Category: Guest researchers

Marije is a PhD candidate at the Dublin City University in Ireland and is affiliated with CPC through her PhD research on peacebuilding and resilience in Kosovo and Colombia. She is currently living in Pristina to conduct field research. Marije has experience within the field of peace studies, both as an academic and as an employee within the civil society sector. Regarding the latter, she has for example worked for the Kosovo program within the Dutch NGO Pax for Peace, and for an urban violence program of Save the Children Honduras in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Her most recent policy research centered around the role of education in Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE) in Lebanon, funded by the Knowledge Platform Security and Rule of Law. Educated as an anthropologist at the Utrecht University in the Netherlands, she has field work experience in Honduras, Catalunya, Srebrenica, Kosovo and Lebanon.

Cameron Mailhot is a PhD candidate in political science (government studies) at Cornell University, in Ithaca, New York, and a visiting researcher at the Centre for Political Courage (CPC). His doctoral project focuses on the broad role that international missions play in post-conflict countries and the difficulties they face in creating lasting peace outcomes. During his time at CPC, Cameron will be conducting interviews, archival research, and a survey to understand the effect that the international missions in Kosovo have had on state-society relations—specifically, Kosovars’ trust in their public institutions.

Arlinda Rrustemi is a security expert at the Hague Center for Strategic Studies and lecturer on peace and conflict studies. She holds a PhD in Political Science from Leiden University in the Netherlands. In 2016, Arlinda defended her doctoral thesis, entitled “State-Building through Life Stories: Incorporating Local Perspectives”, which was supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). She holds a B.A. (cum laude) from the University College Roosevelt and an LL.M. degree in Public International Law from Utrecht University. She teaches on humanitarian intervention, peacebuilding, power instruments and multilateral organizations, and is involved in several research projects uncovering peace infrastructures and countering radicalization. She has also received several fellowships and grants, such as Erasmus +, LEICEU, Archimedes and LUF. She was also a visiting scholar at several universities, including the Central European University, University of Leuven, Free University in Brussels, Cegesoma, University of Tallinn and New York University.

Dr. Luca J. Uberti is Alexander Nash Fellow in Albanian Studies at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London (UK), where he is also a member of the UCL Centre for Comparative Studies of Emerging Economies. Luca is a political economist with an interest in the role of institutions in economic development and post-socialist transition. His research has explored the causes and consequences of corruption in transition and emerging economies, political business cycles, and the role of industrial policy in development. Geographically, he specialises on Albania and Kosovo, where he has conducted extensive fieldwork research in the garment, mining and wine sectors. His recent work has appeared in Journal of Development Studies, Economic Systems and Economics of Transition. He is also a member of the LSEE-CEFTA academic network. During the 2014-15 academic year, he was hosted as a Guest Researcher by the Centre for Political Courage and the University of Prishtina.

Joie Chowdhury currently serves as Co-Director of the Work with Dignity Program at the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative (NESRI) in New York. Prior to joining NESRI, she has worked at the European Academy Representing Office in Kosovo, Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute, Center for Economic and Social Rights, Consumer Unity and Trust Society International (CUTS) and on a right to health project for the World Health Organization, CUTS, and the Ministry of Health, India. She has been an instructor of international law and human rights at Tufts University and the Center for Talented Youth, John Hopkins University and a guest lecturer on human rights at Hofstra University Law School, Columbia Law School and University of Pennsylvania Law School. She holds a Bachelor of Laws degree (B.A.LL.B Hons.) from India, a MA in Law and Diplomacy (International Affairs) from the Fletcher School, Tufts University and a Master of Laws degree (LL.M.) from Columbia Law School.

Seraina Rüegger is a senior researcher and lecturer in the International Conflict Research group at ETH Zurich. She coordinates the R4D project “Ethnic Power Relations and Conflict in Fragile States”, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). She also manages the data collection and updates of the Ethnic Power Relations (EPR) Dataset Family. Her research focuses on civil conflict, transborder ethnic groups and forced migration. As a postdoctoral researcher, Seraina coordinated the SNSF project on “The Causes and Consequences of Irredentism“ from 2015 – 2018. She received her PhD from ETH Zurich in 2013 and holds a master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Zurich (2009). From January to July 2013, Seraina was a pre-doctoral visiting researcher at the University of Prishtina in Kosovo (SNSF Doc. Mobility Grant). In her PhD project she analysed the effects of refugees in asylum countries, particularly focusing on the direction of refugee movements and the relationship between refugees and the host population or insurgent groups.