Staff

Michael Shafir is Emeritus Professor of the Babeș‒Bolyai University of Cluj. His main research areas are related to the political situation of the former Eastern and Central European socialist countries, focusing on the Holocaust education and memorialization policies of these states.

Levente Salat-Zakariás is a professor of the Political Sciences Department, of the Babeş-Bolyai University and a member of the Hungarian Academy of Science. His research focuses on political consequences of diversity, ethnic politics, and Romanian–Hungarian relations. He published over 70 studies and articles in edited books and various journals. He has coordinated several national and international research projects.

Júlia-Réka Vallasek is associate professor at the Department of Journalism at the College of Political, Administrative and Communication Sciences of Babeş‒Bolyai University in Cluj. Her main research areas are the history of the press and literature during the twentieth century and issues of alterity and identity in contemporary culture. She translates from English and Romanian, regularly publishing also reviews and essays in magazines in the country and abroad.

Gabriel Bădescu is professor of political sciences at the Babeş‒Bolyai University of Cluj. He coordinated more than 10 major projects, out of which six are international or part of cross-national projects, being the author or editor of six books and published more then 40 articles on democratic and economic transitions in Eastern Europe, civil society, social capital, educational policies, research methodology, income inequality and labor migration.

Elena Abrudan is professor and chair of the Journalism Department at the College of Political, Administrative and Communication Sciences of the Babeș‒Bolyai University of Cluj. She is specialized in visual communication, media communication, mythology, identity, diversity and cultural studies, being the author of a large number of books and scholarly articles, and director of several important research projects financed by Romanian and/or international entities.

Emőke Demeter obtained a bachelor's degree from the College of Psychology of the Babeş‒Bolyai University of Cluj in 2012, and a master's degree in communication in 2015 from the same university. Currently, she lives in Budapest and is senior employee of an international telecommunications company. Her study on the atrocities committed during WWII against the Jews living in Háromszék County as reflected by the press was included in a volume of studies published in 2018 in Budapest.

Andreea Daniela Dodoși is a PhD student in political science at the Babeș‒Bolyai University in Cluj, having a bachelor's degree in political science from the same university and a master's degree in security and diplomacy from the National University of Political Studies and Public Administration in Bucharest. Her areas of interest include public policies and human rights. Her research thesis analyzes the way the public policies regarding the Jews were reflected by the press between 1945-1949.

Melania Leșe is a PhD student in political science working on a research thesis analyzing the way the legislation constituted a political instrument of derailment from the rule of law in Romania, and the effects of this drive on the Holocaust. She graduated both law and political science and also has two master's degrees in international business and LLM, respectively. She is also executive director of the Center for the Study of Democracy.

Enikő-Orsolya Nagyi obtained her bachelor's degree in Journalism and a master's degree in Socio-cultural Communication from the Babeș‒Bolyai University of Cluj. She is nowdays a PhD student involved in a research program dealing with the restitution of the heirless Jewish property in Northern Transylvania. For several years she was awarded the J. & O. Winter Fund scholarship of the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

Henrietta Vadas obtained her bachelor's degree in Journalism in 2016 and a master's degree from the Communication Skills Development Program of the Babeş-Bolyai University of Cluj. Her study on the coverage of the atrocities committed during 1940-1944 against the Jews living in Ciuc County, Transylvania, based on press materials and archival documents, developed from her 2018 Masters dissertation has been published in Budapest.

Zsanett-Krisztina Vákár was born in the Transylvanian city of Odorheiu Secuiesc on the 5th of April 1996. She graduated from the “Benedek Elek” Pedagogical High School in Odorheiu Secuiesc. She obtained her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the College of Political, Administrative, and Communication Sciences of the Babeş‒Bolyai University of Cluj. Her main field of research is the national minorities and their representation in the Transylvanian press. Her PhD research is focusing on the way the Romanian and the Hungarian press reflected the situation of the migrants during and after the Armenian genocide.