Our collaborators

Alexandra Gil Taboas

Training and Knowledge Sharing and Business Development teams

alexandra.culturesolutionseu@gmail.com

Alexandra Gil is an independent consultant in the fields of international relations, cultural cooperation, events organization and EU project management. She coordinates the AECID training component of the EU-funded project “PROCULTURA”. In 2019, Alexandra was responsible for the organisation of the “Ibero-American Forum on Cultural Diplomacy of the Cities and the Agenda 2030”, hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Relations of Panama. She has worked on other assignments for the UNESCO, the Embassy of Spain in Senegal (where she co-managed EUNIC’s video mapping project “Dakar, carrefour de cultures”), FIIAPP, the European Commission, the Consulate General of Spain in Havana and the UNDP. 

Alexandra did her master’s degree on “EU International Relations and Diplomacy” at the College of Europe, in Bruges. Her thesis studied the evolution of the European Cultural cooperation in the Maghreb after the Arab Spring. Prior to that, she studied at the Diplomatic School of Spain, and passed her bachelor’s degree in “Advertising and Public Relations”. She also holds two University specialisations in creative economy and cultural management, and in conflict resolution and peacekeeping. Alexandra’s native languages are Spanish and Galician. She’s also fluent in English and French and has an intermediate level of Portuguese.

Ana Laura Martins

Special Assistant and Research team 

laura.culturesolutionseu@gmail.com

Ana Laura Martins is a young professional who recently completed her Master’s in Military History, which followed a degree in History (with a Minor in European Studies). Her academic interests focused on the socio-cultural and geopolitical fields. She is currently a Junior Collaborator at culture Solutions Europe, where she integrates the communications team, undertakes fundraising intelligence tasks and assists the board. Simultaneously, she is working at the General Library of the University of Coimbra, where she directly assists the board and organizes cultural activities, such as series of debates, exhibitions and conferences. At the same time she manages their presence on social media and is in charge of bringing younger audiences and the Library closer. She is part of Ludi Conimbrigensis, a project that aims to provide children and teenagers with direct contact with Classical culture. She participated in a university program, buddy, helping international students settling in.

Celia Zayas

Training and Knowledge Sharing and Research teams

celia.culturesolutionseu@gmail.com

Celia is interested in the intersections of intercultural dialogue, culture and human rights. Her experience at the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe and the EU External Action Service approached her to understand the potential for culture for a driving social change, especially linked to gender equality and human rights promotion, an area that she is currently developing working for the Spanish Development Agency (AECID), at the Spanish Cultural Centre of Malabo. She worked with culture Solutions on the development of a knowledge-sharing strategy for EU Delegations, and her area of research focuses on culture and decolonization.

She is a graduated on Political Science and Law from the Universidad de Granada and holds an MA on European Interdisciplinary Studies from the College of Europe. She also has experience in leading cultural projects and arts performance, particularly linked to photography and creative writing.

David Jisu Lee

Research team 

david.culturesolutionseu@gmail.com

David Jisu holds a Master’s Degree in Economic Law from Sciences Po Paris. He has previously worked at a multinational law firm in Luxembourg. As a young professional working in the field of international law, he believes that bridging cultural gaps between societies is key to creating norms that are fair and effective in handling transnational issues. David is currently researching on cultural diversity in the private sector, and endeavours to promote greater cultural cooperation between Europe and Asia.

Gabrielle Bernoville

Research and Who’s who teams

gabrielle.culturesolutionseu@gmail.com

Ilaria Scarmagnan

Business Development and Fundraising Teams

ilaria.culturesolutionseu@gmail.com

Ilaria Scarmagnan is a young Italian student passionate about cultural matters. Following a bachelor’s degree in International Science and Diplomacy, she is currently attending a master’s degree course in Public and Cultural Diplomacy at the University of Siena (Italy). 

Her academic background focuses on multidisciplinary aspects related to international relations and cultural issues. In the meantime, she is working on her thesis concerning the role of culture in the EU foreign policy towards Russia.

Curiosity, determination, and patience are some of Ilaria’s best qualities. Her main interests include cultural exchanges, art exhibitions, and eco-friendly approaches. 

Previously, she did some volunteering experiences in the cultural field: she became adviser of Club per l’UNESCO Gorizia and main coordinator of the global #MAKEHERITAGEFUN campaign. Then, while doing her Erasmus in Bordeaux, Ilaria collaborated with Association Odysée as tourist guide for foreign groups. 

Ina Kokinova

Web editor and Research team

ina.culturesolutionseu@gmail.com

Ina is in her last year of a double bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Protocol, Event Management and Corporate Communication. She is currently writing her thesis on the Cultural Diplomacy of the European Union with a special attention to the relations with China. Ina is in charge of culture Solutions’ web editing and also contributes to the communications and research teams. Her area of interest is digitalisation and internet and she recently carried out a research on UNESCO’s promotion of cultural diversity in the digital era as part of a specialisation at the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy.

Simultaneously, Ina is part of the association Equipo Europa which promotes the European values among the youth and fosters their political participation. At Equipo Europa Ina is the communications coordinator, the leader of the working group on European identity and a researcher in the working group on cyber security. After leaving her home in Bulgaria Ina has lived in Spain and the United Kingdom, and apart from fluency in Spanish and English, she also has an advanced level of Chinese and an intermediate of Russian and Italian.

Marii Väljataga

Research team

marii.culturesolutionseu@gmail.com

Marii Väljataga is a researcher and research coordinator. She holds a PhD in History from the European University Institute in Florence. She is particularly interested in topics involving memory cultures, public history, the environment and the arts. In her dissertation she considers a network of three 20th-century socio-political upheavals for an exploration of how Eastern European memory places and narratives responded to, and participated in, political
shifts. She has worked for the National Library of Estonia and the European Commission’s DG EAC.
Over the last 5 years, Marii’s work has been closely linked to environmental concerns – she is a founding member of the European Footprints initiative, a grassroots organization that develops teaching resources on SDGs with a special focus on artistic expression and storytelling. She is also a jazz musician, and an in-house composer and artistic advisor for BPW’s (International Federation of Business and Professional Women) movement “Together for a Green and Sustainable World”.

Musa Igrek

Research team

musa.culturesolutionseu@gmail.com

Musa Igrek is a researcher and he worked as an arts and culture journalist more than a decade between Istanbul and London. He holds a PhD from the Institute for Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship at Goldsmiths, University of London and a MA in Cultural Policy and Management from Sheffield Hallam University, UK. His research and teaching interests are cultural diplomacy, cultural relations, domestic and foreign cultural policy, international organisations, hegemony, public diplomacy, strategic communication and national identity / national image. He is currently working on a book about the UK’s cultural and public diplomacy activities in Turkey. He is based in London, and speaks Turkish, English and Arabic.

Nicole McNeilly

Training and Knowledge Sharing coordinator

nicole.culturesolutionseu@gmail.com

As a researcher, evaluator, facilitator and project manager based in the Netherlands, hailing from Northern Ireland and with professional experience in regions including Russia, Europe, the UK and South Asia, Nicole McNeilly is an internationally-experienced cultural professional and a skilled intercultural communicator. Her strengths lie in policy, research and evaluation, and she has worked with organisations including the British Council, Arts Council England and Europeana Foundation. 

She has a unique sector perspective stemming from her training as a musician and composer and complemented by her later study on cultural policy and governance. In her MA, she investigated the role of equality legislation as implicit cultural policy in Northern Ireland’s post-conflict context. Nicole’s professional research interests lie across culture, the creative industries and heritage, and in contemporary debates around digitisation, accessibility, and equality and diversity. She is a regular contributor to Dutch and Russian contemporary art platforms.

Szilvia Nagy

Research team

szilvia.culturesolutionseu@gmail.com

Szilvia Nagy is a policy researcher, project manager and founder of Local Operators’ Platform (LOCOP), a network and research platform to facilitate dialogues between researchers, local operators and cultural practitioners. She is a PhD candidate in Public Policy at the Doctoral School of Political Science, Public Policy and International Relations at Central European University, Vienna. Her research interests are at the junction of foreign policy and cultural policy and encompass global governance, external governance, relationality and orchestration. In her research approach, she builds on critical policy ethnography and interpretive policy analysis, and her expertise lies in cultural policy analysis; participatory approaches – especially participatory policy-making methods and participatory action research (PAR) –; community development and cultural sustainability. She has wide experience of working with civil society, international NGOs and local operators. She has also collaborated with and provided expertise for many European Capitals of Culture cities, EUNIC network projects and Goethe-Institut programmes. She has an education in photography and worked for several years as a curator of contemporary art.