I have been a Research Fellow at the College of Europe since February 2016 having previously been a Phd candidate in European Studies at the London School of Economics and held Teaching Assistant positions at King’s College London and Royal Holloway (University of London).
My Phd thesis explored the impact of EU civilian missions in the Eastern Neighbourhood with a particular focus on the role of national governments and local actors in Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine in shaping the EU’s contribution to conflict management and domestic reforms on the ground. My research interests revolve around the European Union’s foreign policy and in particular the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), as well as processes of Europeanisation, external governance, peacebuilding and conflict resolution, all of this with respect to the Eastern dimension of the EU’s Neighbourhood Policy.
My teaching expertise covers a wide range of International Relations and European Studies subjects including Foreign Policy Analysis, Comparative Politics of the European Union, European Integration and EU Foreign Policy.
I hold a BA in Political Science from the University of Bucharest and an MA in International Politics from the University of Manchester.
I have participated in a significant number of academic conferences as a panelist (presenting a paper), discussant or chair. Please find below a selection:
- International Studies Association 58th Annual Convention, Baltimore, Maryland, 22-25 February, 2017. Paper:‘Actor preferences and strategic choices: A rational-choice account of EU foreign policy reception in the Eastern Neighbourhood’
- Workshop 'The EU and Contested Statehood in its Neighbourhood: Europeanisation, Actorness and State-Building', University of Amsterdam, 26-27 January 2017. Paper 'Contested statehood in Georgia and the limits of EU actorness: Migration, mobility, and conflict management', co-authored with Prof. Tobias Schumacher
- The 2nd European Workshop in International Studies (EWIS), Gediz University, Izmir, 21-24 May 2014. Paper: ‘EU civilian missions in the Eastern neighbourhood: contributing to conflict resolution or perpetuating the status quo?’
I have also occasionally been invited to speak at more policy-oriented events, such as the “Security Challenges of the EU’s Eastern neighbourhood” conference organised by the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum in Tbilisi, 28-29 July 2016.