Members of the Pool of European Youth Researchers
Dan Moxon
Dr. Dan Moxon
Director, People Dialogue and Change
Dan is researcher and practitioner specialising in inclusive youth participation with over 20 years experience working with children and young people in the voluntary, public, for-profit and academic sectors. His research focuses on how children and young people's participation can influence policy, as well and the development of participatory structures and processes. Originally a youth worker at local and regional level in the North West of England, he now works throughout Europe and beyond supporting a variety of organisations, to develop their approach to youth participation. In 2017 he was invited to re-develop the consultation process behind the EU’s Youth Dialogue. This engages nearly 50,000 young people from across the EU, and was instrumental in developing the new European Youth Goals. In 2020, his advice paper to the Ukranian Government led to a revision of a draft law which enabled under 18s to participate in local civic processes.
dan.moxon@peopledialoguechange.org
@dan_moxon
Alena Ignatovitch
Dr Ignatovitch Alena
Dr. Ignatovitch A, PhD, the Head of the Youth Policy and Sociocultural Communications Chair (National Institute for Higher Education,).
Alena is an expert in the field of youth policy and youth work with over 15 years’ experience working in the voluntary, public and academic sectors.
She is passionate about applying innovative knowledge based and human centred approaches to policy development and service design targeting young people in Eastern Europe and beyond.
Alena authored more than 80 academic, legislative and methodological publications reflecting the following interests: fostering youth employment; developing social inclusion of various minor youth groups; promoting evidence-based youth policy; realizing continuity and integrity of education; creating educational multicultural environment.
Ondřej “Ondras” Bárta
Ondřej “Ondras” Bárta
Ondřej Bárta is a freelance youth researcher and consultant whose assignments on national and international levels cover areas such as youth participation, youth policy, youth mobility, or volunteering. At the same time, he works in the area of evaluation and impact research, where he conducts both the macro level (youth policies) and the micro level (single projects) evaluations on both national and international levels, as well as writes open access publications. He has long been engaged with the RAY Research Network as a researcher and appears regularly on various conferences where he tackles youth-related research findings. Given his experience with quantitative and impact research methodologies, he has been engaged in setting up youth indicators in the Czech Republic and on the EU level. His experience with qualitative and mixed methodologies enabled him to conduct research into mobility experience of young people. For more information, please see www.ondrabarta.eu
Sofia Laine
Sofia Laine is a university researcher at the University of Helsinki, Finland. She is an adjunct professor in Youth Studies at the University of Tampere, Finland. Her multidisciplinary research has focused on young people, political engagements and democracy in multiple European and global settings. Her ongoing research focuses on the volunteering among the refugees. This project goes hand-in-hand with her membership in the “Young refugees and youth work” expert group at the Youth Partnership. She is one of the three editors of the anthology that explores young refugees and youth work around the Europe (will be published by the end of the year 2017). During the years 2012-2017 she was part of two research projects that examined youth political engagement in North Africa: YoPo [http://blogs.helsinki.fi/yopo-africa/] and the SAHWA Project [www.sahwa.eu] – this is the background for her active engagement in the Euro-Med Youth Partnership.
Cristina Bacalso
Cristina Bacalso
Research Consultant on Adolescents, Youth & Policies
Cristina Bacalso is a research consultant with a specialisation in public policies for adolescent and youth development. She has over 14 years of experience in policy and advocacy for young people, and her roles include Adolescent and Youth Consultant for UNICEF Europe and Central Asia Office, Adolescent Evidence Synthesis and Policy Advisor for UNICEF Innocenti, and Research Coordinator for Youth Policy Labs, a global think-tank specifically focusing on youth. She was the project and research lead for "Age Matters!", a multi-year, multi-country study on minimum age legislation, which was selected as one of the top 10 projects for the Best of UNICEF Research Award 2019.
cristina@bacalso.me
Adina Marina Șerban
Adina Marina Șerban, PhD
PhD in Political Sciences (Comparative European Youth Policies in Romania and Turkey), with extended expertise in grassroots youth work and youth work methodologies and practices, youth participation methodologies and inclusion policies. MA in Comparative European Social Studies (MACESS) at London Metropolitan University, holding a BA in Political Sciences and one in Social Work – University of Bucharest. Her research interests are in the field of social policies for young people, structured dialogue and participatory youth structures, youth led movements, as well as into the transfer mechanisms of European policies and programmes to the local realities.
Areas of research interest and expertise: Youth participation, social inclusion, digitalisation, cross-sector cooperation, youth work.
Tomaž Deželan
Prof. dr. Tomaž Deželan
Professor of Political Science, at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana. His recent research covers citizenship of young people, political participation of youth, political institutions and youth, youth representation, quality of youth work, youth programme evaluation, youth and political parties, citizenship education. He coordinated more than 20 EU and national research projects on youth, citizenship education and political participation, is a research partner of the Slovenian Erasmus + Youth in Action National Agency, and regularly performs evaluations of youth and citizenship policies, programmes and projects at national and international levels. He acts as expert/consultant/policy advisor to several national governments, Organization for the Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE; OSCE ODIHR), European Youth Forum (EYF), the International IDEA, the European Commission, the EACEA, Council of Europe, ICF, WYG etc. His bibliography includes more than 50 peer reviewed articles in international journals, more than 30 chapters in edited volumes and authored or co-authored more than 15 scientific monographs.
Lutjona Lula
Lutjona Lula
Lutjona is a researcher at communication expert with demonstrated expertise in youth projects. She has been actively engaged in youth mobility projects under Erasmus+ as Institutional Coordinator. Lutjona Lula, M.A. pursued her graduate studies at the Joint Interdisciplinary Master in South East European Studies, University of Belgrade and Karl Franzens University of Graz. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from University of Tirana. Lutjona has successfully a one-year research and study mobility at University of Zagreb, 2014. In 2012 she has been awarded a Research Scholarship at Georgia Southern University, USA. She has been actively involved in Western Balkans Berlin Process, Youth Forums and EU integration initiatives. She has actively engaged in research/consultancies with several bodies such as OSCE Presence in Albania, Westminster Foundation for Democracy, Thomson Foundation, SCiDEV, CSR Center in Albania, ESAA Brussels as trainer on Stakeholder Management, INFORM Horizon 2020 project as junior researcher, etc.
Parvan Simeonov
Parvan Simeonov
Parvan Simeonov (PhD in political science) is a researcher, publicist and civic activist. Public opinion polling, political analysis, urban space sociology, youth research, etc. are among his fields of interest.
Simeonov teaches political campaigning and research methods at “St. Kliment Ohridski” University of Sofia. He is the CEO of Gallup International Balkan, a research partner at “Ivan Hadjiiski” Institute of Sociology, etc.
Simeonov is the main author and editor of the “Political Process and Public Opinion in Bulgaria” – Gallup International Balkan Yearbook for 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. He is a co-author of "Bulgarian Youth 2018/2019" – the essential book about young people in Bulgaria along with Petar-Emil Mitev, Boris Popivanov and Siyka Kovacheva. Author of publications on radical right and populism, in the field of youth research, urban spaces, etc. as well as numerous texts in the media.
Environment and climate activism, participation and citizenship, radicalisation and security, mass media, technology and youth, youth volunteerism and youth organizations, youth policy
Frank Tillmann
Frank Tillmann
Frank Tillmann is Senior Researcher at the German Youth Institute in Halle (Saale) who specialises in research on school to work transitions as well as on young people in disadvantaged regions. He holds a Diploma in Sociology from the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. Since 2004, Frank worked in various research projects of the German Youth Institute mainly addressing needs of young people in difficult circumstances – such as homelessness or educational disadvantage. In 2019, he obtained a doctorate in Philosophy examining aspects of applied ethics in view of the legitimacy of social inequality. As youth researcher, Frank is a guest member of the committee on youth, education and youth policy of the German Association of Youth Care (AGJ).
Frederike Hofmann-van de Poll
Dr Frederike Hofmann-van de Poll
Dr Frederike Hofmann-van de Poll is a political scientist and researcher at the Centre for European Youth Policy at the German Youth Institute. Her main areas of research are youth policy and youth work. In youth policy, her research interests focus on European youth policy and its implementation as well es its fluent connections to national, regional and local youth policy, on questions of cooperation, both multi-level and cross-sectoral, and on youth participation (e.g. how young people's opinions influence policy, or selectivity mechanisms in youth participation). In youth work, her research interests lies in the further development of qualitative youth work through monitoring and evaluation and in discussions surrounding the impact of youth work. A current strand of research combining both youth policy and youth work concerns the implicit and explicit images of young people that can be found in European documents on youth work.
Dora Giannaki
Ms Dora GIANNAKI
Research Associate at the Centre for Political Research - Panteion University of Social & Political Sciences (Athens, Greece).
Dora Giannaki is a political scientist, security & justice expert and an experienced youth researcher. She holds a first degree in Political Science (Panteion University), a Master’s degree in Political Theory (University of Essex) and a Master's degree in Security & Justice (University of Leeds). Since 2004, she has been collaborating on a regular basis, as a research associate and a policy advisor, with members of the Greek Parliament and governmental bodies in the field of Youth. In this framework, she had the opportunity to work at the General Secretariat for Youth-Greek Ministry of Education in two different periods (2004-2006 & 2017-2019). She was also a Correspondent for Greece at the European Knowledge Centre for Youth Policy (September 2004-September 2006) and a National Representative at the European Commission’s Expert Group on Youth Work for Young Migrants and Refugees (September 2017-December 2018). She has been conducting research on youth issues for more than 10 years, publishing essays, articles and chapters in relevant books (for a comprehensive list of publications, see her page in Academia: https://220.academia.edu/DoraGiannaki).
Mary Drosopulos
Dr Mary Drosopulos
Mary is a multilingual expert in intercultural studies and social education, specialized in youth-centered, cross-sectoral approaches to civil society building in conflict-affected regions. Her work explores how human rights education, arts, heritage and social entrepreneurship can lead to more inclusive societies, promote interregional cooperation and prevent violent radicalisation.
in both formal and non-formal learning settings, Mary combines research with educational practice and grassroots youth work, especially in multiethnic settings. Mary sees research as a medium though which the study of social phenomena/challenges can turn into policy recommendations. In the last years, her research has focused on the social/educational integration of refugees in Europe; civil society and youth in the Western Balkans; Berlin process; diaspora and radicalisation, cultural context adaptation and ideology in Turkey; Euro-Arab youth co-operation etc.
She is the founder of the EuroBalkan Youth Forum, an interethnic, women-led platform, youth via community projects based on evidence-based research.
Tamar Makharadze
Dr. Tamar Makharadze
Associate Professor at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University
Dr. Tamar Makharadze has been working at the Department of Sociology and Social Work, Ivane Javakhshvili Tbilisi State University (TSU). She obtained her PhD in Public Policy. Tamar is a Head of Disability Research Studies at TSU.
Dr. Tamar Makharadze is an experienced researcher - she has been a Principle Investigator in a number of research projects financed by the local and international organizations. Her research interests are focused on exploring social policy, factors affecting marginalization and stigmatization different groups of society. She has a vast experience of researching disability issues - she has been studying barriers hindering the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Person with Disabilities in Georgia. She is an author of various local and international publication.
Dr. Tamar Makharadze has expertise in researching youth policy - recently she has carried out the study focusing on exploring factors affecting the implementation of the social rights of youth in one of the municipalities in Georgia.
Anna Lavizzari
Dr. Anna Lavizzari
Anna is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences and Research Fellow at the Centre on Social Movement Studies at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Florence. She is also an Adjunct Faculty Member at James Madison University, Florence Campus.
Anna holds a PhD in Political Science from the School of Politics and International Relations at University of Kent. Her research focuses on political participation and behaviour with a notable attention to social movements and protest politics among young people. She is particularly interested in gender approaches to social movements, how gender dynamics play a role in the way protests unfold, social movements build their strategies, alliances, claims as well as in the biographical trajectories of young activists.
Beyond academia, she is involved in projects as a research consultant for different civil society organisations.
lavizzari.anna@gmail.com
Marie-Claire McAleer
Marie-Claire McAleer
Marie-Claire McAleer is head of research and policy at the National Youth Council of Ireland. Her research interests lie in the areas of social inclusion, youth political engagement and participation, youth migration and youth unemployment. Marie-Claire has extensive experience conducting research on youth issues and contributing to the development of public policy at a national and European level. She has publications on educational disadvantage, youth emigration, youth unemployment, the use of social and digital media in youth work, and the provision of youth work in rural Ireland. Marie-Claire is a graduate of University College Dublin and is currently undertaking a doctorate in Social Science at University College Cork. She is actively involved in the Alcohol Health Alliance Ireland and is a member of the Irish Social Policy Association and the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.
mcaleermc@gmail.com
Amy Stapleton
AMY STAPLETON
As an Irish Research Council PHD scholar in the School of Social Work and Social Policy in TCD, Amy is currently completing her PhD on the rights and welfare of migrant youth in France. With a Masters in intercultural mediation and migration studies as well as ten years professional experience working directly with marginalised young people across different contexts, Amy is also a freelance project manager, researcher and youth trainer with experience working on international, national and local commissioned projects. She focuses primarily on areas including human rights education, social inclusion, youth and migration policy, youth transitions, youth and AI, and youth participation. Amy actively works to promote the increased participation of young people in policy making and academia, for example, as a youth trainer with Voices of Young Refugees in Europe and the Council of Europe, and as associate editor of the AI and Society Journal’s Student Forum.
amstaple@tcd.ie
Neringa Marija Tumėnaitė
Neringa Marija Tumėnaitė
Neringa is a Lithuanian Human Rights activist and an expert of Youth, Peace and Development. She holds MSc in Violence, Conflict and Development and is currently a PhD candidate at SOAS, University of London. Her interdisciplinary academic research includes the role of Media literacy in advancing and peace-building in Myanmar; and the quality of youth participation in the decision making within the Euro-Mediterranean development partnership.
Neringa has organised several Youth Forums in Asia, MENA and Eastern Africa, bringing together CSOs, entrepreneurs, activists and institutions (the EU, AUC, UfM, ASEAN, Ministries) to facilitate youth-lead policy recommendations, i.e. “Building Youth Partnership Opportunities to Advance UN Sustainable Development Goals for Education, Peace & Innovation.” Her policy experience also includes working at the EU Delegation to Myanmar and serving at the Advisory Council on Youth of the Council of Europe, where Neringa focused on advancing Minority Rights, Roma youth participation, and North-South cooperation.
Igor Ciurea
Mr. Igor Ciurea
Igor Ciurea, Institutional Development Director at the Public Association Information and Resource Center PRO BONO, has extensive experience in the human rights and youth policy development fields.
For more than 10 years Igor has been involved in research and monitoring activities related to human rights, civil society development and youth policy development. He is the former Secretary General of the National Youth Council of Moldova and President of the Students Alliance of Moldova. Since 2018 he is a member of the Advisory Board of the National Agency for Research and Development.
Igor Ciurea has been and continues to be implicated in national and international civil society networks that research, monitor and advocate for human rights, civil society development and evidence-based policies. Mr. Ciurea has got the experience of working in the CSOs sector as an activist and policy advocate, as a private lawyer and a legal advisor in the Parliament, researcher and CSOs representative in a diverse range of stakeholders (Governmental working groups and permanent commissions, Experts Groups, non-governmental coalitions and networks).
Ivana Boskovic
Ivana Boskovic
Within MA studies in Youth and Community Work (University of East London), as a FCO Chevening scholarship holder, I researched digital inclusion and digital skills development among autistic young people. Beforehand, I have worked for five years across Western Balkans in the areas of youth work, youth policy and youth participation and participated in the Berlin Process – Youth pillar. Since 2017 I have actively engaged in evidence-based co-creation of youth research and got certified as a Quality Assurance and Planning with Data trainer by The David P. Weikart Center for Youth Program Quality. As an individual consultant/researcher I am experienced in the areas of school-to-work transition and employability, youth participation and well-being. I am passionate about research in social inclusion of underrepresented youth, with an emphasis on digital inclusion and mental health.
Boshko Stankovski
Boshko Stankovski
Boshko Stankovski is a youth researcher on negotiation/conflict resolution, peacemaking/peacebuilding, security/radicalisation, youth policy/participation, and human rights. His PhD dissertation at the University of Cambridge focuses on peace agreements on self-determination and secession disputes. He holds an MPhil in International Relations from the University of Cambridge. He is a former Partnership for Peace Fellow at the NATO Defense College, Rome. He also held fellowships at the CSEES University of Graz, Austria (2019-2020); Program on Negotiation at the Harvard Law School (2014-2015); Sydney Law School, Australia (2012); and the Institute of Russian and East European Studies in Bloomington, USA (2010) where as a McCloskey Research Fellow he studied the inclusion of stakeholders in the policy-creation process with particular focus on youth. He has been commissioned as an expert consultant for respected international institutions and organisations. Boshko Stankovski is a member of the Core Team at the Conflict Analysis Lab, Queen’s University, Canada.
Alicja Pawluczuk
Alicja PawluczukMarzena Ples
Marzena Ples
Marzena Ples is a trainer, educator and researcher. She holds MAs in Sociology and in Russian Studies. Currently she is working on a social sciences PhD devoted to international volunteering at Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland. She worked as a research assistant and a lecturer at the Institute of Russia and Eastern Europe and in the Institute of Sociology, Jagiellonian University. She has taken part in qualitative research projects focused on quality in youth work, volunteering, intercultural communication, mediation in youth work and young people’s essential skills.
In addition, she has a long experience of co-ordinating, developing and implementing international projects and education programmes in the field of youth. She has contributed towards the development of numerous educational tools in non-formal learning approaches, few manuals and publications and has been co-operating with various non-governmental and youth organisations.
Sérgio Xavier
Sérgio Xavier
Coming from a 10+ years grassroot youth work background with special focus on training, youth participation and human rights, Sérgio worked as policy advisor in the Lisbon City Council (2013-17). He is presently a Junior Researcher in University of Coimbra - Centre for Social Studies, where he also develops his Sociology PhD thesis on “Democratic Education in the XXI century”. Moreover, his research interests include post-colonial studies, radical thinking and democratic alternatives.
His recent youth research work include the upcoming chapter on the Youth Knowledge Book on Youth Political Participation “Pluralizing the democratic imaginary - Youth beyond the liberal-democratic canon” and the talk “Unlearning European Youth Work and disengaging the XXI century liberal democracy dystopia” (Offenburg Talks #3).
sergioxavier@ces.uc.pt
Irina Lonean
Irina Lonean
I started volunteering in the youth field when I was 20 years old (in 2006), while studding political science. In 2010, during my PhD studies focused on public policy for public administration, I started working with the Centre for Sustainable Community Development and other NGOs conducting youth work and participating in the evaluation of their activities and projects. Since 2015 I have been part of the teams conducting the evaluation of Youth Employment Initiative in Romania, UNICEF initiatives promoting wellbeing and support services for children and young people in Romania, Moldova and Turkey, NGOs and public initiatives to develop Romanian youth policies. In 2016- 2017 I was an advisor to the Secretary of State (Deputy Minister) for Youth within the Romania Ministry for Youth and Sports, with responsibilities to support evidence-based decision making.
Ruzanna Ivanian
Dr. Ruzanna Ivanian
Marina Galstyan is an expert in the field of youth policy, education policy, educational research, with over 10 years. She is an experienced researcher, evaluator with a research focus on children and young people. Marina is founder and director of Center for Educational Research and Consulting. As a director of the Center she participated in several studies on education, child protection and youth: research on inclusive Dr. Ruzanna Ivanian started her education with obtaining two BA degres– in social work and in journalism (both with diploma of honors). In 2007 she completed the post-graduate Ph.D. course of Saint-Petersburg State University (Russia) on political sciences focusing on social journalism. In 2011-2012 Dr. Ivanian was awarded with a Fulbright scholarship to have a one year research as Louisiana State University (USA) on citizens and community journalism.
Ruzanna authored over 150 research papers, reports, book chapters and 4 books on media, social work and youth work.
Ruzanna has a wide range of experience in NGO sector, youth work on local and international level in different capacities. She is a founder and a director of a grass-root level youth NGO “Youth information centre”, was a coordinator of United Nations Children’s fund (UNICEF) in Saint-Petersburg for 4 years. Ruzanna has extensive record in working with the international and local organizations: Partnership between the European Commission and the Council of Europe in the youth field, SALTO Resource centers, UN Agencies; youth organisations and International donors. At the moment she is a consultant for EU-Russia Civil society forum.
In 2008 Ruzanna was awarded from S-Petersburg Government for the personal contribution to the development of youth policy in the city, in 2006 she got Ekaterina Dashkova price for assistance in developing youth libraries in RF, in 2006 – she got the Great bear price for the positive results in intercultural learning of young people in Saint-Petersburg, in 2005 was awarded by diploma of Committee on youth affairs of Saint-Petersburg State Administration for the good results in youth work.
Dr. Ruzanna Ivanian is currently employed as an Associate Professor in Saint-Petersburg.
She is also a visiting lecturer at Fulda university of applied sciences (Faculty of social work (Germany) running annual courses on youth work and youth policy. Since 2000 Ruzanna is deeply involved in non-formal education as a member of Trainers pool of Youth Department of Council of Europe.
Aleksandra Djurovic
Aleksandra Djurovic
Aleksandra Djurovic is a researcher, with experience in both quantitative and qualitative youth research. She has coordinated and participated in research studies and projects at the local, national and European level, the majority of which were policy-driven or resulted in a policy document. She has coordinated research studies on youth employment and career guidance concerning Serbia and the Western Balkans region and studies on progress in achieving sustainable development goals, youth participation and early school leaving.
Aleksandra has authored more than twenty research reports, articles, and policy papers and has experience in youth policy development and monitoring. She holds MSc in Psychology. Her main research interests are related to education, the interrelation between education and labour market, career development, youth participation, and climate and environment.
Alonso Escamilla
Mr Alonso Escamilla
He is Projects Coordinator at Biderbost, Boscan & Rochin (BB&R), where he develops youth research, knowledge-based youth policies and youth work activities. He has been Research and Executive Consultant in the field of youth for the following organisations: Council of Europe, European Commission, United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Population Fund, Inter-American Development Bank, EU-LAC Foundation and International Youth
Organization for Ibero-America.
He has presented his research at various international conferences and published several academic articles on the Youth in Action and Erasmus+ Programmes. At the same time, he was selected by Spanish Radio Television and
the European Broadcasting Union to carry out the research: “A brief portrait of a Generation: Spanish millennials”.
He is PhD Candidate in Social Sciences and Master in Social Policies and Public Services by the University of Salamanca. He holds a European Bachelor in Psychology by the Pontifical University of Salamanca..
Daniel Silander
Daniel Silander
Associate Professor of Political Science, Linnaeus University, Sweden
My main areas of expertise on Youth Research are:
- Democracy and Democratization, including participation, institutionbuilding, political rights, civil liberties and human rights
- Security and Democracy, including antidemocratic ideologies, mobilization, integration and inclusion
- Entrepreneurship and EU Policymaking including political entrepreneurs and policy entrepreneurs for entrepreneurship
- EU Policymaking, including EU policies on global sustainable development goals
Gökay Özerim
Gökay ÖZERİM
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Gökay Özerim is a faculty member in the Department of International Relations, the Director of the European Union Research Center, and Jean Monnet Chair at Yaşar University, Turkey. His major study fields are youth and civil society, migration and international protection, and international politics. He has publications on the integration of young refugees, youth, and radicalization in the MENA region - Turkey and civil society. In 2004, he worked for a non-governmental immigrant organization in Ancona, Italy. Dr. Özerim has been working as trainer of Turkish National Agency and involved in several European Union-funded projects. He has been delivering trainings on intercultural learning, youth participation, social responsibility, and project management since 2005. He contributed to the knowledge books of Youth Partnership and prepared reports for several international organizations. In 2020, his co-edited book entitled “Young Migrants: Vulnerabilities, Boundaries, Protection and Integration” and his research report based on the most comprehensive field research about the needs of young refugees in Turkey were published..
Liudmyla Kindrat
Liudmyla Kindrat
Expertise: I am PhD in public administration science (dissertation topic: “Mechanisms to ensure youth participation in public administration in the context of Ukraine's European integration”). I have been engaged not only in scientific, but also in practical activities in this field for over 8 years. I am a trainer for the Youth Worker program in civic education and a human rights trainer for young people. And also I am the Vice-President of local youth NGO and was coordinator of a number of social projects.
lusakind@gmail.com