Visiting Researchers

Nuno Morgado

Nuno Morgado is a political scientist, specialized in geopolitics with regional focus in the post-Soviet Space, Far East Asia, and South America. Currently, his research agenda is focused on state’s grand strategy through the comparison of capabilities, analysis of systemic constraints, and assessment of the role of power perceptions. He employs deductive research design, applying the model of neoclassical geopolitics to selected cases. Other than that, he is also developing AI tools for geopolitical analysis (LLM4Geopolitics). He is currently an Assistant Professor at Corvinus University of Budapest, a Visiting Scholar at the Universities of Vienna, São Paulo, and West Virginia University, and a SPIRe-Affiliated Scholar (UCD). From 2013 until 2024 he was an Adjunct Professor of Strategic Studies and Foreign Policy at Charles University, Prague. His broad research interests include Geopolitical Analysis, IR theories, and Strategic Studies.

Toine Paulissen

Toine Paulissen is a Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) PhD Fellow for Fundamental Research based at the KU Leuven. His research, under supervisor prof. dr. Bart Maddens and co-supervisor prof. dr. Steven Van Hecke, focuses on party behavior in referendum campaigns, particularly from a political finance perspective. Other research interests include comparative and European politics, digital campaigning, and campaign messaging. He obtained a Master in Western Literature, as well as a Master in Comparative and International Politics, from the KU Leuven, and is an alumnus of the Europaeum Scholars Programme, a two-year multi-disciplinary, multi-university, and multi-locational policy and leadership course. At SPIRe, he will work with prof. dr. David Farrell and look to collaborate with other researchers from the Centre for Democracy Research as well as the Connected_Politics Lab.

Milena Petrovic

Visiting Researcher

Melina is a PhD candidate from Tulane University.

Laura Young

Laura Young (she/her) is an Evaluation Associate at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in Chicago, Illinois. She joined the Foundation in 2005, working in Population and Reproductive Health, Global Migration and Human Mobility, Girls’ Secondary Education in Developing Countries, and the Master’s in Development Practice initiative. As such, she managed all aspects of the Foundation’s internal proposal review and grant approval process.
In 2014 Laura transitioned to the Evaluation and Learning team where she develops and manages visual content and data visualizations working across all programmatic strategies. She supports the Foundation’s external evaluation and learning partners in data analysis as well as all programs teams’ internal strategy reviews with senior leadership and the Board of Directors.