
Ajda Hedžet is a researcher, teacher, and editor working at the intersections of human rights, youth politics, and international relations. She conducts research at the Centre of International Relations, University of Ljubljana, and teaches courses on international human rights, global politics, and international institutions at the Chair of International Relations, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana.
Her research explores how youth and other marginalized or affected groups become recognized as political subjects and how they exercise agency in spaces of governance, activism, and digital resistance. Ajda combines discourse analysis and participatory methods to study the evolving boundaries of human rights and democratic practices. She serves as Editor of the Journal of International Relations and Development, is a member of the European Democracy Hub’s Young Researchers’ Network, and co-coordinates the CEEISA Doctoral Network.
This project aims to investigate how youth in Southeast Europe navigate the contradictions of being simultaneously marginalized and idealized as agents of democratic renewal. While governments, donors, and the EU often frame young people as “future-makers,” or “agents of change” they remain excluded from meaningful participation in political life. The research explores how youth in Southeast Europe engage in constructive resistance, practices that not only challenge dominant forms of governance but also create alternative visions of democracy, solidarity, and belonging. Drawing on multi-sited qualitative research, combining system mapping, collective interviews, and netnography of youth-led organizations and digital practices, the project examines how young activists mobilize in online and transnational spaces to articulate new democratic imaginaries and reclaim agency under conditions of precarity and constrained civic space. By theorizing youth politics through the lens of constructive resistance, the project engages with interdisciplinary debates in political sociology, anthropology, and international relations. It seeks to illuminate how democratic futures may emerge from below in contexts marked by fragile institutions, donor dependency, and political capture.

Aleksandra Bajde is a Slovenian cultural manager and researcher based in Vienna, working at the intersection of international cultural relations, EU foreign cultural policy, and sustainability in the arts. With an academic background spanning political science, European studies, liberal arts and sciences, and music, she combines an interdisciplinary research foundation with more than a decade of experience in managing international cultural projects. Her work focuses on fostering collaboration between the arts, research, and policy sectors to promote civic engagement, cultural exchange, and cross-sectoral impact.
She is currently completing her PhD in Political Science at the University of Vienna, where her dissertation examines the Europeanization of cultural diplomacy in small EU member states, with a comparative focus on Austria and Slovenia. Her broader research interests center on how EU-level priorities are shaped, translated, and implemented through foreign cultural policy and cultural diplomacy.
Aleksandra holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Liberal Arts and Sciences with a focus on International Relations and Sociology from Amsterdam University College; a Master’s degree in Advanced European and International Studies from the European Institute in France; and degrees in music, including a Bachelor of Music from the Conservatory of Amsterdam and a Master of Arts from the Anton Bruckner Private University Linz.
She has contributed to policy briefs, taught at the university level, co-founded the Culture and Sustainability Lab, and participated in international initiatives such as the Global Cultural Relations Programme (EU), the European Music Council Fellowship Programme, and the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence in International Cultural Relations, Cultural and Public Diplomacy (CREDO) at the University of Siena. She regularly presents workshops and talks at international conferences and symposia on STEAM, EU cultural policy, cultural diplomacy, and the intersections of culture and sustainability.
This project examines how young cultural practitioners in Slovenia and Serbia imagine and enact ecological futures through cultural and artistic practices. Focusing on youth-led initiatives in Ljubljana and Belgrade, it explores how ecological concerns are articulated through music, art, and cultural production, and how these practices intersect with forms of civic engagement and emerging democratic imaginaries.
Situated in differing institutional and EU integration contexts, the project investigates how young actors navigate environmental responsibility, cultural policy frameworks, and socio-political constraints. By analyzing narratives, symbols, and practices within local cultural ecosystems, the study traces how ecological awareness becomes embedded in everyday cultural work and how it shapes alternative visions of collective life and participation.
Methodologically, the project combines qualitative interviews, discourse and document analysis, and practice-informed approaches. It contributes to debates on youth agency, cultural production, and political imaginaries in Southeast Europe, offering insights relevant to cultural policy, ecological transition, and democratic engagement in the region.

Ana Gavrilović is a second-year PhD student at the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Philosophy, Department of History of Art. Her academic background spans archaeology, cultural heritage studies, and digital media, with a particular focus on the role of video games in shaping contemporary social and cultural narratives. Over the past decade, through her work and studies in the Department of Archaeology, she has gained extensive experience in research related to digital heritage, game-based interpretation, and youth engagement with the past.
Her interest in the political dimensions of gaming grew out of recent global and regional examples of youth activism unfolding within digital worlds. Events such as in-game protests on Roblox, Minecraft, and other open-world platforms revealed to her how young people increasingly use games as accessible, imaginative, and often safer spaces for expressing civic concerns and experimenting with resistance. These developments motivated her to investigate how video games function not only as cultural artifacts but also as emerging arenas of political agency in Southeast Europe.
Ana’s current research explores video games as “free” digital spaces where young people negotiate identity, critique social systems, and form new democratic imaginaries. She aims to connect game studies with broader discussions on youth politics, digital citizenship, and participatory culture, emphasizing the creative and symbolic ways in which new generations shape their political worlds. Through her interdisciplinary work, she seeks to highlight the growing importance of digital play in understanding contemporary democratic futures.
This project explores how young people across Southeast Europe use video games as emerging spaces for political expression, collective imagination, and democratic resistance. In a context marked by widespread disillusionment with formal political institutions, stalled EU integration, and growing social inequalities, youth increasingly turn to digital environments to articulate concerns and experiment with alternative political futures. Video games—particularly open-world, moddable, and community-driven platforms—have become vital arenas where these imaginaries take shape.
Foucsed on video games such as Minecraft, Roblox, and locally developed indie titles are repurposed for activism, symbolic protest, community organizing, and identity formation. By examining practices such as in-game protests, modding, livestream commentary, and the use of gaming communication tools for civic coordination, the project positions video games as “free” digital spaces where youth negotiate power, resistance, and belonging. These activities challenge the stereotype of young players as disengaged or apolitical, revealing instead a dynamic landscape of creative civic participation.
Using digital ethnography, semi-structured interviews, and game analysis, the project aims to uncover how young people generate new political meanings within these interactive worlds—and how these meanings translate into broader social and democratic imaginaries. In doing so, it contributes to rethinking youth agency, highlighting the role of digital play in shaping democratic futures in Southeast Europe.

Anastas Vangeli is Assistant Professor at the University of Ljubljana, School of Economics and Business. He is Associate Editor of Asia Europe Journal and co-editor of Yugoslavia and China: Histories, Legacies, Afterlives (Routledge, 2025), and currently leads an international project on how actors in the semi-periphery think about and position themselves in the transition to electric vehicles. His research examines the diffusion of ideas and imagined futures, focusing on how China’s global rise, Western and non-Western responses, and new technologies shape development imaginaries and forms of political, economic, and civic agency.
This study develops a framework for understanding how Balkan Gen Z imagine the future and exercise agency under conditions of semi-peripheral uncertainty. Rather than approaching youth through apathy or exit, the study contemplates a set of ideational dimensions that structure everyday dilemmas around mobility, work, time, knowledge, ecology, and geopolitics. Working with interpretive process tracing, the study reconstructs how shifts in material conditions are translated into orientations and practices through media environments, institutional encounters, and peer-level sense-making. The intended contribution is establishing a conceptual framework for future empirical research and policy engagement on youth, ideas, and futures in the Balkans.

The Regional Network of Centers for Advanced Studies in Southeast Europe (RECAS) is proud to announce Anesa Colakovic as a 2025-2026 Regional Fellow. The RECAS Fellowship facilitates groundbreaking research and strengthens scholarly exchange across the region’s leading university centers.
Anesa brings a formidable profile to this inquiry. A Fulbright, World Learning Fellow, Schusterman Scholar, Rotarian, and Bosch Alumni with a background in government, NGOs, and technology, she has spearheaded environmental activism—from river clean-ups to reforestation—while championing the rights of marginalized communities, including war-affected women and ethnic minorities. Currently pursuing a PhD in technology and climate finance, her lived experience as an internally displaced person from a minority community in Kosovo fuels her commitment to just and equitable development. Through this fellowship, Anesa will present her work across RECAS centers, deepening vital regional dialogue on the critical intersections of sustainability, digital innovation, and youth agency.
Southeast Europe is at a critical juncture, facing intertwined ecological and digital challenges that significantly influence youth identities, civic participation, and future imaginaries. The ecological crisis—marked by climate change, pollution, and resource depletion—poses urgent threats, while rapid digital transformation reshapes communication, activism, and social organization. Understanding how young people in this region navigate these intertwined issues is essential for fostering resilient, innovative, and inclusive civic futures. This research aims to explore how youth discourse, practices, and imaginaries merge ecological concerns with digital tools, creating hybrid “eco-digital” imaginaries that inform their visions of sustainable futures.

Anxhela Lepuri is a lecturer at the Department of Albanian Language, University of Tirana, and a doctoral researcher in Albanology at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. Her work explores the intersections of language, culture, and identity in Albanian-speaking communities, with a focus on sociolinguistic dynamics, heritage language maintenance, youth linguistic practices, and translation as intercultural mediation. She has participated in several international research and mobility programs, including at the Universities of Poitiers, Thessaloniki, Siena, Torino, and Ca’ Foscari Venice, and has presented her work in numerous conferences in Europe. Anxhela has authored and co-authored studies on multilingualism, language ideology, and literary reception, and has translated major Italian authors into Albanian.
This research explores how young people in the Municipality of Prishtina use conceptual metaphors to articulate their understanding of democracy, the EU integration process, and their imagined social and political future. By examining metaphorical expressions in youth discourse, the study seeks to reveal how figurative language reflects emotions such as hope, disappointment, and resistance, as well as how it shapes young people’s perceptions of institutions and society. Employing a mixed-methods approach, the project combines semi-structured interviews with an online questionnaire to gather both in-depth and broader data from participants aged 18–25. The analysis follows Conceptual Metaphor Theory to identify and classify metaphorical patterns and interpret their political and cultural meanings. The study is expected to uncover dominant conceptual metaphors that illuminate how youth imagine democracy and their collective future, highlighting variations across social and educational backgrounds. Beyond its linguistic contribution, the project offers a valuable perspective for understanding youth political imagination in Kosovo, providing insights that can inform more inclusive institutional practices and youth-centered policymaking.

Borjan Gjuzelov is a political scientist specialising in informality, authoritarianism and good governance. He holds a PhD from Queen Mary University of London, where he also taught political analysis as a teaching assistant. He has authored and contributed to numerous academic and policy publications and has collaborated with a wide range of universities, organisations, and institutions, including University College London, King’s College London, the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, the National Democratic Institute, the Open Government Partnership, the Economist Intelligence Unit, the OSCE, UNDP, and HELVETAS. He currently works as a freelance consultant and serves as a senior researcher at the Skopje-based think tank Institute for Democracy “Societas Civilis” Skopje.
This project examines how digitally embedded members of Generation Z make sense of democracy, autonomy, and civic action. While often portrayed as politically disengaged, many young people in Southeast Europe are increasingly integrated into global digital markets, gaining economic independence that does not automatically translate into political engagement. Using a qualitative, interpretative, and participatory research design, the study explores how Gen Z’s lived experiences shape political imaginaries, civic orientations, and democratic expectations. Through interviews, participatory workshops, and comparative analysis, the project generates empirically grounded insights relevant to youth studies, democratic theory, and policy debates on democratic renewal in hybrid regimes.

Prof. Dr. Đorđe Krivokapić LL.M. is an Associate Professor of Information and Communication Technology Law at the Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Belgrade. He is the responsible professor for courses in the areas of information and communication technology law, data protection, business law, data & business ethics, business systems organisation, and human resource management within the curricula of the Faculty of Organizational Sciences, the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, the Faculty of Medicine, and multidisciplinary studies at the University of Belgrade, as well as the Faculty of Drama Arts in Belgrade.
He holds a law degree from the University of Belgrade and a master’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh, USA. In 2016, he defended his PhD on internet defamation at the University of Belgrade. Prof. Krivokapić spent time furthering his education and preparing his doctoral dissertation at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Harvard Law School, USA, in 2010 and 2012.
Prof. Krivokapić co-founded the SHARE Foundation, where he led an interdisciplinary team advocating for public interests in online privacy, free speech, security, and open access to knowledge. He participated in more than a hundred projects and contributed to Share Lab research. a Over the last 8 years, he has hosted over 40 educational and research events in the area of digital rights at the Monastery of St. Anton in Perast, Montenegro, with more than 1,000 participants across all the continents. Prof. Krivokapić is also active in cultural heritage and creative industries, co-founding the Cultural Heritage Innovation Lab and serving as an active contributor to the Kototart Festival. He represented global civil society and academia at various forums such are OECD, OSCE and CoE, and also served as a Board Chair of the Open Society Foundation Serbia for six years.
In the last decade, Đorđe has served as an independent expert consultant to various start-ups, SMEs, corporations, public sector institutions, universities, think tanks, associations and international organizations. He is often engaged as a business and strategy mentor, community developer, policy advocate and consultant in areas of compliance, communication and organizational development. His primary fields of interest are the intersection of law and technology and the impact of emerging information technologies on society.
This project investigates how youth in hybrid regimes build collective capacity for democratic change using alternative communication technologies and decentralised mobilisation practices. Drawing on the case of recent student protests in Serbia, where young activists faced media capture, digital surveillance, and selective repression, the research examines both the fragility and transformative potential of youth agency in contemporary digital authoritarian contexts.
The project develops a tabletop simulation, Resistance Protocol, that models interactions between youth actors and regime forces, incorporating trust-building, secure communication, and decentralised coordination on one side, and repression, disinformation, coercion, and institutional capture on the other. The game will function simultaneously as an analytical model of dynamic power contestation and as a pedagogical tool supporting democratic resilience.
Combining theoretical insights from youth studies, digital authoritarianism, and serious games research with empirical case analysis and participatory workshops across the Western Balkans, the project will explore how youth imaginaries shape democratic futures and how hybrid regimes adapt to disrupt them. The simulation’s design will inform academic debates, policy discussions, and activist capacity-building, contributing to regionally grounded, globally relevant frameworks for strengthening democratic agency in the digital age.

While growing up in Serbia and witnessing sweeping historical changes at the end of the 20th century, including the fall of Communism and, in the case of former Yugoslavia, the formation of new nation-states through a series of brutal wars, I initially became interested in political theory and questions with respect to oppression. I came to understand that national oppression was one of the reasons for the country’s collapse, but not the only one. The economic disparity between more and less industrialized regions, and expansionist tendencies from different countries, came to full display by the 1990s. Then, in the field of political science during my graduate studies, I explored the transformations of socialism and its convergences with capitalism within broader global processes. Significant reforms were launched in both capitalist (neoliberalism) and socialist (perestroika) economies, and modern technology and communications made all of us uneasy neighbors, showing their lethal potential as well as liberating capabilities.
My dissertation followed in that vein of re-examining the power of technology. When the economic crisis of 2008 set the stage for the expansion of gig jobs, a widely contested debate sparked over the benefits and shortcomings that the new type of work brings and over the social implications that it has. My dissertation analyzed structural characteristics of the digital platform economy and the global political landscape increasingly riddled by crises. I aimed to help set the intellectual agenda for thinking about collective labor and grassroots organizing as economic and political emergencies unfold. Completed research also forged a new interpretation of flexibility and freedom on digital platforms and examined the relationship between material dispossession, social alienation, and labor organizing.
Recently, I extended my research into urban systems and a series of massive and parallel changes conditioned by the geographic dispersal of economic activities, integration of labor markets, and migration. As a part of the Fulbright Global Scholar Program 2024/2025, I undertook a 4-month-long empirical research project in collaboration with CAS SEE at the University of Rijeka (Croatia). This project aimed to understand how the City of Rijeka is restructured and reimagined from an industrial to a knowledge city, and the range of experiences of the labor migrants in the city’s transformation. Although the same imperative to work shapes migration from one state to another and from countryside to an urban center within a state, post-industrial transformation intensifies material disparity among different migrant groups, resulting in new types of social fabric, exclusion, and policy proposals.
As part of the 2025/2026 RECAS cohort, my primary interests will be in international migration, comparative evaluations and reflections on how things work ‘here’ and ‘there’ among migrants and whether migration contributes to democratic change in politics and economy or prevents it from occurring.
In an ongoing ‘age of migration’, various studies measure the benefits and losses of migration in terms of monetary gains, while social capital (social remittances) remains a rather neglected aspect. Ideas about political remittances (as a particular subcategory of social remittances) as inherently ‘democratising’ also remain trapped in the notion that migrants ‘send back good norms’ from largely Global North to largely Global South contexts, rather than acknowledging ongoing circulation. To fill the gap in understanding the remittance patterns among migrants from their origin and destination contexts, this study will test the assumption of the democratising nature of political remittances from migrants living in consolidated, liberal democracies. In operationalizing the key term of democratic structures, this study will explore a pro-democratic push in the economy in addition to democracy in politics. Put differently, if the goal is to influence policy to democratise unequal power relations, a pro-democratic push shall be concerned with the struggle for democracy in politics and the economy. How does the migratory movement of youth, which is often provisional, impact the relations with authorities, identities, and politicised topics such as abortion laws, gender relations, political strategies of campaigning, and so on? What’s behind migrants’ assessments of the economy in the origin and destination context? What are their top economic concerns? What are the expectations and future imaginaries among youth migrants about the economy? By encompassing political and economic aspects as deeply intertwined, findings based on surveys and interviews with young migrants, individuals between the ages of 18 and 35 who voluntarily or involuntarily leave their country of origin (i.e., Serbia and Croatia) to study and work in Germany, Austria, and the United States, will shed more light to whether and how migration contributes to democratic change or prevents it from occurring.

Jing Wu is a Ph.D. candidate in the field of Public Relations at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana. Her academic background is rooted in strategic communication and the analysis of digital public opinion. Before focusing on environmental issues, she established a strong track record in researching social media phenomena, employing semantic network and sentiment analysis to understand public discourse during health crises and uncertain times.
Building on her expertise in digital narratives and data-driven communication, her current research pivots to the climate crisis. Specifically, she is conducting a comparative digital ethnography on youth climate narratives in Slovenia and Serbia, investigating how digital platforms serve as arenas for constructing “green futures” in transitional political contexts.
Jing holds a Master of Marketing Communications from the University of Melbourne. Prior to her doctoral studies, she served as a Public Relations Director in the art and cultural enterprise in China, a role that grounded her academic inquiries in substantial industry practice.
This research project investigates the divergent manifestations of global youth climate activism in the post-socialist Balkans, focusing on the comparative cases of Slovenia and Serbia. Despite sharing a Yugoslav socialist heritage, these nations now navigate distinct political trajectories: Slovenia as a consolidated EU member and Serbia as a candidate country facing protracted accession negotiations. This divergence provides a unique lens to analyze how differing political ecologies and relationships with the European Union shape the narratives of the “green transition” on Europe’s periphery.
The research focuses on two movements, Mladi za podnebno pravičnost in Slovenia and Ekološki ustanak in Serbia. It analyses their official websites, Facebook pages and hashtag ecosystems (for example #FridaysForFuture, #NeDamoJadar, #EkološkiUstanak), treating these digital traces as sites where climate narratives are produced, circulated and contested. Combining digital ethnography with narrative analysis and critical discourse analysis, the project investigates how activists define problems and responsibilities, imagine “green futures,” and position themselves in relation to the state, corporations and the European Union.

Julija Perhat earned her PhD in Philosophy from the University of Rijeka in 2025. Her interdisciplinary research sits at the intersection of philosophy of language, epistemology, and political philosophy, with a central focus on the ethical, semantic, and political implications of pejoratives, slurs, and the broader linguistic structures that influence social power dynamics.
She has authored several publications, co-edited an academic volume, co-authored a high-school textbook on Philosophy and has forthcoming research that continues to expand the theoretical landscape on slurs and polarization. She frequently presents at international conferences.
Perhat collaborates on the project Epistemic Challenges of Populism (University of Rijeka) and on the international project Learning Amidst Disinformation and Social Conflict, funded by research councils in the UK, Croatia, and Canada. She has also led several science-popularization projects aimed at strengthening public understanding of philosophical issues. She further deepened her research as a visiting researcher at the Institute of Philosophy (Slovak Academy of Sciences) in Bratislava, where she spent four months working within an international academic network.
She contributes to academic community building as course director of the Philosophy of Language and Linguistics conference in Dubrovnik and through her roles in research centers such as Center for Women’s Studies (Rijeka), HDAF (Rijeka) and Center for Language Research (Rijeka).
Speaking Futures: Youth, Slurs, and the Politics of Language examines how young people in Croatia and the wider Western Balkans use, interpret, and contest slurs as part of their everyday and online linguistic practices. Positioned at the intersection of philosophy of language and political epistemology the project investigates slurs not only as offensive expressions but as tools through which youth negotiate identity, belonging, and political possibility. Recent national data showing the widespread presence of hate speech among Croatian youth, combined with escalating uses of slurs in public and digital spaces, underscore the urgency of this inquiry. Digital platforms further complicate these dynamics: the rapid circulation of slurs through memes, videos, and viral posts intersects with shifting moderation policies, enabling new—and at times more permissive—forms of political expression.
Focusing on youth agency, the project explores how slurs shape boundaries of inclusion and exclusion, reinforce or challenge nationalist narratives, and participate in political polarization. A central component is a bilingual survey conducted in Croatia and Serbia, designed to document the frequency and contexts of slur encounters, identify which slurs are perceived as most and least offensive, and capture youth reflections on how such language relates to nationalism, Europe, and community belonging. Comparative and interpretive analyses will illuminate both cross-linguistic patterns and culturally specific meanings.
By integrating empirical data with conceptual analysis, the project offers a new lens for understanding how linguistic practices influence youth political imaginaries in a region marked by historical tensions, democratic fragility, and evolving digital governance. The findings will contribute to academic scholarship as well as policy-oriented discussions through public presentations and collaborative workshops. Ultimately, the project aims to generate actionable insights into how slurs shape youth culture and political engagement, and how more inclusive and participatory futures in the Western Balkans might be imagined.

Nemanja Batrićević is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Political Science, University of Montenegro. He holds PhD in Comparative Politics from the Central European University. His primary interests include voting behaviour, psychology of group relations, nationalism and democratization. In terms of scope, although not exclusively, the focus of his research is mostly on the Western Balkans and Eastern Europe. During his studies, he also specialized in the field of quantitative research method in social sciences. At the Faculty of Political Science, he teaches courses Political System of Montenegro, Comparative Public Policy, Methodology in Political Science and Advanced Methods of Political Science Research. His previous academic work on has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as Democratization, East European Politics, Politics, Europe-Asia Studies and Social Justice Research.
The success of democracy heavily depends on citizens’ engagement in the democratic process and their attitudes towards democracy. Rather than existing in isolation, democratic beliefs form a network of interconnected attitudes known as the democratic belief system (DBS). Understanding the structure of DBS across different age cohorts is crucial for assessing youth movements’ abilities to mobilize wider public against the erosion of democratic institutions and norms. This research project proposes conceptualizing DBS as a network of attitudes and analyzes its structure (density, consistency, centrality) in order to tackle a number of previously unanswered questions: How similar is the structure of DBS between countries of the WB? How coherent is DBS across age cohorts within WB countries? How youth’s vision of democracy affects the pattern of political participation and society’s resilience to democratic backsliding?
Project proposes comparative analysis of DBS, composed of eight dimensions (features of democracy), using European Social Survey (ESS) Rounds 6 and 10, which is a rare example of international survey containing comparable survey items on evaluation of democracy in the Western Balkan countries.

René Bogović is a recent PhD graduate in sociology from the University of Toronto. Building upon his background in documentary filmmaking, psychology, and languages, René crosses disciplinary boundaries by integrating historical analysis and participatory methods into his immersive ethnographies. A child of the Balkans educated across India, Italy, and Canada, he strives to establish theoretically and politically actionable transregional conversations. Connecting unlikely contexts such as the multiracial Afrikaans speech community in South Africa and the multilingual Northern Adriatic borderlands between Croatia, Slovenia, and Italy, his work centers language, multilingualism, and creolization as forces for inclusive group boundary-making.
The current project is a feasibility pilot addressing my proposition that the recent rise of new minority speakers of Italian and Slovene among majority youth on both sides of the former Yugoslav border disrupts and creolizes established hegemonic ethnolinguistic boundaries. Focusing on Croatia, I will conduct 3-5 in-depth interviews with recent graduates of the Italian High School in Rijeka with no Italophone family members to delineate how these youth construct, maintain, and disrupt ethnolinguistic boundaries. I will then examine the viability of these identitarian disruptions as blueprints for transethnic youth solidarity across Southeastern Europe, including their potential to address crises in governance and environmental degradation.

Srđan Kukolj is a public health expert and policy analyst based in Belgrade, with more than twenty years of professional experience in Europe. His career has been firmly rooted in public health practice, where he has worked extensively on issues of population health, health systems, and access to services, before progressively concentrating on environmental health policy as a central field of expertise. This trajectory has enabled him to develop a deeper understanding of how environmental risks translate into public health outcomes and how institutional responses shape long term health and rights implications. His analytical work is informed by a rights based perspective, ethics, with particular attention to vulnerable populations, intergenerational equity, social interactions and the democratic implications of environmental health risks. His work combines applied public health research with policy analysis and public health management, with a strong emphasis on translating evidence into governance processes. He has coordinated and managed complex national and regional initiatives addressing the health consequences of environmental exposure, particularly in relation to air pollution and delayed ecological action. Across these projects, he has engaged closely with public institutions, academia, civil society organisations, and international partners, contributing to policy development and institutional accountability.
This research examines how delayed responses to environmental risks in Southeast Europe reshape youth rights and political practices through eco digital discourses. It is grounded in the premise that ecological postponement constitutes a violation of intergenerational equity, producing long term consequences for public health, democratic participation, and social belonging. The study focuses on how young people experience environmental exposure as a form of vulnerability and how these experiences are translated into political meaning and claims for accountability in digital spaces. Drawing on interviews, an online survey, and digital ethnography conducted across eight Southeast European states, the research analyses how youth articulate imaginaries of belonging, ownership, and aspiration in response to ecological risk. Particular attention is given to the metaphors and narratives through which environmental harm is framed as a rights based concern rather than a technical policy issue. The project demonstrates how eco digital practices enable young people to reposition themselves as producers of political knowledge and contributors to democratic renewal, offering insights relevant to environmental health policy and youth participation in the region.

Vanja Ashkapova is a researcher specializing in governance, anticipatory policymaking, and migration, with a focus on the Western Balkans and North Macedonia. She is currently a PhD candidate in Political Sciences at the South East European University in North Macedonia, where her doctoral research examines anticipatory governance approaches to migration policy. She holds a master’s degree in communication from Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje.
With more than a decade of experience in European projects, civil society, international organizations, and the UN in North Macedonia, she has worked on initiatives related to human mobility, human rights, and refugee protection. Her work is strongly oriented toward engaging diverse stakeholders, building coalitions and alliances across institutions and communities, and fostering inclusive dialogue with state actors, civil society, academia, and affected populations.
Her professional experience includes several years within the United Nations system and other international organizations, where she supported programmes focused on asylum and refugee rights, community-based protection, and strengthening national institutional capacities. Through this work, she has developed in-depth knowledge of the interplay between international norms, national policymaking, and local implementation practices, particularly in complex and politically sensitive environments.
She brings a practice-informed and context-sensitive perspective to research and public policymaking, grounded in long-term engagement with diverse actors, institutions, and policy processes.
How do young people in North Macedonia imagine their migration futures? And how can their voices reshape migration governance in the Western Balkans? This research builds on the ongoing North Macedonia anticipatory governance pilot, the project focuses on one of the region’s highest youth emigration contexts to examine how individual mobility scenarios intersect with demographic challenges and new political imaginaries. Through in‑depth interviews and participatory scenario workshops with 20–25 young people in Skopje, the study documents youth migration scenarios, elicits their own policy recommendations, and tests small‑scale foresight methods that connect youth futures thinking to formal policy processes. The project treats youth as policy experts and political agents rather than passive targets of intervention, asking what governance approaches, structural changes, and participatory mechanisms they see as necessary to remain in or return to North Macedonia. Expected outputs include a policy brief for national and international stakeholders (e.g. the Migration Policy 2026–2030), and a framework for embedding youth voices in migration foresight contributing to more inclusive, future‑oriented and regionally relevant migration policies.

Dr. Vehap Kola is an Assistant Professor of Management at the University of New York Tirana and an organization studies scholar focused on future-making: how people and organizations build futures through stories, imagination, and selection mechanisms that turn ideas into “rules” in strategy and policy.
He holds a PhD in Management & Organization from Marmara University (2022), where he examined future imaginaries in public strategy-making through the Tirana Master Plan (TR030). He later conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Cagliari (2024–2025) on how entrepreneurs and venture capitalists prospect desirable solutions to grand challenges, drawing on Doughnut Economics and multi-modal qualitative materials.
At RECAS, he develops a comparative, ethics-led program on youth agency and eco-digital imaginaries in the Western Balkans. Methodologically, he combines longitudinal mobile audio diaries, deliberative futures workshops (including backcasting and layered analysis), and light, transparent digital trace ethnography to track how imaginaries evolve over time and when they translate into action, coalitions, and policy-relevant outputs.
Eco-Digital Imaginaries and Youth Agency in the Western Balkans is a longitudinal qualitative study of how young people imagine, and try to build political and ecological alternatives under democratic strain, economic precarity, and accelerating digital platform influence. The project focuses on “eco-digital imaginaries”: future-oriented narratives where climate concerns, everyday livelihood pressures, and digitally mediated public life collide.
It asks three core questions: (1) how youth articulate desirable futures (political, ecological, and European) and how these change over time; (2) how platform dynamics (visibility, algorithms, harassment, misinformation, moderation) shape what feels thinkable and doable; and (3) when imaginaries translate into concrete practices, such as organizing, coalition-building, civic participation, or policy-relevant proposals, and when they stall.
Methodologically, the study combines (a) longitudinal mobile audio diaries (weekly short voice notes), (b) small deliberative futures workshops (to test and refine ideas with participants), and (c) light digital trace ethnography to contextualize narratives without expanding data collection beyond what is ethically necessary. Outputs include a theory contribution on how eco-digital imaginaries form and travel into action, an anonymized longitudinal qualitative dataset, and public-facing deliverables such as a workshop toolkit, a policy brief, and a lightweight prototype aligned with a policy hackathon.

Aida Kapetanović is a recent doctoral graduate at the faculty of political science and sociology of the Scuola Normale Superiore. Her research interests combine environmental sociology, social movement studies, cultural and symbolic dimensions of collective action, nationalism, identity, and qualitative research methodologies. Her main area of interest is Southeast Europe. She is an activist in Florence, where she has been involved in various grassroots organisations.
The growing political pressure for decarbonization in the Balkans has driven a surge in hydropower projects, posing significant threats to local communities and riverine ecosystems. In response, grassroots initiatives for river protection have emerged across the region. This research focuses on the regional network “Let’s Defend the Balkan Rivers” to examine the role of local environmental struggles in shaping an ecological transition from a bottom-up perspective. It explores the evolution of regional coordination, the diffusion of frames, and the role of regional networking in supporting claim-making across different scales. The study employs frame analysis of the network’s documents and semi-structured interviews with key activists, building on prior research on river protection movements in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia.

Arseniy Kumankov specializes in war studies, ethics of war and peace, political and social theory. He has been a research scholar in politics at Princeton University since 2022. In 2024, he taught courses on Russian politics and political theory at UMass Amherst. Arseniy received his Ph.D. in philosophy from HSE University (Moscow) in 2014. Between 2013 and 2022, he taught at the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences (Shaninka) and at HSE University, where he was deputy dean for research at the Faculty of Humanities and associate professor. Arseniy has authored numerous articles in Russian and English, as well as three books in Russian, and is the editor of the book series of the New Literary Observer (NLO) publishing house. Arseniy is a member of EuroISME, Concerned Philosophers for Peace, and the Independent Institute of Philosophy.
The 21st century has transformed traditional notions of citizenship, reshaping how individuals relate to their states, societies, and the global community. Moreover, while the scholarship on citizens’ political responsibilities in developed democratic states is extensive, much less attention has been paid to the role of citizens in countries facing democratic backsliding or non-democratic regimes, especially concerning their political obligations and accountability for their governments’ wrongdoings. My project proposes to explore the evolving meaning of citizenship and the corresponding responsibilities of citizens in a world increasingly defined by a wide range of challenges, three of which are listed as key thematic foci (economic, environmental, and digital issues).
The primary aim of this project is to address two central sets of problems: First, what are the essential characteristics of citizenship in the modern world? And second, what are the political responsibilities of citizens in non-democratic states, particularly in the context of their state’s wrongdoings?

Eleni Oikonomaki is an architect, urban designer, and researcher specializing in smart city planning and innovation ecosystems. She leverages programming languages to collect, measure, and interpret data for diverse design initiatives, including environmental assessments and urban planning. Her expertise spans urban design, spatial analysis, geocoding, and basic cartography, supporting research efforts in areas such as the twin transition (green and digital), technological innovation, and demographic trends. Additionally, she has executed research projects involving econometrics and feasibility studies, contributing valuable insights to the field.
Her research project evaluates the dynamics of innovation districts using big data and geospatial analytics to detect innovation patterns and develop a framework for innovation assessment. Case studies in the US and EU contexts analyze indicators of past development trajectories to understand territorial impacts on “innovation-building processes.” By addressing four key research questions, the study aims to devise practical urban development frameworks for planners and policymakers to foster innovation in low-income and low-growth regions, creating more sustainable, resilient, and equitable urban environments aligned with the twin transition—green and digital. This research aligns with the fellowship’s focus, offering evidence-based insights and a roadmap for managing innovation districts, particularly in Southeast Europe amidst technological advancements and environmental challenges.

Emina Bužinkić (PhD) is a researcher, activist, and writer working at the intersections of migration, transnational solidarities, education, and feminist praxis. Her work challenges the rigidity of migration and border regimes, xeno-racism, ethno-nationalism, occupations, and colonial structures. Emina employs critical qualitative methodologies, including narrative inquiry, storytelling, feminist ethnographies, and critical discourse analysis, collaborating with and advocating for racialized and marginalized communities.She explores pathways to epistemic justice through community-accountable research and agitation. Actively reimagining and practicing migration justice, Emina contributes to organizing social movements and people’s tribunals. She is a member of the editorial collective for AGITATE! – Unsettling Knowledges and serves on the program committee of the Grounded Festival. Her publications span international journals, covering critical migration and border studies, critical race studies, public anthropology, education justice, and transnational feminism.Emina earned her doctorate in critical educational, cultural, feminist, and human rights studies from the University of Minnesota, USA. She is currently concluding her postdoctoral research at the Institute for Development and International Relations, with the project ENDURE – Inequalities, Community Resilience and New Governance Modalities in a Post-pandemic World, funded by the Croatian Science Foundation.
My research, Migrant Work(ers) COUNTER Economies in Croatia, maps the collective organizing of migrant workers and its socio-political impacts amid growing insecurity and precarity in the peripheries of the European Union. I focus on the conditions that enable and obstruct migrant workers’ collective responses to their racialized treatment as “surplus populations” (Mezzadra, 2022). This research positions migrant organizing as a crucial site for producing critical knowledge and driving socio-political transformation, resisting the extractive market logic of racial capitalism while emphasizing the labor agency of migrant workers.
I explore two key questions: 1) What critical junctures mobilize migrant workers into collective action? 2) How can we understand the epistemic and political positionality of migrant workers to foster strategic interventions for democratization and justice-based economies in the EU’s peripheries? To answer these questions, I will engage with migrant workers’ collectives and organizations, while mapping the policies and systems that regulate and exploit migrant labor—from immigration and work permits to working conditions, livelihoods, and unionization. In line with the fellowship call, I situate this research within a moment of converging crises: the rising number of migrant workers from former Yugoslav countries and the Global South into EU nations, and the deteriorating economic conditions threatening workers’ dignity and safety.

Gentjan Skara holds an LLB from the University of Tirana (Albania); an MA in “European Studies” from Epoka University (Albania); an LLM for “South-East European Law and European Integration” from the University of Graz; PhD in “EU Law and National Legal System program” from the University of Ferrara. Genti has been a visiting fellow at the Institute of Corporate and International Commercial Law, University of Graz (Austria), the Department of International Law, University of Ljubljana (Slovenia) and the Institute for European Global Studies, University of Basel (Switzerland). As of 1 August 2023, Genti is a full-time member of the Department of Law at Epoka University and teaches EU Law, EU Competition Law and Law and Technology courses. In May 2022, Genti published a book in a well-known publisher, Springer Nature, titled “Europeanization of Albanian Competition Law: The Case of Albania”. In addition, Genti’s scholarship has been published in peer-reviewed international journals. His research interests relate to EU Law, competition law, the harmonisation of laws, and the interplay between online platforms and law. Besides academic engagement, Genti is a National Legal expert for the “Internal Market and Competition” of EU acquis near the Ministry of European and Foreign Affairs, Republic of Albania and has provided its expertise to different organisations on issues related to harmonization of law, competition law and regulation of digital platforms.
Online platforms are indispensable to our daily activities as users. In addition, businesses are increasingly using online platforms in the business model. While the increase of online platforms boosts innovation and develops the economy, few online platforms act as gatekeepers by controlling a large digital market, likely leading to unfair practices and conditions for business users and end users. These gatekeepers have challenged the traditional enforcement of competition law in the digital markets. To address the behaviour of large online platforms in the internal market, on 24 March 2022, the EU adopted a regulation commonly known as the Digital Market Act. As the DMA became effective in 2023, pursuant to the Stabilisation and Association Agreement harmonisation clause, the WBc must transpose this regulation into their domestic legal system. Likewise, in the EU, the growth of digital platforms and e-commerce platforms has created new challenges for WBc National Competition Authorities in handling cases concerning online platforms. This research analyses the enforcement of competition rules in the digital market in Western Balkan countries and discusses the main challenges that the WBc national competition authorities face with online platforms. The primary methodology is that of doctrinal legal research and comparative legal research. The doctrinal legal research analyses the current WBc competition legislative act and the National Competition Authority case law. The comparative legal research compares whether and to what extent WBc competition law addresses the behaviour of online platforms. This research argues that the WBc national competition authorities lack the necessary human, financial, and technical resources to handle these kinds of cases.

Haisheng Hu, received his Master of Public Administration from Nanyang Technological University and his Master of Science in International Business from the University of Birmingham. He specializes in international relations, political economy and geopolitical economy and sustainable development. He has published three books, more than 60 review articles in China People’s Daily, China Discipline Inspection and Supervision Newspaper, Study Times, etc., and more than 10 academic articles in international journals, including Asian Political Economy, China Political Review and China Economy.
The Western Balkans, a region characterized by political divisions, economic instability and environmental challenges, is at a critical juncture in its quest for integration into the broader European Union (EU) framework. At the same time, China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) presents opportunities and challenges for sustainable development in the region. Using a combination of documentary and quantitative analyses, this study will assess the impact of the Belt and Road Initiative in terms of infrastructure investment, economic cooperation and policy coordination for the Western Balkans in terms of economic stability, digital transformation and environmental sustainability.

Dr. Jasna Jovićević (Serbia), research associate, is a transdisciplinary artist, composer, and artistic researcher whose work bridges music, science, and social engagement. As a saxophonist and composer, she has performed at major festivals across Europe, the USA, and Canada, with a discography of seven solo albums and numerous collaborations. Jasna’s practice integrates experimental music production with scholarly inquiry, focusing on jazz innovation, gender studies, and participatory social practices. Her work highlights the transformative potential of research-based artistic practices in addressing societal issues. Holding degrees in Jazz Saxophone Performance (Franz Liszt Music Academy, Budapest), Music Composition (York University, Toronto), and a PhD in Transdisciplinary Studies of Contemporary Arts and Media (Singidunum University, Be;grade), Jasna combines rigorous academic research with creative output. Internationally recognized for her contributions to artistic research, she has participated in prestigious projects like Ars Electronica, artist residencies in New York and San Francisco, and global collaborations. In 2023, she published the award-winning monograph Good Morning Jazzwomen (Orion Art Books), contributing to feminist musicology and cultural studies. Her recent work as an Adjunct Research Associate at Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa, reflects her commitment to socially engaged arts, where she developed a curriculum in participatory and community-based artistic practices. Jasna’s interdisciplinary approach connects artistic creation, academic research, and cultural activism.
This research investigates the migration of female jazz musicians from the Balkans to Western Europe, focusing on gender inequality, systemic barriers, and socio-cultural dynamics that compel their departure. Combining ethnographic methods, policy analysis, and artistic practice-based research, the project explores how patriarchal norms and male-coded jazz traditions exacerbate exclusion in the Balkans. Through collaborative duo compositions, sonic mapping, and autoethnographic storytelling, the study examines how migration and social reconfiguration shape these musicians’ identities, careers, and creative practices. Additionally, it identifies gaps in cultural policies and proposes strategies for fostering reintegration, challenging the brain drain phenomenon, and revitalizing the Balkan jazz scene. By bridging artistic and academic inquiry, this project contributes to gender equity, circular migration policy, and cultural sustainability in Southeast Europe.

Dr. Ljubisa Bojic is a communication scientist, futurologist, and a leading authority on artificial intelligence (AI) alignment and its societal impacts. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Lyon II, France, in 2014. Currently, he serves as a Senior Research Fellow at the Digital Society Lab, Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory at the University of Belgrade.
Aligning AI for Democratic Resilience: Addressing Digital Challenges in the Balkans through Ethical AI ImplementationThis research project investigates the impact of artificial intelligence technologies—particularly recommender systems and large language models—on democratic processes and social cohesion in the Balkans. As Southeast Europe undergoes rapid digital transformation, the integration of AI presents both opportunities and challenges. While technological advancements foster innovation and economic growth, they also risk exacerbating misinformation, social polarization, and the erosion of democratic values.The primary objective of this project is to develop strategic interventions and policy recommendations that align AI technologies with democratic principles, fostering digital inclusion and strengthening democratic resilience in the region. By critically examining the interplay between AI and democracy, the research aims to contribute to the successful integration of the Balkans into the European digital space, addressing regional security and ethical challenges.Building upon Dr. Ljubisa Bojic’s extensive research in AI alignment, communication science, and the societal impacts of emerging technologies, this project extends prior insights to the specific context of the Balkans. It analyzes how AI-driven platforms shape public discourse and influence political opinions, and how, without robust ethical guidelines and regulatory oversight, these technologies can inadvertently undermine democratic institutions. Through interdisciplinary collaboration and engagement with regional stakeholders, the project seeks to propose actionable solutions that ensure AI advancements support democratic resilience rather than hinder it. The anticipated outcomes include a set of policy recommendations, ethical guidelines for AI implementation, and a framework for continuous assessment of AI’s impact on society in the Balkans.

Milo Ivancevic is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Belgrade, specializing in market risk analysis through the application of Artificial Intelligence models. His doctoral journey includes research visits to Royal Holloway, University of London and University of Graz where he collaborated on advanced financial modeling techniques. With over 15 years of experience in quantitative research and financial risk management, he currently serves as a Senior Risk Manager at the Central Bank of Montenegro. His work includes monitoring risks of international reserves, designing frameworks for strategic asset allocation, and developing advanced risk models.Milo holds an MSc in Economics from Staffordshire University, achieved through the prestigious Chevening/OSI scholarship and BA in Economics from the University of Montenegro. His expertise extends to data analysis, financial forecasting, and machine learning, with proficiency in tools like Python, Stata, and Bloomberg. Milo is also an active member of Mensa and the UK Alumni Association of Montenegro, Milo is committed to advancing economic knowledge and fostering global collaborations. His career reflects a dedication to bridging the gap between academic research and practical applications in finance, ensuring stability and innovation in the field.
Digital transformation and its adoption in the Western Balkans face a number of different challenges, including limited technological infrastructure, economic constraints, and low digital literacy. Central banks, which play a crucial role in maintaining financial stability, are not immune to these challenges. Increasing digitization of financial services, particularly through Artificial Intelligence (AI), put significant pressure on the central banks in the region. Central banks must adapt to safeguard against systemic risks such as cybersecurity threats, economic fraud, and financial instability, by inclusion of AI solutions in their operations. However, the current state of AI adoption in the region’s financial sector, especially by central banks, remains underexplored. In the context of the Western Balkans’ growing IT ecosystem and skilled workforce, there is a critical need to understand how AI could be harnessed to improve financial oversight and security. This research aims to fill this gap, by examining the Artificial Intelligence adoption patterns and readiness of Western Balkan central banks compared to more advanced economies, while providing concrete steps to enhance their digital transformation.

Miloš Kovačević is a research associate at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, Serbia. He holds a PhD in philosophy from the same university and writes on a range of topics in political philosophy, ethics, and the philosophy of education. Palgrave Macmillan published his latest work, ‘Emancipatory Education Through an Inclusion of Minority Political Views: Exploring the Concept of Indoctrination,’ in the book Rethinking Education and Emancipation: Diverse Perspectives on Contemporary Challenges.
This research explores the potential for implementing Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) in Southeast Europe (SEE), with a focus on Slovenia and Serbia. As SEE face economic challenges such as SME succession issues and youth emigration, ESOPs present a promising solution for democratizing business ownership and enhancing economic stability. Drawing on Rawls’ notion of property-owning democracy and David Ellerman’s labor theory, this research will examine how Slovenia’s ESOP model can be adapted to Serbia. The study will employ a comparative desk analysis, coupled with expert interviews in Belgrade, to provide insights into the feasibility of ESOP adoption in the region. The outcomes will offer both a philosophical and policy-based roadmap to promote workplace democracy and address regional economic disparities. Key deliverables include a scientific paper and a policy analysis report targeting SEE policymakers.

Ognjen Kojanić is an environmental and economic anthropologist with a geographical focus in the former Yugoslavia. He holds a BA in ethnology and anthropology from the University of Belgrade, an MA in sociology and social anthropology from Central European University, and a PhD in cultural anthropology from the University of Pittsburgh. He was a Humboldt Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Cologne, a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Freiburg, and a Fellow at the Research Platform “Transformations and Eastern Europe” at the University of Vienna. He has published articles and book chapters dealing with labor, property relations, and class politics; infrastructure and human-environment relations; and the anthropology of European peripheries. His current research lies at the intersection of urban political ecology and infrastructure studies.
The project “Green Change from Below: How Grassroots Relations to Urban Infrastructure Can Shape a Just Green Transition in the Balkans” focuses on decision-making and social contestations related to the infrastructural assemblage in a former wetland area on the north bank of the Danube River in Belgrade. The guiding questions are: How can the grassroots understandings of the relationship between built and natural environment in cities influence green change? Specifically, how can already existing practices in relation to urban infrastructure show the way to positively shape coordinated actions in the Balkans that can drive the green and just transition? Data is collected using a mix of qualitative social science methods including ethnographic participant observation and interviews, archival work, and content analysis to study various aspects of infrastructural management that are relevant to understanding and coming up with responses to key challenges of the green transition in the Balkans. Broadly, the aim is to contribute to scientific knowledge and potential solutions that can inform urban environmental policy in the face of climate change. The research results will be of relevance to policymakers and practitioners who work on urban water and waste management, green infrastructure, and forestry and park services.

Olimpija Hristova Zaevska is the Founder and CEO of Elson Solutions and an expert in green finance, energy transition, and international business. She holds a PhD in International Business and Economics from Copenhagen Business School in Denmark. Olimpija brings academic rigor to consulting and policymaking and is working with development banks and development partners including EBRD, EIB, as well as USAID, GiZ, CIPE and the Ministry of Energy, Mining and Mineral Resources of North Macedonia on various projects. She consults on international cooperation and finance mobilization, investments in energy transition and innovation ecosystems. Olimpija often coordinates the work of various technical, energy, grid, financial and investment consultants to provide guidance on economic development or energy investments. Olimpija is also engaged as a green finance and climate risk consultant on greening financial systems in North Macedonia and Ethiopia and serves as green economy reviewer to the UNECE. Previously, as an international economy adviser to the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of the Republic of North Macedonia, Olimpija worked actively with development banks on negotiating and structuring loans, designing state aid, implementing tax reforms, and public finance management.
This research investigates the presence and impact of Industry 4.0 ecosystems (I4ESes) (hubs, accelerators) across the Western Balkan countries and their influence on regional innovation. Utilizing a prior theoretical framework based on ecosystem theorizing, the study will map I4ESes comprising diverse actors, such as firms, universities, and NGOs, focusing on their structure and value creation. It will assess the impact of I4ESes on regional innovation from 2014 to 2023, measuring innovation dynamics and patenting activity using the EU Regional Innovation Scoreboard. The study aims to provide recommendations for enhancing regional innovation and green transitions in WB countries, utilizing I4ESes.

Peter Langford is an Associate Lecturer in Law at Oxford Brookes University, UK. His areas of expertise are in legal and political philosophy, legal sociology, social theory and human rights. Within the areas of legal philosophy and legal sociology, his research has centred upon the work of Hans Kelsen and Max Weber. Within the area of political philosophy, it has focused upon the work of Roberto Esposito (Roberto Esposito: Law, Community and the Political 2015) and Carl Schmitt (Order Crisis and Redemption: Political Theology after Carl Schmitt, co-authored with Saul Newman, 2024). In relation to human rights, his research has concentrated upon normative questions of global justice and human rights, fundamental rights in Gunther Teubner’s sociology of law, non-nationals and the European Convention of Human Rights, and the protection of environmental human rights defenders under the Inter-American Convention of Human Rights.
The objective of the research project is to develop a theory of environmental justice which expresses and reinforces the presence of a notion of environmental justice in the approaches of environmental civil society organisations, environmental grassroots movements and Green or environmental political parties in the Balkans. The research project adopts this particular focus because it understands that it is the existence and activism of these organisations, movements and parties which indicate an important and distinctive understanding of environmental justice. Therefore, that these groups and parties should be accorded a central importance in the wider conceptualisation of the process of Green change. These groups and parties operate in a difficult current context in which they occupy the position of a minority and are increasingly subject to resistance and obstruction. Beyond the clearly illegal and quasi-clandestine forms of fatal and non-fatal violence, threats and intimidation, the other complementary purpose of the project is to emphasise that their orientation to environmental justice requires the guarantee of their civil and political rights. These rights, as fundamental, human rights are those of freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. In other words, that these civil and political rights, even insofar as they given formal expression in relevant constitutional provisions, are fundamental human rights. This, in turn, entails that these fundamental rights should prohibit the recourse to substantive domestic criminal law and civil law in order to undermine the capacity for their effective exercise. The project understands the capacity to undermine their effective exercise as a broad one which extends from the explicit prohibition and overt suppression of demonstrations to the use of domestic criminal and civil law by politicians, business owners and corporations against public statements by individual environmentalists and environmental groups. The project, therefore, seeks, in this complementary focus upon human rights, to open a wider discussion of these environmental groups and parties as public environmental human rights defenders.
Born in Zenica in 1986.Safet Kubat holds a PhD in interdisciplinary social sciences from University of Sarajevo (2024) specializing in political ecology with foundations in urban ecology, political economy, and sustainable development. He also has a diploma in public health, a strong background in applied public health research and governance as well as experience in leading interdisciplinary projects on green economy and sustainable urban development in the Balkan area. Safet is a researcher, lecturer, speaker, public worker and a committed political organizer behind one of the biggest and most successful broad-based environmental movements in Bosnia and Herzegovina – “Budi promjena”- with more than 61 thousand members. He combines academic knowledge with activism ensuring that his work leads to real-world impacts. Over 15 years of various social activism, 15 years of professional engagement, with more than 30 published different publications, over 50 implemented projects, hundreds of lectures, and more than 1000 media appearances. In his work he focuses on green policy development and promotion aiming to foster socio-ecological transformation in the Balkan region. He is a regular contributor to international, regional and local environmental forums and academia with insights in sustainable policies and environmental preservation and is collaborating with many international institutions and numerous regional organizations on different research projects and public initiatives. His current research revolves around city modeling with a focus on examining and measuring the socio-ecological footprint of cities in both local and global contexts, and looking at how lower scale local conditions and processes impact and are impacted by planetary boundaries. He is a former UNESCO Champion of Peace and the recipient of the Philanthropic Heart Award in 2024.
Safet’s research focuses on developing a tailored Doughnut Economy model to address key ecological and social challenges in the Balkans. Based on the original Doughnut Economy framework by Kate Raworth and adaptations of the IPE model, the project aims to create a “transformative Doughnut Model” customized for three cities: Zenica, Belgrade, and Rijeka. The model incorporates 33 indicators, such as air pollution, renewable energy use, income inequality, and social satisfaction, to measure and balance ecological sustainability and human well-being. The primary goal is to propose a replicable Balkan Doughnut Model as a tool for public policy, enhance cross-border cooperation, and generate a unifying narrative for the region. By addressing shared challenges, including ecological degradation, political divisions, and socio-economic inequalities, the model seeks to foster trust, unity, and action among citizens, cities, civil society, and the academic community. This interdisciplinary effort will serve as a blueprint for guiding the Balkans toward a sustainable and equitable future, bridging the gap between current unsustainable practices and the safe, just space within the “doughnut.”

Slađana Kavarić Mandić (Podgorica, 1991) is a researcher, activist and poetess. She earned her PhD from the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Montenegro, becoming the first female philosopher to complete doctoral studies at Montenegro’s state university. Her primary research interests include Marxism, Praxis philosophy, the philosophy of art, and Critical Theory. She has authored several academic articles and the book Philosophy of Danko Grlić (Belgrade/Zagreb, 2022). As an activist, Slađana co-founded the portal Normalizuj.me, where she contributes columns and organizes socially engaged forums. She is also the author of two poetry collections, People from Nowhere and Pontevedra, with her work translated into English, Slovenian, and Greek.
This research aims to evaluate and re-examine recent artistic actions within the field of ecological art, highlighting their undeniable potential for fostering broader societal emancipation and addressing the issues of unequal development in the Western Balkans. The project seeks to investigate museum exhibitions related to ecological activism, positioning itself as an academic response to the challenges of the green transition, which has been hindered in the Balkans by top-down political and economic strategies. This study will consider vibrant forms of ecological activism within the non-governmental sector as exemplary cases of cross-border cooperation. Furthermore, it will present methodological approaches for encoding ecological awareness within the artistic sphere and museum interventions, thereby universalizing the discourse and providing ideological and aesthetic valuations that amplify the impact of individual ecological victories for further artistic exploration.

Maja Gergorić is a research assistant at the Department of Social Policy, Social Work Study Center, Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb. She holds a PhD in Sociology from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, where her research focused on the emergence of anti-gender movements in post-communist Europe. She also holds an MA in Political Science from the Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb, and an MA in Gender Studies from Central European University. She was a visiting fellow at the Center for Southeast European Studies, University of Graz. Her work explores gender and the radical right in (South)Eastern Europe through the lens of political sociology.

With a background in English and Linguistics (M.A.), Jungian Analytical Psychology (member of the International Association for Analytical Psychology, IAAP), psychotherapy and psychodynamic organisational consulting, Myers has extensive experience with university administration and management, where she has practiced and honed large scale, participatory and inclusive organisational change processes from her various organisational leadership positions: Head of faculty administration and strategic development at the Faculty of Science, University of Southern Denmark (SDU) (2010-2019), strategic leader of SDU’s Gender Equality Team (2017-2023) and EU-project WP-leader and Executive Coordinator (2012-2024). Myers was the main designer of SDU’s strategic GE initiative from 2017 and onwards, the first and most extensive of its kind in Denmark, and acted as national GE expert: as member of the Danish Rectors’ Collegium Task Force on DEI and as speaker and adviser to Danish institutions and the broader academic sector concerning Gender Equality Plans, sexism and integration of the Gender Dimension in Research (2019-2024). Myers has been involved in several EU-funded projects concerning structural change through DEI: one of three initiators of FESTA (FP7) and subsequently project- and WP-leader (2012-2017); Executive Coordinator of SPEAR (H2020 – 2019-2023); WP-leader in INSPIRE, European Centre of Excellence on Inclusive Gender Equality in R&I (HEU – 2022-2024) and Co-chair of Policy Community of Practice in GENDERACTIONplus (HEU – 2022-2024).