Arjan Dyrmishi 
Executive Director and Founder

Arjan Dyrmishi is the Executive Director and Founder of the Centre for the Study of Democracy and Governance. His experience includes both the government and non-government sectors. He has held different senior positions in the Albanian government, including the Prime Minister’s office, the Ministry of Defence, the National Intelligence Service and the State Minister for Diaspora. In the non-government sector he has written a number of publications in the field of security sector reform and governance, regional security and diplomacy, governance, democratisation and anticorruption. He has frequently appeared in the media and public events to comment and advocate on matters related to those fields.

Besnik Baka
Communications Associate

Besnik Baka graduated  in Journalism and Communication (University of Tirana) and holds two post-graduates degrees: MA in Global Journalism (Orebro University & Oslo University College) and MA in Democracy and Human Rights (University of Sarajevo & University of Bologna). He has been involved in the civil society milieu in Albania since 2008 as a researcher, public communication officer and project manager. His fields of expertise include human rights, security studies, environmental issues and democratic governance. He has been involved as a communication officer with various national and international organizations and has a long expertise in designing and implementing communication plans, long/short term communication strategies, campaigns and related Public Relations interventions.

Mirsada Hallunaj 

Researcher and Project Manager

Mirsada Hallunaj was graduated in Political Science from the University of Tirana and has completed a Master’s Program on Public Administration (MPA) from University of Tirana & University of Nebraska. She has completed a number of international training and qualification programs in the areas of anticorruption, security, terrorism and counterterrorism, human rights, EU, and international relations. Her previous working and professional experience with civil society and other international organizations in Albania has focused mainly on projects related to public administration, anticorruption, elections and other governance matters. The respective research studies conducted in the framework of these projects have been published and presented in public events or conferences.

Nino Strati
Project Coordinator

Nino Strati has graduated in Law from Tirana University. He has experience in both the government and the nongovernment sector in which he has engaged as a researcher and policy activist in the field of European Integration. More specifically his focus in on studying EU acquis, as well as the coordination of institutions/individuals that lead to the strengthening of public knowledge on the European integration processes. His experience in the government includes work as a specialist at the EU Integration, Coordination and Assistance Unit in the Ministry of Justice. Currently, he is working as Project coordinator of the project “Improved Policy Debate and Accountability to Delivering on Fundamentals First, through the Establishment of Cluster One EU Negotiations Platform-Albania (C1-EU-NPA)”, which aims to support Albania’s EU accession negotiations related to Cluster One chapters (fundamentals first) through improved policy debate and strengthened accountability and CSOs role in the process.

Geron Kamberi
Associate Researcher

Geron Kamberi is an Associate Researcher on the area of EU integration and security. In the period 2016-2019 he worked as Executive Director of National Agency for Scientific Research and Innovation – NASRI, a public body entity whose main role and responsibilities is to fund the national research projects and coordinate EU Research and Innovation Framework Programme. Mr. Kamberi hold a MA Degree in European Politics from Sussex European Institute – UK and brings extensive experience from international NGO sector working on policy issues, analytical work and project management. He has worked for a long period as Programme Coordinator at Open Society Foundation – Albania as well as Policy and Advocacy Officer of two important international NGO based in Tirana as Oxfam GB Office and World Vision Tirana and Kosova Office.  His expertise especially in EU related issues, security as well as on development and regional policy have been highly relevant in its work as associate researcher of different Albanian think – tanks. His research works has resulted to of number research policy papers written as author or co-author including several articles on EU –Albania relationships published at national daily newspapers.

Anila Shehi (Dollani)
Researcher

Anila Shehi (Dollani) was graduated in Law (Luarasi University) and holds a MA Degree in International and European Law (European University of Tirana). She has 14 years of general professional experience in government and non-government sectors. Her experiences consist in providing the expertise to improve programming and monitoring processes and institutional capacity building, conducting evaluations and research with particular emphasis in the areas of public administration, justice, security, human rights, democratic governance and European Integration related issues.

Klaudia Koxha
Researcher / Communication and Outreach Specialist

Klaudia Koxha has obtained a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Tirana, and after she continued her MA studies in the same field at the University of Salzburg. Her experience includes participating in projects focusing on law enforcement at the local level, and research projects and coordination at the regional level of Southeast Europe. Research interest focuses on European integration, democratization and anti-corruption. She is currently a PhD candidate and researcher at the Salzburg Centre of European Union Studies, researching the European integration process in the Western Balkans.

Brixhilda Filopati
Finance Officer 

Brixhilda Filopati holds a MA on European Economic Studies from University of Tirana – Faculty of Business and Economy. Previously, she has obtained a BA in Management from the same university. She has been working as financial officer since 2003 managing the finances of multiple projects – European projects, cross-borders and cross-institutional – with different profiles. In addition, she has been the head financial manager of multi-partners collaboration programs and been responsible for all aspects of contract financial management including: analysis of spending, forecasts and payment, cash flow projections, control and processing of budget realignments, preparation of donor and internal management reports, and monitoring project spending.

Temali
Graphic Web Specialist, Designer, IT

Is an IT, digital illustration and graphic designer expert, with an extensive experience of over 15 years who can code and design websites, engage in user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design. His experience includes the design and launch of numerous websites in the education sphere (University of Tirana and Durres etc.) public institutions such as President of Republic of Albania, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Internal Affairs and dozens of subordinated institutions. Furthermore, the experience in this area goes beyond public institutions when he has shown extensive support to international organizations such as: UNDP, GIZ, HELVETAS, UN, SAVE THE CHILDREN, TERRE DES HOMME etc.