Biography

Dr. Valbona Zeneli is a Visiting Fellow at the Robert Schuman Centre at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. She is a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council with a dual affiliation at the Europe Center and at the Transatlantic Security Initiative of the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. She is also a visiting scholar for 2023-2024 at the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies at Harvard University. She worked for the U.S. Government for 12 years (2011- 2023), serving as a professor of national security studies and chair of strategic engagements at the U.S. Department of Defense’s George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies where she continues her affiliation as a visiting adjunct professor.

She specialises in transatlantic relations, strategic competition, NATO, globalisation and international economy, European Union enlargement, and the Western Balkans. She has published numerous papers and book chapters and is a frequent contributor to international leading magazines.

Dr. Zeneli received her PhD in political economy from the University of Bari and a Bachelor of Science with honours in business administration from the University of Bologna, Italy. She completed graduate studies in international marketing as a fellow in the Foreign Service Program at Georgetown University, and is a graduate of the Harvard’s University Kennedy School of Government Executive Education program. Besides English, she speaks Italian, German, and some Spanish. Dr. Zeneli was awarded Inspirational Winner at the 2023 Inspiration Awards for Women.