Having completed his PhD in 2017, Igor is a Research Fellow within the School of Politics’ Global Europe Centre. Igor works as an analyst at the International Republican Institute, and is a Research Fellow within the UPTAKE Horizon2020 Project and University Association for Contemporary European Studies (UACES) Scholar. He is also a former Visiting Scholar at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.
His doctoral research examined how the European Union manages cross-border mobility vis-à-vis states of the eastern neighbourhood (namely, Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova), and how both the EU and Russia use ‘visa diplomacy’ as a tool of influence in the shared neighbourhood.
His current research interests include:
– Identifying gaps in democratic governance exploited by disinformation and propaganda
– European Regional Security
– Central-Eastern Europe
– Post-Soviet space
Igor appears regularly as a commentator in newspapers, magazines and TV channels. He has written consultancy papers for the UK Government, produced policy papers for leading think tanks, and has an extensive record of academic publications.
He speaks fluent English, Slovak, Czech, and is currently improving his existing skills in French and Russian.
Professional Associations:
British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies (BASEES); Centre for East European Language-Based Area Studies (CEELBAS); Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), University Association for Contemporary European Studies (UACES) and the British Czech and Slovak Association (BCSA). Igor is a Founder and former President of the University’s Czech & Slovak Society.