Team

WP 01

International Project Coordinator

  • Prof. Dr. Dimitar Dimitrov is the Rector of the University of National and World Economy (UNWE) since 2019 in his second term.  He is a leading expert in defense and security economics. 

    He has held key academic leadership roles at UNWE, including Head of the Department of National and Regional Security and Dean of the Faculty of Infrastructure Economics.

    He has completed long-term specializations in the Netherlands, Germany, and the United States, including as a visiting researcher at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey. He is a member of the expert network of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

    Prof. Dimitrov has authored over 100 scientific publications, including 16 monographs and 4 textbooks, with works published in countries such as Germany, the USA, the Netherlands, and the UK. 

    His teaching and research focus on defense budgeting, transparency and accountability in defense spending, the defense industry, and the economics of terrorism and security.

National Teams Project Coordinators

International
Project Leader

  • Prof. Dr. Svetoslav Spassov is a lecturer at the Department of National and Regional Security at UNWE and an expert in Defence Industry,  European security, Preventing Corruption,  Nuclear and Energy Security .

    He teaches courses such as European Security Architecture, Foundations of Security Policy, and Administration of Internal Order and Security, Nuclear Security,  Defense Industry,  Corporate Security. Prof Dr Spassov is an author of numerous scientific publications in the field of defense and security.

    Mr. Spassov is a Director of the Nuclear Security Support Center at UNWE since 2020.

    He has served as a Member of the 39th and 40th National Assemblies, political adviser to the Prime Minister, and Permanent Representative of Bulgaria to the UN, OSCE, and other international organizations in Vienna (2012–2019).

    He has completed specialized training at international institutions across Europe, the USA, and Israel. He has been honored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Interior for his professionalism and contributions to the field of security and national identity.

    He is the project leader of EDU-ANTI-CORR – Development and Implementation of Anti-Corruption Education Programs for Universities in Bulgaria, Greece, and Croatia, which aims to promote integrity and transparency in higher education through targeted academic initiatives.

  • Assoc. Prof. Ph.D. Sunčana Roksandić, is Head of the Department of Criminal Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb. She teaches Criminal Law, Economic Criminal Law, Transitional Justice, EU Substantive Criminal Law and the Protection of Victims, Bioethics and Human Rights, Medicine and law. She obtained her PhD as a scholarship holder and doctoral candidate of the Criminology Department of the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law in Freiburg (2012-2016),) defending the dissertation as an international double doctorate (Cotutelle de thèse) with the grade summa cum laude both in Zagreb and Freiburg. Her PhD was published as a book under the title „Prosecuting Serious Economic Crimes as International Crimes, A new Mandate for the ICC?“ She is the recipient of a scholarship for postdoctoral research from the Marija and Mirjan Damaška Foundation (2019/2020).

    She was participating in the US State Department IVLP program: Woman Countering Violent Extremism. She is a recipient of the 2023 Reward: the Rule of Law & Anti-Corruption Centre, in support of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, The Sheik Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani International Anti-Corruption Excellence Award in the category of: Academic Research and Education. She is an external member of the Committee for Legislation of the Croatian Parliament (2021-2024; 2025-2029) and the president of the Commission for the Protection of Persons with Mental Disabilities at the Ministry of Justice and the President of the Council for the Implementation of the Code of Conduct of Highest State Officials in Executive Bodies (both since 2023).

    She was a member of several law commissions appointed by Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Health in drafting amendments to e.g. Criminal Code. She is a researcher and expert in international, European and national scientific and professional projects, (e.g. CoE, EU, Erasmus +, UNODC, UNDP, Max Planck Institute Freiburg, Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime etc,). She publishes extensively in the field of (international) economic crimes, transitional justice, protection of human rights by means of national, transnational and international criminal law with specialty in protecting health and economic human rights by international law and policy.

  • Dimitris Ziouvas is Professor of Criminal Law at Panteion University of Athens for Social and  Political Sciences. He studied law in Greece (LLB, University of Athens) and Germany (LLM,  University of Freiburg i.Br., and Doctor of Jurisprudence - Dr. iur.-, University of Cologne)  before holding a Readership (associate Professor) in Criminal Law and Compliance at the Law  School of the University od Sussex (UK).  

    Prof Ziouvas is the founder and Director of the International Anti-Corruption Masterclass (https://www.rolacc.qa/the-inaugural-session-of-the-international-anti-corruption masterclass-series/). He has led the Master’s Programme „LLM in Corruption, Law and  Governance“ (University of Sussex). Dimitris has formerly served as a member of the Sussex  Crime Research Centre and the Sussex Centre for the Study of Corruption. His research to  date has resulted in multiple fellowships (Hellenic Scholarships Foundation, German  Academic Exchange Service-DAAD, Scholarships Fund of the German Federal State of  North Rhine-Westphalia), and prestigious academic awards including the Tokyo Foundation  Young Leaders Award and the Alexander Onassis Public Benefit Foundation Academic  Award (for his doctoral thesis on capital markets criminal law, 2004).  

    Dimitris has conducted research for the European Academy of Law (Germany) and the Ludwig  Boltzmann Institute for Human Rights (Austria) as a project lawyer in European Criminal Law  and Human Rights.  

    Prof Ziouvas is the Director of the European University Center for Crime and Justice of  Panteion University of Athens and the editor-in-chief of the “Series on Criminal Law, Criminal  Policy and Human Rights”. He is also a Visiting Professor of the University of London (https://ials.sas.ac.uk/people/professor-dimitris-ziouvas). 

    Awards, Social Impact and Business 

    Prof Ziouvas received in December 2016 by the Secretary General of the United Nations the  International Anti-Corruption Excellence Award in the category Youth Empowerment. His  world leading anti-corruption research and civic engagement has been presented in media incl.  BBC and Al-Jazeera (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7jQ9ae3sGI). 

    Dimitris serves as a member of the Academic Council of the Academy of Transparency and  Human Rights of the European Public Law Organization. He has been a member of the  Advisory Board of the Greek Anti-Corruption Authority (by Prime Minister΄s appointment) as  well as founder and co-ordinator of the Civil Society Network “Anti-Corruption Youth Greece” 

    (see https://www.facebook.com/AntiCorruptionYouthGreece/). Dimitris regularly represents  States and international organizations at international anti-corruption fora (United Nations, 

    OECD, ICC) with a special focus on the United Nations Convention against Corruption  (Implementation Review Group, Conference of State Parties to the UNCAC, see  https://www1.eplo.int/newsitem/820/delegation-of-athr-at-uncac,  

    https://www1.eplo.int/newsitem/755/eplo-in-the-conference-of-the-state-parties-to-the-un convention-against-corruption). He is a regular member of the Anti-Corruption Academic  Initiative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (Vienna, Austria).  

    Dimitris has served as President of the Young Penalists Committee, and as a member of the  Board of Directors and the Scientific Committee of the International Association of Penal Law  (AIDP). He is a CEDR accredited mediator and the President of the Hellenic Institute of  Certified Mediators and Arbitrators (HICMA). Dimitris is also a member of the Association of  Certified Fraud Examiners and an International Anti-Corruption Academy alumnus. 

    Prof Ziouvas has practiced financial criminal, compliance and corporate governance law for  over 15 years and is currently admitted as a lawyer before the courts of Greece (Hellenic  Supreme Court, State Council and Court of Audit) and Germany. He has worked as a  compliance officer and an ombudsman for publicly traded companies and has consulted  multinational corporations and state authorities on sustainability and integrity governance,  criminal compliance and capacity building.

Team Members

  • Anamarija Musa, PhD is a professor of administrative science at the Faculty of Law University of Zagreb, Croatia, where she has been employed since 2001. She graduated in law in 1999 and earned her PhD in 2009 in the same institution. She earned her MSc in European Governance from the LSE, UK. Currently she is also serving as vice-rector of the University of Zagreb, Croatia, responsible for quality management and ethics (October 2022-present). In the period 2013-2018 she served as the Information Commissioner of  The Republic of Croatia appointed by the Croatian Parliament to build an independent institution for the protection and promotion of the access to information and overall transparency in the public sector, the task she accomplished successfully.

    In her academic and professional work, she focuses on the reform of public administration (organisation, functioning and management of central government and local government) in the context of the European union governance, as well as on the issues of transparency, integrity, and accountability of government with special reference to the anti-corruption instruments (access to information, conflict of interest, ethics and integrity, lobbying, public participation in the regulatory process), coordination and politico- administrative relations (independent accountability institutions) and e-government (digitalisation, open data).

    She has extensively worked for international organisations and the EU as an expert and consultant in the above fields, including the European Commission, Council of Europe, OECD Sigma, USAID, UNDP, World Bank as well as for the foreign embassies and foundations in Croatia. She has consultancy experience in the region (Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina) mainly in the field of anticorruption instruments and public administration reform.

    In Croatia she has participated intensively in the law drafting and strategy preparation as an expert for several governments in the fields of transparency and integrity (Law on the access to information, Law on the prevention of the conflict of interest, Law on lobbying, etc.; Strategy of public administration reform; Open government partnership action plan). She is also a member of the Anticorruption Council of the Republic of Croatia and the former member of the Open Government Partnership Initiative Croatia. She is a member of the International advisory board of the Access Info Europe.

  • Atanas Dimitrov has been teaching since 2015 at the University of National and World Economy (UNWE), Bulgaria, where he currently holds the position of chief assistant.

    He is a former EVS volunteer, consultant to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (E4J Integrity & Ethics Champions Programme) and Transparency International School on Integrity Fellow.

    Atanas Dimitrov is a Doctor of Economics and Management (Economics of Defense and Security) from UNWE. 

    His research interests and publications focus on peace and conflict studies, migration and refugee studies, higher education, ethics and integrity.

    In May 2024 was published his second author's book - "Peace operations" (in Bulgarian).

  • Dr. Marta Dragičević Prtenjača is an Associate Professor at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Law, and currently is a Head of the Department of Criminal Sciences, Criminology and Victimology. She holds a PhD in Criminal Law and has over 15 years of academic and professional experience in the fields of criminal law, anti-corruption, juvenile justice, and human rights. Her academic work includes participation in numerous national and international research projects, including cooperation with the Max Planck Institute, the Croatian Science Foundation, and the European Commission.

    She was actively involved in the “Innocence Project Croatia” and currently participates in the HRZZ-funded research project Misdemeanor Law in the European Context – Challenges and Perspectives." She has co-authored legal handbooks, published in Croatian and international journals, and actively contributed to legislative reforms in Croatia. She has served as an independent expert for the Croatian Ministry of Justice, the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention accession process, and was engaged as an independent legal expert by the international consulting firm ECORYS (Netherlands), commissioned by the European Commission to monitor and assess corruption-related developments in Croatia.

    She has been a member of working groups within the ICC (International Chamber of Commerce), contributing to the development of the ICC Guidelines on Conflicts of Interest. Dragičević Prtenjača has presented her research at various national and international conferences.

    She was participating in the US State Department IVLP program: Woman Countering Violent Extremism. She is a recipient of the 2023 Reward: the Rule of Law & Anti-Corruption Centre, in support of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, The Sheik Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani International Anti-Corruption Excellence Award in the category of: Academic Research and Education. She is an external member of the Committee for Legislation of the Croatian Parliament (2021-2024; 2025-2029) and the president of the Commission for the Protection of Persons with Mental Disabilities at the Ministry of Justice and the President of the Council for the Implementation of the Code of Conduct of Highest State Officials in Executive Bodies (both since 2023).

    She was a member of several law commissions appointed by Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Health in drafting amendments to e.g. Criminal Code. She is a researcher and expert in international, European and national scientific and professional projects, (e.g. CoE, EU, Erasmus +, UNODC, UNDP, Max Planck Institute Freiburg, Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime etc,). She publishes extensively in the field of (international) economic crimes, transitional justice, protection of human rights by means of national, transnational and international criminal law with specialty in protecting health and economic human rights by international law and policy.

  • Marijana Jurić graduated in 2022 from the Faculty of Law at the University of Zagreb and enrolled in a doctoral program in the field of criminal law sciences that same year.

    During her studies, she served as a mentor at the Law Clinic in the Group for Assistance and Protection of Victims of Criminal Offenses. Since graduating, she has been working as a trainee lawyer and is currently employed at a law office that primarily deals with criminal law.

    In October 2024, she passed the bar exam. Since 2023, she has also been involved in monitoring the development of the field and legal issues related to persons with mental disorders, as part of the Commission for the Protection of Persons with Mental Disorders, established within the Ministry of Justice, Public Administration, and Digital Transformation of the Republic of Croatia.

  • George Pantazis is a Researcher at the European University Center for Crime and Justice (EUROCRIM). He holds a BA in Sociology with a focus on Criminology and an MA in Criminology, both from Panteion University of Athens for Social and Political Sciences. George serves as Lead Youth Coordinator of Anti-Corruption Youth Greece and also Lead Coordinator of the Global Youth Coalition for Justice and Democracy. His civic work includes supporting youth engagement, awareness campaigns, and coordination of international youth activities focused on justice, democracy, and the rule of law. His research interests focus on good governance, the relationship between corruption and democracy, organised crime and financial crime, and the role of technology in both criminal activity and prevention and response frameworks.

  • Georgi Tasev is a PhD candidate at the Department of National and Regional Security at the University of National and World Economy (UNWE), Sofia, specializing in issues related to nuclear security and anti-corruption.

     He holds a Master’s degree in Counteracting Corruption from UNWE (2021–2022). 

    In 2024, he completed an internship at the Regional Anti-Corruption Initiative (RAI) in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

    His academic work focuses on the intersection between international politics and economic security, as well as strategic approaches of the EU in the fight against corruption. 

    He has published both a scholarly article in the proceedings of the international conference Economy, Management and Security and a study in an official UNWE publication.

  • Gergana Gergova is an independent multidisciplinary designer specializing in branding, visual identity, web design, and creative strategy.

    She graduated from the Motion Creative program at Hyper Island, Stockholm, and has over a decade of experience in developing visual communication solutions for international organizations, educational initiatives, and EU-funded projects.

    Previously, she worked for six years at a leading motion design studio, after which she established her own practice, focusing on building scalable and strategic design systems.

    Ms. Gergova completed an internship at the Permanent Mission of Bulgaria to the OSCE and UN in Vienna, where she gained experience in diplomatic communications and international cooperation.

    In 2024, she was responsible for the website design and development for Cohesion Story Quest, a European Union-funded campaign promoting the achievements of cohesion policy projects across multiple member states.

    Within the EDU-ANTI-CORR project, she is responsible for the design, development, and administration of the project’s website and visual communication materials, supporting the promotion of anti-corruption education and the project’s public outreach.