EXPERTS
Oana Popescu Zamfir – Director
Editor-at-large of Foreign Policy magazine Romania, contributor to Stratfor, Aspen Review and other international publications. Formerly a journalist and then Foreign Affairs Adviser to the Romanian Senate President, she was also Programmes Director of the Aspen Institute Romania. In 2016 she served as State Secretary for European Affairs at the Romanian Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Security and the Elderly.
Oana is an expert in foreign affairs and political strategy, often invited as a commentator and analyst on TV and radio and as a university lecturer. She carried out research projects for the European Council on Foreign Relations and the Swedish Crisis Management Research and Training Institute (Crismart).
Oana Popescu was a Fulbright grantee at Yale University. She also served as Teaching Assistant to the former UN Secretary General advisor Charles Hill and to the prominent historian Paul Kennedy. She holds a Master’s Degree in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from the National School of Political and Administrative Studies, Bucharest.
Contact info:
Address: Hristo Botev Blvd, nr 26, ap 9, 4th floor, sector 3, Bucharest
E-mail: oana.popescu@global-focus.eu
Twitter: @oanapope
Rufin Zamfir – Programmes Director
Rufin coordinates the center’s research activity on the Balkans area, participating in and organising thematic events and producing analytical content. He coordinates the more recent programme on Security and Asymmetric Threats (radicalisation, terrorism, hybrid war, cyber warfare).
Rufin Zamfir has a Masters degree in Communication at the National School of Political and Administrative Studies in Romania (graduation thesis on Normalisation of Serbia-Kosovo relationship dialogue) and studied Terrorism Studies and Political Violence at St. Andrews University, Scotland.
He is a constant contributor to Foreign Policy magazine, Romanian edition and a passionate geopolitical analyst and blog writer. He previously also wrote more than 50 articles on Western Balkans political and social issues for the Centre for Conflict Prevention and Early Warning’s weekly strategic analysis newsletter.
Rufin is also a business consultant, having directed and implemented projects in Croatia, Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria.
Contact info:
Address: Hristo Botev Blvd, nr. 26, ap 9, 4th floor, Sector 3, Bucharest, Romania
E-mail: rufin.zamfir@global-focus.eu
Twitter: @Rufin_Z
Octavian Manea – Senior Researcher
Octavian is the managing editor of Eastern Focus published by GlobalFocus Center. He is also an expert in transatlantic relations and security.
He has a background in journalism and writes for the weekly Revista 22 and the monthly Foreign Policy Romania, and collaborates with the Small Wars Journal website. In 2010, Freedom House Romania named him “Journalist of the Year” in the Foreign Policy and European Affairs category.
Octavian was a Fulbright Junior Scholar at Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs (Syracuse University) where he received an MA in International Relations and a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Security Studies.
Contact info:
Address: Hristo Botev Blvd, nr 26, ap 9, 4th floor, sector 3, Bucharest, Romania
E-mail: octavian.manea@global-focus.eu
Ana Maria Luca – Senior Researcher
Ana Maria has joined GlobalFocus Center in June 2019. She covers radicalization, violent extremism, terrorism, ethnic conflicts. She also works in the Security and Asymmetric Threats Programme on research related disinformation and malign influence.
She previously worked as an editor for the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network and a correspondent covering Romania for Balkan Insight. In 2016 she served as a spokesperson to the Minister Delegate for the Diaspora in the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and as editor-in-chief of the International Politics Department of the Romania national news agency AGERPRES.
During 2008-2016 she was based in Beirut, Lebanon, where she covered Middle Eastern security, regional and international politics, terrorism financing and extremism for NOW News, a regional political analysis publication.
She holds a Master’s Degree in International Affairs from the Lebanese American University, Byblos, with a thesis in ethnic conflict and radicalization. She has a BA in Journalism from the University of Bucharest.
Contact info:
Address: Hristo Botev, nr. 26, ap 9, 4th floor, sector 3, Bucharest, Romania
E-mail: ana-maria.luca@global-focus.eu
Twitter: @AnaLucaTouma
Vlad Iavita – Junior Researcher
Vlad works on the Asymmetric Threats Programme. He has previous work experience for the Romanian Cultural Institute in London and the UCL Politics Society, which he co-founded.
He is studying in his senior year of the BA History, Politics and Economics programme at University College London (UCL). Other relevant training experiences are his participation in the International Affairs Student Conference “Global Research Summer School” in both 2017 and 2018 and Debating Competitions.
Contact info:
Address: Hristo Botev, nr. 26, ap 9, 4th floor, sector 3, Bucharest, Romania
E-mail: vladiavita13@yahoo.com
Twitter: @IavitaVlad