IGSD News
New member of the WUB-hub team - Dr Paul Hansbury joined us on 8 January 2024
Dr Paul Hansbury joined the WUB-hub project (and the IGSD team) as a lead researcher on Belarus and Ukraine examining the issues of democracy-building, conflict and war, geopolitics and EU strategies towards these countries and the wider neighbourhood. Welcome, Paul!
New member of SHAPEDEM project - Dr Aijan Sharshenova joined us on 19/2/24
On 19 Feb 2024 Dr Aijan Sharshenova joined our SHAPEDEM project (and IGSD team) as a lead Research Fellow. Prior to this Aijan was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the OSCE Academy in Bishkek. Dr Sharshenova holds a PhD in Politics awarded at the University of Leeds, UK. Prior to joining the OSCE Academy, Dr Sharshenova worked at the UN and UNDP country offices in the Middle East, and taught courses in International Politics and Academic Writing. Aijan’s research interests include public diplomacy, the EU and Russian policies towards Central Asia, EU policies towards the eastern neighbourhood, and international development. Recently, Dr Sharshenova published her book ‘The European Union’s Democracy Promotion in Central Asia’ available here.
Aijan replaced Dr Asya Kudlenko, who is currently on maternity leave.
WUB-hub: a blog on Lukashenka's brutal regime in Belarus published on 25 Feb 2024
The Human Rights Situation in Belarus on the Eve of the “Single Voting Day”
Just days after the breaking news of Alexei Navalny's death made global headlines, Belarusian independent media reported another tragedy that is similar in character but will likely cause much less attention. The political prisoner Ihar Lednik died in a hospital in Minsk after he had been incarcerated despite a known heart condition.
Jakob Wollenstein
Originally published by Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (reproduced with permission)
Just published: debating democracy at the heart of Europe
At the invitation of Judy Dempsey, Carnegie Europe, scholars, policy-makers and practitioners debate EU Democracy Promotion in this publication: "European democracy faces threats from both within and outside. To counter them, Europe needs leaders who are serious about upholding democratic values and addressing citizens' grievances'. Professor Korosteleva offered her take, as part of her work on SHAPEDEM-EU project. For more information please visit here.
The SHAPEDEM-EU project: mid-term review - success!
The SHAPEDEM-EU project, bringing together 12 members of the consortium, across Europe and beyond, had its first mid-term review meeting with the European Commission and appointed by the Commission independent reviewers. The Steering Committee of the project, involving all team leads, presented its work on various Work Packages, and the project's cross-cutting issues including digital transformation, ethics and gender. The Commission representative was very pleased to see the project's progress, including all the extra activities that participants initiated themselves, going well beyond the project's call, to ensure knowledge co-production and its dissemination further afield.