Team

Florian Lenner, M.Sc., M.Sc.

Florian is co-founder and co-editor of the Young Journal of European Affairs (YJEA). He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, having studied abroad at the University of Helsinki, graduated with a master’s degree in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 2022 and recently with a second master’s degree in War and Peace Studies from Leiden University. He’s mainly interested in Conflict and Peacebuilding, Forced Displacement, International Security and International Organisations. Florian has co-authored a comparative study on Conflicts of Interest in the EU Member States for the European Parliament, followed by a book published with Peter Lang and two journal articles in Public Management Review and Public Integrity. Furthermore, he has presented papers at ECPR’s General Conference and the Second Environmental Peacebuilding Conference.

florian.lenner[at]yjea.org

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Angelo Krüger, M.A.

Angelo is a member of the editorial board of the Young Journal of European Affairs, where he contributes to the journal’s work on European political economy and public policy. He recently completed his master’s degree in International Relations at Central European University (CEU) and continues his academic education as a PhD student at the Geneva Graduate Institute. Before joining the YJEA, Angelo conducted a research visit at the Anderson School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and completed his BA in History, Politics, and Sociology at the University of Potsdam. His research interests lie in the international political economy and global governance of development finance and investment, the European Union, and Chinese global finance.

angelo.krueger[at]yjea.org

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Mirjam Seiler, M.Sc.

Mirjam is a member of the editorial board of the Young Journal of European Affairs. Her research interests include European security policy, the rise of nationalism and Euroscepticism and the interplay between globalisation processes and Global Governance. Having always had a passion for journalism and political debates, she has been the editor for European Affairs at the student-led King’s Think Tank and is an alumni member of the European Youth Parliament (EYP). She currently works for the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs after having completed her master’s degree in International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). She also holds a BA in History and International Relations from King’s College London.

mirjam.seiler[at]yjea.org

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Valentin Berov, B.A.

Valentin is a member of the editorial board of the Young Journal of European Affairs. He is currently pursuing his Master’s degree in Social Sciences at Humboldt University. Previously, he completed his bachelor’s degree at the same university with a thesis on migrant voting behavior. His main interests are intersectionality research with a special focus on migration and integration processes, as well as research on voting behavior and government formation processes. In his own work, he specializes mainly in quantitative statistical methods. Due to his interest in empirical and interdisciplinary migration research, he is currently working on the project “Migration and Welfare State” at the Berlin Institute for Empirical Integration and Migration Research.

valentin.berov[at]yjea.org

Amy Bland, B.A.

Amy is a member of the YJEA’s editorial board. She is currently completing her master’s degree in Politics and Public Administration at the University of Konstanz, specialising in both Comparative Politics and Research Methodology. Amy completed her bachelor’s degree at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, where she specialised in Human Rights. During this time, Amy spent a semester abroad at the University of Tübingen and actively participated in extracurricular opportunities such as courses on Australian Sign Language and volunteering as a country leader for the United Nations Major Group for Children and Youth. Her main research interests focus on conflict and development, particularly focusing on the disproportionate effects of conflict on education and health outcomes of women and children.

amy.bland[at]yjea.org

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Lennart Eckle, B.Sc.

Lennart is a member of the editorial board of the Young Journal of European Affairs. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences from the University of Cologne. Currently, he is in the second year of his master’s degree in Political Science at the same university, where he specializes in quantitative approaches in the fields of European politics and political economy. His thematic interests center on the transformation of welfare states and labor markets, with a focus on public opinion and political attitudes. Besides his academic studies, Lennart is currently involved as a working student at the German Economic Institute, where he is contributing to research on collective bargaining policy. Furthermore, he gained experience as an intern in the field of quantitative market research.

lennart.eckle[at]yjea.org

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Nadia El Ghali, B.A.

Nadia is a member of the Young Journal European Affairs’ editorial board. She is also responsible for processing submissions to the YJEA blog. Currently, she is in the first year of her master’s degree in political science at LMU Munich, where she mainly focuses on International Relations and the European Union. Before that, she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science and law from the same university. In light of her work as a student assistant at the Chair for Global Governance at LMU Munich, her main research interests lie in Global Governance perspectives on the European Union, as well as challenges to EU integration. In her free time, she is involved in Model United Nations simulations as well as the Refugee Law Clinic in Munich.

nadia.elghali[at]yjea.org

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Eleonora Guseletova, B.A.

Eleonora is a member of the YJEA editorial board. She is a current MSc student in Economics and Government in a dual degree programme between Sciences Po Paris and Bocconi University in Milan. Before her MSc, she completed her BA in Economics at Sciences Po and spent an exchange year at Keio University in Tokyo. Her interests are centred around EU public economics, quantitative policy research and behavioral economics. She has worked as a research assistant and as an intern in European affairs at the state-level in Germany. Particularly interested in how vertical policy implementation is realised on the micro-level in Europe, she is writing her master’s thesis about the economic effects of the energy transition on political behavior in East Germany.

eleonora.guseletova[at]yjea.org

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Lilia Gwaltney

Lilia is a member of the Young Journal of European Affairs’ editorial board. Currently, she is studying to obtain her BA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) at Central European University (CEU) in Vienna, Austria concentrating in Politics and Economics. Her main research interests are European economic integration, economic inequalities, and the effect of domestic politics on national security interests. Originally from the United States, outside of her academic pursuits, she is part of the founding team of Ocean State Ranked Choice Voting advocating for the implementation of ranked choice voting in Rhode Island elections.

lilia.gwaltney[at]yjea.org

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Mercedes Vergara, B.Sc.

Mercedes is a member of the Young Journal of European Affairs’ editorial board, with a soft spot for European Global Governance and foreign policy. She will soon start a double master’s degree programme at Columbia University and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in International and World History, where she intends to focus on Cold War-era internationalisms and cross-cultural networks. She also holds a BSc in International Relations and History from LSE, where she has worked with quantitative as well as audiovisual methods for international relations research.

mercedes.vergara[at]yjea.org

Leonhard Xu, B.A.

Leonhard Xu is a member of the Young Journal of European Affairs’ editorial board. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Mannheim and will begin his MPhil in International Relations at the University of Oxford in the fall of 2023. He is mainly interested in the field of international cooperation and development as well as the increasingly complex relationship between the US, EU, and China. In his bachelor thesis, Leonhard investigated the impact of external shocks on the distribution of foreign aid. Furthermore, he gained valuable work experience in the German development sector, having worked at both the German Development Ministry and the German Agency for International Cooperation.

leonhard.xu[at]yjea.org

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Leonie Köhler, B.A. – Team Lead

Leonie is part of the Project Management team at the Young Journal of European Affairs. Currently, she is a first-year student of peace and security studies (M.A.) at IFSH in Hamburg. Previously, Leonie completed her bachelor’s degree in political science at LMU Munich, which included a semester abroad at Reichman University Herzliya (Israel). Her main fields of interest are minority centered international relations and intersectional feminist foreign policy. Moreover, Leonie gained field experience as a student research assistant at the Chair for Empirical Theories of Politics as well as during her time at LMU’s National Model United Nations (NMUN) project group, in which she both participated as a delegate and served as an academic tutor.

leonie.koehler[at]yjea.org

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Sophia Khan

Sophia is part of the project management team at the Young Journal of European Affairs. She is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in International Relations and History at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Currently, she is completing her year abroad at Sciences Po in Paris. Being of German and Pakistani descent, her research interests primarily lie in international development, migration politics, and policies that impact minority groups in Europe. Sophia has participated in fundraising inside and outside of school. She recently completed a research project as part of her studies at Sciences Po on the impact that political restrictions have on the Muslim community in France. 

sophia.khan[at]yjea.org

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Grace Lundell, B.A.

Grace is a member of the project management team at the Young Journal of European Affairs. She is currently studying for her master’s in international relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Prior to LSE, Grace completed her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and French at Villanova University, Pennsylvania, U.S., which included a semester abroad at Nantes University in France. Her research interests are primarily focused on EU foreign relations, EU-U.S. relations, and security strategy. Complementing her studies, Grace has work experience in the think tank, NGO, and government sectors.

grace.lundell[at]yjea.org

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Alexandra Qvist

Alexandra is part of the project management team at the Young Journal of European Affairs (YJEA). She has just begun her penultimate year of her Bachelor of Science in International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Since being a part of the Student Ambassador program for UNICEF France, Alexandra’s research interest lies in economic development and the role of international organisations in global affairs. 

alexandra.qvist[at]yjea.org

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Lili Gabadadze, B.A.

Lili is a member of the Social Media team at the Young Journal of European Affairs. She is currently pursuing her master’s degree in European Studies at the University of Regensburg, Germany. She obtained a BA in International Relations from Tbilisi State University, Georgia. Lili has also studied at Kadir Has University, Turkey, and Aalborg University, Denmark, through the Erasmus+ exchange program. Additionally, she participated in the Future Leaders Exchange Program (FLEX) in the United States. Lili is particularly interested in the European Union and its institutions, as well as democracy building, to which she has contributed as a long-term elections observer both locally and internationally.

lili.gabadadze[at]yjea.org

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Duru Yavuz

Duru is a member of the Social Media team at the Young Journal of European Affairs. She is currently pursuing a dual bachelor’s degree in Political Science and International Relations along with Sociology at Boğaziçi University, Türkiye. Duru has recently completed a semester abroad at Sciences Po Paris, and is starting her fourth year back home at Boğaziçi University. Duru’s main fields of interest include social identity theory in the context of EU accession processes, ‘Third World’ Approaches to International Law, and EU-Türkiye relations.

duru.yavuz[at]yjea.org

Myriam Aichinger, M.A.

Project Management from 2022-2023

Myriam Aichinger supported the YJEA as a Project Manager from early 2022 until December 2023. She holds a B.A. in Communication Studies and Political Science from the University of Munich and is currently finishing her M.A. in Political Science. She currently works for PwC in Munich.

Benjamin Brown, M.Sc.

Editorial Board from 2020-2023

Benjamin Brown supported the YJEA as a member of the Editorial Board from June 2020 until December 2023. He holds a B.A. in Political Science and History from the University of Munich, an M.Sc. in Modern Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Oxford and an M.A. in Broadcast Journalism from the City University of London. He currently works for CNN in London.

Raghda Jaja, B.A.

Social Media from 2023-2024

Raghda Jaja was part of the YJEA’s Social Media from 2023 until early 2024. She holds a B.A. in Communication Studies from Al Akhawayn University and is currently in the final year of her master’s studies at the University of Padova.

Emilija Krysen

Social Media Team Lead from 2023-2024

Emilija Krysen joined the YJEA in 2023 and coordinated our Social Media activities as team lead until early 2024. She is currently reading International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

Alina Mehrens

Social Media from 2020-2021

Alina Mehrens managed the YJEA’s Social Media from June 2020 until October 2021. She is currently studying law at Humbold-University in Berlin.

Clara Praschl, B.A.

Social Media from 2021-2023

Clara Praschl was in charge of the YJEA’s Social Media from late 2021 until December 2023. She holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Munich and is currently in the final year of her master’s studies at the Graduate Institute in Geneva.

Jakob Rindermann

Editorial Board from 2020-2023

Jakob Rindermann supported the YJEA as a member of the Editorial Board from June 2020 until December 2023. He is currently in the final stages of his B.A. in Political Science at the University of Munich.