Civil Society

Irina Neagu is a program manager 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 visiting fellow with GMF’s European Resilience program. His areas of expertise are democratization and Eastern European, especially Bulgarian, politics, on which he has written articles and been quoted in the media. Prior to joining GMF, he worked at the Institut für Europäische Politik in Berlin and in the private sector.

Keranov holds a PhD in political science from Varna Free University “Chernorizets Hrabar”, 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, Sesotho, Czech, and Afrikaans. He is Think Tank Lab fellow and a member of the National Capital Area Political Science Association (USA).

Clara Volintiru is the director of GMF’s Bucharest office and of the organization’s Black Sea Trust. She is currently on temporary assignment with the Romanian government.

Prior to joining GMF, she was the director of the New Economy and Society Program at the Aspen Institute of Romania, and a consultant for international organizations such as the World Bank, the European Commission, Eurofound and the Committee of the Regions. Her work covered the EU, the transatlantic community, the Western Balkans, and the EU’s Eastern Partnership countries and Southern neighborhood.

In addition to her international policy work, Volintiru is an associate professor of international political economy at Bucharest University of Economic Studies. She holds a PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Volintiru is a contributor to publications including Forbes, Emerging Europe, and Huffington Post.