GMF Announces 2024 Class of ReThink.CEE Fellows

The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) is pleased to announce its 2024 class of ReThink.CEE Fellows.

Entering its seventh year, this fellowship program addresses current and future challenges facing Central and Eastern European democracy, security, and transatlantic integration. The ReThink.CEE Fellowship supports next-generation policy experts, analysts, civic activists, and thought leaders from the region by enabling participants to undertake original policy research and to inform regional, European, and transatlantic policies and strategies. For this purpose, fellows join GMF on a nonresident basis for one year and benefit from the full array of intellectual and organizational resources of this transatlantic policy institute.

After a highly competitive selection procedure, the following 12 fellows and their research projects were selected for the 2024 ReThink.CEE Fellowship:

Dardan Abazi, Kosovo: Utilizing EU Financial Instruments for an Accelerated Energy Transition in the Western Balkans

Yana Brovdiy, Ukraine: Strengthening Collaboration Between Local Governments and Civil Society for an Efficient Postwar Recovery of Ukraine

Christian Alexandru Damian, Romania: What Role for Civil Society Organizations in Advancing the EU Integration of Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine 

Angel Dimitrievski, North Macedonia: The Rise of the Anti-Gender Movement as a Threat to Democracy in the Western Balkans

Dominik Istrate, Hungary: Ukraine’s Recovery and Reconstruction From a Central European Perspective: Shared Opportunities, Benefits, and Challenges

Aleksandar Ivković, Serbia: Organized Voter Migrations: A Threat for election integrity in the Western Balkans

Galyna Kotliuk, Ukraine: Addressing Gender-Based Violence as Part of Ukraine’s Postwar Recovery

Zuzana Krulichova, Czechia: Sino-European Relations: What Agency for Central Europe?

Lev Lvovskiy, Belarus: High-Skilled Exiles: Expectations and Strategies

Anastasia Mgaloblishvili, Georgia: In the Shadow of Illiberalism: EU Democracy Promotion in Candidate Countries

Ema Džejna Smolo-Zukan, Bosnia and Herzegovina: Toward a Democratic Political Culture: Advancing Civic Education in the Western Balkans

Anna Vindics, Hungary: A Voice of Reason in the Age of Populism: Young Liberal Parties in Central Europe

The 2024 class of ReThink.CEE Fellows will pay particular attention to various consequences of the illiberal and authoritarian challenge in the Western Balkans, Central Europe, and the EU’s eastern neighborhood, including international alliance-building by illiberals, rising anti-gender movements, attacks on electoral integrity, and involuntary migration. ReThink.CEE Fellows will also contribute to discussions on Ukraine’s postwar recovery and reconstruction from a local and regional perspective. Following in-depth research, fellows are expected to publish policy papers contributing strong evidence and practical recommendations to policymakers and civil society actors in the region and across the transatlantic community.

“As the region of Central and Eastern Europe navigates profound geopolitical shifts, political transformations, and societal changes, the research and analysis conducted by our ReThink.CEE Fellows will shape and innovate effective policy responses at local, national, and international levels. As GMF identifies a new generation of transatlantic leaders, our ReThink.CEE Fellows are critical building blocks not only to advance democracy, increase regional cooperation, and deepen transatlantic ties but they are essential to the democratic resilience of Central and Eastern Europe,” says GMF President Heather A. Conley.