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 and Youth Studies
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.

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).

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)

Michael Jennewein

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 think tank Momentum Institut. Early 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.  

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 at FES ROCPE 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- und Eventmanagement
+43 (0) 1 890 3811 205
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 will be assisting in the coordination of projects, serving as a gateway between the different agents of the project, eventmanagement 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 eventmanagement and administration.