Vesna Popovski

Vesna Popovski serves as an LSE Fellow in Conflict and Post-Conflict Studies at the European Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science, teaching core courses including EU485: Post-Conflict Justice and Reconciliation in Europe and Beyond, EU499: European Institute Dissertation, and EU4A2: Globalisation, Conflict and Post-Conflict Reconstruction.

Her academic foundation includes:

• BA (Honours) and MA from the University of Zagreb
• MPhil and PhD from the University of Cambridge

Dr. Popovski's research trajectory evolved from Chicago school urban sociology to analyzing socialist Yugoslavia's urban settlements, then expanded into post-colonial state building, late-1980s Eastern European nationalism's impact on minority rights, and contemporary intersections of food with national identity. Her current ERC-funded JUSTINT project pioneers dynamic analysis of transitional justice discourses across demographic groups in post-conflict societies, moving beyond static frameworks to examine evolving peacebuilding narratives.

Publication analysis reveals consistent focus on governance-society interplay across eras: early work established foundations in minority rights (Lithuania monograph), while recent research examines institutional barriers to SME growth, local governance in Ukraine, and social cohesion in EU neighboring states. Eastern European post-conflict contexts remain the geographic anchor, with methodology shifting from historical case studies to mixed-methods analysis of justice interactions.

As core researcher in Dr. Denisa Kostovicova's ERC Consolidator Grant project (JUSTINT), she investigates how women MPs shape transitional justice policies in Croatia, recently presenting collaborative findings at NIOD Institute (Amsterdam) and BISA (Newcastle) conferences. This 5-year initiative represents her primary active grant engagement.

Her work operates through the European Institute's research infrastructure, specifically within the JUSTINT project team that coordinates cross-national analysis of justice discourses across ethnic, gender, and age dimensions in post-conflict settings.