About the organisation

The Strategic Analysis is an independent boutique think-tank and a consulting company providing cutting-edge expertise for the private sector, state and public institutions, media, and civil society with a primary focus on the Western Balkan and Eastern Partnership countries. The Strategic Analysis team combines over a decade of experience working and networking across the Western Balkans and Eastern Partnership countries, implementing projects focusing on regional development, countering foreign malign influence, Euro-Atlantic integration, and post-conflict challenges mitigation.

Our expertise includes a thorough and deep knowledge and experience in both regions in terms of geopolitics, internal politics, international relations, security, economy, business environment, civil society, and culture. Thanks to years of developing relationships with the public and non-state actors across these regions, Strategic Analysis has an extensive networking capacity for interested decision-makers, business as well as civil society partners.

Mission

We analyse challenges and drive change in the Western Balkan and Eastern Partnership regions. We conduct our work focusing on four fields:

1. Regional Development, where we work towards decreasing disparity in underdeveloped areas, enhancing living standards, and creating more inclusive, more cohesive, and more resilient societies where everyone can thrive regardless of their socioeconomic background or geographical location.
2. Integration into the European Union, where we foster paths of countries in the EU’s neighbourhood willing to join the EU. We facilitate expertise-sharing between EU member countries and countries from the Eastern Partnership countries and Western Balkans.
3. Foreign information manipulation and interference is imposing increased political and security challenges. Through our work, we map the actors of malign influence in-depth and raise awareness of disinformation campaigns.
4. Post-conflict challenges mitigation, where we focus on obstacles which remain in societies after conflicts: we foster efforts towards countering radicalisation, jingoism, and cybernationalism, we analyse frozen conflicts, contact lines, de facto separatist entities and their social, economic and political impact.

Vision

Through our work, we aim to drive positive change in the European Neighbourhood, namely in the Western Balkan and Eastern Partnership countries, by contributing with our work to stability, security, prosperity, and cooperation across these regions. We aim to create strategies for sustainable growth that respect the environment and lessen national and international inequality. We advocate for encouraging the rule of law and dialogue over the use of force to lower human insecurity and increase resilience. We aim to facilitate more inclusive governance and increased political accountability. In addition, we keep track of the implications of technological progress that is reshaping our lives and their prospects.

Executive Team

Ján Cingel is the Founder and President of the Strategic Analysis, formerly a Research Fellow and the Head of the European Neighborhood Programme of the GLOBSEC Policy Institute, a Slovakia-based think-tank. Before, he worked as a project manager of the European Neighbourhood Development Programme at GLOBSEC (previously the Slovak Atlantic Commission). His areas of expertise are: the Western Balkans, South Caucasus, radicalisation, violent extremism, NATO, and the EU integration-related issues and processes. He has run numerous projects in Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia. Before joining the Slovak Atlantic Commission, Jan worked at the Bilateral relations office of the Defence Policy, International Relations and Legislation Department of the Ministry of Defence of the Slovak Republic. He is one of the co-founders of the Bratislava Global Security Forum – GLOBSEC (since 2005). Jan graduated from the Faculty of Political Sciences and International Relations of the Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia, with an MA. degree in International Relations and Diplomacy.

Alexandra Tóthová is the Executive Director at Strategic Analysis.  She is a political science graduate from BISLA, later she studied at the University of Vienna. Over her career, she interned at AmCham Slovakia, she worked for various Slovak think tanks including the GLOBSEC Policy Institute and MESA10, as well as for the humanitarian organization People in Need Slovakia in Ukraine and has experience from the corporate sphere. She volunteered at UN Climate Change Conference COP24. Alexandra is also a Fellow at the Internews’ Journalist Security Fellowship in Central Europe.

Tomáš Baranec is a Research Fellow and the Head of the Caucasus Programme of the Strategic Analysis. Tomas is a graduate of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University in Prague. He also spent one year as an exchange student at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, where he studied the transformation of the Caucasus region after the collapse of the Soviet Union. After finishing university, Tomas spent another year as a volunteer in Georgia, conducting monitoring and research on the Georgian-Ossetian ABL. Before joining Strategic Analysis, he worked as an analyst at the Institute of Security and Defence Studies in Bratislava, in the private sphere, and most recently in the News Agency of the Slovak Republic and Daily Standard in Slovakia. His research interests include nationalism, factors of ethnic conflicts and separatism, as well as the formation of collective identities with a focus on the Caucasus region.

Petra Bošková is a Project Manager and Researcher. Petra studied International relations at Masaryk University in the Czech Republic. She was a Program Assistant at Euro- Atlantic Centre in Banská Bystrica. During her studies, Petra interned at Jagello 2000 during NATO Days and Czech Airforce Days at the VIP department, also at the Representation of European Commission in Slovakia at the Political and Media Department. Moreover, she participated in the project University Debates, organised by MESA10, during which they debated in Belgrade and Brussels about the role of the European Union and NATO and their influence in the Western Balkans. Her research interests include Russia’s influence in Western Balkans, Montenegro`s relations with the EU and Russia, and European Union`s neighbourhood policy.

Rastislav Valentovič is the Financial Manager at Strategic Analysis. He graduated with a specialization in European Integration and Economics and Finance at the Faculty of Management of the Comenius University in Bratislava (2000) and studied international relations and the approximation of law at the Institute of International Relations and the Approximation of Law at the Faculty of Law of the Comenius University in Bratislava (2002). Rastislav has been working in the non-profit sector since 2000, gradually gaining work experience in the field of office management, administration, budgeting of projects and their implementation, coordination of experts and financial management of organizations. Rastislav was a full-fledged member of teams for the implementation and evaluation of several surveys and is a co-author of several publications and analytical studies.

 Young Leaders Programme

Anna Gúliková is an Intern in the Young Leaders Programme.  Anna is a Security and Strategic Studies and International Relations student at Masaryk University in Brno. She participated in an internship in a Czecho-Slovak think tank Security Outlines. Anna is an active volunteer in the Slovak office of an international organization covering exchange programs for high school students. During the past year, she became a part of the organization team for activities of the Department of Political Studies at her university. Anna is interested in international security, radicalization of religious groups, and terrorism. Her main focus is on the region of the Caucasus.

Matúš Vicen is an Intern of the Young Leaders Programme. Matúš is a student of International Relations and Security as well as European Studies and Diplomacy at Palacky University in Olomouc. He completed his internship at GLOBSEC Bratislava forum and his long-term internship at Europe Direct Olomouc. He is part of the student’s Political Science Club, where he organizes thematic debates and lectures. Matúš is mostly interested in East Asia, China’s influence and relations within CEE, and illiberalism within this region. The focus of his bachelor’s thesis is going to be on China’s surveillance technologies in the context of Serbia.

Lucia Jašková is an Intern in the Young Leaders Programme. She is a European Studies student at Masaryk University in Brno. In the past, she was an intern in the Bratislava office of MEP Vladimír Bilčík. During this internship, Lucia focused on preparing research material and media content. She was an intern at the GLOBSEC Conference 2024, helping with the security and navigation of the event. She spent one semester at Lusófona University in Porto under the Erasmus+ Program. Her field of interest is Western Balkan, specifically the stabilitocracy in the region and its connection to the EU membership. She also takes an interest in the Chinese presence in the region and its economic interests in the Balkans. 

Igor Píš is an intern in the Young Leaders Programme.  He is currently a master’s student in Economic Diplomacy at the Faculty of International Relations at the University of Economics in Bratislava. Igor previously studied European Business Studies for a semester in Riga, Latvia, and completed an internship with the Political team at the European Commission Representation in Bratislava. His master’s thesis focuses on the role of the EU in Georgia’s economic development. With a general interest in EU integration and regional development, Igor’s areas of focus are the Caucasus, the Baltics and Moldova.

Dominika Dragúňová is an Intern of the Young Leaders Programme.  Dominika is studying at Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica, where she is pursuing a Bachelor’s degree at the Faculty of Political Science and International Relations. She completed internships at the Helsinki Committee of Human Rights in Slovakia and Infosecurity.sk. During her studies, Dominika participated in the founding of a student campaign, SUSED, which aimed to combat anti-Ukrainian disinformation and foster solidarity towards the Ukrainian minority in Slovakia.

Terézia Hlačinová is an Intern in the Young Leaders Programme.  She is currently a student in the master’s program in European Studies at Masaryk University in Brno. A graduate of the Climate Academy, led by Zuzana Čaputová, she also coordinated a side session at GLOBSEC. During her bachelor’s studies in Brno, she worked as a project coordinator for the university, where she organized projects such as TEDx. Her area of interest in the Western Balkans is North Macedonia, as her bachelor’s thesis focused on the Bulgarian-Macedonian dispute and its impact on North Macedonia’s accession to the EU. In her free time, she spends a lot of time outdoors, cycling, and hiking.

Ema Valachová is an Intern in the Young Leaders Programme.  Ema is a Security and Strategic Studies and Media Studies and Journalism student at Masaryk University in Brno. This internship marks her first professional experience in the field, and she is excited to contribute and learn. Ema´s interests include international security, cybersecurity, hybrid threats, and the role of artificial intelligence in security policy.   

Martin Tancer is an Intern in the Young Leaders Programme.   He currently studies International Relations and European Studies at Masaryk University in Brno. He is generally interested in the post-Soviet and Balkan space with particular attention on the processes of European integration and on the relations between respective countries in the region. As an exchange student, he completed one semester on the University of Warsaw, where he also took part in the Eastern Winter School, a programme focused on Eastern Europe.

Henrieta Vengrínová is an Intern in the Young Leaders Programme.   She has a strong interest in political developments both in Slovakia and on the global stage. Her engagement with Slovak politics is closely connected to her work at Demagóg.sk, while her broader interest in European affairs is reflected in her participation in the Youth Week organized by the EPP Group in 2023 and the European Parliament Simulation organized by Edumacy in 2025. She is particularly drawn to topics related to the European Union, which not only mirror her academic and extracurricular experiences but also form the basis of her bachelor’s thesis. Her research focuses on Albania and its process of integration into the EU.

Martin Lukáč is an Intern in the Young Leaders Programme.   He is a student of International Relations and Security and Strategic Studies at the Faculty of Social Studies of Masaryk University in Brno. He is interested in topics such as hybrid threats, cognitive warfare, populism in politics, regional politics and current developments in the field of security. He previously interned at the Representation of the Košice Self-Governing Region to the EU in Brussels and is currently an intern at the Slovak security, watchdog portal infosecurity.sk. Martin is also a long-term member of the Student Section of the International Institute of Political Science at his university.

Lea Bellušová is an Intern in the Young Leaders Programme.    She successfully graduated as a master’s degree student in International Relations and Diplomacy at the Faculty of Political Science and International Relations, University of Matej Bel, with a focus on Foreign Direct Investment as a tool to accelerate the process of globalisation, with the practical part focused on Western Balkan countries and Foreign Direct Investments and their impact on economic development of Western Balkan countries.During her studies, Lea was an Intern of NATO Days at the Department of Logistics & Security, and an Intern of the Slovak Embassy in Zagreb as Economic Diplomat Assistant.She is currently working at PEDAL Consulting, the top national SME performer with the most approved and successfully implemented grants under the Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe and COSME programmes of the European Commission, as a junior project manager.