Civil Society

Irina Neagu is a senior program coordinator for the Black Sea Trust (BST), administering its Empowering Youth through Capacity Building, Collaboration, and Peace Initiatives project. She also plays a key role in BST’s Enhancing the Resilience of Civil Society in the Eastern Partnership project. 

Neagu has expertise in youth engagement and cross-border issues in the Black Sea region, with a focus on the South Caucasus. She heads a Romanian NGO that supports civic activities and youth education.

Neagu holds a master’s degree in comparative politics and a bachelor’s degree in international relations and European studies from the University of Bucharest. 

Dimitar Keranov is a program coordinator with GMF’s Engaging Central Europe program in Berlin. His areas of expertise are democratization and Bulgarian politics. Prior to joining GMF, Keranov worked at the Institut für Europäische Politik in Berlin and in the private sector.

Keranov holds a master’s degree in governance from the University of Hagen and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the Free University of Berlin. In addition to his native Bulgarian, he speaks English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Croatian, Serbian, Russian, Czech, and Afrikaans.