IDM fellows
Former Research Associate at the IDM
Daniela Apaydin
Dr. Daniela Apaydin is a historian and researcher specializing in Central European studies. She holds a Ph.D. in History from Andrássy University Budapest, complemented by a multidisciplinary background in Journalism, Communications, and Central European Studies from universities in Graz, St. Petersburg, and Budapest.
From 2018 to 2025, Dr. Apaydin served as a Research Associate at the IDM, where she managed the institute’s publications. Her research focuses on domestic and foreign policies, cross-border civil society cooperation, and protest culture, with a particular emphasis on Austrian-Hungarian relations. Currently based in Vienna, she continues to contribute to the field as a researcher, journalist, and science communicator, offering nuanced insights into transformation processes.
Former Research Associate and Project Coordinator at IDM and DRC
Daniel Martínek
Daniel Martínek was part of the Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe (IDM) in the years 2018–2024. He worked as Research Associate at IDM as well as Manager of the Permanent Secretariat and Project Coordinator at the Danube Rectors’ Conference (DRC) in Vienna, Austria. He is PhD candidate in Modern History at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, Czechia.
His research interests include domestic and foreign policies of Visegrad countries and international, regional and cross-border cooperation formats in the region of Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe.
Partnerships Specialist, UNICEF Refugee Response
Kinga Brudzińska
Kinga Brudzińska holds a PhD in political science from the University of Warsaw. She was a Research Associate at the Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe in Vienna in 2023. Kinga is an author of book chapters in books, articles in the press, as well as various analyses on the EU, federalism, and systemic transformation in the world and Latin
America. Her expertise lies in the Visegrad Group countries and the Spanish-speaking world. She is associate Fellow at GLOBSEC and member of the Academic Board of European Democracy Hub. She works at UNICEF Refugee Response Office as Partnerships Specialist.
Student and former trainee at the IDM
Darija Benić
Darija Benić is currently pursuing a Master’s degree at the University of Bari Aldo Moro in Planning and Management in Tourism and Cultural Systems. She is a former trainee at the Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe (from July to December 2022) and she’s continued collaborating with the institute since January 2023 through different formats such as
IDM Blog, Short Insights, and Briefings. Some of the areas regarding her expertise include Destination and Event Management, Marketing and Promotion, Cross-cultural communication and mediation and Sustainable tourism development in the Balkan region.
Former Podcast Producer at the Institut for the Danube Region and Central Europe (IDM)
Emma Hontebeyrie
Emma Hontebeyrie is a researcher and artist based in Vienna. From 2020 until 2024, she has been collaborating with the Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe (IDM), working as a Research Associate and producer of the podcast series CEE – Central Europe Explained. Emma is currently doing a Master’s
degree in cross-disciplinary strategies at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. Her approach is mainly trans-disciplinary and site-specific. She works on various projects as a cultural practitioner and actively takes part in community-based collectives in Austria and France.
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Kurze Beschreibung: Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe (IDM)
addresses current questions regarding the Danube region, Central, and Southeast.
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