Radu Albu-Comanescu (Romania) is a Lecturer in European Integration at the ‘Babeş-Bolyai’ University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania. His research focuses on European construction, state-building, international relations and cultural diplomacy. Read Radu’s articles here.
Merili Arjakas (Estonia) was a Marcin Król Fellow 2021/2022 at Visegrad Insight. Journalist at Postimees, the most circulated daily newspaper in Estonia as well as a podcast creator. Her work centres on domestic Estonia affairs as well as the larger Baltic region and other foreign affairs issues including topics of democratic resilience, disinformation, national security and cyber security. Read Merili’s articles here.
Alina Bârgăoanu (Romania) was a Marcin Król Fellow 2021/2022 at Visegrad Insight, a Romanian communication scholar, and Dean of the College of Communication and Public Relations, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, Bucharest. She is currently a member of the advisory board of the European Digital Media Observatory and of the European Commission expert group on tackling disinformation and promoting digital literacy through education and training. Her research centres on the effects of populist politics in Europe as well as assessing the European Union’s attempts to maintain liberal order. Read Alina’s articles here.
Bohdan Bernatskyi (Ukraine) is a Future of Ukraine Fellow at Visegrad Insight. Senior Lecturer in International Law at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and Ostroh Academy. He is a legal practitioner and helps the Ukrainian government and Members of Parliament in the fields of sanctions and transitional justice reforms. His academic interests include human rights, the functioning of political parties and countermeasures in international relations. Read Bohdan’s articles here.
Spasimir Domaradzki (Poland/Bulgaria) is an Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Lazarski University in Warsaw. In 2007, he received his PhD in International Relations from the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. Read Spasimir’s articles here.
Roch Dunin-Wąsowicz (Poland) is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Sociology at the UCL Social Research Institute (IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society) and a Research Associate at the Conflict and Civicness Research Group at LSE IDEAS. He has a track record of academic evidence-based research in the field of sociology with a focus on civil society, migration and European integration. In the past, he studied the social organization and civic identity of Polish migrants in the UK post-2004, the political mobilisation of Ukrainian migrants in Poland after Euromaidan, the social repercussions of Brexit in the UK, and grassroots civic activism across Europe. Dr Dunin-Wąsowicz’s academic training is in political sociology. He graduated from the New School for Social Research in New York City and obtained his PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science. His current research interests cover transnational entrepreneurs and businesses working towards civic end-goals in support of Ukraine, as well as how in the context of populism, social movements channel civic discontent, counter de-democratization, and enhance democratic resilience in Europe.
Jan Farfal (Poland) is a Marcin Król Fellow 2022/2023 at Visegrad Insight and a Doctoral candidate in Area Studies (Russia and East Europe) at the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies. His project examines the ways in which émigré journals addressed their home societies behind the Iron Curtain. He is a Researcher in the project ‘Europe in a Changing World’, led by Professor Timothy Garton Ash and Professor Paul Betts, at the European Studies Center at the University of Oxford. Read Jan’s articles here.
Oksana Forostyna (Ukraine) was a Marcin Król Fellow 2021/2022 at Visegrad Insight. Co-founder of Yakaboo Publishing, an editor, translator and writer contributing to publications such as Krytyka Journal (Ukraine) and The European Review of Books. Her focus is on Ukrainian and regional politics as well as disinformation’s impact on societies. Read Oksana’s articles here.
Philipp Fritz (Germany) is a Marcin Król Fellow 2024 at Visegrad Insight. He studied political science and cultural studies at the University of Bremen and the JU in Krakow. He began his journalistic career at the Berliner Zeitung and has also written articles for Die Zeit and Tageszeitung, and in Poland for Gazeta Wyborcza. Since 2018, he has been a foreign correspondent for WELT and WELT AM SONNTAG, responsible for East Central Europe. His reports and analyses also appear in Switzerland and in the French and Polish press. Philipp is an expert on rule of law issues and international politics and security policy in Europe. Read Philipp’s articles here.
Ognyan Georgiev (Bulgaria) was a Marcin Król Fellow 2021/2022 at Visegrad Insight, Robert Bosch Stiftung and Fulbright alumni, a reporter and editor of Bulgarian business publication Capital, and currently head of Kapital Insights. His focus is on Bulgarian politics, business and economy as well as regional development, city planning and European funding. Read Ognyan’s articles here.
Jarosław Gwizdak (Poland) is a former judge and Court President in Katowice. He currently works as a teacher, columnist and activist. He was the first person awarded the Civic Judge of the Year prize. Read Jarosław’s articles here.
Pavel Havlicek (Czech Republic) was a Marcin Król Fellow 2021/2022 at Visegrad Insight and a Research Fellow at the Association for International Affairs (AMO) Research Centre. His research focus is on Eastern Europe, especially Ukraine and Russia, and the Eastern Partnership. Read Pavel’s articles here.
Alina Inayeh (Romania) is a Marcin Król Fellow 2024 at Visegrad Insight. She is currently a non-resident fellow with German Marshall Fund and the lead advisor for Aspen Institute Romania. She joined GMF in 2007 as the director of the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation, a project dedicated to strengthening cooperation and fostering development in the Black Sea region. For the last 13 years Alina has been one of the initiators and main organizers of the annual Bucharest Forum. She is an active practitioner in the field of international development and democratization, having run the Freedom House office in Ukraine in 2004 and the NDI office in Russia in 2000-2003, with a focus on civic education and political processes. Read Alina’s articles here.
Krzysztof Izdebski (Poland) was a Marcin Król Fellow 2021/2022 at Visegrad Insight and an expert at the Open Contracting Partnership and Stefan Batory Foundation. Member of Consul Democracy Foundation’s Council. He is a lawyer specialising in access to public information and the re-use of public sector information. He is the author of publications on freedom of information, technology, public administration, corruption, and public participation. Dziennik Gazeta Prawna listed him as one of the 50 most influential Polish lawyers in 2020. Read Krzysztof’s articles here.
Matej Kandrík (Slovakia) is a Marcin Król Fellow 2022/2023 and a cofounder of Adapt Institute and a PhD candidate in Political Science with a specialisation in Security and Strategic Studies at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia. Currently, he is participating in CEU Democratic Institute Leadership Academy. His research interests include comprehensive defence, paramilitarism in Central Eastern Europe and strategic communication. Read Matej’s articles here.
Christine Karelska (Ukraine) is a Future of Ukraine Fellow at Visegrad Insight. An alumna of the College of Europe in Natolin and the Democracy Study Centre in Kyiv. Her main specialization is the European Neighborhood Policy. Currently, she is working as an Advisor on International Relations for the Vice Mayor of Odesa and as an Assistant to the Deputy of the Odesa City Council. Previously, she worked as a Project Manager of the Ze!Women movement aimed at gender equality and promotion of the First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska’s projects in the Odesa region. Read Christine’s articles here.
Aliaksei Kazharski (Belarus/Slovakia) is a Researcher at the Institute of European Studies and International Relations of the Comenius University in Bratislava and a lecturer at the Department of Security Studies of Charles University in Prague. He obtained his PhD in 2015 and his dissertation was published by Central European University as a monograph in 2019 (Eurasian Integration and the Russian World: Regionalism as an Identitary Enterprise). Read Aliaksei’s articles here.
Aleksandra Klitina (Ukraine) is a Senior Correspondent for Kyiv Post, with over a decade of experience in private and public institutions, including serving as a former Deputy Minister in Ukraine’s Ministry of Infrastructure. She has a background in advocating infrastructure and public administration reforms and has worked on EU projects in Ukraine. Read Aleksandra’s articles here.
Viktoryia Kolchyna (Belarus) is a Marcin Król Fellow 2022/2023 at Visegrad Insight, a journalist and contributing author that has covered Human Rights topics for multiple networks including Belsat TV and Al Jazeera English. She worked on documentaries that won several awards, including NYF TV & Film Awards, Silver World Medal Film People & Power- Russia: The Orthodox Connection( 2019) and Nomination for Rory Peck Award from Al Jazeera People & Power- Armenia: Mining out the leopard (2019). Read Viktoryia’s articles here.
Ádám Kolozsi (Hungary) was a Marcin Król Fellow 2021/2022 at Visegrad Insight. Journalist and researcher based in Budapest, Hungary and currently working at Telex.hu. His focus usually covers the social sciences, history, politics and international relations. Read Ádám’s articles here.
Filip Konopczyński (Poland) is the co-founder of Kalecki Foundation, an independent think tank devoted to sustainable economic and environmental development. He is a social researcher and market analyst as well as a publicist and commentator. Read Filip’s articles here.
Oleksandr Kostryba (Ukraine) is a Future of Ukraine Fellow 2024 at Visegrad Insight. He is a researcher and public policy expert from Ukraine with seven years of experience in the field of public policy research, with a deep focus on the quality of governance reforms in the Central and Eastern Europe region. During the last three years, he has worked within the Center of Economic Recovery platform and EasyBusiness think tank, being involved in analytical and implementational projects for the improvement of the quality of governance in Ukraine. His deep focus is connected with digital transformation and EU integration of Ukraine. Currently, he is obtaining a PhD in public policy in the Doctoral School of Political Science at the Central European University.
Oleksandr Kraiev (Ukraine) is a Future of Ukraine Fellow at Visegrad Insight and a director of the North America program in the Foreign Policy Council “Ukrainian Prism”. He is an international relations columnist for several Ukrainian and international media outlets. He is also a PhD candidate at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. Key academic and professional spheres of interest: the UK and US foreign and domestic policy, the Irish border dispute, hybrid warfare, and modern conflicts. Read Oleksandr’s articles here.
Adam Leszczyński (Poland) was a Marcin Król Fellow 2021/2022 at Visegrad Insight. Journalist, sociologist and historian. A senior writer at OKO.press, a non-profit, investigative journalist and fact-checking project, created to preserve freedom of speech and secure access to information in Poland. His main focus is on Polish politics and history, with special emphasis on the government’s politics of memory. Read Adam’s articles here.
Hennadiy Maksak (Ukraine) is the founder and executive director of Foreign Policy Council Ukrainian Prism, which enhances Ukraine’s foreign policy and international security. He served as President of the Polissya Foundation for International and Regional Studies, promoting regional cooperation and advancing Ukraine’s foreign policy agenda. Hennadiy held high-profile positions in the Ukrainian government, including Chair of the Civic Council under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Read Hennadiy’s articles here.
Paweł Marczewski (Poland) is a Marcin Król Fellow 2022/2023 at Visegrad Insight, the head of the research unit Citizens at the ideaForum, a think tank of the Batory Foundation, a member of the Carnegie Civic Research Network, and an affiliated researcher at the SWPS Youth Study Center. His main areas of interest are relations between demographic changes and democracy, social movements, civil society organizations, and social justice. Read Paweł’s articles here.
Michał Matlak (Poland) is a Marcin Król Fellow 2022/2023 at Visegrad Insight, the Managing editor of the Review of Democracy and a policy advisor at the European Parliament. He holds a PhD from the European University Institute and was a visiting scholar at Princeton University, the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin and KU Leuven. Member of the Executive Board of the Democracy Seminar at the New School for Social Research in New York. Read Michał’s articles here.
Asya Metodieva (Bulgaria) is a researcher at the Institute of International Relations in Prague. She is a Doctoral Candidate at the Central European University (CEU), Vienna. Her research focuses on radical movements, polarisation and information warfare with a focus on the Balkans and more generally Southeast Europe. She holds an MA in Public Policy from CEU and in International Relations and Security Studies from Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski. In 2019 she was a visiting PhD Candidate at the University of Oxford. She held the 2018 Sotirov Fellowship at LSE IDEAS and the 2018 Re-think CEE Fellowship of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Read Asya’s articles here.
Adrian Mihălțianu (Romania) is a Marcin Król Fellow 2022/2023 at Visegrad Insight and a journalist with more than 17 years of experience, both in editorial and management teams for medium-sized and large media companies. Currently coordinating PressOne.ro, an independent, in-depth solutions journalism project bringing light on major issues in Romania and abroad. Read Adrian’s articles here.
Eva Mihočková (Slovakia) is a Marcin Król Fellow 2024 at Visegrad Insight. She is an Editor in Chief of Foreign Policy SFPA, a media website operated by the Slovak Foreign Policy Association. She is also a member of Team Europe Direct and works as an investigative journalist for Stop the Corruption Foundation. Last year she was awarded the Journalism Award 2022 by the Open Society Foundation in Slovakia. Eva started her journalistic career in 1998 at Slovak Television. Since then, she has worked for major news outlets such as TA3 television, RTVS public broadcaster, Euractiv.sk, Plus7dní weekly, and Trend weekly, where she served as a reporter, moderator, and a member of the editorial office management team. Read Eva’s articles here.
Malina Mindrutescu (Romania) was a Marcin Król Fellow 2021/2022 at Visegrad Insight. Freelance journalist and political analyst based in Bucharest, Romania with a Master of Letters in Terrorism and Political Violence from the University of St Andrews. Her focus is on foreign policy, business, transatlantic relations and the Black Sea region. Read Malina’s articles here.
Marta Musidłowska (Poland) is a Marcin Król Fellow 2022/2023 at Visegrad Insight and a graduate of the University of Warsaw Faculty of Law and CopyrightX at Harvard Law School. She specialises in areas related to digitisation, in particular concerning personal data protection and ethical artificial intelligence. She is currently an analyst for the Digital Economy research programme at the Instrat Foundation, where she works on topics related to data governance and the digitization of the medical sector, as well as the protection of human rights, with a particular focus on labour rights in the face of digitisation. Read Marta’s articles here.
Iván László Nagy (Hungary) is a Marcin Król Fellow 2022/2023 at Visegrad Insight and a Budapest-based political journalist, writing for a leading independent Hungarian news site, hvg.hu. His work as a reporter, analyst and commentator revolves around understanding the dynamics of societies oppressed by modern semi-dictators and working out ways for meaningful civic action within them, with special emphasis on mobilising young people for democratic action. Read Iván’s articles here.
Marco Németh (Slovakia) is a Marcin Król Fellow 2022/2023 at Visegrad Insight and Slovak journalist, focusing on EU policies, democracy, Central Europe and foreign affairs. He was the youngest and most passionate activist in the 2019 European elections. Since 2019 he has worked with several Slovak & International newspapers on the topics of democracy in V4 and the European Union. When he was 15 years old he published his book “Európa v Kocke” in which he explains how the EU works. He is the winner of the European Citizen’s Prize 2022. Read Marco’s articles here.
Valeriia Novak (Ukraine) is a Future of Ukraine Fellow 2024 at Visegrad Insight. She was born in Crimea, Ukraine, and is currently based in Kyiv, Ukraine. She brings over nine years of experience in the public sector, including roles in the Verkhovna Rada, Ministry of Justice, and various NGOs. Valeriia completed the Schuman Traineeship at the EU Parliament and is a recipient of the FCDO Scholarship for a post-graduate course in strategic communication. Currently, she serves as the Program Manager for the USAID RANG Program, an organization dedicated to supporting the Ukrainian parliament in becoming more people-oriented and enhancing the legislative process. Valeriia’s goal is to assist Ukrainian institutions on their path toward EU integration. Her primary areas of interest are governance and the rule of law. Read Valeriia’s articles here.
Tetyana Oleksiyuk (Ukraine) is a Future of Ukraine Fellow, researcher, lecturer, and advisor on national legislation and international standards related to access in the information sphere. Her work has significantly contributed to improving access to information legislation and administrative practices in Ukraine by collecting information from various sources. She is an active advisor to key stakeholders, including the Ombudsperson, Council of Europe, UNDP, representatives of official authorities, the Supreme Court of Ukraine, and civil society organisations. Read Tetyana’s articles here.
Vitaly Portnikov (Ukraine) is a Future of Ukraine Fellow at Visegrad Insight. An author and renowned journalist working in democratic media in Central and Eastern Europe for more than three decades. He is the author of hundreds of analytical articles in Ukrainian, Belarusian, Polish, Russian, Israeli, and Baltic media. He hosts television programs and his own analytical channels on YouTube. He is currently broadcasting at the office of the Espreso TV channel in Lviv and continues to cooperate with the Ukrainian and Russian services of Radio Liberty. Read Vitaly’s articles here.
Matej Šimalčík (Slovakia) is a Marcin Król Fellow 2024 at Visegrad Insight. He is the Executive Director of the Central European Institute of Asian Studies, a think tank that focuses on foreign and security policy issues related to East Asia. Matej’s research looks at China’s economic and political presence and influence in Central Europe, elite relations, corrosive capital, and the role of European legal instruments in mitigating risks posed by China. In 2022, he founded the China-Europe Academic Engagement Tracker project, which aims to bring transparency to research collaborations with Chinese entities. He is also researching the relationship between Europe and Taiwan and co-founded the EU-Taiwan Tracker project. In 2021, he was listed on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list (Slovak edition) in the Governance and Social Innovation category. He has a background in law (Masaryk University, 2015) and international relations (University of Groningen, 2016), and he is active in the legal profession in Slovakia. Read Matej’s articles here.
Sigita Struberga (Latvia) is is a Marcin Król Fellow 2022/2023 at Visegrad Insight. She is a Secretary-General of the Latvian Transatlantic Organisation and researcher and lecturer at the Department of Political Science, University of Latvia. She is developing her PhD thesis in the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Latvia. Her research interests are transatlantic relations and European security, Russia, China’s foreign policy, strategic communication. Read Sigita’s articles here.
Zsuzsanna Szabó (Hungary) is covering investor relations, shareholder activism and ESG (Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance) at a London-based finance magazine. Before joining the IR Magazine news team in January 2020, she worked as an energy market reporter for ICIS, an industry publication for one and a half years. During that time, she covered the CEE power markets. In 2017, she completed a Master’s degree in Media studies at the University of Westminster in London, with a dissertation on the rise of populism in Hungarian politics. She previously covered German and Austrian political news and the refugee crisis for Origo.hu, Hungary’s formal leading news portal. She speaks four languages and writes on international affairs for titles including Visegrad Insight. Read Zsuzsanna’s articles here.
Albin Sybera (Czech Republic) is a freelance journalist, consultant and former clerk at the State Environmental Fund of the Czech Republic. Besides Visegrad Insight, his texts can be also found at Britske listy or Balkan Insight. Read Albin’s articles here.
Dorka Takácsy (Hungary) is a Marcin Król Fellow 2022/2023 at Visegrad Insight and a researcher, with a passion for politics in Russia and the CEE region. She pursues her PhD studies at the Corvinus University of Budapest, contemplating the broader topic of Russian domestic disinformation about the West. She is currently a Research Fellow at the Centre for Euro-Atlantic Integration and Democracy (CEID), focusing on disinformation. Read Dorka’s articles here.
Bartosz Wieliński (Poland) is a Marcin Król Fellow 2024 at Visegrad Insight. He joined the editorial staff of Gazeta Wyborcza in 1998 as an almost 20-year-old intern. In 2005 he became a Wyborcza’s correspondent in Germany and in 2019 was promoted to its deputy editor-in-chief. He most enjoys covering Germany, especially its history. He has published two books: “Bad Germans” and “Hitler’s War of the Doctors.” Studied political science and Journalism at the University of Silesia and at the International School of Political Science in Katowice. He also graduated from postgraduate studies in diplomacy at the Jagiellonian University in Cracow. Read Bartosz’s articles here.
Volodymyr Yermolenko (Ukraine) is a Ukrainian philosopher, journalist and writer. He is the President of PEN Ukraine and the current Analytics director at Internews Ukraine, one of the largest and oldest Ukrainian media NGOs. He is also the Editor-in-chief of UkraineWorld.org, a multimedia project in English about Ukraine and an Associate professor at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. He has been published in numerous outlets, such as The Economist, Le Monde, Financial Times, New York Times, and Newsweek. Read Volodymyr’s articles here.
Edit Zgut-Przybylska (Hungary)Visegrad Insight Fellow and re:constitution fellow. Political scientist and sociologist, a researcher at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Vice-president of Amnesty International Hungary and a guest lecturer at the Foreign Service Institute of the State Department of the United States. Focusing on informal power and populism in the context of Hungarian and Polish democratic backsliding. Read Edit’s articles here.
Read more about the fellowship programme
