2024 Fellows

  • Co-founder, New Left; Former Minister of Labour, Social Security and Social Solidarity; Member of Parliament

    Effie Achtsioglou is a Member of the Greek Parliament and one of the founding members of the newly formed party: New Left. When she was nominated as Minister of Labour, Social Security, and Social Solidarity in 2016, she became the country’s youngest female minister at 31.

    In her time as MP, Effie served as Shadow Minister of Finance (2020-2023), Shadow Minister of Labour and Social Security (2019-2020), Vice Chairperson of the Constitutional Reform Committee (2019). In her time as  Minister of Labour, Social Security, and Social Solidarity (2016-2019), she was the chief negotiator with major international financial Institutions during Greece’s third economic adjustment programme, on matters of labour market reform, social security, and welfare policies. As Minister, she championed several legislative reforms on labour rights––including relaunching collective bargaining, wage setting, restrictions on unfair dismissals and undeclared work––and fighting child poverty.

    Effie joined SYRIZA (the Coalition of the Radical Left) at the age of 22. In the September 2023 party leadership contest, she was put forth as a leadership candidate but was unsuccessful in the final rounds despite securing an impressive  45 percent of the party members' votes. Later in 2023 she became a founding member of the New Left.

    Effie is a lawyer and holds a Phd in Labour Law and a Master’s degree in Public Law and Political Science. She was a Research Associate at the Centre of International and European Economic Law in Greece and at the Faculty of Law of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, and has given numerous lectures in international forums and published extensively on social and economic policy, as well as labour rights. She is also the mother of a three-year-old boy.

  • Deputy Party Leader, Labour Party; Minister of Labour and Social Inclusion

    Tonje Brenna is a Norwegian politician currently serving as Norway's Minister of Labour and Inclusion in Jonas Gahr Støre's government. She was elected as deputy leader of the Labour Party in May 2023 and served as the Minister of Education from 2021 to 2023. Formerly, she was chairwoman of the Viken county cabinet. 

    Tonje has been a member in the Storting for Akershus since 2007 and was deputy leader of  Akershus Labor Party from 2017 to 2019. She has also worked as a political advisor in the Ministry of Justice and Emergency Preparedness and the Prime Minister's office. Tonje was general secretary of Arbeidernes ungdomfylking (AUF) from 2010 to 2012 and previously worked as youth secretary of LO in Akershus and Oslo.

    In the spring of 2023, Tonje edited an anthology called Hode og hender: Learning, trust and community in a more practical school in collaboration with Tankesmien Agenda. She was among 26 academic and political contributors who wrote about their visions for the school of the future. Tonje herself graduated upper secondary school but did not complete any higher education.In her time as MP, Effie served as Shadow Minister of Finance (2020-2023), Shadow Minister of Labour and Social Security (2019-2020), Vice Chairperson of the Constitutional Reform Committee (2019). In her time as  Minister of Labour, Social Security, and Social Solidarity (2016-2019), she was the chief negotiator with major international financial Institutions during Greece’s third economic adjustment programme, on matters of labour market reform, social security, and welfare policies. As Minister, she championed several legislative reforms on labour rights––including relaunching collective bargaining, wage setting, restrictions on unfair dismissals and undeclared work––and fighting child poverty.

    Tonje is a survivor of the Utøya terrorist attack on July 22, 2011. At the time, she was the General Secretary of the Workers' Youth League and was present at the camp where the attack took place. In the aftermath, she took on responsibility for taking care of loved ones, victims, and survivors.

  • Party Leader, Social Democrats; Teachta Dála

    Holly Cairns is the Leader of the Social Democrats and a Teachta Dála (TD) for Cork South-West. At 33, Holly is the youngest party leader in the Dáil. 

    Like so many of her generation, Holly was forced to emigrate after the 2008 financial crash. After working in disability services abroad she returned  home to take on her family farm and business. After campaigning to improve reproductive rights in the 2018 Repeal the 8th referendum, Holly stood in the 2019 local elections. She won a seat on Cork County Council by a single vote and was later elected as a TD in 2020.

    Holly is an outspoken and passionate contributor to Dáil debates, from holding the government to account for locking an entire generation out of home ownership, to fighting for fairer compensation for survivors of mother and baby homes. A farmer and an environmentalist, Holly is a firm believer in the need to diversify Ireland’s agricultural sector in order to protect biodiversity, improve food security, and secure a profitable future for local farming.

  • Co-founder, Democratic Coalition; Member of European Parliament

    Klára Dobrev is an economist and lawyer, with experience in public administration, business, academia, as well as voluntary work. She is a specialist for EU integration, cohesion policy, and financial law. 

    Mrs. Dobrev obtained a doctorate in law at the Eötvös Loránd University of Budapest, and a master’s degree in economics at the Budapest (Corvinus) University of Economics, specialising in EU and international affairs. At the start of her professional career, Klára Dobrev worked in the Hungarian public administration. First at the Ministry of Finance later she was Vice President of the National Development Office, the institution responsible for the management of EU cohesion policy in Hungary. 

    From 2009 onwards, Mrs. Dobrev headed a consulting company active in public as well as private sector consulting. Her work focussed on economic and social development, EU cohesion policy in member states, and the pre-accession process on the Western Balkans, Turkey and the Eastern Neighbourhood of the EU. Her clients included the European Commission as well as major international donors, such as the OECD, the German, Swiss and Austrian governments. She also worked as an assistant professor at the Law Faculty of the Eötvös Loránd University of Budapest, teaching public finance law, and authoring textbooks on the subject.

    Klára Dobrev obtained her mandate to the European Parliament in 2019 as the Lead Candidate of the Democratic Coalition party. Between 2019 and 2022 she served as Vice President of the European Parliament, representing the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats. Between 2022 and 2024 Mrs. Dobrev led the shadow government of the Democratic Coalition as Shadow Prime Minister. In the 2024 European Parliament election she was again the Lead Candidate of the party and was re-elected for the new term. 

    She speaks five languages and has raised five children.

  • Former State Secretary for European Affairs

    Kalinka currently leads a multi-million EU project designed to contribute to the improvement of air quality in North Macedonia. Specifically targeting four cities designated as air pollution hotspots in the country, the project seeks to reduce pollution levels, identify sources of contamination, and enhance the overall air quality in urban areas through transition to clean energy heating systems in public buildings, procurement of eco-friendly transportation, promoting urban greening initiatives and establishment of top-notch air quality monitoring practices.

    Previously, Kalinka served as State Secretary for European Affairs in the Government of North Macedonia (2018-2022) and then as Special Advisor on Public Administration Reform to the General Secretary of Government. Prior to that, she spent most of her professional life in civil society, first as project coordinator and executive director of Forum – Center for Strategic Research and Documentation (2005-2011) and then as program director of Progres – Institute for Social Democracy (2013-1018), focusing on political analysis, education and training, democratic capacity building and policy development in the area of gender equality and social issues.

    Kalinka is and was a member of advisory and executive boards of a number of renowned national and international organizations, including CEE Gender Network, Transparency Macedonia, the German Marshall Fund, and the Bertelsman Foundation Transformation Index. She has also been engaged as consultant of various projects implemented by UNDP, UNOPS, FDCO, OECD/SIGMA, NIRAS, and IRI.

  • Deputy Chairwoman, Social Democratic Party of Austria; Member of Parliament

    Julia was born in rural Austria to a middle class family. She was a first generation university student and started her career in politics at sixteen as a member of Socialist Youth Austria. She later became the organisation’s first female–and youngest ever–president in its 120-year long history. After six years as President, she participated in the national Austrian election and entered parliament as the youth candidate of the Social Democratic Party. There, she has worked for the last five years as speaker on environmental issues and within her first legislative period, was elected deputy leader of her parliamentary group.

  • Minister of Equality, New Left

    Katarzyna Kotula is a politician, educator, and social activist, currently serving as Poland's inaugural Minister of Equality. Since 2019, she has been a member of the Sejm of Poland, representing the New Left political party.

    Katarzyna is a prominent leader of the All-Poland Women's Strike movement. She initiated and chaired the first-ever Parliamentary Group for Reproductive Rights, collaborating with civil society partners, female activists, and fellow politicians to combat the effects of Poland's total abortion ban. Additionally, she serves on the Committee for Social Policy and Family and the standing subcommittee for Family. Throughout her career, Katarzyna has been dedicated to advocating for women's rights and the rights of people with disabilities, particularly focusing on reforming anti-abortion laws.

    In 2020, she served as vice-chair for Civil Legislation, aiming to liberalize Poland's abortion laws following the total ban. Katarzyna was the first politician to publicly admit, in Parliament, that she had assisted women in accessing abortion services since 1997, despite the legal risks. In 2021, she courageously shared her personal experience of being sexually abused as a child by her tennis coach, who was then the Head of the Polish Tennis Association. Her revelation ignited a national debate on sexual abuse in sports, leading to significant legislative changes in the governance of Polish sports.

    Katarzyna has also organized and participated in numerous protests and events advocating for human rights. She has been a vocal defender of victims of pedophilia within the Church and continues to fight for justice and equality across various social issues.

  • Deputy Minister of Interior, Albanian Socialist Party

    Romina Kuko is the Deputy Minister of Interior of Albania and the President of the City Council of Tirana. She is a security sector expert with a long experience in public administration and international organisations. 

    From 2010 to 2017, she was with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe where she managed a vast portfolio of Countering Violent Extremism through Community Engagement, Community Policing and Interreligious Dialogue. She has authored numerous academic papers within Albania and abroad focusing on shifting security dynamics in the Western Balkans and their impact on broader regional stability. 

    From 2006 to 2010, she worked at the Ministry of Defence, Euro-Atlantic Integration and Defence Policy Directorate where she served as a Desk Officer for Eastern and South-Eastern Europe and participated in bilateral negotiations with NATO member states. 

    Romina is an instrumental part of Albania’s negotiating team for EU accession talks and is also Chair of the Inter-Institutional Working Group for Chapter 24 of the Acquis Communautaire "Justice, Freedom and Security.”

    Romina holds a Bachelor of Sciences (Honours) in Psychology from the University of Sheffield, as well as a MSc in International Relations and Diplomacy. She is also fluent in four languages.

  • Member of Parliament, Labour Party; Vice President, Party of European Socialists

    Born in Hungary and raised in the Netherlands, Kati has been Member of Parliament for the Dutch Labour Party (PvdA) since 2021, when she entered as the highest newcomer. She was re-elected in 2023 on a joint list between PvdA and the GroenLinks (the Green Party), an alliance that she has been one of the driving forces behind. For the last three years, she has been a member of parliamentary leadership, including deputy leader for a period of two years.

    Prior to entering the Dutch parliament, Kati was a Member of European Parliament from 2014-2021. During this period, she held various functions in the parliament and the party, including international secretary of the PvdA, vice-president of the S&D Group, and member of the party board. Her portfolio in both the European and the Dutch parliament is foreign affairs and migration.

    Beyond her parliamentary work in The Netherlands, Kati chairs the PES foreign affairs network, is serving her second year as VP of the PES, and is a member of the European Council on Foreign Relations. In her free time, she loves to travel, spend time with her nephew and niece, and enjoys taking friends on boat trips.

  • Former Secretary General, Democratic Party

    Tamara Tripić has been politically engaged in Serbia since the early 90s when she was part of the opposition to Slobodan Milosevic. Before the October changes in 2000, she participated in the campaign for the parliamentary and presidential elections and was in charge of pre-election activities in Western Serbia. From 2000 to 2001, she was the secretary of the Program Council, and in October 2001, she was appointed secretary of the Statutory Commission. During the parliamentary campaign in 2003, she was the head of the Secretariat of the Central Election Headquarters. Tamara was also a member of the Executive Board of the DS, and worked as the personal secretary of the President of the Republic of Serbia. In 2006, she was elected as the Secretary of the Democratic Party and successfully re-elected in 2011. She then remained a Member of Parliament in the 2012-2014 convocation. In 2013, she co-founded the Women’s Parliamentary Network of Serbia, an important mechanism for cooperation and building trust among women parliamentarians from different parties and contesting gender equality. 

    Most recently, Tamara initiated the ratification of the Istanbul Convention–on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence–in the Serbian Parliament. She also helped build the opposition coalition against the populist government in Serbia. Tamara was one of the founders of the Democratic Dialogue Network, an organisation dedicated to building stronger connections between citizens and politicians in order to promote peace, dialogue and, democratic values. She also holds a law degree and has participated in several seminars and forums both in Serbia and abroad. Over the last decade, Tamara has been invited as a speaker at numerous protest events and helps organise the collection and distribution of humanitarian aid for the vulnerable population in Kosovo and Metohija.

  • Spokesperson, Socialist Party; Member of the European Parliament

    Chloé Ridel is a 32-year-old French political activist, ecosocialist, and feminist and spokesperson for the French Socialist Party. In June 2024, Chloé was elected to the European Parliament.

    Before entering politics, she founded and chaired an association called Mieux Voter, dedicated to democratic innovation. Through Mieux Voter, she participated in the organisation of the Popular Primary, a citizen vote based on majority judgement to decide between several left-wing candidates in the 2022 presidential elections. The initiative brought together 400,000 voters. In 2020, Chloé also co-founded Institut Rousseau, a think tank focused on ecological issues and the fight against social inequalities.

    Professionally, Chloé worked at the Ministry of the Economy and engaged with EU finance ministers while they negotiated Brexit. In 2019, she spent six months in Bucharest to help prepare for the Romanian presidency of the European Union. Afterwards, she served on the board of directors of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and returned to the Ministry of Economy where she worked with struggling businesses. 

    She is also an author whose latest book focuses on the crisis of the European project against the backdrop of a rising extreme right and the war in Ukraine.

  • Cultural Spokesperson, Swedish Social Democratic Party; Member of the Riksdag

    Lawen Redar is a Swedish MP and the cultural policy spokesperson for the Social Democrats, currently leading their efforts to create a new integration policy. She has been a member of the Riksdag since 2015 and was elected for the constituency of Stockholm Municipality. She is a regular member of the culture committee. 

    Lawen has made a name for herself on issues of consent legislation, crime prevention in highly-prone residential areas, crimes of honour, and legislation against terrorist travel. She is also a staunch advocate for progressive capital taxation.

    Prior to her membership in the Riksdag, she ran in the 2014 parliamentary election and became a substitute. Lawen was the acting minister substitute for Stefan Löfven, after which she was appointed as a new regular member of parliament when Veronica Palm resigned from the assignment. 

    Prior to her political career, Lawen worked at Save the Children's national association and Stockholm's City Mission. She graduated from Stockholm University with a law degree in 2017.

  • Secretary General, Democratic Party; Member of Parliament

    Elly Schlein was first elected to the Italian Parliament in September 2022, then in February 2023 won an open primary for Secretary General of Italy’s Partito Democratico in an upset victory. Previously, she was the Vice President of Emilia-Romagna, where she formed and headed the civic list Coraggiosa and was the top voted councillor in that election, one of the most voted in the history of the region. Before that, as a Member of the European Parliament, Elly built a reputation in Brussels as a champion of migration reform.

    She began her career in grassroots movements where she was an indispensable advocate for equality, environmental sustainability, and workers’ rights. That same bold and unapologetic progressive leadership has branded Elly’s journey into electoral politics.

    Now, her goal is to rebuild the center left in Italy and fight Giorgia Meloni and the far-right.

  • Former Minister of the Presidency, Socialist Party; Member of Parliament

    Mariana Guimarães Vieira da Silva is a Portuguese sociologist and politician who formerly served as Minister of the Presidency in António Costa's XXIII Constitutional Government. During Prime Minister António Costa’s first Government, Mariana served as the Secretary of State Assistant to the Prime Minister from 2015 to 2019 and then became the Minister of the Presidency and Administrative Modernisation.  

    In 2005, Mariana worked as Advisor to the Minister of Education for four years. She was also part of the steering team for the Public Policy Forum at ISCTE and was a member of the Descobrir Advisory Board––the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation’s Programme for Culture and Science.

    Mariana holds a degree in sociology from ISCTE-IUL and is working toward a PhD in Public Policy at ISCTE. She was a published researcher at CIES-IUL where she focused her work on education, health, and public policy.