Team & Contact

Johanna Lutz

Head of the Office
+43 (0) 1 890 3811 301
johanna.lutz(at)fes.de

Johanna Lutz studied Political Science, Public Law, and Intercultural Business Communication in Jena (Germany) and Cairo (Egypt). Prior to her current role heading the new FES regional office on Democracy in the OSCE region, based in Vienna, she was Deputy Head of the FES EU-Office in Brussels (2014-2019) and presided over the European Network of Political Foundations (ENoP) in Brussels (2018/19).

She has worked for a member of the German Parliament (Bundestag) (2009), and for the SPD Party Group in the Regional Parliament (Landtag) of Brandenburg (2010-2012), and early experience includes working for the political magazine Berliner Republik (2009-2012). Having also lived and worked in Brazil from 2001-02, and in 2005, Johanna appreciates and embraces working in an international environment.

Dr. Elena Avramovska

Senior Researcher for Democracy, Society and Youth
+43 (0) 1 890 3811 305
elena.avramovska(at)fes.de

Elena Avramovska, Ph.D., is a political scientist focusing on democratization, gender equality and policy developments. Her research was funded by the European Commission, the Swiss National Research Foundation and the Open Society Foundation. She holds an Erasmus Mundus Ph.D. in Political Sciences from the Université libre de Bruxelles and the University of Geneva, as well as an Erasmus Mundus Masters in Global Studies from the University of Leipzig and the University of Vienna. In the course of her Ph.D., she spent one year at the University of Oxford as a visiting researcher. Elena has worked for a variety of international and non-governmental organizations, including the European Parliament and the United Nations. At FES Democracy of the Future, she is lead project manager for the FES Youth Studies.

Michael Jennewein (on parental leave)

Researcher for Democracy and Economics
+43 (0) 1 890 3811 303
michael.jennewein(at)fes.de

Michael Jennewein, born and raised in Innsbruck (Austria), studied Philosophy & Economics (BA) at the University of Bayreuth in Germany and Technology Governance & Digital Transformation (MA) at Tallinn University of Technology in Estonia.

Before joining FES Democracy of the Future, he worked as an economist at the Vienna-based progressive think tank Momentum Institut. Earlier experience includes internships at the German NGO Lobbycontrol and at the Tyrolean representation at the EU in Brussels. His research interests include inequality, globalisation, public administration, e-governance, and economic & social policy. At FES Democracy of the Future, he is lead project manager for the project lines Inequality & Democracy and Right-Wing Populism.  

Dr. Ludwig List

Senior Researcher for Empirical Social and Trend Research
+43 (0) 1 890 3811 305
ludwig.list(at)fes.de

Born in Vienna, Ludwig List is an economist and academic who works with global challenges including poverty and economic inequality. While establishing himself, Ludwig obtained a bachelor degree from the University of Vienna, two master degrees from Kingston University (UK) and Université Paris 13 (France) and a PhD at Sorbonne Paris Nord. After working as a scientific advisor to the City of Vienna for two years, where Ludwig supervised studies, research and networking, he became a senior researcher at FES Democracy of the Future. Hitting the ground running, Ludwig advises other FES regional offices around the world on empirical social and trend research. Ludwig’s further research interests range from questions of industrial policy to economic policy and meta-analysis.

Dr. Filip Milačić

Senior Researcher for Democracy and Society
+43 (0) 1 890 3811 302
filip.milacic(at)fes.de

Filip Milačić, born in Podgorica, Montenegro. He has studied political sciences and Eastern European history at the University of Heidelberg, receiving his PhD from Humboldt University. Previously, he worked for the Organization for the Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) as well as at the University of Rijeka, University of Montenegro and in German Bundestag. He was also a visiting fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna. He is currently a research affiliate at Democracy Institute of the Central European University (CEU). At FES Democracy of the Future, he is lead project manager for the project lines Citizens' Assemblies and Polarisation & Democracy.

Latest publications:

• Stateness Issue and Democratic Consolidation: Lessons from Former Yugoslavia (Springer, 2022, forthcoming)
• Democratization of Democracy: The Conference on the Future of Europe as a Role Model? (Euractiv, 2022)
• Citizens' assemblies: New ways to democratize democracy (with Wolfgang Merkel and Andreas Schäfer)
• Europeanization and the Statehood Problem: The Cases of Croatia and Serbia (Nationalities Papers, 2020)
• Does the European solidarity extend to the Western Balkans too? (Social Europe, 2020)
• The Rise of the Politics of National Identity: New Evidence from Western Europe (with Ivan Vukovic, Ethnopolitics, 2018)
• Nationalstaatsbildung, Krieg und Konsolidierung der Demokratie. Kroatien, Serbien, und Montenegro (Springer, 2017)

Margarete Lengger

Communication Coordinator
+43 (0) 1 890 3811 205
margarete.lengger(at)fes.de

Margarete Lengger is Communications Coordinator at FES Vienna. Previously, she co-curated a feminist cultural festival, did internal communications for an organization undergoing a change process, and worked for a member of Parliament, among others. She was educated in political science at the University of Vienna and the Institute for Advanced Studies in Vienna with a short stint in Cuba.

Gloria Sack

Finance
+43 (0) 1 890 3811 204
gloria.sack(at)fes.de

Gloria Sack, born in Grevesmühlen (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Northern Germany), studied business administration at the Freie Universität Berlin with a focus on taxes and accounting. 

In July 2019, she started working for FES in Vienna. As a very experienced accountant, Gloria Sack is responsible for all matters concerning financial management and controlling.

Previously, she worked for the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in Berlin for seven years. Her main tasks were financial management and controlling of several offices in Eastern Central and South Eastern Europe and the EU office of the FES in Brussels. She also was in charge of auditing compliance with regulations and guidelines for the FES.

Krisztina Stefán

Office and Event Management
+43 (0) 1 890 3811 305
krisztina.stefan(at)fes.de

Born in Pécs (Hungary), she studied BA in International Relations and than MSc International Economy und Business at Andrássy University Budapest. Currently she is studying BA In Psychology at the University of Pécs. As one of the newest additions to the team, she started working at FES Democracy of Future in 2022. Her role is assisting in the coordination of projects, serving as a gateway between the different agents of the project, event management for ongoing projects and publications of the Democracy team and the smooth reinforcement of deadlines.

Previously she has been working at the Budapest Campus of FernUniversität in Hagen, a german distance university, with a focus on communication (including social media and PR), project and event management and administration.

Perigan Eraslan

Researcher for Democracy and Economics
+43 (0) 1 890 3811 303
perigan.eraslan(at)fes.de

Perigan Eraslan, born and raised in Upper Styria, studies Political Science at the University of Vienna. After getting her BSc in Economics at the Vienna University for Business and Economics, she worked as a junior economist and editorial intern at the Think Tank Momentum Institut. During her undergraduate studies she was editor of the Students Union Magazine progress.

Other work experience includes hosting socio-political Workshops at Schools and Trade Schools with the Austrian Chamber of Labor, an internship with the Austrian Financial Market Authority as well as other experience in communications and outreach-related occupations. Coming to us a parental leave substitute, she tackles the topics of rule-of-law in democracies, as well as polarization and strategies against right-wing populism.