20.10.2016 All News
The European Fund for the Balkans in cooperation with the EU Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) established the new fellowship programme for junior and senior researchers. This year's programme encompasses one senior and two junior fellowships. The fellowship for senior researcher was granted to Zoran Nechev (Macedonia), and the two fellowships for junior researchers were granted to Jelena Beslin (Serbia) and Marija Ignjatijevic (Serbia). The candidates were chosen through a detailed selection process carried out by the EUISS in coordination with the Fund. The launch of the three Fellowships sponsored by the European Fund for the Balkans (EFB) and conducted at the EU Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) will serve various purposes. It will offer the young and mid-career officials and academics from the Western Balkans a unique opportunity to familiarize with the operation of a peculiar EU agency like the EUISS, to ‘socialize’ with EU analysts covering a wide spectrum of foreign and security policy issues, and to contribute to their work and enrich their approach. Most of the challenges the EU is confronted with today – from migration to energy security, from terrorism to organized crime – are shared with the Western Balkans and can only be addressed together, as argued also in the recently released EU Global Strategy (EUGS). Strengthening cooperation and accelerating integration are therefore common objectives, and the three Fellowships can add substance to this process. They can also help increase links between the EUISS and its wide network of EU institutes and think tanks, on the one hand, and analogous centers in the Western Balkans region, with a tangible multiplier effect. The fellows will be encouraged to actively participate in various activities of EUISS, including participation in public events, lectures, writing of policy analysis, expert papers, blog articles, and similar.