It is essential for EUCAM to involve young and ambitious minds both from Europe and Central Asia. These young experts of excellence are involved with us in strengthening and furthering EUCAM. They regularly produce input into EUCAM by means of ideas and feedback.
Batyr Araztaganov
Holds an MA in European Studies from the University of Applied Sciences in Bremen, Germany. As a part of his graduate degree, Batyr Araztaganov completed an internship as project assistant at EASPD, Brussels. He also has a BA in International Relations from the International Turkmen Turkish University. His research interests lie in the areas of EU energy security, globalisation, and cultural and ethnic issues in Europe.
Vera Axyonova
Vera Axyonova is a PhD fellow at Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences, specializing in the field of Integration and Diversity in the New Europe. She has an MA in Intercultural Communication and European Studies from Fulda University of Applied Sciences and a Diploma in International Relations from East Kazakhstan State University. Her primary research interests are European development and democratisation policies, civil society development, and Central Asian affairs. She has worked on election observation and conducted research at various institutions, including the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels and the Prague office of the OSCE Secretariat.
Vanessa Boas
Vanessa Boas is an EXACT PhD Fellow at the University of Cologne and Charles University, Prague. Her PhD research is divided between the aforementioned universities as well as the Centre for European Policy Studies and the Instituto Affari Internationale. She holds a BA in French and Spanish and an MA in International Relations from the University of Bristol, as well as an MA from the College of Europe in Natolin, Poland. Her main areas of interest are EU democratisation policy, post-Soviet affairs and transition economics. She spent a year in the CIS interning at the German Development Cooperation and the European Delegation in Kazakhstan.
Filippo Costa Buranelli
Filippo Costa Buranelli is a PhD candidate at the War Studies Department, King's College London. His current research deals with the institutions of international society and their applicability to Central Asia and Russia. He received his Bsc (cum laude) in International Sciences and European Institutions from the University of Milan, and his MSc (with Distinction) in International Relations Theory from the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he was awarded the Fred Halliday Prize for the Best Dissertation in the field of International Relations Theory. Before that, he was visiting student at the Institute of International Relations of Warsaw University. He is a member of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatam House, London. His primary interests are economic, political and diplomatic relations in the post-Soviet regional security complex, East and Central Asian affairs and North-Atlantic relations.
Yichen Dai
Yichen Dai is an assistant research professor at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences (SASS), and a PhD candidate in Diplomacy at Fudan University, Shanghai. She has an MA in World History and European Studies from SASS and has worked at the SASS Centre of Shanghai Cooperation Organization Studies since 2005. Her PhD research is focused on the EU's strategic actorness in its foreign policy towards Central Asia.
Anar Khamzayeva
Anar Khamzayeva is currently a PhD candidate in Political Theory at the LUISS 'Guido Carli' University in Rome, Italy. She has an MA in International Affairs from the American University in Washington, DC, and a BA in International Relations from the American International University in London. Her PhD research will focus on contemporary non-democratic regimes, with a special focus on Russia.
Doniyor Kuchkarov
Doniyor Kuchkarov is currently enrolled in the Erasmus Mundus Master Programme "Euroculture - Europe in the wider world" at the University of Deusto in Bilbao, Spain. Prior to this, he worked as project manager in the Youth Employment Support Centre in Uzbekistan. He has also worked as a senior specialist in several projects funded by the European Commission and the Islamic Development Bank. He holds a BA in English Translation and Interpretation from the Uzbek State University of World Languages. His academic interests are focused on the EU's foreign policy towards Central Asia, particularly in the areas of development cooperation and conflict resolution.
