Irina Ciornei: Ramon y Cajal Research Fellow in the Department of Political Science at the UAB
She holds a PhD in Political Science from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Her work spans the fields of European Union politics, public policy, and migration studies. Irina’s main research area is within the field of European Union politics and policymaking, where she studies the effects of European distributive and redistributive policies on mass publics. Irina is coordinating a research project on the effect of Next Generation EU funds on the political opinions of economic actors. The project is entitled “Business and politics. How NGEU funds shape EU support (EUBUSINESS)” and is funded by the Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities from September 2024 to August 2028.
Gabriel Rodríguez Molina: PhD candidate in the Politics, Policies and International Relations (PPIR) program at the UAB, where he also works as a research assistant on the EUBUSINESS project
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations (2022) from the Complutense University of Madrid and a Master’s degree in Computational Social Sciences (2024) from Carlos III University of Madrid. His research interests include European politics, political economy, data politics, and interest groups. He has previously collaborated with other universities and research institutions, including the Complutense Institute of Administrative Science at the Complutense University of Madrid and Fundación Carolina (Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs).
Hakan Yapar: PhD candidate in the Politics, Policies and International Relations (PPIR) program at the UAB, where he is also working for the EUBUSINESS project
His areas of research interest include European politics, political economy, and public opinion. He obtained a master’s degree in Geopolitics and Strategic Studies at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and International Relations at Bahçeşehir University. He has previously worked for research institutes, development agencies and international organizations in various capacities.
Zsófia S. Ignácz: Lecturer at the Institute of Sociology, Goethe University Frankfurt
Her work focuses on justice research, social inequalities, stratification and mobility, attitude research, and European solidarity, with a particular emphasis on quantitative methodology and structural equation modeling (SEM). She earned her Ph.D. in sociology at Humboldt University Berlin with a dissertation on justice attitudes in post-socialist countries and has held academic positions at the Free University Berlin and Europa-Universität Flensburg.
Alessandro Pellegata: Associate Professor of Political Science at the Department of Social and Political Sciences of the University of Milan.
His research focuses on electoral competition, political representation, public opinion, corruption, and European solidarity. He has taken part in major international projects such as SOLID and REScEU, and is co-author of Political Leadership in Africa (Cambridge University Press, 2020). At Milan, he teaches courses on comparative politics, European politics, and global challenges to democracy, and serves on the faculty board of the NASP doctoral program in Political Studies.