxembourg

Research:

Bail-in and Self-placement

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Ioannis is a PhD Researcher in Financial Law at the University of Luxembourg working on investor protection under the EU Bank Resolution framework. Ioannis studied Law (LLB, 2014) and Economics (MSc, 2016) in Greece, and Corporate Law at Christ’s College, University of Cambridge (MCL, 2016). He is a qualified lawyer (Greece), a Lecturer at the Cambridge Summer Institute, and has worked for the EU delegation in Geneva and the General Court in Luxembourg. Ioannis is passionate about bank regulation due to its immense impact on the real economy and aims to combine academic work therein with policy-making.

https://wwwen.uni.lu/recherche/fdef/research_unit_in_law/dtu_rems/people2/ioannis_asimakopoulos