How does it feel to be back in Florence?

I am so excited to be back at the STG for the conference on foreign interference for which I am also a panel moderator.

It is a great professional opportunity for me and a chance to reconnect with my former colleagues and friends.

And what was your overall experience at the Florence STG?

I think my current achievements and success hugely rely on what I have learned from the school and the faculties.

I'm a research person and for me , research methodology and research design are key.

All the topics I am learning about now actually come from the STG. The brilliant researchers and faculties of the EUI helped me go through the curriculum, organise different workshops and enabled me to educate myself on different research developments.

For all that I have learned about research, I am indebted to the School of Transnational Governance.

What was the most valuable lesson you learned here?

I learned diversity, while at the same time, unity, this is brilliant.

My cohort was very diverse but at the same time we were very united, and we still are.

We support each other even three years after our graduation and now we are in different countries and even continents.

And I think this attitude is still with us.

So this is what I definitely learned from the school, from my faculties, mentors, supervisors, and from my peers - that we need to support each other and we need to help each other in our career and in our life. This is one of the brilliant lessons learned for myself and I really try to keep it with myself and to spread it to my new colleagues right now in Brussels.

What skills did you develop during the master's study that you use in your current role?

I would say that I learned quantitative research from the program.

I had zero knowledge at the time, but I attended a couple of workshops organised by the school and that was not really part of the curriculum.

So, I think this is point number one for me because I continue my career in PhD and I think that's key for me.

The second skill that I learned from the program was the mix of practice and research.

And I think that's also very helpful for me to not only focus on theory, but also know what happens in the world, and ongoing developments.

I think this combination of method, theory, and practice really enabled me to understand developments about any topics that I'm currently working on.

How has your experience at the Master in Transnational Governance changed or shaped your worldview?

Well, interestingly, the program is one of the few programs that I know that is a combination of theory and practice, and I think that combination is very insightful for me, that not really see everything through books or papers, but also learn and understand the world through real developments, through real practice that sometimes it gives us another layer of complexity, absolutely, but also it enhances our understanding.

So I would say that this combination is very key and still I have it because I think that for any current developments or future developments, this holistic approach is required.

What does being part of the STG alumni community mean to you personally and professionally?

I had a great cohort. My colleagues, my peers, and my friends are absolutely brilliant and outstanding. I'm still in touch with them and we try to occasionally organise reunions. I think that the collective aspect within the cohort and also within the community at large is great.

I'm always looking for any opportunity to come back to Florence, to meet new people, but also colleagues and friends here at the STG and the EUI.

Generally, I think that the community is very supportive. It is very helpful physically when I'm here, but also virtually via different platforms that they support and encourage me.

And I really like this attitude that there is always support from the community, but also from my friends and my colleagues.

What was your favorite class and why?

My favorite class was The Knots and Bolts of Transnational Governance which was in my first semester. That is where we learned everything about transnational governance from Professor Diane Stone. That was brilliant, because we really learned about transnational governance.

Second, it was very interactive and dynamic. It was not just a monologue from the lecturer, but also my friends, including myself, also presented. We did not present only conventional old topics, but also ongoing developments, and topics that are relevant to transnational governance.

And the third point is, again, the very mix of theory and practice. So, we had some practitioners as guest speakers, but we had some very high-level lecturers and thinkers.

I think this combination, alongside the two other factors, made me name The Knots and Bolts of Transnational Governance as my favorite class.

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The EUI Alumni Testimonials series offers a glimpse into the diverse paths and experiences of our alumni. Through their stories, we revisit meaningful moments from their time at the EUI and discover how these experiences continue to shape their personal and professional journeys.

Stay tuned and follow #EUIalumni on LinkedIn, Facebook, BlueSky, Instagram, and Youtube to explore more stories from across our global alumni community.

Disclaimer: All information reported in this article reflects solely the perspective of EUI alumni and former EUI members. In no case does this article represent the view of the organisations the interviewees are affiliated with.