ISAC brings together accomplished experts and young professionals with academic backgrounds in international relations, diplomacy, politics, as well as practical experience accumulated in the government, including Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defence and the Office for European Integration.
ISAC Fund Core Team
Milan Pajevic – Chairman of the Advisory Board of the ISAC Fund
Mr. Pajevic was one of the founders of the ISAC Fund in 2006. and is the Chairman of its Advisory Board. Mr. Pajevic served as CEO of the G17 Institute in 2004 and 2005. He was one of the founders of the G17 Plus expert network (NGO) in 1999 and its Foreign Policy Adviser.
In the first democratic government since the fall of Milosevic, in 2000, Mr. Pajevic first held the title of the Federal Councilor and then Ambassador at the MFA, as well as the National Coordinator of the Stability Pact for SEE, permanently serving as Foreign Policy Adviser to Deputy Prime Minister of FRY and later Serbia, Prof. Labus.
Mr. Pajevic resigned from the post of Ambassador and terminated his employment at the Government in 2004 because of the lack of a comprehensive reform of diplomatic apparatus and the inadequate foreign policy of Serbia.
In the 1990s, he was among the founders and the Vice President of the European Movement in Serbia (1994 to 2000) and worked as Director General of Stubovi kulture publishing house (1993 to 2000).
Since he strongly disagreed with the destructive politics of the Serbian leadership in the late 1980s and the early 1990s he refrained from being engaged in Serbian diplomacy but went abroad and worked in the private sector (Zepter International – Austria, Switzerland and Poland) from 1991 to 1993.
Mr. Pajevic holds a B.A. in Political Science and International Relations from the Faculty of Political Science, University of Belgrade.
From August 2012 until September 2013, he was the Director of the European Integration Office.
Tanja Plavšić – Program Assistant
Tanja Plavšić was a participant in the Seminar for Young Leaders in 2019, where she first got to know the work of the ISAC Fund. She started her internship at ISAC in October 2022, and from January 2023 she joined the team as a Program Assistant.
Ms. Plavšić is currently a fourth-year student at the Faculty of Diplomacy and Security, majoring in Diplomacy and Security. In addition to formal education, Ms. Plavšić was also a participant of the School of Economic and Social Rights, the European Solidarity Corps, the School of Youth Policy, Science Center – Petnica, G.R.O.W. Leadership Camp, training for youth leaders and numerous youth exchanges.
Ms. Plavšić is fluent in English and Serbian.
Contact: plavsic@isac-fund.org
Igor Novakovic – Research Director
Mr. Igor Novaković is the Research Director of the International and Security Affairs Centre – ISAC Fund. His field of research encompasses issues related to international relations and security, in particular connected to the European and Euro Atlantic integrations, regional cooperation and bilateral cooperation of Serbia with other states, as well as the interethnic dialogue in the Southeastern Europe.
He is the author of a number of analyses and policy papers. In addition, Mr. Novaković has published several articles in domestic and international scientific journals, and has organized a number of different international conferences, roundtables and workshops on various topics related to international relations, security cooperation, interethnic dialogue and minority integration. He holds a PhD in Political Science from University of Belgrade, an MA in International Relations and European Studies from the University of Bologna and University of Novi Sad, and a BA in History from the University of Novi Sad.
Mr. Novakovic is fluent in English, and has a good command in Italian and Bulgarian.
Contact: igor.novakovic@isac-fund.org
Nikola Petrovic – Director
Mr. Petrovic is one of the founders and the Director of the ISAC Fund. From July 2004 until end of December 2005, he served as Chief of Staff to Assistant Minister of Defence of Serbia and Montenegro. Before this he worked as the Director at the Defence and Security Studies Centre (DSSC) at the G17 Institute (ESPI Institute) since the Centre’s inception in 2002. From 2003 to 2005, Mr. Petrovic was the first Administrator of the Defence and Security Committee of G17 Plus. Mr. Petrovic also worked for the International Organisation for Migration / OSCE joint out-of-country voting program as assistant to Program Director. He also worked for the EU Justice and Internal Affairs fact finding mission in 2001.
A civil engineer by profession, Mr. Petrovic worked for a number of companies in the private sector in construction management, engineering and industrial design in the 1990s.
Mr. Petrovic is fluent in Serbian and English and is certified in Microsoft systems management.
Contact: petrovic@isac-fund.org
Advisory Board
Members of the Advisory Board | |
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Aleksandar Andrija PEJOVIĆ | Vice-President of the Adriatic Council for International Relations |
Alojz PETERLE | Member of European Parliament, Former PM of Slovenija |
Christian THIMONIER | French Ambassador to FYROM |
Dušan RELJIC | Head of Brussels Office, SWF |
Erhard BUSEK | President of Institut fuer den Donauraum und Mitteleuropa |
Gerald KNAUS | President of European Stability Initiative |
Ivan VEJVODA | Senior Fellow, Institute for Human Sciences Vienna |
Jadranka JELINČIĆ | Associate Researcher at the University of Paris |
Jan BRAATHU | Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia |
Jan LUNDIN | Swedish Ambassador to Serbia |
Kim TRAAVIK | Former Norwegian Ambassador to UK and NATO, DMFA |
Michael SCHAEFER | Chairman of the Board of Directors of Quandt (BMW) Foundation |
Milica DELEVIĆ | Director for Governance and Political Affairs, EBRD |
Tanja MIŠČEVIĆ | Deputy Secretary General, Regional Cooperation Council |