External collaborators:

Dr. Arben Hajrullahu

Dr. Arben Hajrullahu studied Political Science (primary discipline), South East European History, Law, Public and Communications Sciences and German at the Universities of Prishtina, Graz, Vienna and Huddersfield. His PhD thesis on EU-Integration and Sustainable Peace-Building in the Western Balkans won the Dr. Alois Mock Europe Foundation Award in 2005. He has been working as scientific collaborator at the Centre for South-East European Studies since 2001. From 2003 to 2005 he was a scientific member of the Austrian Institute for International Affairs in Vienna. In 2005 he became a lecturer and researcher at the University of Prishtina. Since February 2007 he has acted as a senior researcher at the European Academy of Bolzano. During the academic year 2007/08 he will complete a Fulbright scholarship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and at other public US institutions.

Benedikt Harzl

Benedikt Harzl graduated in Law at the Karl-Franzens University of Graz (Austria) and since October 2003 he is involved in the study programme of Slavonic studies at this university. From August until October 2006 he took the summer courses in Russian Literature and Russian Legal Terminology at the Minsk State Linguistic University (MGLU, Belarus). After the international work experience gained at the Institute for German Studies in Minsk (Belarus) and at the German Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin (Germany), he started to work as a researcher at the European Academy in Bolzano/Bozen (Italy) in September 2007. His main research interests include post-Soviet state engineering, Russian foreign policy in the 21st century and European engagement in the post-Soviet space. Recently, he focuses as well on the impact of Kosovo on other conflict-ridden regions, especially the Caucasus.

Zoran Ilievski

Zoran Ilievski graduated political science at Ss.Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, Macedonia in 2004. He was awarded the Golden Iustinianus Award as the best student in his generation.  He holds an M.E.S. (Master of European Studies) from the University of Graz. He graduated as top student of his master’s class. Currently Zoran is working as teaching and research assistant at the Political Science Department at the Faculty of Law “Iustinianus Priums” at the Ss.Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje. Zoran Ilievski is an Open Society Institute AFP Fellow. His research interests include ethnic conflict management, minority rights, EU integration and democratic consolidation of the Western Balkans. As of 2005, he has been associated with numerous projects of the Centre for South-East European Studies of the University of Graz as country expert on Macedonia.

Eva Lahnsteiner

Antonija Petričušić

Antonija Petričušić graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Zagreb and completed the Masters of Arts in Human Rights and Democratisation in South East Europe, organized by the University of Sarajevo and the University of Bologna. Currently she is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Law in Graz. Besides, Antonija is a member of the working group on Justice and Human Rights of the Negotiating Team for the Accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union. Antonija was previously associated with the Institute for International Relations in Zagreb, Croatia, the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Croatia and the European Academy of Bolzano, Italy. She also worked as a research assistant at the Institute of Austrian, European and Comparative Public Law and Political Sciences. Among her key research interests are the accommodation of minorities and regional cooperation in the Western Balkans as well as public administration reform inthe accession countries