Research Lab

She is the Managing Director of Vocal Europe. Madalina Sisu Vicari is a PhD candidate at the University of Liège. Her main research interests are: the geopolitics of energy, energy security, Ukraine’s and Turkey’s energy cooperation with EU, EU-Russia energy relations, EU’s external energy governance, European regionalization. She holds a Master’s degree in International Relations and a Master’s degree in Communications and European Affairs.

Julien Hoez is a policy analyst at Vocal Europe. Growing up as a French Londoner, Julien Hoez holds a B.A in International Relations and French studies at Oxford Brookes University. He is passionate about the current state of French politics, as well as the increasingly important implications of the modern-era European project.

Irene Christodoulaki is a researcher at Vocal Europe. Irene holds a master`s degree in European Law and Policy. She also has an MSc in Digital Journalism from Goldsmiths, University of London. She has worked as a policy analyst and journalist for various research centres and NGOs in Greece, Cyprus and in the UK. Her main research interests are Turkey and the Middle East, EU politics, religion in international relations as well as the impact of social media in society.

Astrid Viaud holds a doctorate in political and social sciences from the Catholic University of Louvain (UCL, Belgium). Her thesis analysed “The coercive action of the European Union with regard to sanctions in the international order: the cases of Iran, Syria, and Russia”. She is a visiting researcher at Vocal Europe working on EU-Iran relations.

Soudabeh Nour is a PhD candidate in Applied Linguistics at the Free University of Brussels (VUB). She holds a Master's degree in European Journalism. Among other matters, she also works on EU-Iran relations. She is fluent in Persian and English.

Ebubekir ISIK is a Senior Policy Analyst at Vocal Europe. He works on EU Foreign Policy and EU Enlargement Politics.

Stéphanie Leysen holds a LLM in International and European Law from the University of Antwerp and a Master's degree in Human Rights Law with International Conflict & Security from Kent University. She is passionate about human rights, migration and environmental issues and has worked on these topics at different international organisations. Stéphanie is fluent in Dutch, English and French.

Carey Bennington is an editing associate at Vocal Europe. Originally from Oxfordshire, Carey studies at the University of Exeter and she is interested in European history, and literature.

Sabri Ben Rommane holds a double MA degree in Global Politics and EUMED Relations from the University of Catania in Italy and the University of Liège in Belgium. He has work experience in project writing and management in the frame of EU and non-EU funded calls such as Erasmus+, EuropeAid, AMIF and AICS. He is fluent in Italian, English and French and has a good command of Arabic.

Andrea Sykorova holds a bachelor degree in International Relations from Brigham Young University in Utah (USA) and is currently studying master's programme European Public Affairs at Maastricht University. She is interested in EU's external action, migration policy and EU-Rusia relations. She is fluent in English, Slovak, Czech and has a good command of Russian.

Natalia Liagka is a research trainee at Vocal Europe. She is currently attending an Advanced Master’s degree in European Integration (IES-VUB) and holds a Master’s degree in BRICS countries. She has studied and worked in Greece, France, Poland and Luxembourg.

Robert Petraru is a research trainee at Vocal Europe. He holds a bachelor degree in European Studies and now is currently studying Public Policy and Human Development. His main interests lie in the Eastern Partnership, development policy and EU’s common foreign and security policy. He is fluent in English and Romanian and he has a good command of Spanish.

Pavel Vanev is a researcher at Vocal Europe. He holds a bachelor degree in International Relations and History from Loughborough University (UK) and a master degree in History of International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science (UK).

Aleksandra Toska is from Albania and holds a bachelor’s degree of English Language at the University of Aleksander Moisiu Durres, later on started master studies in the University of Tirana in the field of International Relations and Diplomacy. Currently, she is doing an Advanced Master of European Integration at the VUB IES in Brussels.