prof. Mariana Llanos
ERA Chair Holder | Project Management Board member | ASIAB member | WP6 Lead
LinkedIN | Web
Leads the scientific strategy of the ERA-AREAS project and coordinates internationalisation and strategic partnerships.
The ERA Chair Holder is responsible for the academic direction and development of the Centre for Multidisciplinary Area Studies, ensuring scientific excellence and representing the project towards the international research community. As WP6 Lead, coordinates the development of institutional partnerships, mobility schemes, and strategies to position the Centre in the global research landscape. Contact for academic leadership and international collaboration.
Mariana Llanos is a Lead Research Fellow at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA). She also holds the extraordinary professorship for “Democratic Institutions in the Global South” at the University of Erfurt. Llanos was the Head of GIGA’s Research Program 1 “Accountability and Participation” between 2015 and 2022 and co-Director of the GIGA Institute of Latin American Studies between 2023 and 2025.
Mariana studied political science in Argentina, her country of origin, and later obtained a D.Phil in Politics (1999) from the University of Oxford, St. Antony’s College, in the United Kingdom with the thesis “Privatization and Democracy in Argentina” (Palgrave, 2002). Since her graduation, Mariana Llanos has published extensively in English, Spanish, and Portuguese both in academic journals and books. Her work on Latin American comparative political institutions has appeared, for example, in Government & Opposition, Democratization, Journal of Democracy, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Latin American Politics and Society, and the Journal of Latin American Studies. She organized a Special Issue on presidential term limits in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa that was published in Democratization in 2022. In 2023, she co-edited the volume Latin America in Times of Turbulence. Presidentialism under Stress (with Leiv Marsteintredet).
In 2022 she won the American Political Science Association (APSA) Legislative Studies Section’s 2022 Jewell-Loewenberg Prize in Comparative Politics with the article „Oversight or Representation? Public Opinion and Impeachment Resolutions in Argentina and Brazil“ co-authored with Aníbal Pérez Liñán. The award recognizes the best article published in Legislative Studies Quarterly in 2021 in the field of comparative politics. In 2015, her article “The Institutional Presidency in Latin America. A Comparative Analysis”, co-authored with Magna Inacio, obtained the 2014 Founders Award honouring Bert Rockman, which is granted by the Presidents and Executive Politics Section of APSA. The article was published in Presidential Studies Quarterly.
Her most recent research interests focus on courts and presidency relations, and the personalization of political power.
Karel Kouba
Project Coordinator | Project Management Board member | WP1 Lead
karel.kouba@ff.cuni.cz
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Oversees the strategic and operational implementation of ERA-AREAS and leads the development of project governance and long-term strategy.
The Project Coordinator is responsible for the overall management of the project, including compliance, reporting, and official communication with the granting authority. As leader of WP1 (Management) ensures effective coordination, risk management, and the design of strategic frameworks guiding the project’s implementation. Main contact for project-level decision-making and institutional alignment.
Karel Kouba is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the Center for Ibero-American Studies, Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague. He holds an M.A. from Miami University (2006) and a Ph.D. from Palacký University in Olomouc (2011). Karel’s research centers on comparative politics of Latin America and Central Europe, with a particular focus on the origins and effects of political institutions — especially electoral rules. He also studies unconventional forms of political behavior, such as election boycotts or invalid voting. His broader concern is the health of democracy. He has examined the collapse of democracy in Nicaragua, democratic stability in Latin America, the challenges to democracy in Central Europe and the trade-offs involved in sustaining robust local democracy. He was a visiting scholar at several universities around the world, including the position of Fernand Braudel Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. His work has appeared in leading political science journals including Government and Opposition, European Political Science Review, Democratization, and Electoral Studies, as well as in area studies journals such as Latin American Politics and Society, Journal of Politics in Latin America and East European Politics and Societies.
Radek Buben
WP3 Lead
radek.buben@ff.cuni.cz
Leads WP3 (Research Support Structures) and WP9 (Teaching and Training).
Coordinates efforts to build internal capacity for research support and to develop educational activities linked to area studies. Responsible for designing tools, services, and training programmes that strengthen the research and teaching environment. Contact for questions related to research infrastructure and academic training.
Radek Buben served as a head of Department of Political Science, Faculty of Arts, Charles University. Now he is an assistant professor at the Center of Ibero-American Studies of the same faculty. In the academic year of 2014/2015, he was a Visiting Research Fellow at the Queen Mary University of London. He teaches modern history and politics of Latin America and Southern Europe and theories of autocratic rule. He focuses on comparative politics and contemporary political development of the Americas and Southern Europe. He published a monograph on populism and several articles on politics in Latin America, especially on Nicaragua. His works were published by Current History, Bulletin of Latin American Research, Revista de Ciencia Política etc.
Martin Pehal
WP4/5 Lead
martin.pehal@ff.cuni.cz
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Leads WP4 (Internal Recruitment and Retention). Drives institutional reforms aimed at improving researcher careers, recruitment procedures and the adoption of open science practices. Oversees the implementation of HR strategies and capacity-building initiatives. Contact for matters related to human resources and research culture.
DOPLNIT
Jan Daniel
WP10 Lead
jan.daniel@ff.cuni.cz
LinkedIN
Leads WP10 (Dissemination, Exploitation and Communication). Oversees the implementation of the project’s communication and dissemination strategy. Coordinates engagement with stakeholders and supports the long-term exploitation of results.
Jan Daniel is a Researcher and Lecturer at the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University. His research interests include politics and security in the Middle East (with a particular focus on Lebanon and Syria), peacekeeping, peacebuilding and statebuilding, Czech foreign and security policy towards the MENA countries, and the debate on hybrid warfare. He regularly comments on these topics in both Czech and international media.
He obtained his PhD in International Relations at the Institute of Political Studies at Charles University. He has been a visiting researcher at the European University Institute, Free University of Berlin, and Orient-Institut Beirut. In his role as a senior researcher at the Institute of International Relations, Prague, he has cooperated with various Czech and International partners, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, the Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic, and the NATO Strategic Communication Centre of Excellence, on policy advice and applied research.
ASIAB provides external expertise and strategic recommendations on the development of area studies, internationalisation, and research excellence. Contributes to evaluation and long-term impact of the project.
Marco Bünte
Marco Bünte is currently Professor of Asian Politics and Society at the University Erlangen Nuremberg. He is also an Associate at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA) in Hamburg. From 2012-2019, he was Associate Professor and Deputy Head of School at the School of Arts at Monas University (Malaysia). He had visiting appointments at City University Hong Kong (Hong Kong, China), Chulalongkorn University (Bangkok, Thailand), Curtin University (Perth, Australia), the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Lipi (Jakarta, Indonesia) and Science Po (Paris, France). His research interests include issues of democratization and authoritarian resilience, human rights, social movements and identity politics. He is the Co-editor of the Journal of Current Southeast Asia Affairs, published by SAGE.
Paul Chaisty
Paul Chaisty is Professor of Russian and East European Politics at the University of Oxford and previous Head of the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies (OSGA). He joined the Department of Politics and International Relations and OSGA in 2005, following a three-year appointment in Politics at Pembroke College, Oxford. Before that, he taught at various UK Universities including Leeds, York, East London, Royal Holloway, and Essex. He received his PhD from the University of Leeds and held a British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at St Antony’s College, University of Oxford.
His research interests cover legislative, party and interest group politics in post-communist Russia; political attitudes in Eastern Europe, and comparative presidentialism. His books include (with Stephen Whitefield) How Russians Understand the New Russia: Consolidation and Contestation (Princeton University Press, 2025), (with Nic Cheeseman and Timothy J Power), Coalitional Presidentialism in Comparative Perspective: Minority Presidents in Multiparty Systems (Oxford University Press, 2018), and Legislative Politics and Economic Power in Russia (Palgrave, 2006).
Andrés Malamud
ASIAB member
LinkedIN | Web | Orcid | Scholar | Instagram
X (Twitter) – @andresmalamud
Andrés Malamud (PhD European University Institute, 2003) is a senior research fellow at the Instituto de Ciências Sociais da Universidade de Lisboa. He is a recurring visiting professor at universities in Buenos Aires, Milan, and Salamanca, and has been visiting researcher at the Max Planck Institute of International Law (Heidelberg) and the University of Maryland, College Park. His research interests include comparative regional integration, foreign policy, democracy and political institutions, EU Studies, and Latin American politics. His work has been published in such journals as Political Studies, Latin American Research Review, Cambridge Review of International Affairs, Journal of European Integration, Latin American Politics and Society, Brazilian Political Science Review, Regional & Federal Studies and European Political Science.
He served in the executive committee of the Latin American Political Science Association (ALACIP) and as secretary-general of the Portuguese Political Science Association (APCP).
Anja Osei
ASIAB member
LinkedIN | Web
X (Twitter) – @CompPolAfrica
Anja Osei is a professor of Comparative Politics with a special focus on Africa at the Otto Suhr Institute for Political Science at Freie Universität Berlin. She holds a PhD in African Studies from the University of Leipzig and worked as a Postdoc at the University of Konstanz from 2010 to 2022.
Her research focuses on state and society in sub-Saharan Africa. She is especially interested in democratization, authoritarian regimes, and political institutions like parliaments and political parties. Furthermore, she works on elites, political power, and social stratification. She was the PI of the project „Do Legislatures Enhance Democracy in Africa? (DLEDA)“ funded by the European Research Council as an ERC Starting Grant. Employing a mix of quantitative, qualitative, and social network methods, she and her team explored what parliaments in Africa contribute to democratization. Other research interests include political regimes and military coups, political parties, and public opinion research.
Her work is situated at the intersection between Political Science and Area Studies. Gaining insights into contested notions of political order is only possible on a solid data basis and in close exchange with colleagues in the field. Her team is interdisciplinary and strives to overcome cleavages in the research landscape (qualitative vs. quantitative; political science vs. regional research; francophone/anglophone).
Nicola C. Pratt
Nicola Pratt is Professor of the International Politics of the Middle East in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick, which she joined in 2009 after teaching at the University of East Anglia. Before entering academia, she lived in Egypt, working on human rights and democratisation projects, and speaks Arabic.
Her research and teaching sit at the intersections of Middle East politics and feminist, decolonial and queer international relations theory, with a particular focus on how everyday people shape—and are shaped by—national and international geo/politics.
Nicola has led and participated in several major research projects, including the AHRC-funded Politics and Popular Culture in Egypt: Contested Narratives of the 25 January 2011 Uprising and its Aftermath (2016–2020) and the British Academy-funded Warwick–Birzeit University partnership Reconceptualising Gender: Transnational Perspectives (2010–2013). Her monograph Embodying Geopolitics: Generations of Women’s Activism in Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon (2020) won the BISA Susan Strange Prize, and she received a British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship (2013) and the BRISMES Award for Services to Middle Eastern Studies (2022).
Her academic work is informed by her long-standing involvement in anti-war and Palestine solidarity activism.
Filp Malý
Project Manager | Project Management Board member
filip.maly@ff.cuni.cz
+420 221 619 949
+420 773 183 730
LinkedIN
Ensures the day-to-day management and coordination of the project.
Coordinates work across all work packages, monitors implementation, manages risks, and facilitates internal communication. Main contact for operational matters related to the project implementation.
Filip brings over thirty years of experience in project management. He began his career in environmental and church NGOs before moving into academia in 2006. Over the years, he has served in a range of leadership and administrative roles, including project and finance officer, faculty bursar, and vice-rector for institutional advancement. Filip holds degrees in public administration and theology. A former Boy Scout, he remains passionate about the outdoors — especially hiking.
Radka Jarvisová
Project Assistant
radka.jarvisova@ff.cuni.cz
+420 221 619 949
+420 771 128 381
Provides administrative and organisational support to the project team.
Assists with scheduling, document management, meeting logistics, and other support tasks to ensure the smooth execution of project activities.
Radka graduated from the University of Ostrava and began her career as an English teacher at a language school. She then moved on to work for the British Council in the Czech Republic, where she spent nearly two decades promoting the organization’s educational and cultural activities.
Following her time at the British Council, Radka joined a private school as an Events Coordinator organizing a wide range of events – from school trips and open houses to graduation balls.
Klára Nechvílová
Communication and Outreach Specialist
klara.nechvilova@ff.cuni.cz
+420 770 132 001
LinkedIN
Coordinates communication, dissemination, and exploitation activities (WP10 and WP11).
Prepares strategic documents (e.g. DECP), manages external communication, designs tools and campaigns to engage stakeholders and the public. Contact for outreach initiatives, media relations, and showcasing project results.
Klára has been working in academic communication for over ten years. She has experience from faculty environments and spent five years overseeing all communication activities of the technology transfer office at Charles University. She actively collaborates with SciComHub, a platform that connects and supports professionals engaged in science communication and popularisation.
Petra Koubová
HR Manager
petra.koubova@ff.cuni.cz
+420 221 619 949
+420 731 627 158
LinkedIN
Coordinates recruitment and HR processes within ERA-AREAS.
Participates in managing transparent and international recruitment procedures and supports the implementation of HR best practices in line with the project’s objectives.
Petra specializes in recruitment and HR administration, including employment law processes. She has extensive experience managing the entire recruitment cycle as well as the full employee lifecycle. With more than ten years of experience in international companies, she has contributed to process optimization and collaborated closely with management. Petra views recruitment as a key driver of organizational success and approaches it with professionalism and dedication.
Karolína Martínek
Data Steward
karolina.nova@ff.cuni.cz
LinkedIN
Supports research data management and compliance with data protection regulations.
Contributes to the Data Management Plan (DMP), ensures adherence to FAIR principles and GDPR. Contact for questions related to data storage, sharing, and publication.
Karolína has been providing advisory on data protection and data management aspects of data handling in scientific research for over five years. She acts as a Data Steward at the Faculty of Law, Charles University, and previously held the position of Data Protection Officer for criminology research at the Institute of State and Law of the Czech Academy of Sciences.
Jiří Škvor
Senior Grant Consultant
jiri.skvor@ff.cuni.cz
LinkedIN
Provides expert support in the strategic, administrative and financial implementation of the project.
Advises the team on compliance with Horizon Europe rules, reporting requirements, and risk management. Supports the preparation of deliverables and reports, quality assurance processes, and communication with the granting authority. Contact for regulatory and procedural guidance related to EU funding.
DOPLNIT
Members: Mariana Llanos, Karel Kouba, Václav Cvrček, Filip Malý
Milada Menšíková – Senior Grant Consultant
Jaroslav Poláček – WP10 Consultant
