King's College London

Dr Aleksandra Piletić received the fellowship from the UK Research and Innovation Network Plus initiative, Shifting Global Polarities: Russia, China and Eurasia in Transition, which will bring together more than 30 academics, policymakers, and artists from around the world.

The initiative aims to better understand, evaluate and address the challenges emerging across a region encompassing Russia, China, Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and Central and Eastern Asia.

Dr Piletić’s project will focus on the European Union’s Trans-Balkan Energy Corridor in the Western Balkans – a key region for understanding the shifting geopolitical landscape of Eurasia.

Dr Piletić, from the Department of European and International Studies, will examine how the EU project, which will involve Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, will impact key relationships between international financial institutions, national ministries, public utilities and private companies. Her research also aims to uncover the geopolitical dimensions of energy infrastructure projects in the Balkans, placing the EU project in the wider context of China’s Belt and Road initiative and new investment from Gulf nations.

Find out more about the Network Plus initiative here.