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Associate Analysts
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Katariina Mustasilta was a Senior Associate Analyst dealing with conflict research at the EUISS from May 2019 to February 2021. Her research applied both quantitative and qualitative methods to study the drivers of countries’ internal conflicts and how to prevent violent escalation, the dynamics of civil resistance, and local peace and conflict dynamics. She was the Editor of the EUISS Conflict Series.
Yana Popkostova was an Associate Analyst at EUISS from 2021-2023. Yana was responsible for the environmental security portfolio, and investigated the compound security challenges posed by climate change, environmental degradation, and ecosystems depletion, focusing on mechanisms to mitigate and prevent impacts on European security and foreign policy.
Yana is a geopolitics of energy expert. She has established record of engagement on geopolitical, governance and commodities volatility. Her work at the energy-climate-geopolitics nexus has been featured in edited volumes, expert publications, and high-level industry events.
Yana is the founder of the European Centre for Energy and Geopolitical Analysis, an Advisory Board Member of the World Energy & Meteorology Council, and a Trilemma expert at the World Energy Council.
Prior experience includes the European Parliament, the European Climate Foundation, and as an expert reviewer for the IPCC 1.5 ̊C report. She was an inaugural recipient of the EUI Policy Leaders Fellowship.
Yana holds a postgraduate degree from the London School of Economics (LSE).
Clara Portela was a Senior Associate Analyst at the EUISS from 2019 to June 2021, having previously served as a full-time faculty member in Political Science at the University of Valencia (Spain) and Singapore Management University (Singapore). Her research focuses on arms control, non-proliferation and disarmament, as well as on multilateral sanctions policies. She holds a PhD from the European University Institute in Florence and an MA from the Free University of Berlin, and she is the recipient of the THESEUS Award for Promising Research on European Integration. Clara Portela has been a Visiting Professor at the OSCE Academy in Bishkek, the College of Europe, and the University of Innsbruck, and has held visiting positions with the University of London’s Human Rights Consortium (UK), Carleton University (Canada), the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Grenoble (France), and Monash University (Australia).
Giuseppe Spatafora is an Associate Analyst at the EU Institute for Security Studies (EUISS), where he leads the portfolio on transatlantic and EU-NATO relations. In this capacity, he monitors trends and policy developments related to EU-US and NATO-EU relations, as well as the broader transatlantic relationship (North and South), covering the full range of security challenges.
Before joining the EUISS, Giuseppe worked at NATO’s Policy Planning Unit, in the Office of the Secretary General. He provided policy advice on strategic issues such as support to Ukraine, strengthening transatlantic ties, strategic foresight and emerging threats. He served in the EU-NATO Task force on the resilience of critical infrastructure, coordinated the Secretary General’s Annual Report for 2022 and 2023, and supported NATO’s reflection process on the southern neighbourhood.
Giuseppe is completing a PhD (DPhil) at the University of Oxford. His dissertation focuses on external support and foreign intervention. He has authored articles and book chapters on proxy wars, NATO and European security. He holds an MPhil from Oxford and a BA from John Cabot University in Rome.
Dr Amaia Sánchez-Cacicedo was a Non-resident Associate Analyst in charge of the South Asia portfolio at the EUISS from September 2022 to July 2024. She contributed to the analysis of South Asian security and foreign policy, focusing especially on India, Afghanistan and Pakistan. She also monitored ongoing security developments in South Asia and relations with the EU.
Amaia is a graduate of Georgetown University and completed her PhD at the Politics and International Studies Department of the School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS), University of London. Her PhD research culminated in her first book "Building States, Building Peace: Global and Regional Involvement in Sri Lanka and Myanmar", Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.
Before joining the EUISS, Amaia was an adjunct professor at IE University in Madrid where she taught courses on peace and conflict resolution, as well as on the international relations of Asia. She also taught at SOAS and the University of Zurich and worked for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Costa Rica, Kenya and Sri Lanka.