CERES MEETS: IULIA DOFIN, MA 2015
What was your interest in studying at CERES? How did your interests develop while you were a student here?
My academic research interests began with a general focus on European politics, minority rights, migration, and the history of ethnic minorities. During my undergrad studies, since my major was political science and double minors in women and gender studies and European Union studies, I had the freedom to take a range of courses anywhere from aboriginal politics to the history of Israel, Russian law and politics, masculinity and violence, and so forth.
During my MA studies at CERES, I narrowed down my interests and decided to write about ethnic minority rights in eastern Europe, specifically in Romania; my major research paper focused on the education of the Roma community in Bucharest. The most exciting part of my research was when I did fieldwork in a renowned Roma ghetto in Bucharest. As part of my internship, I collaborated with World Vision Romania. It was here that I met staff also working for the Roma Policy Center in Bucharest who helped me conduct interviews and organize a small focus group for my research paper.
How has CERES helped you in your work?
Several CERES professors helped me narrow down my research interests during my first year and, with their help, I eventually found my thesis topic. CERES also made it possible for me to travel to and organize my internship in Romania. This included handling the logistics of my internship with World Vision and undergoing an ethics review, which was quite meticulous, before doing my fieldwork. My colleagues and I received training on what to expect abroad, how to conduct interviews and so forth. I felt that we were prepared very well to go out into the real world and put our academic knowledge into practice. Last, through CERES, I created a bond not only with my classmates but also with professors and people I met in my internship. After I finished my MA, I decided to volunteer in the Roma ghetto and help teach children how to read and write. As a side project, I began writing op-ed articles on Roma segregation in eastern Europe.
What are your next steps?
Since graduation in 2015, I moved to Spain and became a research editor for Dow Jones, covering the risk and compliance sector. My job mainly focuses on conducting research on corrupt people and companies related to money services. I write reports on topics such as the Panama Papers and translate data from Spanish or Romanian into English. In my free time, I also like to write short articles on the Roma migrants in Spain. Last year, I published a photojournalistic piece for Vice Romania.
