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Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia to Hungary (Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary)
H.E. Mr. Mladen Andrlić is the Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia to Hungary. Mladen Andrlić holds a PhD in Macroeconomics from the University of Zagreb. He is a permanent lecturer at the Diplomatic Academy of the Croatian MFAEI as well as a visiting lecturer at diplomacy departments and political science faculties across Croatia and abroad. He has been a member of state delegations at high level and ministerial meetings as well as at the summit meetings, participant at scientific and political conferences and expert meetings. He served as Minister Counsellor, Head of the Department for European Integrations, MFA. He is co-author and editor of books and proceedings in the field of international relations, foreign policy and diplomacy as well as author of more than forty original scientific works in Croatian, English and French.
Permanent Representative of Qatar to the United Nations
Ambassador Al-Thani was appointed Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the UN in October 2013. An international though leader on human rights, social justice and development issues, Ambassador Al-Thani has authored and facilitated numerous groundbreaking General Assembly Resolutions dealing with issues such as the right to education in emergencies, autism, and improving the effectiveness and coordination of military and civil defense assets for natural disaster response, among others. Since assuming her functions, she has played a key leadership role in numerous initiatives such as Chairperson of the Fiftieth Session of the Commission on Population and Development and Co-facilitator on the preparations for the high-level meeting to appraise the Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons in 2017,co-facilitated the Review of the Economic and social Council in 2018, and the General Assembly Resolution establishing the modalities for the 25th anniversary for the Beijing platform for action for women, co-facilitated the negotiation on the deceleration for the UN 75th anniversary declaration. And lately appointed as co-facilitator for the Inter-governmental process of the reform of the Security Council.
Between 2011 and 2013, Ambassador Al-Thani was Qatar’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and General Consul of the State of Qatar to the Swiss Federation. During the same period, she represented Qatar in the UN Human Rights Council, the Executive Council of the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Executive Council of the International Labour Organization (ILO). She also held the prestigious post of President of the Social Forum of the Human Rights Council. She holds a M.A. in International Studies and Diplomacy from the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Qatar University.
Research Fellow, iASK
Iván Bába PhD is a research fellow of the Institute of Advanced Studies Kőszeg. He is a professor at the National University of Public Service and the Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary. From 1990-2014 he was the Deputy State Secretary, State Secretary and Ambassador in Ministry for Foreign Affairs. He is the author of several scientific publications. His main field of research addresses the collapse of communism and regime change in Hungary and Central Europe.
Senior Senior Associate, Democratization Policy Council, Sarajevo
Kurt Bassuener (@KurtBassuener) is a co-founder and senior associate of the Democratization Policy Council, a Berlin-based think-tank established in 2005. His received his PhD in 2021 from the University of St. Andrews’ Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence, after successfully defending his dissertation, “Peace Cartels: Internationally Brokered Power-Sharing and Perpetual Oligarchy in Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia.” In it, he demonstrates that internationally brokered peace agreements with integral power-sharing arrangements in these countries “entrench an incentive structure that preserves warlord politics and resists endogenous change.” Peace brokering powers that midwife these systems have a propensity for helping elites maintain them over time. He wrote for Just Security on Lebanon’s peace cartel following the August 2020 port explosion. His Fulbright-St. Andrews Award (2016–2017) enabled his doctoral studies. Kurt is co-author and research director for the Diplomat’s Handbook for Democracy Development Support, a project of the Community of Democracies. Prior to studying at St. Andrews, he lived for 11 years in Sarajevo, starting in 2005 as a strategist for then-High Representative Paddy Ashdown. He was political and campaign analyst for the OSCE-ODIHR election observation mission in Ukraine in 2004–2005, and previously conducted analysis-based advocacy in Washington D.C. for the Balkan Institute, the Balkan Action Council, the U.S. Institute of Peace, and the International Rescue Committee. Prior to his PhD, Kurt received his MA from Central European University in 1994 and his BA from The American University’s School of International Service in 1991.
professor, University of Bonn
President of UNESCO 36th General Conference, 15th Permanent Representative of Hungary to the United Nations, Frm. Permanent Delegate of Hungary to UNESCO, iASK Research Fellow
Ambassador Bogyay is the President of the
United Nations Association- Hungary (2021-) and the Founder of Women4Diplomacy (2021-). She is the 15th Permanent Representative of Hungary to the United Nations in New York (2014-2020) and the former Permanent Delegate of Hungary to UNESCO in Paris (2009-2014). Served as the President of UNESCO 36th General Conference (2011-2013). She is an iASK Research Fellow (2021-). H. Exc. Ms Katalin Bogyay previously chaired the Committee for Social, Cultural, Humanitarian and Human rights affairs at the UN and was the Vice Chair of the Cultural Committee of UNESCO General Conference. As Hungary’s State Secretary for International Affairs at the Hungarian Ministry of Culture and Education (2006- 2009) she worked on all Hungarian UNESCO-related topics and with Hungary’s National Commission of UNESCO. She is the founding director of the Hungarian Cultural Centre in London (1999-2006). In 2014, she was awarded the Commander’s Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit for her achievements in culture and cultural diplomacy, and in 2005 she was awarded the Knight’s Cross Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary for her achievements in international culture. In 2012, she was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Glasgow for her work in building cultural links between Hungary and Scotland, as well as promoting cultural diversity and cultural diplomacy throughout the world culture. In 2016, she was awarded a Doctor Honoris Causa from the Pannon University for her work in multilateral and cultural diplomacy. Ambassador Bogyay received the “Women of Distinction 2017 – Global Leadership Award in Social Justice/Development” by the Celebrating Women International in 2017. She was invited to become the Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) in London. She is the Advisory Board Member of the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy, Berlin. She is the author of many books. Network.
Professor Emeritus at University of Toronto, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and at the Linnaean Society of London
Daniel R Brooks (USA–Canada 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019) is Professor Emeritus at University of Toronto, and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and at the Linnaean Society of London. He has been awarded honorary doctorates from Stockholm University and the University of Nebraska and has been a Senior Visiting Fellow of the Collegium Budapest and Stellenbosch Institute of Advanced Study. He is an evolutionary biologist whose work ranges from field studies of the evolution of host-pathogen systems in tropical wildlands to foundational studies of evolutionary theory. His current focus is integrating evolutionary principles into understanding emerging disease and using those insights to develop proactive measures for coping with the emerging disease crisis. He is the author of more than 350 scientific publications.
Director, Diplomatix Academy of Vienna
Emil Brix is an Austrian diplomat and historian. Starting in 1982, he worked for the Foreign Service of the Republic of Austria. From 1984 to 1986, he was a secretary of the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP), and from 1986 to 1989, he worked in the office of the federal minister for science and research, Hans Tuppy. Until early 2010, he was the director of the politico-cultural section of the foreign office. Between April 2010 and January 2015, Brix was the Austrian ambassador in London. On 19 January 2015, he assumed office as the Austrian ambassador in Moscow. Brix is also the representative chairman of the Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe. He became the director of the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna in 2017.
Member of the European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation; Chairman of the Institute of Danube Region and Central Europe, Jean-Monnet-Professor
Erhard Busek received his doctor of law degree in 1963 at the University of Vienna. He began his professional carrier as a legal advisor of the parliamentarians of the christian – conservative Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP), where he pursued his political carreer later. From 1989 he was appointed as Minister for Science and Research. In 1991 Busek became Chairman of the Austrian People’s Party and he served as Vice-Chancellor of Austria in the decisive period of Austria’s joining the EU. In early 2000 Busek was appointed as Special Representative of the Austrian Government on EU-Enlargement, which position he held until the end of 2001. Between 2002-2008 he served as Special Co-ordinator of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe. Currently he is Chairman of the Institute of Danube Region and Central Europe, Jean-Monnet-Professor ad personam, Co-Chair of the Commission on Radio and Television Policy: Central and Eastern Europe and Member of the European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation. He has written extensively on South East and Central Europe, democratic reform, and economic and environmental cooperation.
Associate Professor, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa/Firenze
Manuela Caiani is Associate Professor in Political Science at the Scuola Normale Superiore. She has received her national Italian ‘Abilitazione’ for full professorship in Political Science and Political Sociology, in 2017. Since 2019 she is Convenor of the Standing Group ‘Political Participation and Social Movement’, Italian Association for Political Science (SISP). Her research interests focus on: populism (left wing and right wing); radical right politics and nationalist movements and parties; social movements and political participation in Europe; qualitative methods of social research (frame and discourse analysis, focus groups, qualitative social network analysis, etc.). She has directed and collaborator on a number of international projects on topics relating to: Social movements and Europeanization, Radical right mobilization (and the Internet), disengagement from terrorism, Causes and Consequences of populism, Cultural populism (Volskwagen Stiftung, FP4, FP5, FP7; PRIN 2016-2019; Marie Curie 2011-13; Research Grant Jubilaumsfonds, ONB, 2010-2012, project; Doctoral TRA Fellowship, START Center, 2009, University of Maryland). She published in, among others, the following journals: WEP, EJPR, Mobilization, Acta Politica, European Union Politics, South European Society and Politics, RISP and for the following publishers: Oxford University press, Ashgate, Palgrave.
Research Head of Strategic Research Initiatives and Programs, International Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) in Potsdam
Ilan Chabay At the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) in Potsdam Germany, Ilan Chabay is 1) Head of Strategic Science Initatives and Programs, 2) Scientific Project Leader of the Global Sustainability Strategy Forum (GSSF) conducted in collaboration with Arizona State University (ASU) https://www.iasspotsdam.de/en/news/globalsustainability-strategy-forum-corona-and-sustainability and 3) Head of the KLASICA (Knowledge, Learning, and Societal Change) international research alliance. Ilan is also an adjunct professor in the School for Sustainability at Arizona State University in ASU’s Barrett & O’Connor Center in Washington, DC. The KLASICA alliance, which Ilan founded and has led since 2008, conducts transdisciplinary research into collective behavior change and seeks to expand and strengthen commitment of communities and individuals to fostering change to just and equitable sustainable futures in their respective cultures and contexts. Ilan’s first career was as research scientist and professor in laser physics and chemistry at US National Institutes of Standards and Technology and at Stanford University. At the start of his second career, he became associate director of The Exploratorium Science Museum in San Francisco, then founder and for 18 years president of an innovative company in Silicon Valley designing and producing interactive exhibitions for 230 museums around the world, including Disney, Smithsonian, and NASA. His third (current) career in social science for sustainability began in 2006 as Victor & Erna Hasselblad Professor in the sociology and applied IT departments at the University of Gothenburg and Chalmers University in Sweden, before coming to IASS in 2012.
Chairman of Strategic Concepts (Pty) Ltd.; member of Advisory Board, iASK
Sean Cleary is Chairman of Strategic Concepts (Pty) Ltd., Managing Director of the Centre for Advanced Governance, Founder and Executive Vice Chair of the Future World Foundation and Chairman of Atlantic Holdings (Pty) Ltd. He studied social sciences and law at the University of South Africa, the University of Cape Town and Pahlavi University in Iran and holds an MBA from Henley Management College at Brunel University in the United Kingdom. Sean Cleary served in the South African Navy on the staff of the Commander Maritime Defence before beginning a diplomatic career in the Middle East, the United States and Namibia. As Chief Director in Namibia in the mid-1980s, he initiated negotiations between all political parties, the release of political prisoners and the adoption of a Bill of Rights paving the way for independence. He lectures on global corporate strategy, conflict resolution, the challenges of globalization and development economics at several American and European universities and institutes.
Director General, Institute for Cultural Diplomacy, Berlin
Mark Donfried gained a BA in Modern European History & French from Columbia University in 2000. During which he wrote his senior thesis on “Europe’s Hajj, The Hajj and Europe in the 20th Century” and spent two semesters studying at l’Institute d’Études Politiques de Paris, where he wrote his thesis on “The Diplomacy of Jazz”. In December of 2001, he founded the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy, since its inception it has grown to become one of Europe’s largest independent cultural exchange organisations and continues to be committed to its goal to promote global peace and stability by strengthening and supporting intercultural relations at all levels. In 1999, Mark Donfried published “Searching for a Cultural Diplomacy”, exploring the significance of cultural diplomacy in regions other than United States or “western” countries, that is, regions that have been neglected by scholars so far – Eastern Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
Institute of International Relations, Prague
Petr Drulák is a senior researcher and coordinator of “Central European Research Hub” (reOPEN), which is created in cooperation of IIR with the Institute of State and Law of the Czech Academy of Sciences. He is also professor at the Department of political science at Faculty of Philosophy of the West Bohemian University in Pilsen, and guest professor at the Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA). He studied international relations at the University of Economics in Prague (Ph.D., Ing.). Following this, he was teaching international relations at the University of Economics and at the Faculty of Social Sciences. In the past, he was the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Czech Republic to France (2017-2019), Political Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic (2015-2016), Deputy Government Member for Political Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2014), First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic (2014) and also the Director of the Institute of International Relations (2004-2013). The subject of his professional interest is the issue of European integration, the theory of international relations, Czech foreign policy and political ideologies. He is also a member of the editorial board of the Czech Journal of International Relations (since 1999) and the chairman of the Scientific Board of the Masaryk Democratic Academy (since 2017).
Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Institute of Geography, Germany
Christian Eichenmüller is currently finalizing his PhD dissertation, a critical assessment of India’s Smart Cities Mission. He is a research associate at the Institute of Geography and the department of Information Technology at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. His research interests include the political economy of information technologies, surveillance capitalism, and the intersection of spatial knowledge and data. He is also active in climate justice movements and campaigns to end the burning of fossil fuels.
Research Fellow, iASK
Katalin Galambos is a special educational needs teacher, employment counsellor She has finished her studies in the Doctoral School of Education at Eötvös Loránd University. Her current field of research is the sustainability of social institutions and she also organizes her dissertation through this topic. She graduated in BA level in 2009 and later in MA level of Bárczi Gusztáv Faculty of Special Education. She worked as a peripatetically special educational needs teacher at a special education institution and then by using her practical experience she worked as a Policy Officer for Disability Affairs in the Ministry of Human Capacities, Department of Disability Affairs and a co-leader for a social organization. She obtained her qualification as an employment and career counsellor in order to support the employment of persons with disabilities and to support effective lifelong planning. She has been a university lecturer at ELTE University, Faculty of Education for Special Needs since 2012 where the aim for her is to provide the know-how how to carry out complex support and activities in public education, in social care system and in health care system with the involvement of students, clients, service user people.
UNESCO Chair in Intercultural Studies and Research, Skopje
Lidija Georgieva graduated and completed her PhD at Faculty of Philosophy in Skopje, titled Mechanisms for peace and security into the restructured collective security system. As a post-doctoral Fulbright scholar, she was affiliated with University of Maryland and Center for International Security Studies and Center for International Development and Conflict Management. She is a professor at the Faculty of Philosophy in Skopje since 1997 and Head of the UNESCO Chair in Intercultural Studies and Research since 2014. As an expert in peace and security studies she was involved in developing studies and policy papers for UNDP and UNWOMEN on different issues related to interethnic dialogue and communication, peacebulding, woman and security. Professor Georgieva research interests are ranging within the Peace and Security studies and research, Conflict prevention and Intercultural studies and research. Since 2010 she is Study program director of MA International Relations studies in Conflict resolution, Diplomacy and Human Rights as a part of TEMPUS IV project (2009/2013). Since 2012 she is Head of PhD Program in International Relations and Conflict Management. She has been publishing books and articles as: European Security: Concepts, Processes and Institutions; Faculty of Philosophy (Handbook), 2010; Making the Peace, (Monograph, third edition); Faculty of Philosophy, Skopje, 2007; Risk Management, Faculty of Philosophy, 2006; Conflict prevention in Macedonia: From the Idea towards Conflict Prevention as a Norm; (editor), Friedrih Ebert Stiftung, 2005; Conflict resolution and transformation”, (Co-author) Makedonska Riznica, Skopje, 1999 etc.
Director of Research at the CNRS (Le Centre national de la recherche scientifique ), Paris
Catherine Horel is a French historian. She is a senior researcher and program director at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). She is an internationally recognized expert in the history of Central Europe, including Hungary. Her interest in the Central European region, and especially in Hungary, began with 19th-century themes: important writings on the history of Hungarian emigration to France in 1848, her image of 19th-century French travelers in Hungary (French travelers in Hungary 1818 – 1910, Budapest, Kossuth Publishing, 2020). In 1993, she wrote her doctorate entitled “Problems of Assimilation and Emancipation of Hungarian Jews between 1825 and 1849”. In 2010, she received the Guizot Award from the French Academy. In 2011, she published a book on the region at the Academic Publisher: Europe in the Middle – From the Habsburgs to European Integration, 1815-2004. Her biographical book about Miklós Horthy was published in 2014 courtesy of Perrin Publishing House and in Hungarian in 2017 with Kossuth Publisher. She has appeared on France Culture2 several times.
Research Fellow, iASK and Director of the Polányi Centre, Jean Monnet professor, University of Pannonia
Jody Jensen is associate professor and director of the International Studies MA Program at the University of Pannonia Kőszeg Campus, where she was a Jean Monnet Chair for European Solidarity and Social Cohesion (ESSCO) between 2016 and 2019. She is the director of Polányi Centre at iASK and conducts research on prefigurative and subterranean politics and new social and political movements. She is also interested in the transformation of education and social sciences in response to global challenges.
Adviser, European Parliament Vice-Presidents’ Secretariat
Gertrud Kendernay-Nagyidai is a political theorist and currently is working in the European Parliament Vice-Presidents’ Secretariat as an adviser to Vice-President Járóka. Previously she worked together with Professor György Schöpflin MEP as an adviser on constitutional and foreign affairs from 2007.Working more than 13 years in the European Parliament created a unique opportunity for her to gain deep practical knowledge of the institutional workings of the EU, on one hand, thus constantly analysing political, sociological and anthropological theories on the ground, on the other. Therefore, her scientific focus turned towards semiotics and joined the Tallinn Summer School University series, 2015-2019.In 2004, Gertrud graduated from Eötvös Loránd University, Political Science Faculty, Budapest, before that she studied political science at Université de Liège. In 2004, she started a PhD research programme at ELTE, at the Political Science Doctoral School under Professor Gaspar Biro’s patronage. She spent a semester at University of Ljubljana, researching the narratives of the Yugoslav war. Her doctoral thesis is still an ongoing project.
Associate Professor, University of Ljubljana
Marko Lovec is an Assistant Professor and Research Fellow at University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Social Sciences, Centre of International Relations. He is/has been associated, among others, to European Council on Foreign Relations, Freedomhouse, Central European University-Center for Policy studies and Institute of International Relations in Prague. He specializes in EU politics and policies, European integration theory and IPE, with regional focus on Central Europe. He has published in Journal of International Relations and Development, European Review of Agricultural Economics, Journal of European Integration History, Journal for Nature Conservation and Intereconomics.
Walter O. LeCroy Jr. Professor of Physics Columbia University, New York
Szabolcs Marka is a co-discoverer of cosmic gravitational-waves; his broad research ranges from astrophysics to biophysics. After graduating from Kossuth Lajos University in Hungary he obtained his PhD at Vanderbilt University in the United States. He conducted research at Cornell University and the California Institute of Technology and became a faculty at Columbia University in 2004. His work is often covered by the international media ranging from the New York Times through Die Zeit to the Economist. His work is documented in over 600 peer-reviewed publications, amassed close to 80K citations, achieving an h-index of 123. He is a recipient of the Blavatnik Prize and co-recipient of many prizes, including the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics and the Gruber Cosmology Prize. He strongly believes that beyond seeking fundamental discoveries, scientists should also invest in bettering human life here on Earth through utilizing their experience and creativity. He is convinced that science can make us live happier, healthier, and longer lives; moreover, engagement in art+explorations can make it worth living!
Director, iASK
Ferenc Miszlivetz is the founder and director of the Institute of Advanced Studies Kőszeg and a Jean Monnet professor and full professor at the University of Pannonia. He is a scientific advisor at the Institute for Political Sciences at the Hungarian Academy of Science. His research interests include democracy, civil society, regional and European Studies, globalization and sustainability. He has taught and conducted research at various universities in Europe and the United States. He is a visiting professor at the University of Bologna. In 2012, he was a Deák Visiting Professor at Columbia University in New York. He is also the founder and director of the board of the Institute for Social and European Studies Foundation (a Jean Monnet European Centre of Excellence) and holds a UNESCO Chair in Cultural Heritage and Sustainability in Kőszeg. Since 2012 he has served as the president of the Social Sciences unit of the Hungarian UNESCO Committee.
Research Fellow, iASK
Zoltán Mizsei graduated from the Franz Liszt Academy of Music as a professor of choral conducting and Church music. He received his DLA in 2004, the title of the dissertation is Costanzo Porta-Vespers music. Currently, he is associate professor at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, at the department of Church music. He teaches Renaissance church music, menzural notation, choral conducting and voice teaching practices. Since 2014 he has been the conductor of Schola Academica and the founding member of the vocal ensemble Voces Aequales. He sings and plays instruments in several early music and world music ensembles. He is also a solo singer and composes music for contemporary dance performances and films. He teaches improvisation for music therapists at ELTE University.
Research Fellow, iASK
Dimitar Nikolovski is a PhD candidate at the Graduate School for Social Research, Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, where he researches the relations between populist parties and civil society in Southeast Europe. He has background in Political Science and has studied at the Law Faculty in Skopje (BA), the Central European University in Budapest (MA) and the Universities of Sarajevo/Bologna (MA). He has worked for several think-tanks in Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina and cooperates with the Centre for European Training in Skopje. His research looks at civil activism in Central and Eastern Europe, and how it relates to some of the most burning contemporary issues, such as European integration, challenges and backsliding of democracy, and migration, left-wing populism in Europe.
The Gorbachev Foundation
Pavel Palazhchenko, graduated from Maurice Thorez Foreign Languages Institute, Moscow, in 1972 and from the United Nations Language Training Course at the same Institute in 1973. Since 1992 he has been an Advisor, International and Media Relations, to the President of the International Foundation for Socioeconomic and Political Studies (Gorbachev Foundation). Previously, he acted as consultant in Executive Office of the President of the USSR. Between 1987- 1997 he was the First Secretary, later Counselor at USA and Canada Department in USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Starting in 1980, Palazhchenko participated in various arms control negotiations, including MBFR, INF, and START. He took part as interpreter and adviser to Mikhail Gorbachev and Eduard Shevardnadze in all US-Soviet summits held during the period 1985-1991. Pavel Palazhchenko has authored various articles on international politics, US-Russian relations, arms control, etc., published in Russian and international newspapers.
PhD candidate, Ghent University’, Fellow of the Regional Academy on the United Nations and the Royal Society of Arts
Maria Pilar Lorenzo is a PhD candidate at Ghent University’s Centre for Higher Education Governance Ghent. She holds an MSc degree in International Politics and an Advanced MSc degree in Cultures and Development Studies from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of the Philippines. As a researcher, she is fascinated with examining issues relating to higher education regionalization, governance, and social (in)equity. Her research outputs have been published by Springer, Center for Local and Regional Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, Graz University Press, UN Office at Geneva, among others. Some of her recent awards include STAR Scholars Network’s A. Noam Chomsky Global Connections Award and YSEALI Women’s 2020 Women Leaders in Southeast Asia. She is also a licensed professional teacher and a certified trainer.
Research Fellow, iASK
Attila Pók is deputy director of the Institute of History at the Research Centre for Humanities at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest. He is also vice-president of the Hungarian Historical Association and permanent Visiting Professor of History at Columbia University in New York. His publications and courses cover three major fields: 19th-20th century European political and intellectual history, history of modern European historiography with special regard to political uses of history and theory and the methodology of history writing. His works in English include: A Selected Bibliography of Modern Historiography (Bibliographies & Indexes in World History, Number 24, Greenwood Press, New York‑Westport, Connecticut-London, 1992); The Politics of Hatred in the Middle of Europe. Scapegoating in Twentieth Century Hungary: History and Historiography (Savaria Books on Politics, Culture and Society. Savaria University Press, Szombathely, 2009); volume co-edited with Randolph L. Braham: The Hungarian Holocaust after Fifty Years (Columbia University Press, New York, 1997); volume co-edited with Stuart Macintyre and Juan Maiguashca: The Oxford History of Historical Writing (Vol. 4. Oxford University Press, 2011).
Chair, Hungarian National Commission for UNESCO
Miklós Réthelyi, emeritus Professor, Semmelweis University, former minister of the Human Resources Ministry, chair of the Hungarian National Committee of UNESCO Miklós Réthelyi recieved his M.D. degree at Medical School, Pécs, in a era when Pécs Medical School was the leading medical education and training site in Hungary with professors as János Szentágothai, György Romhányi, Szilárd Donhoffer, Ödön KerpelFónius, István Környei and many others. He started to work in Department of Anatomy at Budapest Medical School, later named Semmelweis University. His research activity focused on the structural, synaptological aspects of the medial basal hypothalamus and the spinal cord. He held an adjunct professorship (1974-1988) in Edward Perl’s laboratory at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He served as the chair of the Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology (1994-2004) at Semmelweis University, founded the Health Sciences Management Institute, was elected and appointed Rector of the Semmelweis University for two terms (1991-1995), served as director of the János Szentágothai Neuroscience Postgraduate School (2002-2009), was elected as member of the Szent István Academy of Sciences (2010) and served as the minister of the Humans Resources Ministry including health care, education, social care, culture and sport departments (2010-2012). Dr. Réthelyi is the author of a major textbook of anatomy, histology and embryology (Funkcionális anatómai, 9th edition, 2013). Since 2012 he has been the chairman of the Hungarian National Committee of the UNESCO. With his wife of 50 years, Klára, he has three children, nine grandchildren and his favorite pastime is gardening.
Scientific Director, International Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) in Potsdam, Germany
Professor Ortwin Renn serves as Scientific Director at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) in Potsdam (Germany). He is professor for technology assessment and environmental sociology at the University and directs, together with Dr. Marion Dreyer and Agnes Lampke, the non-profit company DIALOGIK, a research institute for the investigation of communication and participation processes. Prof. Renn is Adjunct Professor for Integrated Risk Analysis at Stavanger University (Norway) and Affiliate Professor for Risk Governance at Beijing Normal University. Professor Renn’s main research activities at the IASS focus on the role of systemic risks as threats to sustainable development, and the structures and processes for sustainable transformations in Germany and beyond. His research is particularly directed towards transitions of energy systems and energy governance. His aim is to contribute to the mission of the institute to become a highly reputable and acknowledged international centre for transdisciplinary studies on sustainable development.
Research fellow, iASK
Leida Ruvina holds a quadrennial degree in “International Communication” and a Master degree in “Communication Systems in the International Relations”, both accomplished with excellent results at the University for Foreigners in Perugia, Italy, and is currently a PhD Candidate at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at UNYT. For three years she has been a full-time lecturer of Public relations, Political communication and Public speech at the European University of Tirana. For the last four years Leida offered her expertise as a Civil Servant at the Albanian Ministry of Interior, accomplishing also the “Orientation seminar on Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) for Western Balkan partners”, whose 3 modules (online, in Vienna and Podgorica) were offered by the European Security and Defence College (ESDC), body of the External Action Service (EEAS) of the European Union. Leida does research in Strategic communication, Political communication and Public relations. Leida’s most recent publications are “Europeanization and Integration as Matters of Perception: Social Movements in a Theorized European Union Context”, published in 2017 by The International Journal of the Humanities: Annual Review (Common Ground Publisher, US) and “Arms up, Guns down. Analyzing the Clash between the Narratives of State and Media Actors on Light Weapons Control in Albania (2017)”, published in 2019 by the European Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies.
European University Institute, San Domenico di Fiesole
Born in 1936, is a graduate of the Graduate Institute for International Studies of the University of Geneva and took his doctorate at the University of California at Berkeley. Since 1967 he has been successively assistant professor, associate professor and professor in the Politics Department of the University of Chicago, then at the European University Institute (1982-86) and at Stanford (1986-96). He has been visiting professor at the Universities of Paris-I, Geneva, Mannheim and Zürich, and Fellow of the Humboldt Foundation, Guggenheim Foundation and the Palo Alto Centre for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences. He has published books and articles on comparative politics, on regional integration in Western Europe and Latin America, on the transition from authoritarian rule in Southern Europe and Latin America, and on the intermediation of class, sectoral and professional interests. His current work is on the political characteristics of the emerging Euro-polity, on the consolidation of democracy in Southern and Eastern countries, and on the possibility of post-liberal democracy in Western Europe and North America. Professor Philippe C. Schmitter was Professor of Political Science at the European University Institute in Florence, Department of Political and Social Sciences until September 2004. He was then nominated Professorial Fellow at the same Institution. He is now Emeritus of the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the European University Institute.
Scientific Director, International Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) in Potsdam, Germany
György Schöpflin was born in Budapest in 1939 and lived in the UK from 1950 to 2004. He graduated M.A., LL.B. from the University of Glasgow (1962) and pursued postgraduate studies at the College of Europe in Bruges (1962-1963). He worked at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (1963-1967) and the BBC (1967-1976) before taking up university lecturing, at the school of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London (1976-2004), including latterly as Jean Monnet Professor of Politics and Director of the Centre for the Study of Nationalism. Until 2011 he was teaching in Forli, University Bologna, Faculty of Political Sciences. Professor Schöpflin’s principal area of research is the relationship between ethnicity, nationhood and political power, with particular reference to post-communism. He is the author of Politics in Eastern Europe 1945-1992 (Blackwell, 1993) and Nations, Identity, Power(Hurst, 2000), and co-editor of and contributor to Myths and Nationhood (Hurst, 1997, with Geoffrey Hosking) and State Building in the Balkans: Dilemmas on the Eve of the 21st Century (Longo, 1998, with Stefano Bianchini) and The Dilemmas of Identity, among many other publications. His latest book, Politics Illusions, Fallacies was published in 2012 by the University of Tallin, the Hungarian translation Politika, illúziók téveszmék was published in 2015 by Századvég. Professor Schöpflin was elected a Member of the European Parliament for Fidesz-Hungarian Civic Union, a member of the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) in 2004, re-elected in 2009 and in 2014. He serves as the EPP group coordinator on the Parliament’s Constitutional Affairs Committee (AFCO), he is a full member of EP’s Develpoment Committe (DEVE) and serves as a substitute member on the Foreign Affairs Committee (AFET) and its Subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE).
Senior Associate fellow, Democratization Policy Council, Sarajevo
Valery Perry is an independent consultant and Senior Associate at the Democratization Policy Council (DPC). She has worked in the Western Balkans since the late 1990s, conducting research and working for organizations including DPC, the European Center for Minority Issues, the Public International Law and Policy Group, the NATO Stabilization Force, and several NGOs. From September 2017 to March 2019 she was coordinator at the OSCE Mission to Serbia on a project to prevent and counter violent extremism, having previously worked at the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina. She has consulted for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the U.N. Development Program, the Regional Cooperation Council, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), IMPAQ International, and other organizations. Perry has a PhD from George Mason University’s Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, has published numerous articles and book chapters, has spoken at conferences and policy events in the United States and throughout Europe, and has testified at the U.S. Congress. She edited the book Extremism and Violent Extremism in Serbia: 21-st Century Manifestations of an Historical Challenge, published in 2019 by Ibidem Press/Columbia University Press. She co-edited, with Soeren Keil, Statebuilding and Democratization in Bosnia and Herzegovina, published in 2015 by Ashgate. Her first documentary film, Looking for Dayton, was screened at the 26th Sarajevo Film Festival in August 2020.European Review of Agricultural Economics, Journal of European Integration History
Research Fellow, iASK
Igor Stipić holds an MA in Political and Social Studies from University of Alberto Hurtado in Chile and another MA in Political Economy from University of Economics in Prague. Currently, he is working as a Research Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies in Koszeg (iASK), where he also lectures an MA program in International Studies. While his interest primarily lies within the field of political theory, his research is applied in conjunction with sociological and anthropological perspectives. Concentrated in the field of political anthropology of social movements, his work concentrates on questions of identity politics and its related problematique of national construction, its imagination and renegotiation, as related to the processes of political transformations of XXI century. Region-wise, his work essentially concentrates on the processes developing in the geographic areas of South Eastern Europe and Southern America.
Research fellow, iASK
James M. Skelly is Director of the Centre on Critical Thinking, which he founded, and has been a faculty member at the Köszeg Campus of the University of Pannonia. He served as the Director of the Baker Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies and Professor of Peace Studies at Juniata College in Pennsylvania. He was Visiting Professor of Peace Studies at the Magee Campus of the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland, and Associate Director of the University of California’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation; New York University’s Center for War, Peace and the News Media; and, the Irish Peace Institute at the University of Limerick in Ireland. He was also the Academic Coordinator at the European University Center for Peace Studies in Austria. His research and teaching interests continue to be rooted in the sociology of knowledge and focus on reality construction related to identity, international education, nationalism, and various issues related to peace, conflict, and militarism, and has edited and published numerous articles informed by these perspectives.
Research fellow, iASK
Ivana Stepanovic (Serbia 2021) is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Criminological and Sociological Research since 2014. She holds a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Belgrade, MA in Human Rights and Democracy in South-East Europe from the University of Sarajevo and University of Bologna and BA in Philosophy from the University of Belgrade. Her previous research has focused on the issue of privacy in the context of digital technologies. Currently, she is mainly interested in issues concerning privacy and security on the internet, the role of new media in political, cultural and economic changes, particularly in South-East Europe, the role of algorithms in policing the internet and the impact of digital surveillance on everyday life. She is also interested in topics concerning privacy and security in prisons and the role of digital technologies in the transformation of labour.
PhD Candidate, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg
Arjan Shahini is a Ph.D. student at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. He is currently researching the history of Albanian higher education from a transnational perspective. He majored in political and educational science from the University of Heidelberg, Germany (Magister Artium, 2008,) and higher education leadership and policy analysis from the University of Missouri-Columbia USA (M. Ed., 2015). After a short experience as an assistant lecturer (2009) and public servant at the Ministry of Education (2010-2013,) he has taught at various private higher education institutions in Albania.
Freelance policy consultant
Ljupcho Petkovski is a freelance policy consultant from Skopje, North Macedonia. Until December 2019, Ljupcho headed Eurothink – Centre for European Strategies, one of the strongest independent and non-partisan policy research and advocacy groups in the country, focused on promotion of liberal-democratic values through Europeanization of society. At the moment, Petkovski is working on several initiatives funded by international organizations and foreign uiversities, including research of the link between corruption and political radicalization as well as studies of sustainable development and critical thinking skills among the Macedonian population. In the past, he has published on populism, social movements, and Europeanization and he is interested in post- foundationalism, qualitative methodologies of research and the role emotions play in ideologies and political communication. Petkovski has consulted governments, political foundations and international organizations.
University of Warsaw
Dr. Praszkier is a professor emeritus at the University of Warsaw and a consultant for Ashoka, Everyone a Changemaker. He conducted research on peaceful transitions, including social-change processes facilitated by social entrepreneurs. His recent Cambridge University Press book “Working Wonders: How to Make the Impossible Happen” illustrates how some individuals successfully address insurmountable challenges, and how the reader can follow this path. He has recently innovated the concept of a personality trait related to perceiving insurmountable challenges as doable and has developed methods for measuring it. He is also engaged in studying the impact and significance of Paradox Mindset in building a creative and peaceful environment. Dr. Praszkier has authored and co-authored numerous academic books and articles about change dynamics (analyzing what makes change durable and irreversible), complexity, social entrepreneurship and peace-building. He has worked for more than 25 years for Ashoka (launching the program in Poland in 1995); also is a second-opinion reviewer, contributing to identify over 200 Ashoka Fellows across many continents. He also has co-founded and serves on the board of numerous grassroots NGOs. He is a licensed psychotherapist and psychotherapy supervisor. In the 1980s, Dr. Praszkier participated in the Polish underground peaceful Solidarity Movement and wrote, under a false name, a manual for Solidarity activists titled “How to survive police interrogation.” He later acted as a consultant for Solidarity candidates during Poland’s first free election in 1989.
Head of the Department for the Studies of Central and Eastern Europe, Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Europe
Lyubov Shishelina is heading the Department for the Studies of Central and Eastern Europe at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Europe and a member of the Foreign Corps of Hungarian Academy of Sciences. In 2006 she had also established the Visegrad Research Center – the only Russian analytical center specializing in the studies of the region. For 10 years she had been Professor at the Chair of Foreign Policy and International Relations at the Russian State University of Humanities and at the Chair for Social Sciences at Hungarian JánosKodolányi University College. Since 1994 she is a permanent chair of the International scientific conference “Russia and Central Europe in the new Geopolitical Realities”, the author of seven monographs and more than 200 articles, the editor-in-chief of the series of books on relations between Russia and Central Europe (by now – 11) as well as the editor of the annual Visegrad issue of the RAS scientific magazine “Modern Europe”.
Research fellow, iASK
Attila Szigeti holds a Joint PhD in Philosophy from the Paris XII – Val de Marne University and Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj. He is Assistant Professor at the Hungarian Department of Philosophy, Babeş-Bolyai University, where he teaches Modern and Contemporary Philosophy and is also coordinator of the Critical Theory and Multicultural Studies MA Program. His main research areas are: Contemporary Continental Philosophy, French Phenomenology, Critical Theory, Critical Environmental Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind and Cognitive Science. He has published one book and several articles in these fields, and has been visiting researcher in Paris, Copenhagen, Budapest etc.
Polish Academy of Sciences
Rafal Smoczynski (Poland 2019) is a sociologist, he received his Ph.D. and habilitation from Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. His research interest focuses on social control, migration, sociology of religion, social theory, sociology of markets. His publications were included in e.g. Oxford University Press, de Gruyter, Ethnic and Racial Studies, East European Politics and Societies and Cultures, Czech Sociological Review, Polish Sociological Review. He was involved in research projects funded by e.g. EU 6FP, Research Council of Norway, DAAD, British Council, National Sciences Centre (Poland), Visegrad Fund, the Korea Foundation. He acted also as a visiting scholar at e.g. Monash University, London School of Economics, Bergen University, the University of Sheffield, Seoul National University, the University of Vienna.
Fellow Researcher, iASK
Sanja Tepavcevic is a Research Fellow at Institute of Advanced Studies Kőszeg. Previously she held various academic and administrative positions at Central European University, Budapest, and faculty positions at Budapest Business University and Eötvös Lóránd University. Sanja is a member of the Budapest-based non-governmental organization Dialogue and external associate of the Croatia-based Institute of European and Globalization Studies. Dr. Tepavcevic holds a Russian Diploma in Journalism from Moscow State University, an MA in International Relations and European Studies, and a PhD in Political Science from the Central European University. Her research expertise includes Russian foreign policy and foreign direct investments of Russian companies, post-Soviet migrations and immigrant entrepreneurship, and migration and foreign economic policies of former Yugoslav states and countries of the Visegrad 4 Group. Her publications appear in a number of peer-reviewed journals including, United Nations’ Transnational Corporations Journal, Journal of East-West Business, and the Journal of Eastern European Management Studies. She has a decade-long experience as a journalist in Russia and Serbia. She is also a contributor for Geopolitika, a Croatian analytical portal.
Research fellow, iASK
Ravid Taghiyev is an MA degree holder from University of Pannonia – Kőszeg Campus and iASK fellow. He was born on 18th of June, 1991 in Goranboy, Azerbaijan where he finished his secondary education. In 2010, he decided to continue his education at Qafqaz University and received his Bachelor’s Diploma in International Relations and Diplomacy in 2014. After the graduation, he worked in different civil society and business organizations in Azerbaijan. Mr. Taghiyev was accepted to MA International Studies at University of Pannonia – Kőszeg Campus in 2019 and received MA degree in 2021. His master thesis and research interest cover the topics like democratization, authoritarianism and national identity in the post-Soviet space.
Head of the Ministry of Justice
Dr. Judit Varga was born in 1980 in Miskolc. In 2004, she graduated summa cum laude from the Faculty of Law of University of Miskolc. After obtaining her law degree, she worked as a trainee associate at Freshfields, Bruckhaus, Deringer and then at Hogan & Hartson law firms in Budapest. After that, until 2009, she worked as a trainee judge at the Budapest Regional Court and the Central District Court of Pest. She passed her bar exam in 2009 and then worked for nine years as a political advisor to several MEPs, in Brussels, among others, for Mr. János Áder, President of Hungary during his MEP’s mandate. She also attended a summer training on energy law at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies of the European University Institute in Florence in 2015. Since 2018, she has worked as Minister of State for EU Relations at the Prime Minister’s Office and as Minister of Justice since July 2019. She speaks English, German and French fluently, Spanish at conversational level.
Ambassador, Austrian Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs
After graduating with a Doctorate in Laws of the University of Vienna and the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna, he joined the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1981. He served as a diplomat in the Austrian Embassies in Rome, Belgrade and Budapest. He headed the Austrian Cultural Institute in Rome between 1996 and 2002 and the Directorate General for Cultural Affairs of the Austrian Federal Chancellery from 2002 until 2006. In 2006 he organised the conference “The Sound of Europe” in Salzburg as a prelude to the Austrian Presidency. He was ambassador to Indonesia, Singapore, ASEAN 2006-11 and ambassador to Turkey 2012-2017. Since mid-2017 he has been the head of Austrian MFA’s South
Euro-Balkan University, Skopje
Rubin Zemon is born in Struga, Macedonia in 1970. He has Ph.D. on ethnology from Ethnographic Institute with Museum by the Bulgarian Academy of Science in Sofia. He has worked expert analysis on international organizations such as the Council of Europe and OSCE / ODIHR He explores ethnology, cultural anthropology, ethnic identity and multiculturalism in Balkans. His publications have focused on minorities, communities vulnerable to racial discrimination, Balkan Egyptians, digital humanities and intercultural communications. More recently his research is directed towards political anthropology, effective participation on minorities in public life, national identities and nation-state development etc. He is a director of the Institute for Social and Humanities Researches by the Euro-Balkan University in Skopje, Macedonia.
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