Tonka Kostadinova

Tonka Kostadinova, PhD, is a Marie-Sklodowska Curie Post-doctoral Fellow at the Department of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Cyprus. She is a former diplomat and researcher with a history of working both in international academia and government administration. She has served at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bulgaria, where she was responsible for bilateral relations with Greece and Cyprus. In her diplomatic capacity, she additionally covered SEE regional affairs in the framework of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation. Dr. Kostadinova has extensive academic experience across various institutions, including the University of Cambridge, University of Münster, Charles University – Prague, Center for Advanced Study Sofia, University of Athens, and Bonn Academy of International Affairs.

Dr. Kostadinova has received several awards for her contributions to societal advancement, including the National Commission for Gender Equality Award for enhancing youth awareness of gender equality in politics and the High Performance in Teaching and Education Award (Bulgaria, 2022). She was also the first-place recipient in the Central European Initiative “IMAGINE” competition for enhancing youth awareness of UN Sustainable Development Goals (2022) and the second-place recipient in the competition for “The Outstanding Young Persons in Bulgaria” (2019).

Dr. Kostadinova authored the monograph titled “Germany’s Foreign Policy after Reunification, 1990-1994” (Paradigma, 2012) and has contributed numerous peer-reviewed articles on diplomacy, international relations (IR), and gender equality. Her work has been published in various book chapters and journals, including The Hague Journal of Diplomacy and Comparative Southeast European Studies.

Her current research interests encompass gender and foreign policy, gender relations and the status of women in SEE diplomacy.

Dr. Kostadinova speaks English, German, Bulgarian, Greek and Spanish.