Leonie Vrugtman

Leonie is a researcher and project coordinator working on good governance, institutional accountability, EU accession and (preventing and countering) violent extremism. Leonie has authored several articles on counter-narratives to violent extremism, reflective journalism and public accountability in Albania. Her current work focuses on community resilience and Albania’s progress to EU accession. In addition to her research work, Leonie takes on several communication-related responsibilities and coordinates IDM’s communications strategy. Besides her work at IDM, Leonie is an analyst at Global Risk Insights, an international political risk platform, where she writes about a wide range of security issues in the Western Balkans.

Leonie previously worked at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) and the Dickson Poon School of Law in London. She holds and MA in International Relations from King’s College London, a BSc in Communications from the University of Amsterdam and a BA in Journalism from Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences.

Leonie is fluent in Dutch and English, has an intermediate level of Spanish and Albanian, and a basic level of German.

Selected publications:

• Vrugtman, L. (June 2020). “Euroscepticism in Albania“. In M. Keading, J. Pollak & P. Schmidt (Eds.), Euroscepticism and the Future of Europe. Palgrave Macmillan.
• Vrugtman, L. & Bino, B. (2020). Opinion Poll: Trust in Governance 2019. [Survey Report]. Institute for Democracy and Mediation
• Rakaj, A & Vrugtman, L. (April 2020). Western Balkans’ Euro-Atlantic perspective revived. [Op-Ed]. Originally published with ResPublica, Institute of Communication Studies Skopje.
• Vrugtman, L. (October 2019). European governments: repatriate your citizens from northern Syria. [Op-Ed]. ResPublica, Institute of Communication Studies Skopje.
• Vrugtman, L. (September 2019). School as Community Centre Kamza [Report]. Institute for Democracy and Mediation / HEDAYAH.
• Vrugtman, L., Takovski, A., Jusic, T, Zekavica, N. and Borovska, V. (Eds.). (2019). “Role of Religion in the Western Balkans’ Societies – Full Text,” Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe: Vol. 39: Iss. 5, Article 2.
• Tutoni, L., Vrugtman, L. and Angjeli, D. (2019, May). Waste management in Albania: An opportunity to demonstrate commitment to EU integration. [Policy Paper]. Institute for Democracy and Mediation.
• Papa, A. & Vrugtman, L. (2019). Trust in Governance: Opinion Poll 2018. [Survey Report]. Institute for Democracy and Mediation.
• Vrugtman, L. (February 2019). Future challenges of violent extremism in the Western Balkans. [Op-Ed]. ResPublica, Institute of Communication Studies Skopje.
• Vrugtman, L. (October 2018). Terrorism reporting in the Western Balkans. [Op-Ed]. Institute for Democracy and Mediation.
• Vrugtman, L. (July 2018). The challenge of female ISIS returnees in the Balkans [Op-Ed]. Global Risk Insights.
• Vrugtman, L. (June 2018). Albania’s CVE battle for ‘hearts and minds’ is not over [Op-Ed]. Global Risk Insights.
• Vrugtman, L. (May 2018). Albania’s religious harmony endures in the face of new challenges [Op-Ed]. Global Risk Insights.