Rosalind Franklin Fellow and Senior Lecturer at the University of Groningen (Netherlands). She completed her undergraduate studies in History and Literature and Linguistics at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest and was awarded her doctorate in Modern History by the University of Oxford in 2002. She subsequently held positions at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin and the University of Essex. Her research focuses on modern historiography, cultural history and the history of political thought. Her recent book, Historians and Nationalism: East-Central Europe in the Nineteenth Century was published by Oxford University Press (February, 2010). She is participant of the research programme History of Political Thought in East-Central Europe (2008-2013), which is hosted by the Centre for Advanced Study, Sofia.
Experts - Central Europe
Monika Baar
András Bakács
Holds MA in European Studies from the College of Europe in Warsaw. Since 2001 he has been working for the Institute for World Economics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Central-Eastern European research group.
Leszek Balcerowicz
Since 2000 holds the position of the president of the NBP (Polish Central Bank). 1989-1991 Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance and President of Economic Commitee of the Council of Ministers in the first non-communist government in Poland after World War II. In this vital period in Polands' transition he designed and executed the radical stabilization and transformation of Polish economy, leading it to free market economy. 1995-2000 the president of Freedom Union (UW). 1997-2000 Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance and President of Economic Commitee of the Council of Ministers. He has given many lectures and seminars world-wide. He is the author of numerous publications on economic issues in Poland and abroad.
Katarzyna Barcikowska
Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland, European Union Department. Current tasks: following and coordinating the participation of Poland in the Council of Baltic Sea States (CBSS), in the EU Northern Dimension and cross-border cooperation. Participation in various expert meetings in the Baltic Sea Region, CBSS Ministerial Sessions and Heads of Government Summits. Senior Official in the CBSS Committee of Senior Officials. Member of the Working Group on Democratic Institutions. Co-chairperson of the Working Group on Democratic Institutions of the Council of the Baltic Sea States during the Polish Presidency in the Group. Coordinator of the preparation to the CBSS Conference: Relations between corruption, Democracy and Human Rights, Warsaw, May 2007.
Krzysztof Bobiński
Is the President of Unia & Polska, a pro-European organisation. He worked with the Financial Times as its Warsaw Correspondent from 1976 to 2000 and later published Unia & Polska, a magazine devoted to EU issues. He writes for openDemocracy and is associate editor on the Europe section of Europe’s World. He is a co-chair of Steering Committee of Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum. He studied modern history at Magdalen College, Oxford. He is a Commander (II class) of the Stella della Solidarieta’ Italiana.
Krzysztof Czyżewski
An essayist, a translator and cultural manager; Initiator and Director of the Borderland of Art, Culture and Nations Centre in Sejny, Poland. Author and coordinator of numerous European projects focusing on multiculturalism in Central-Eastern Europe, regional diversity and cultural heritage. Former Member of, inter alia, the President’s Council for Culture, Council for Culture at UNESCO-Poland, the Council of the Polish-Lithuanian Adam Mickiewicz Foundation and the Board of the Czesław Miłosz Foundation in Lithuania. Winner of numerous cultural and artistic awards, recently (2004) the Aleksander Langer International Award. Contributed significantly to the promotion of Poland in the world (Diploma of the Minister of Foreign Affairs in 2000) and to the development of cooperation between Poland and Lithuania (Grand Prince Giedymin Order in 2001).
Lloyd Dakin
Lloyd Dakin is the Regional Representative of UNHCR based in Budapest. Since 2005, he has been responsible for UNHCR’s operations in Hungary, Poland, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia. In 2008, the region for which he is responsible expanded to include Bulgaria and Romania. Mr. Dakin joined UNHCR in 1980 in Thailand. He has previously served with UNHCR in Pakistan, Tanzania and twice at its Headquarters in Geneva. Prior to his current assignment, Mr. Dakin was as UNHCR’s Representative in Armenia from 2001 to 2004. He has an MA in International Administration.
Eva Dvořáková
In 1997 finished studies in History of International Relations at the Faculty of Philosophy of the Charles University in Prague; from 1998 to 2001 worked at the International Relations and European Integration Department of the Czech Ministry of the Interior; since October 2001 has been working for the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Central European Department (October 2001-September 2002 – desk officer for Hungary and Visegrad Cooperation, since October 2002 head of the Unit for V4 Countries, Baltic States and Slovenia).
Martin Ehl
PhD at Charles University, Prague in Political Science, recipient of numerous fellowships and professional courses in the U.S., Poland, Hungary, Belgium, Italy and Slovenia. In 1999 he was a research fellow at Institute of International Relations, Prague, between 2001-2006 lecturer at University of West Bohemia Pilsen teaching global issues. Since 2001, a reporter for the Czech economic daily Hospodářské noviny, and since 2006 the head of the foreign desk. Previously, he worked in various Czech written media outlets, incl. TV and radio. He has published articles in the Serbian, Slovak and Polish press. His main areas of expertise include: Central Europe, Balkans, security policy, transatlantic relations, globalization, Latin America and Spain. From 2009 onwards, lecturerin Central and Eastern European Political Systems at the Metropolitan University in Prague. Author of a book A Third Decade: about the Life, Politics and People between Brussels and Gazprom.
Kristóf Forrai
Executive Director of the International Visegrad Fund from 2006. In 1982 graduated from the University of Economics in Budapest. In 1989 he obtained his second Master of International Affairs at Colombia University, New York, USA. He joined the Foreign Service after the collapse of the totalitarian regime as First Secretary on the Embassy of Hungary in Washington, D.C. (1990-1993). 1993 – 1997 he worked as Head of Department for the Government Office for Hungarian Minorities Abroad. In 1998 he became Head of the Department for Regional Cooperation in the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and at the same time Hungarian representative at the Danube Commission. Before being nominated V4 National Coordinator during the Hungarian Presidency (2005-2006) he worked for four years as Ambassador at the Hungarian Embassy in Prague.
