Irina Velicu is a political scientist working on socio-environmental conflicts in Europe and particularly post-communist countries. She holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Hawaii (USA) and an MA in International Studies from the University of Warwick (UK). Dr. Velicu has been a researcher at the Center for Social Studies -University of Coimbra (2014-2023) where she coordinated the JustFood FCT-funded project (2018-2022), expanding her work on environmental and food justice in Europe by focusing on alternative food networks in Romania and Portugal. She worked as a Marie Curie Experienced Researcher within the ENTITLE European Network of Political Ecology at the Institute for Environmental Science and Technology-Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (2013-2014), where she taught and co-supervised students enrolled in the MA on Political Ecology together with ICREA Prof. Giorgos Kallis as well as expanded her research by looking at the anti-mining grassroots movement in Krumovgrad-Bulgaria. She was also a Lecturer in International Relations and Globalization at the Spiru Haret University in Bucharest (2010-2013). Her recent publications can be found in Environmental Politics, Ecological Economics, Antipode, Theory, Culture and Society, Globalizations, Journal of Rural Studies, Geoforum, New Political Science.
Valer Simion Cosma (b. 1986) is a historian, anthropologist, and occasional publicist. He is currently the Director of the “Lucian Blaga” University Library in Sibiu. He worked for almost four years as a researcher at the County Museum of History and Art – Zalău, where he conducted extensive fieldwork in the countryside. He founded the Centre for the Study of Modernity and the Rural World and of events, educational projects, and residency programs such as the Telciu Summer Conferences, the Telciu Summer School, Culese din Telciu, Anonimii Migrației, Artiști la Muzeu and Culese din Rural. In parallel with his work as a researcher and cultural manager, he has worked as scientific consultant in the production of theatre shows, artistic performances, documentary films, albums, and exhibitions. His interests are the modernization of the rural world, history and the sociology of rural elites, vernacular religion and the relation between modernity/coloniality and religion in Eastern Europe, nationalism, and migration.
Dr. George Iordachescu is a political ecologist researching politics of conservation and just environmental futures. George has a background in social anthropology and his work spans across the disciplines of human geography, green criminology and conservation social sciences. His research interests include the governance of nature protection in the European Union, environmental crime and environmental politics in Europe. His current research looks at the hidden dynamics of illegal wildlife trade in European species as part of the Beastly Business project. George worked on the BIOSEC project where he researched the impact of EU regulations on criminalization and securitization of illegal logging and timber trade in the Carpathian Mountains. He gained his PhD in 2019 from the IMT School of Advanced Studies (Lucca, Italy) with a dissertation about the development of strict protection of wild nature in eastern Europe and its impact on local livelihoods. You can follow George’s research updates on X: @George_Iorda
Filip Alexandrescu is a senior researcher at the Research Institute for Quality of Life, Romanian Academy. He is the co-PI of the AEOLUS project (Accumulating Environmental Injustices and the Emergence of Climate Vulnerability in Central-European Coal Regions: Socio-Spatial Perspectives) funded by the Czech Science Foundation. His work explores different facets of mining and post-mining spaces from historical, relational and ethnographic perspectives. He has published a book on the mining conflict at Roșia Montană and several articles in Eurasian Geography and Economics, Globalizations and Land Use Policy. Apart from mining, he is also interested in contemporary forms of urban marginality and is the PI of the Nomesis project.
Oana Rusu graduated from the University of Theater Arts in Târgu Mureș, acting department in 2003. She made her debut at the Regina Maria Theater in Oradea,and from 2008 she has been employed at the Dacian National Operetta and Musical Theater. Parallel to her solo activity, Oana Rusu collaborates with independent artists in various socio-cultural projects and collaborates with the E-Romnja Association for forum theater projects in underprivileged areas. In 2019, the Government of Romania awarded the artist the Distinction of High Appreciation for artistic performance and the promotion of Roma culture. Currently, Oana Rusu is a PhD student at the University of Theater Arts in Târgu Mureș and an employee of the Lucian Blaga University in Sibiu, as a researcher in the Ecojust project, coordinated by Irina Velicu.
Ionuț Codreanu is a PhD student in Sociology at University of Bucharest and his focus is on socio-ecological transformations and social precarity. He has a BA in Journalism and a MA in International Development Studies, both awarded by the University of Bucharest, and more than 19 years of experience in the Romanian non-governmental sector, where he was involved in national or regional research or advocacy programmes in areas such as: freedom of the press and freedom of expression, media ethics, social media, social justice.
Hestia-Ioana Delibas is a PhD student of the Centre for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra. Her research interests revolve around such topics as environmental justice, emancipatory rural politics and decolonial theory. She is a graduate of Social Anthropology at Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, where she also obtained her masters degree in Advanced Sociological Research.
Gabriel Girigan is a Research Assistant at the Institute of Research and Interdisciplinary Studies, Department of Humanities and Arts, “Lucian Blaga” University, Sibiu, Romania. He has completed his Phd in History from the Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Gabriel’s research interest is focused on the history and anthropology of Eastern Europe, postsocialism, migration studies and Romani studies. Currently, he is focusing on the theoretical and policy issues faced by the Roma minority in Romanian society with a close look towards the relationship between Roma communities and environmental justice.
Ioana Savin earned her PhD in Human Geography from Babeș-Bolyai University. Her research focused on socio-ecological resilience in the Danube Delta, examining the relationship between a human community and the neighboring territory. Her research highlighted how the political and ecological state of the land directly impacts the evolution of the community. She is interested in studying different forms of the human-nature relationship particularly in rural areas, and is currently working in the Land Grabbing team in the project.
Ioana Bunescu, PhD in Sociology, is a researcher on vulnerable groups (social groups, ethnic groups, migrants, asylum seekers) and social rights. She has published primarily on issues related to the Roma minority in Europe including the monograph “Roma in Europe. The politics of collective identity formation” published by Routledge in 2016.
Claudia Șerbănuță is a library specialist with international experience in advocating for modern public services in support of democratic community development. She holds a PhD in Library and Information Sciences from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Claudia served as the interim director of the National Library of Romania from 2014 to 2016. She is currently the president of Communities of the Future Association and a researcher with EcoJust project from ULBS and with Făgăraș Research Institute. Claudia is an active member of the Wikimedians of Romania and Moldova User Group and serves as one of the coordinators for EduCaB Romania. In 2021, she was recognized as a Change Agent in the Library Journal’s Movers & Shakers. She is a 2023 Marshall Memorial Fellow with German Marshall Fund. Claudia’s research focuses on understanding how information cultures are transformed by prolonged and severe information control and censorship practices. She has published articles on information history, public librarianship, and the usage of new technologies at the community level. Her dissertation extensively documented public library services during the last two decades of the communist regime. Her current research projects explore how public information management and services (including public librarianship) can contribute to stronger democratic societies in Eastern Europe.
Ovio Olaru is Assistant Professor of German Language and Literature with the Department of Anglo-American and German Studies at Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu. His fields of research include German, Romanian, and Scandinavian studies, as well as Digital Humanities. He is also a translator of Scandinavian literature. He co-edited Beyond the Iron Curtain. Revisiting the Literary System of Communist Romania (Berlin: Peter Lang, 2021) and The German Model in Romanian Culture (Berlin: Peter Lang, upcoming).
Alice Iancu is a scholar-activist, engaged in research and activism on education, anti-fascism, alternatives to neoliberalism, and marginalized communities, from a feminist standpoint perspective. She teaches at Hyperion University Bucharest and is engaged in formal and informal research and education projects, groups, and teams in several higher-education institutions in Romania.
Bogdan Vătavu is Assistant Professor at “Lucian Blaga” University in Sibiu, where he teaches various disciplines in the field of Library and Information Science. He is a graduate in History at Babeș-Bolyai Univesity Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and his academic interests span from social history, to library and information science and the digital humanities. His work is generally focused around the history of crime in Romania and its representations in popular culture. He also has experience as a librarian and has worked for several years at Cluj County Library.
Danusia Aurelia Boicean is lecturer at “Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu, Faculty of Social and Human Sciences / Department of International Relations, Political Sciences and Security Studies; she was a magistrate for 25 years, performing management functions at the territorial level as chief prosecutor at the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism and the National Anticorruption Directorate, specialized in the destruction of organized, border and cross-border criminal groups, as well as in combating high and medium level corruption. Her academic interests include the underground economy, threats to EU security – illegal migration adn environmental security.
Associate Professor Dr. Habil. Minodora Sălcudean has been teaching for over two decades at the “Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu, in the fields of Journalism, Communication & Public Relations. She has written numerous research articles, chapters in volumes, as well as two specialized books related to Romanian media discourse and its evolution. For more than ten years, she has been a membee of the editorial staff of Saeculum, an academic journal included in international databases. Minodora Sălcudean is also a contributor for Capital Cultural magazine, and, for the fifth consecutive year, she’s a member of the international jury of the prestigious Romanian PR Award competition.
PhD. Ioan Sebastian BRUMĂ (male) an Established Researcher (R3) at Romanian Academy, Iași Branch since 2004. He has experience in organic agriculture, farmland, agrotechnics, land use, organic food consumer behaviour, organic farming, short food supply chains, rural development, transfer ecosystems, rural entrepreneurship, knowledge transfer. He has published 35 peer reviewed papers (from which 20 in ISI journals), 3 papers in conference proceedings, 2 books, over 60 participations at national and international conferences and scientific symposia, member in 30 research projects (from which 6 in Horizon 2020, RUBIZMO, SureFarm, LIFT, SHERPA, Cities2030, MIXED and one project Horizon Europe – RURALITIES – national coordinator). He has deputy member of the Regional Consortium of Innovation, North-East Region, Romania and president of Rural Development Research Platform.