Think Tank Young Professional Development Program

CEP’s Researcher Ksenija Simović (now external associate) worked on two research studies a part of the Think Tank Young Professional Development Program under the auspices of the Open Society Foundations Think Tank Fund. The first study „Free Movement of Goods and Serbia’s EU Membership Negotiations: Practical issues, opportunities and challenges regarding Serbia’s efficient integration into the EU Single Market“, identified potential gaps and hick-ups in the law harmonization process in the area of free movement of goods. The second study “Exploring the Opportunities for Maximizing EU Membership Benefits through Obtaining Geographical Indications and Designations of Origin for Serbian agricultural products”  gave an overview of possibilities for advancing Serbian agricultural product and assuring their better position on the EU Single Market through the registration of PDO’s and PGI’s at the EU level.

Both research studies analysed the relevant EU and Serbian legislation as well as provide certain case studies, mostly by studying the ways how some of the most recent Member States have dealt with these relevant issues.

As human capital is the biggest asset of any think tank, OSF’s TTF Think Tank Young Professional Development Program aims to help think tanks from the Central and Eastern Europe to attract recent graduates of MA and PhD programs in the social sciences and humanities by giving them an opportunity to gain first-hand policy research and advocacy experience. The program enables participating think tanks to recruit young researchers originally from the region who recently graduated from universities in the OECD countries and depending on a research topic finance individual programs at hosting organizations, lasting up to 6 months.