Advisory Council

[ Advisory Council ]

We are grateful to those who inspired and encouraged our work, at times, providing much needed mentorship. The Advisory Council will grow at the same pace as The Diaspora Initiative and as we continue to seek guidance and inspiring contributions. Bios below in alphabetical order.

Bernhard Altermatt is a Swiss historian and political scientist. He is Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Federalism.

Emil Constantinescu served as the President of Romania from 1996–2000. During his presidential mandate (1996-2000) Romania strategically opened towards NATO and EU. Upon the end of his presidential term (December 2000), Emil Constantinescu resumed his academic career.

Adam Hug became the Director of the Foreign Policy Centre in November 2017, overseeing the FPC's operations and strategic direction. He had previously been the Policy Director at the Foreign Policy Centre from 2008-2017. His research focuses on human rights and governance issues particularly in the former Soviet Union.

Craig is Editor of Emerging Europe, a think tank committed to boosting the social and economic development of Central and Eastern Europe.

I am a media and communication scholar with expertise in migration, diasporas and transnational mobilities. I research the potential of social media to support the political engagement and action of marginalized groups. I am also interested in the way media, communication strategies and social networks aid identity expressions.

Mr Paul Brummell CMG was appointed Her Majesty’s Ambassador to the Republic of Latvia in July 2021. Previously he was Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Romania from 2014 until 2018 and has served as High Commissioner to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean.

Dana Diminescu is sociologist, Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor at Télécom Paris engineering school. She is known for her work on the “connected migrant”, (mobility and mobilisation, integration strategies, cross-bordering, web diasporas, ethnic business, migration lifecycles) and for several epistemological and methodological innovations in her research, questioning classical theories in migration studies.

Sandra Pralong was appointed State Advisor on August 27 2015. She is active in civil society, as well as an author, teacher, consultant, trainer and coach.

Dr David Webster has been involved in political, cultural and commercial projects linking the UK and Romania for over 15 years. His current roles include secretariat to the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Romania in the British parliament and Co-founder of a technology partnership supporting startups from across Europe scale to the UK.