Europaeum Team

Dr Andrew Graham was Executive Chair of the Europaeum from 2017 to 2020, chairing both the Academic Council and the Executive Committee. He was the driving force in conceiving, implementing and raising the funding for the new Europaeum Scholarship Programme and now combines being a Trustee with being Honorary Consultant to the Programme. He is the former Master of Balliol College, Oxford and is currently a Senior Fellow at the Oxford
Internet Institute.

Earlier in his career he was, twice, Economic Adviser to the Prime Minister, Economic Adviser to the Leader of the Opposition, a Fellow and Tutor in Economics at Balliol, and for the academic year, 2012/13, Warden of Rhodes House. He was a Board Member of Channel 4 Television, a Scott Trustee (which owns the Guardian and the Observer) and a Trustee of Reprieve. In 2001, he founded the Oxford Internet Institute and, in 2010, the Balliol Interdisciplinary Institute.

Dr Hartmut Mayer is an Official Fellow and Tutor in Politics and International Relations at St. Peter`s College, Oxford, and Adjunct Professor in European and Eurasian Studies at Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies, Bologna, as well as the Director of the European Studies Centre (St Antony’s College, Oxford). He studied History, Politics and Drama at the Free University of Berlin before undertaking graduate studies in International Relations at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (Tufts University), at Harvard University and the University of Cambridge (Gonville and Caius College). He received his doctorate in International Relations from St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford. Since 2016 he has also taught International Relations in the Hong Kong Fellows’ Programme at the Blavatnik School of Government. He is also a Region Head Europe at Oxford Analytica, a global consultancy, in a freelance capacity. From 2017 to 2020 he was Acting Director of the Europaeum.

Dr Marcin Walecki was previously Head of Democratization Department of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. He has over 20 years of democracy assistance and governance experience working in more than 50 countries around the world. He holds a doctorate of philosophy in politics from St. Antony’s College at Oxford University and a master’s in Law (Hons, Class I) from the University of Warsaw. Among numerous executive and advisory roles he has held include being an Executive Director of the European Partnership for Democracy (Brussels), Senior Advisor to the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES, Washington DC) and a Board Member of the School of Leaders Association (Warsaw). He was also a Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence. As an academic, he has a strong interest in democratic governance and political corruption.

Dr Tracey Sowerby is the Europeaum Scholars Programme Director and Academic Director (Oxford) of MA History & Civilisation. A historian of early modern politics and culture, she has published a monograph on Richard Morison (Henry VIII’s leading propagandist) and has co-edited a collection of essays on early modern diplomatic practice. She has extensive experience of European universities and research institutes, especially via being Principal Investigator on an AHRC international research networking award (Textual Ambassadors) and a British Academy Rising Star Engagement Award (Centres of Diplomacy, Centres of Culture). She is also widely versed in academic administration and student counselling. Her current research centres on the history of early modern diplomacy with particular interests in institutional change, cross-confessional diplomacy, and the role of culture in international communication.

1. Dr Bechev currently acts as Programme Director (Core Activities), covering for a period of leave of absence by the Director.He is a Lecturer at the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies and holds a DPhil International Relations from Oxford. He is also Visiting Scholar at Carnegie Europe., and Region Head for Eastern Europe at Oxford Analytica, as well as Research Director and Founder of the European Policy Institute (Sofia)Bechev is the author of Turkey under Erdogan (Yale University Press, 2022), Historical Dictionary of North Macedonia (Rowman, 2019), and Rival Power: Russia in Southeast Europe (Yale UP, 2017) as well as co-editor of Russia Rising: Putin’s Foreign Policy in the Middle East and North Africa (Bloomsbury, 2021). He has also published numerous academic articles and policy reports.
   His past positions include lecturer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and senior policy fellow, head of the Sofia office at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
   Bechev has held fellowships at the Institute of Human Sciences in Vienna; Harvard’s Center for European Studies; and the European Institute, London School of Economics. He contributes frequently to Foreign Policy, Al Jazeera, Politico Europe, and RFE/RL and his quotes have appeared in the FT, the Economist, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and other major news outlets.

Susanne plays a central role in the Europaeum as the full-time Administrator. She previously worked for a decade in the Graduate Office of the History Faculty (University of Oxford). In her earlier life she was a full-time internationally renowned musician, touring the world with an output of well over 50 recordings, including a Gramophone Award for a solo disc. She was also the Administrator to the Viola da Gamba Society and continues to be its webmaster in a voluntary capacity. Susanne used to run a small music publishing business, has taught privately as well as at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and has occasionally reviewed recordings and academic publications, as well as given lectures on music-related subjects.

Tel +44 1865 284483 (currently working from home)

Vanessa started working for the Europaeum in October 2021. She will apply her extensive previous experience in Alumni Relations to the Europaeum Alumni network.