Head of research

Associate Professor Zaneta Trajkoska, PhD

Zaneta Trajkoska is Associate Professor and Director of the Institute of Communication Studies in Skopje. She is a research associate and researcher in the field of media and journalism, public relations and political communication. She has acquired a bachelor’s degree in journalism, a master’s degree in communication and management, and a doctorate in political science. She has more than 25 years of experience in leading international and domestic media and journalism education projects, strategic communications, public interest campaigns and developing study programs in journalism and public relations. She is one of the founders of the Macedonian Press Centre, the Macedonian Institute for Media, as well as the School of Journalism and Public Relations and the Institute of Communication Studies.

Members of the research team

Prof. Eleonora Serafimovska, PhD

Prof. Eleonora Serafimovska, PhD is a full professor in the field of ​​communications and mass media at the Institute of Sociological, Political and Juridical Research (ISPPI). She has a bachelor’s degree in psychology, a master’s degree in social psychology and a doctorate in communications. Her research focus includes mass communications, as well as the intersection between political, social and media psychology. The result of the research interest is numerous studies on the challenges of the personality in the media-mediated reality in the Republic of Macedonia.

She is one of the founders of the Psychological Laboratory at the postgraduate studies of ISPPI, where many projects and researches are generated that examine the dimensions of the political trauma of the Macedonian citizens and the role of the media in that context.

Aleksandra Temenugova

Aleksandra Temenugova is a Program Manager at ICS with many years of experience as a journalist and editor of the economic editorial office of Kanal 5 Television and a correspondent of the Makfax News Agency. Since 2008-2018, Temenugova managed the journalism study programme at the School of Journalism and Public Relations in Skopje. She manages several projects, activities and researches of ICS in the field of journalism and media and she is the Editor in Chief of the only online platform for media literacy in Macedonia, Medium. Temenugova coordinated the European project Macedonian Media and Information Literacy Coalition (MAMIL) which was recognized by the European Commission as one of the ten best media literacy projects in Europe in 2019. She is the co-author of several researches, publications and handbooks on media literacy.

Prof. Vesna Shopar, PhD

Prof. Vesna Shopar, PhD has a doctorate at the Faculty of Law of the University Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Skopje. She received her master’s degree at the Institute of Sociological, Political and Juridical Research in Skopje. Prof. Shopar works in the field of information and communication, mass media, public opinion, intercultural communication, information and communication theories and systems, media law, business communication, politics and media. She has been and still is a member of numerous organizations and associations in Macedonia and abroad: the Broadcasting Council, the National Media Working Group within the Stability Pact, the Media Development Centre, the Macedonian Institute for Media, and the Media Program Board at the Open Institute Society – Macedonia, the Centre for Communications, Media and Culture.

Prof. Marijana Markovikj, PhD

Prof. Marijana Marković, PhD is a full professor in the field of communications and mass media at the Institute of Sociological, Political and Juridical Research (ISPPI). She has a bachelor’s degree in psychology, a master’s degree in developmental psychology and a doctorate in communications. She is one of the founders of the Psychological Laboratory at the postgraduate studies of ISPPI, a member of the Chamber of Psychologists of the Republic of Macedonia and a pioneer in the process of adaptation and standardization of psychological tests in the Macedonian language, as well as a psychotherapist. Markovikj’s theoretical and research interests are in the areas of interpersonal communication, communication in cyberspace, and communication in communities.

Bojan Georgievski, LL.M

Bojan Georgievski is a Project Manager at ICS and Editor in Chief of the academic blog Res publica. He completed his undergraduate and master’s studies in International Law and International Relations at the University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius, Iustinianus Primus Law Faculty in Skopje. Previously, he was the Secretary General of the School of Journalism and Public Relations from 2011 to 2017. He is the author of several publications and researches in the field of social sciences, with a special focus on communications, digital rights and internet privacy. He is also the main coordinator of the academic Journal of Media and Communications of ICS, KAIROS, as well.

Mihajlo Lahtov, MA

Mihajlo Lahtov brings over two decades of extensive experience in research, media, and journalism, with a specialization in communications and media literacy.

Throughout his career, he has collaborated with a diverse range of teams, spanning from small local civil society organizations to prominent international institutions, including the OSCE Mission to Skopje, German Development Agency (GIZ) and IREX.

Furthermore, for over a decade, Mihajlo has diligently served as a Media Literacy Trainer and Educator, imparting his knowledge through training sessions tailored to various participant groups. He also holds the distinction of being the author of two Media Literacy (MIL) handbooks, a co-author of the inaugural media literacy dictionary, and the author of numerous papers on this crucial subject.

Mihajlo holds a Master’s Degree in Human Rights and Democracy, which he earned from the prestigious University of Sarajevo in collaboration with the University of Bologna. Currently, he is a PhD candidate at the Faculty for Media and Communication in Belgrade, furthering his expertise in the field.

Mila Stamenova Burns, M.Sc

Mila Stamenova Burns is a new member of the research team at IKS and her latest working post has been at the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia, as a coordinator in the sector of communications (2017-2019), where she worked on developing the communication strategy of the government, the programme for active transparency and the protocol for crisis communications. Additionally, she was part of the events team that organized high profile official international visits to Skopje by Pope Francis, former UK Prime Minister Theresa May, Chancellor Merkel, Chancellor Kurtz, Secretary General Stoltenberg and the first North Atlantic Council session in the country. Her previous working experience entails research, consulting and coordinator positions on numerous projects in the non-governmental and private sector in the country, including a position as an urban planning expert for a research study: Designing Greenways along rivers Lepenec and Serava in Skopje, R. Macedonia, for Dekons-EMA – Environmental Management Associates; a junior consultant at the consulting company – Analysis and Advisory Group; a project coordinator on the COMPOSITE PROJECT (Comparative Police Studies in EU), coordinator at the NGO Youth Educational Forum; urban and regional planning consultant at Epi Center International, etc. She is a research master in human geography and planning from the Utrecht University, with a bachelor degree in Social Sciences from University College of Utrecht.

Assistant Tea Koneska-Vasilevska, MА

Assistant MA Tea Koneska-Vasilevska is an assistant researcher in the area of ​​communications and mass media at the Institute of Sociological, Political and Juridical Research (ISPPI) In terms of professional activity; she has many years of work experience in the field of media and publishing as a coordinator, editor, language proof-reader and reviewer. She has a bachelor’s degree in Philology in General and Comparative literature (scientific major), a master’s degree in communications and she is a PhD candidate at the doctoral academic studies Media and Society at the Department of Communication and Journalism at the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Niš. Within her doctoral studies, Koneska-Vasilevska received a grant and completed a study stay in Roskilde, Denmark, at the European Summer Doctoral School in Communications and Media of the European Association for Communication Research and Education (ECREA), organized by the Doctoral School of Communications and Arts at the University of Roskilde. She is a member of: The Young Researchers Network within the Global Risk Journalism Hub (GRJH), the European Association for Communication Research and Education (ECREA), the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR), the European Cultural Heritage Network (EUROPEANA) , and is part of the list of experts of the Agency for Control and Quality Assurance of Higher Education of Montenegro (AKOKVO).

Jordanka Cherepnalkova-Trajkoska

Jordanka is a psychologist and has a master’s degree in communications. She holds a Diploma in Public Relations from the London School of Public Relations and a Points of You® Practitioner/Trainer Certificate. Her first professional experience after graduation is as a kindergarten psychologist, and then she continues in international and domestic organizations and institutions on projects related to children and youth, education, children’s rights, psychosocial support, democratic governance and economic growth. Among the organizations/companies in which she worked are UNICEF, UNDP, Booz Allen Hamilton, British Council. Her last assignment was at the First Children’s Embassy in the World, Megjashi, until December 2023, where she worked as a coordinator of several projects and of the telephone line for children and youth.

For the last 15 months, she has been part of the team of researchers at the Institute for Communication Studies, working on methodological design of research on disinformation, media literacy of different age groups, as well as implementing them. As part of the engagement with ICS, she also conducts trainings on recognizing gender-based disinformation, misinformation and malinformation for female retirees; carried out an external evaluation of ICS’s online environmental communication program, etc. During her professional growth, she worked as a project manager, as a trainer of different age and professional groups and was part of research teams for conducting qualitative and quantitative research in the field of communications, sociological topics and children’s rights.

Darko Malinovski

Darko Malinovski is an ICT and Project Manager at the Institute of Communication Studies. His field of interest is digital technologies, their use in achieving communication goals, as well as their effects on social development. He previously worked at the Institute for European Politics as a communicator.

He has completed legal studies at the Iustinianus Primus Law Faculty at UKIM, while he is currently completing his master’s studies at the Institute of Communication Studies.

Vladimir Delov

Vladimir Delov works at the Institute of Communication Studies as a Project Manager. Delov is a political scientist graduate of the Iustinianus Primus Law Faculty at the University Ss. Cyril and Methodius and has many years of experience in the field of public relations in the public sector.