Christos Katsioulis

Director

+43 (0) 1 890 3811 201
christos.katsioulis(at)fes.de

Christos Katsioulis, born in Böblingen, Germany, studied History and Political Science at the University of Trier and the Aristotle-University in Thessaloniki. He obtained his MA in International Relations from the Institute for Political Science in Trier, where he taught international relations and foreign policy from 2003 to 2005.

After that he joined the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, starting as policy officer in the EU-Office in Brussels and from 2007 to 2012 as expert on foreign policy in the International Policy Analysis Unit in Berlin. In 2012 he founded and headed the FES Office in Athens, later he headed the EU Office in Brussels as well as the London Office of FES.

Christos has been a regular commentator on European affairs in the German as well as international media and a regular contributor for the journal Internationale Politik und Gesellschaft.

Selected publications:

• The end of strategic autonomy as we know it, in: László Andor/Uwe Optenhögel (2023), Europe and the war in Ukraine: From Russian aggression to a new Eastern policy
• European Security, Eurasian Crossroads? Keeping rules-based cooperation afloat on a war-torn continent, 2023
• Security Radar 2023: Zeitenwende for Europe, 2023
• Security Radar 2022: Navigating the disarray of European Security, 2022
• Prinzip Hoffnung : Labour vor den britischen Wahlen, 2019
• Das Rätsel Tsipras: Griechenland nach dem Referendum, 2015
• Der schmale Grat zwischen Führung und Führer: Die deutsche Führungsrolle in der Eurokrise aus griechischer Sicht, in: Sebastian Harnisch/Joachim Schild (2014), Deutsche Außenpolitik und internationale Führung
• Stergios Babanasis, Napoleon Maravegias and Christos Katsioulis (eds), Βιώσιμα μοντέλα ολοκληρωμένης ανάπτυξης ορεινών περιοχών. Η περίπτωση της Ηπείρου και της Πίνδου, Athens, 2014
• Heimkehr nach Ithaka?: Wie Zivilgesellschaft und Politik in Griechenland auseinanderdriften, NG/FH 2012
• Die deutsche Außen- und Sicherheitspolitik nach der Intervention in Libyen (IPG 2011)
• The new NATO strategy: a temporary compromise, 2011
• NPT review 2010: what role for the EU? (With Christian Mölling, 2010)
• European Union security and defence white paper: a proposal (with Borja Lasheras, Fabio Liberti and Christoph Pohlmann, 2010)
• European foreign policy on trial: a global actor in the making? 2009
• Christos Katsioulis, Marco Overhaus and Sebastian Harnisch (ed.) Deutsche Sicherheitspolitik: Eine Bilanz der Regierung Schröder, 2004

Nicole Katsioulis

Director (until July 2026 on Sabbatical leave)

+43 (0) 1 890 3811 201
nicole.katsioulis(at)fes.de

Nicole Katsioulis, born in Stuttgart, got her MA in Social Sciences from the Humboldt University of Berlin in 2001. After working for the Berlin Social Science Center (WZB) and the ver.di union, she joined the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in 2002. She has lived and worked in many European countries: Spain, France, Greece, Great Britain and now Austria. Her main interests are European politics, in particular social policy, economic and climate policy.

From 2012 to 2017 she headed the Athens office and from 2017 to 2021 the London office of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. Her focus is always on facilitating international dialogue and contributing to greater mutual understanding and better communication through political advice. In order to promote progressive political approaches, she always works with young target groups, too.

At FES ROCPE, she is now primarily devoting herself to the two topics “Climate Crisis as a Security Risk” and “Feminist Foreign Policy”.

Her publications:

• Antiker Held oder Trump’scher Vasall? Boris Johnson sucht den Befreiungsschlag im Brexit-Poker. Und Donald Trump mischt eifrig mit. IPG-Journal-Artikel vom 1.11.2019.
• Das Wunderland des Boris Johnson. In: Blätter für deutsche und internationale Politik, 9/2019, S. 25-28.
• Gestrandet in Griechenland: wie die Implementierung der EU-Flüchtlingspolitik scheitert. FES-Publikation in der Reihe „Politik für Europa“ von 2016.
• Das Rätsel Tsipras. Griechenland nach dem Referendum. FES-Publikation „Perspektive“ von 2015.

Dr. Alexandra Dienes

Senior Researcher

+43 (0) 1 890 3811 203
alexandra.dienes(at)fes.de

Dr. Alexandra Dienes, born in Moscow, did her PhD at the University of Amsterdam (2017) and her MA in Political Science at the Freie University Berlin (2012). She specialises in foreign policy and political economy of Russia and the post-Soviet space. At FES ROCPE, Alexandra focuses on European security and the role of the OSCE in regional cooperation, leads the survey ‘Security Radar’ and coordinates the expert network FLEET.

Previously, she taught international relations and political economy at the University of Amsterdam and worked for German political foundations in Georgia and China as well as the European Parliament in Brussels. She did a documentary film on barriers to regional trade in Central Asia for the German Development Agency GIZ.

Alexandra is an affiliated research fellow at the Political Science department of the University of Amsterdam. She teaches at universities and regularly presents her research at academic conferences. Since 2023 Alexandra heads the Austria branch of Women in International Security (WIIS).

Latest publications:

• Regional Trends in European Security: Recommendations for the OSCE (Vienna 2023)
• Security Radar 2023: Zeitenwende for Europe (Vienna 2023)
• Zeitenwende: Russia's war as a turning point in German public opinion (Vienna 2022)
• Security Radar 2022: Navigating the disarray of European security (Vienna 2022)
• Security Radar 2019: Wake-up call for Europe! (Vienna 2019)
• The region that isn’t: China, Russia and the failure of regional integration in Central Asia
  (with S. Krapohl; Asia Europe Journal 2019)
• A Proposal for a Revised Regional Order in Post-Soviet Europe and Eurasia (FES & RAND Corporation 2019)
• Conceptualising Capitalism in the 21^st Century: the BRICs and the European Periphery
  (with V. Schmidt; Contemporary Politics 2019)
• Engage! Why the EU should talk with the Eurasian Economic Union (Vienna 2018)
• Perceptions of the OSCE in Europe and the USA (Vienna 2018) 
• Trapped in Informality: the Big Role of Small Firms in Russia’s Statist-Patrimonial Capitalism
  (New Political Economy 2017)

Sabrina Kaschowitz

Senior Researcher & Project Manager

+43 (0) 670 608 16 10
sabrina.kaschowitz(at)fes.de

Sabrina Kaschowitz, born in Austria, started her professional path as simultaneous and liaison interpreter following her translation studies in Austria, Russia, Kazakhstan and Italy. After several years of working in various fields, such as cultural diplomacy, the military, and trauma-focused therapy for refugees, she obtained her joint MSc in Environmental Technology and International Relations at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna and the Technical University.

She joined Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung first as Project Officer in the Lebanon Office in Beirut. At FES ROCPE, she specializes in the nexus between climate change and international security through a feminist and decolonial lens.

Margarete Lengger

Communication Coordinator
Cooperation and Peace · Democracy of the Future

+43 (0)670 657 40 07
margarete.lengger(at)fes.de

Margarete Lengger is Communications Coordinator at FES Vienna. Previously, she co-curated a feminist cultural festival, did internal communications for an organization undergoing a change process, and worked for a member of Parliament, among others.

She was educated in political science at the University of Vienna and the Institute for Advanced Studies in Vienna with a short stint in Cuba.

Gloria Sack

Finance
Cooperation and Peace · Democracy of the Future

+43 (0) 1 890 3811 204
gloria.sack(at)fes.de

Gloria Sack, born in Grevesmühlen (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Northern Germany), studied business administration at the Freie Universität Berlin with a focus on taxes and accounting. 

In July 2019, she started working for FES in Vienna. As a very experienced accountant, Gloria Sack is responsible for all matters concerning financial management and controlling.

Previously, she worked for the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in Berlin for seven years. Her main tasks were financial management and controlling of several offices in Eastern Central and South Eastern Europe and the EU office of the FES in Brussels. She also was in charge of auditing compliance with regulations and guidelines for the FES.

Simon Weiß

Senior Researcher

+43 (0) 1 890 3811 202
simon.weiss(at)fes.de

Simon Weiß, born in Zelinograd (Astana, Kazakhstan). He studied political science and sociology at the Ruprecht-Karls-University in Heidelberg.

Between 2011-2015 he taught international relations and Russian foreign policy and was a research associate at the Institute for Political Science at the University of Heidelberg.

As a research associate and project coordinator at FES ROCPE, he focuses on security and defence policy aspects in the region and on questions of arms control in Europe.

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Julia Zöllner

Office & Project Coordination

+43 (0) 1 890 3811 205
julia.zoellner(at)fes.de

She studied business administration with a focus on marketing and accounting at the University of Applied Sciences in Berlin (Germany).

She started working for the FES with the establishment of the FES Regional Office for Cooperation and Peace in Europe in Vienna in 2016. At FES Vienna she is responsible for the office and project coordination, especially for the organisation of events, certain preparations for publications and printed matters (such as layout, printing), as well as online topics like editing the website(s) and support of the team in further activities. She is responsible to coordinate the office infrastructure and related technical matters for the teams of the Vienna office and helps to facilitate a smooth process.

Previously, she already worked in Vienna in internal communications in the natural gas sector, then worked a few years in the area of external communication for a non-profit cultural association.