Last Friday, the Western Balkans Fund and the International Visegrad Fund proudly announced the 𝟰𝟰 winners of the second edition of the 𝑾𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒏 𝑩𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒂𝒏𝒔 – 𝑽𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒅 𝑭𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑.
Choosing from over 100 highly competitive and well-developed proposals submitted by PhD and doctoral candidates from across our two Regions was incredibly difficult and now look forward to witnessing to the new success stories of this Initiative.
Stories, just like the one of 𝐃𝐫. 𝐄𝐥𝐢𝐫𝐚 𝐋𝐮𝐥𝐢, a distinguished scholar from 𝐋𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐢 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐓𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐚.
In May and June, she undertook a six-week academic residency at the 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐝𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐊𝐨̋𝐬𝐳𝐞𝐠, in Hungary.
During this period, Dr. Luli pursued her research project titled “The Soft Power Deficit: Reimagining a Joint Public Diplomacy in Fragmented Southeast Europe”.
The project critically examined the fractured state of public diplomacy in the Western Balkans and proposed a forward-looking strategy supporting a more cohesive regional narrative.
Her work emphasized the importance of unified external representation and regional positioning in the broader European and global context.
The Fellowship culminated in a two hour lecture and discussion with the academic community in Kőszeg.
The research was finalized with a paper published at the prestigious “Place Branding and Public Diplomacy” Springer journal.
This whole experience, once more highlighted the guiding role and example that the V4 countries can have for our Contracting Parties.
The Western Balkans can learn a lot from the road already tracked by the Visegrad countries, from reforms to integration, from transition to transformation.
We sincerely hope that this Fellowship will inspire others to focus in more depth at the many lessons we can draw from the experience of Poland 🇵🇱, Czech Republic 🇨🇿, Hungary 🇭🇺 and Slovakia 🇸🇰.
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