About Us
The European Resilience Initiative Center’s mission is to strengthen democracy in Europe, while promoting bilateral and multilateral cooperation between the European countries. The Center seeks a stronger role of Central and Eastern Europe in a wider European region with a view to improving its economic prosperity and political strength. We are dedicated to facilitating engagement of European countries in fruitful cooperation and to translating national narratives into cross-border cooperation projects.
Founder and Managing Director
Sergej Sumlenny is an Eastern Europe expert. In 2015-2021, he worked as a Director at the Heinrich Böll Foundation Bureau in Kyiv, and worked in a business consultancy prior to moving to Ukraine. He has a PhD in political science and an LL.M in European Law from the Free University of Berlin. Mr. Sumlenny founded the European Resilience Initiative Centre in 2022 amid the Russian-Ukrainian war.
To contact Sergej, email at sumlenny [at] european-resilience.org
Co-Director
Sascha E. Ostanina is a political and security risk analyst with a focus on Russia and the Eastern Partnership countries. She currently works as an EU foreign and security policy fellow at Hertie School's Jacques Delors Centre. Prior to joining the Jacques Delors Centre, Sascha worked as an external political and security risk analyst with the international consulting company S&P Global and as a security consultant with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
To contact Sascha, email at ostanina [at] european-resilience.org
Non-Resident Security Policy Fellow
Aaron Gasch Burnett is a German-Canadian journalist and analyst specialising in both German politics and international security. He has published extensively on both German and Canadian policy for supporting Ukraine. He also co-hosts the BerlinsideOut podcast on German foreign policy, in association with the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP).
To contact Aaron, email at projects [at] european-resilience.org
Research Fellow
Dr. Gustav Gressel is a security policy expert. He is a Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council for Foreign Relations in Berlin, worked as a desk officer for international security policy and strategy in the Bureau for Security Policy of the Austrian Ministry of Defence from 2006 to 2014, and as a research fellow of the Commissioner for Strategic Studies with the Austrian MoD from 2003 to 2006. Before his academic career he served five years in the Austrian Armed Forces.
Non-Resident Research Fellow
Prof. Jahara ‘FRANKY’ Matisek is a US Air Force command pilot serving as a Military Professor at the US Naval War College. Previously he was an Associate Professor at the US Air Force Academy and was a Fellow with the Irregular Warfare Initiative, Modern War Institute, and Homeland Defense Institute. FRANKY has a PhD in Political Science and has published 2 books and over 100 articles on warfare, strategy, and military assistance.
To contact Franky, email at projects [at] european-resilience.org
Non-Resident Research Fellow
Prof. William Reno is a conflict studies expert with over three decades of fieldwork in combat zones across Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa. He has published 3 books and over 200 articles on conflict, civil wars, asymmetrical warfare, and the politics of security assistance. Will is the Professor and Chair of Political Science at Northwestern University and was previously a Fellow with the Modern War Institute.
To contact Will, email at projects [at] european-resilience.org
Projects Manager
Adrian Mendoza Strilciuc is a rising professional in the field of international security. Adrian also works as an analyst at Accenture Poland and is a senior fellow at the Centre for Youth and International Studies. He has a master’s degree at the Hertie School in Germany and has conducted investigations on Russian disinformation operations.
To contact Adrian, email at projects [at] european-resilience.org
Contributor
Serhiy Danylov is a deputy director of the Ukrainaian Association of Middle East Studies (AMES). In 2014, he co-foudned a non-governmental organization Peacekeeping School with a view to finding means of reconciliation in Donbas. His personal research focus lays in Kherson region.
Contributor
Nataliia Druhak is an international communication expert. Since 2020, she has been working in the field of public and cultural diplomacy, including for such organisations as Ukrainian Institute and ukraine.ua. Nataliia currently studies Social and Economic Communication at the University of Arts in Berlin. She is also a Heinrich-Böll-Foundation scholarship holder.
Contributor
Alina Frolova is a Deputy Chairperson at the Center for Defense Strategies in Ukraine. She was a Deputy Minister of Defence of Ukraine (2019–2020), Adviser to the Ministry of Defence (2015–2016), Adviser to the Ministry of Information Policy (2016–2018). She is also a founder of the «Invictus Games Team Ukraine Project», Stratcom.UA, and UCMC
Contributor
Prof. Oksana Mikheieva is a guest researcher at the German DAAD, Europa University Viadrina in Frankfurt on the Oder, and a professor of sociology at the Ukrainian Catholic University.
Contributor
Dmytro Natalukha is a member of Ukraine's parliament and a Chairman of the Economic Affairs Committee. Before he was elected to the Parliament in 2019, he worked on the field of strategic communications, banking, and investment. Natalukha holds LL.M and BA in International Law from Taras Shevchenko Kyiv University, and MPhil in International Politics and Relations from the University of Cambridge.
Contributor
Ihor Semyvolos is an Executive Director at the Ukrainaian Association of Middle East Studies (AMES). He is an expert in reconciliation, and is a founder of the Ukrainian Peacebuilding School NGO project, which has been working in Donbas since 2014.
