BOLOGNA
Chelsea Rodstrom, Research Assistant
Chelsea is a SAIS MA student and a native of New York
City, where she spent the last two years working as a legal assistant for a corporate law firm. While there, she spent time working in the Credit, Capital Markets, Structured Products, and Investment Management groups. She also served as an English/Spanish translator for pro-bono teams working on asylum cases.
In addition to International Economics, Chelsea is concentrating in Latin American Studies. As an undergraduate, Chelsea studied abroad for a semester in Buenos Aires and became especially passionate about the Southern Cone. At SAIS, Chelsea is furthering her knowledge of the region by learning Portuguese and concentrating in Emerging Markets. She hopes to use her time at the CCSDD to further her understanding of Constitutional Law as it relates to Foreign Policy. She is currently assisting in the publication of an upcoming book on Illiberalism in Constitutional Democracies, which is a comprehensive and collaborative research project that the CCSDD is engaged in.
Lidia Bonifati, Research Assistant
Lidia Bonifati is an MA student in International Relations at the University of Bologna. During the BA in Political Sciences and International Relations, she developed her passion for the Western Balkans with a particular interest in Bosnia-Herzegovina. In her BA’s dissertation, she analyzed the ECtHR decision on the Seijdic-Finci case, from a political and legal point of view.
She is executive member of a student association, Rete degli Universitari Bologna, and during her activity she organized a cycle of seminars about Bosnia-Erzegovina and the EU enlargement towards the Western Balkans. She also coordinates a work-group on equal rights, called “Progetto Prisma”.
She speaks fluent English and French and she will be starting to learn Serbian-Croatian soon.
Christian Beinis, Research Assistant
Christian Beinis is studying Law at the University of
Bologna and he is writing his final Master’s thesis in Maritime Law focused in the Arctic Sea. Christian is half Greek and half Italian and he grew up between Bologna, where he is currently studying, and Athens, where he worked as Consultant at Sales and Administration.
Christian’s academic interests focus on the nexus between International Law and Maritime/Environmental Law, especially connected with the Mediterranean area and the Arctic Sea, such as the new routes navigable through the two Poles. He is considering applying to a Master in Iceland, where he could study in deep Polar Law and Arctic Issues. During his five year Master’s Degree program in Law he has acquired theoretical and practical knowledge related to different topics, particularly to Islamic and Asian Law. He attended different courses and summer schools at the Confucio Institute, where he came in contact with the Oriental life and the Chinese language.
Christian speaks Italian, Greek and English fluently and he plans on studying more languages while pursuing his degree.
Anthony Chima, Research Assistant
Anthony is of Nigerian descent with bi-ethnic origins and a long residency in Italy. He identifies as a “PluriLocal AfroPean”, a cosmopolitan term that alludes to global citizenship with regards to self-definition and identity. He believes this ideal appeals to persons with multiple residencies in different localities.
He is a recent postgraduate laureate in Human Rights and Multi-Level Governance from the University of Padua Italy, from which he also obtained his bachelor’s degree in international relations and human rights. His academic interest primarily focuses on human rights, constitutional studies, freedom of expression, elections and democratic practice, citizenship, women’s rights and inter-cultural dialogue. Topics with regards to which he has written a variety of papers, the latest being his dissertation paper on “Challenges of the process of democratization in Nigeria”, supervised by Prof. S. Pennicino. The synthesis of that research focused on the novelties which influenced the successful outcome of the 2015 Nigerian general elections.
Anthony is an occasional collaborator with an NGO based in Padua, Italy that works directly with the municipalities in Italy towards ensuring satisfaction of citizenship rights of immigrant communities. He is a native English speaker, has achieved fluency in Italian, and knows at least one of the three dominant languages of his ancestral homeland’s ethnic majorities. He also boasts of his colorful skill in the comprehension of basic Spanish, which he vows to improve. This makes him well-suited in his work as a cultural mediator, and qualified to offer critical interventions when mediating through means of nonprofessional interpreting and translation.
Anthony has ambitions of excelling in academia, and ultimately exceeding that objective by becoming a prominent vocal community leader, and contributor to international diplomacy and political consultancy.
Taylor Redick, Communications Manager
Taylor is originally from Chicago, Illinois and is a first-year M.A. candidate at Johns Hopkins SAIS, concentrating in Conflict Management.
Taylor studied Psychology, Marketing, and French as an undergraduate student at The Ohio State University and studied abroad in Dijon, France. She has interned at the Illinois 2nd Congressional District office as well as within media organizations including Clear Channel Radio. Upon graduation, Taylor began her career as a public relations professional, connecting clients with journalists nationally and abroad. She is a native English speaker and has an intermediate level in French.
Taylor’s career interests center on post-conflict peace building, advocacy, and the role of media in diplomacy. She is specifically interested in organizations including the U.S. Department of State, the United Nations, and Human Rights Watch.
Sofia Eirini Agrapidi, Coordinator of the Sarajevo Study Trip
Sofia Eirini Agrapidi was born in Milan, Italy, and raised in Athens, Greece. She obtained
her Bachelor’s degree in International Relations with a focus in International Economics from the University of Piraeus, Greece.
During her postgraduate studies, she conducted, as a research group leader, a great deal of research concentrating on the BRICS countries. The research was then published in national newspapers and in Russian and Chinese Universities.
She has worked as liaison officer for the European Commissioners in the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs during the Hellenic Presidency of the Council of the European Union, as a Stagiaire in the office of the Deputy Head of the Representation of the European Commission in Greece and as an assistant in the office of the National Rapporteur on Coordination and Action of the EU against Human Trafficking in the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the organization of the first European anti-trafficking festival.
Sofia is a first year M.A. student at Johns Hopkins University SAIS, concentrating in Conflict Management. She is also Vice President of External Affairs of the Conflict Management Club and she is planning two study trips to refugee camps in Italy and Greece.
She is interested in pursuing a career in the human rights and peace building field in the UN, in other international organizations, in EU institutions or in private or public sector consulting.
Sofia speaks Greek, Italian and English fluently.
Manlio Notarstefano, Research Assistant
Manlio is a final year law student at University of Bologna.
He grew up in Sicily, and moved to Bologna in 2011.
In 2009-2010, Manlio took part in the AFS, an intercultural exchange program, that gave him the opportunity to live in a small town in Northern France for a year. This experience ignited his interest in international relations, multicultural dialogue and human rights. These are themes that he has continued to study on a more serious level during his university career in Bologna.
In the academic year 2015/2016, Manlio spent a year studying at “Paris X – Nanterre La Défense” through the Erasmus+ program. This allowed him to further deepen his studies in private international law, international and European environmental law, as well as in comparative administrative law and international dispute.
He is currently writing his thesis on the subject of “antimafia”, which is his biggest passion of all. Manlio is aiming for an academic and professional life in the safeguarding of human rights, particularly in that of combating corruption and mafia activity, and dreams of being an antimafia judge.
He speaks fluent Italian, French and English, as well as having proficient knowledge of German and Spanish.
Marjus Ceveli, Research Assistant
Marjus Ceveli was born in Kavaje (Albania), a small city near the sea. He is in the final year of his Master’s law degree program at Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna. During his studies he took a particular interest in human rights and he volunteered at the NGO “Amnesty International” for over a year.
Last year he took part in the Erasmus Exchange Program at “Universidade de Coimbra” where he was focused on International Law, Union European law. He learned a great deal about Portuguese culture, which he loves. During his exchange period he also took part in many extracurricular activities such as the “Camino de Santiago of Compostela”, known in English as the Walk of Saint James, that he had been wanting to do for a long time.
In July he attended the summer school “EU and Legal Reform”, organized by CCSDD, where he learned more about the activities of the research center.
At the beginning of November he will take part in a training course,”Culture Next Door”, organized by ICYE Dansk and financed by the EU that will take place in Helsingor, Denmark. He is strongly interested in international relations, conflict resolution, human rights, and peace building, themes that have been a great influence on him throughout his whole life, having grown up in post-Communist Albania and moving to Italy at the age of 10. He is currently writing a thesis on International Law, with a particular focus on corruption and sustainable development. He is currently an Albanian citizen, but is about to obtain his Italian passport. He is a native Albanian and Italian speaker, and is fluent in English and Portuguese. He also has knowledge of Spanish and French.
Kristina Trokhanenko, Research Assistant
Kristina was born in Donetsk, Ukraine, and moved to Kiev in 2014. 
She started her bachelor’s degree in Law at the National University of Donetsk and transferred to the Taras Shevcenko National University of Kiev in 2014. The specialization of the last year of her bachelor’s degree was Environmental and Natural Resources Law.
In 2012-2014, she worked as an assistant at the legal department at the Head Department of the State Treasury Service of Ukraine in Donetsk. In 2015, her internship was as a judicial assistant at the Court of Pechersk district in Kiev. This experience gave her the profound knowledge of practical legislation and she had a good opportunity to see the legal system from the inside.
Now, Kristina is finishing her master’s degree in Human Rights and Multi-Level Governance at the University of Padua, Italy. She is writing a thesis on Constitutional Development, which focuses on the relations between the secession of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the constitutional system of Ukraine.
Kristina is a native speaker of Ukrainian and Russian languages. She speaks English fluently and has knowledge of Italian and French.
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