FELLOWS

Thomas Barrett is a Visiting Junior Research Fellow (2020-2021academic year). He is a Master's student of Eastern European Studies at the Free University of Berlin and a graduate of the University of Oxford. He has also studied at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and the Tbilisi State University. His research focus is on anti-corruption, decentralisation and the Rule of Law in Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia. He has been involved in numerous research and cultural projects in the Luhansk region of Ukraine concerning internal displacement and post-conflict recovery.

Thomas' fellowship is supported by the 'Metropoles in Eastern Europe' scholarship, which is jointly funded by the German Academic Scholarship Foundation and the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation.

Ani Mkrtchyan is a Junior Research Fellow (2020-2021 academic year). She is a Master’s student of International Communication and European Studies at Fulda University of Applied Sciences, Germany, and has a BA degree in Linguistics and Political Science from Brusov State University. She is specifically interested in the issues of post-Soviet development and the processes of Europeanisation in the South Caucasus. Ani was one of the most active participants of the Jean Monnet Module in European Union Studies “European Integration and European Values: Rule of Law, Human Rights and Democracy” (Certificate Programme, 2016-2017) and participated in a number of other activities in EU Studies. She is also a member of the Association of European Studies for the Caucasus. 

Ani’s current research focuses on the development of civil society in Armenia.