Who We Are

Ilona Kazaryan, MBA, is a Senior Communications and Impact Officer at SEI, where she spearheads strategic communication initiatives focused on promoting climate neutrality and encouraging EU approximation/integration in Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine.  

Ilona Kazaryan is a professional with 10 years of leadership experience in the field of communications, media, and public relations. She has held various engagements and managerial roles, primarily at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Missions, Institutions and programmes in Central Asia, the South Caucasus, and the Western Balkans. 

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is a global organization consisting of 57 member states across three continents – North America, Europe, and Asia. Its primary objective is to foster peace, security, and cooperation among its member countries. Ilona was responsible for strategic planning and implementation of communications for impact, project management, media and donor liaison, and building partnerships. Additionally, she is a communications trainer and consultant, specialising in strategy development, crisis communication, media relations, and outreach. 

In recognition of her expertise, in December 2022 she became a Member of the United Nations Senior Women Talent Pipeline. Ilona is passionate about inspiring people to bring about positive social change. She is dedicated to the UN SDGs, while advocating for urgent action towards climate change, sustainable energy, ending corruption, and disaster risk reduction strategies to address global disparities and inequalities. 

Ilona is proficient in English, Georgian, Russian, Macedonian, and Armenian. She holds an MBA from the University of Liverpool, UK.

Ganna Gladkykh is a Policy Fellow at the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), working on the Green Agenda for Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine project. Her role involves collaborating with national teams to ensure the quality, methodological consistency, and comprehensive coverage of key thematic areas in the project's main deliverables.

With a strong interest in policy-relevant research for sustainability transformations, Ganna has extensive experience in sustainable energy transitions. Before joining SEI, she was a Clean Energy Transition Expert at the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA), where she worked on bridging the gap between the European clean energy research community and EU policymakers.

Ganna holds a Master’s degree in System Dynamics and a joint PhD in Economics and Earth Science. She has applied systems thinking methods to various sustainability challenges, including her contributions to the Bioeconomy Policy Dialogues project at SEI. Her academic and professional journey has taken her across several European countries, including Ukraine, Sweden, Belgium, France, Iceland, and Portugal.

Lauri Tammiste has been working as the Director of the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) Tallinn since 2016. He has extensive and interdisciplinary experience in climate, energy, energy efficiency and innovation policy instruments analysis, design, and implementation. During his 7 years at the Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications he was, as Director of Energy Department, responsible opening Estonian electricity market, transposing EU energy law, for shaping the national renewable energy plan and designing and launching new support programs for energy efficiency and renewable energy. As the Director of Economic Development Department at ministry, he was overseeing the design and implementation of national R&D and entrepreneurship strategies, coordinating and carrying out ex-ante and ex-post policy evaluations, international cooperation and representing Estonia in various European Commission, OECD, IEA and Nordic-Baltic working groups.

Lauri has also served as a member of the management board of the Estonian Environmental Investment Centre (EIC), which as a government-owned foundation is responsible for financing sustainable environmental projects both from national and EU funds. His main tasks involved helping to shape new financing instruments for resource and energy efficiency, renewable energy. Also, he oversaw carrying out impact assessment of financed projects and also improving the communication and marketing activities of EIC. 

While at SEI, Lauri lead in 2019 a study assessing the potential and for reaching climate neutrality in Estonia, which provided the evidence base for Estonian government to support EU wide climate neutrality goal. In 2021-2022, Lauri served as the Chairman of  High Level Green Policy expert group, which supported Prime Minister Kaja Kallas government by delivering a special report  on how to frame green transition, what are the key areas Estonia needs to focus upon (ranging from energy, mobility, adaptation to just transition, food systems, biodiversity, ecosystems etc), what are main bottlenecks in those focus areas and what are the key policy recommendations to remove those bottlenecks and speed up the transition. In addition to that, Lauri has overseen several decarbonization modelling studies in electricity, heating and cooling, gas and hydrogen sectors. 

Before SEI, Lauri held numerous leadership positions including: Member of the Executive Board for the Estonian Environmental Investment Centre; Director of Energy and Green Economy for the Estonian Development Fund; Chairman of the Supervisory Board for Elering (Estonian Transmission System Operator); Director of Energy Department for the Republic of Estonia Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications; a Member of the Supervisory Board for the Tallinn Technology Park Tehnopol; Director of Economic Development Department, Republic of Estonia Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications; and Head of Economic Analysis Division for the Republic of Estonia Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications.

Lauri has graduated from the University of Tartu, Estonia (Public Administration) and spent a semester at Maastricht University.

Ivo Krustok is the Head of Unit at the Climate Systems and Energy Policy Unit at the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) in Tallinn, and is the Team Lead for the Climate and Energy thematic areas within the “Green Agenda for Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Armenia” project. He produces gap reports for each of the project countries and is a member of the methodological team for the Green Agenda Project.

Ivo has extensive experience in environmental science and policy, having been related to the field for more than 15 years. He has worked for the Ministry of Environment of Estonia for six years and held several positions during that time – as a resource efficiency project manager, a scientific adviser and a climate adviser for the management in the ministry. Ivo also spent two years representing Estonia as an environmental attaché in Brussels, working closely with EU institutions. After the ministry, he worked for 1.5 years at the Government Office of Estonia, coordinating Estonia’s green transition.

Ivo has a PhD in Environmental Microbiology from Mälarden University, and both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Environmental Engineering from Technology from the University of Tartu.

Akaki Jamburia is the Coordinator and Team Lead for Georgia within the “Green Agenda for Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Armenia” project. His work is done under the title of Project Coordinator at the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) Headquarters, on the Environmental Policy and Strategy Team, within the Societies, Climate and Policy Support Division.

Akaki has extensive work experience in public, private, and civil society sectors with a strong background in project management. His areas of expertise include sustainable development, international political economy, European affairs and development cooperation. He has worked with the EU integration policies in the Eastern Partnership and Western Balkan countries, including Association Agreements and DCFTA’s, as well as with the EU’s different regional, cross-border, and thematic programs. Throughout his carrier he cooperated with various international donor organizations.

Akaki worked at the international consulting company, Policy and Management Consulting Group (PMCG) where he coordinated the implementation of the EU grants and technical assistance projects in Eastern Europe, Western Balkan countries, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Before joining PMCG, he was deputy head of the EU assistance coordination department at the Ministry of European and Euro Atlantic Integration (currently part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia). He was actively engaged in the Georgia’s EU integration process and assisted the line ministries in the implementation of the Association Agreement and DCFTA. Akaki also worked as the international relations specialist at the Ministry of Sports and Youth affairs and acted as a country representative at the Council of Europe’s European Steering Committee for Youth. He accumulated several years of work experience in civil society sector as a project manager for the EU youth and educational projects.

Akaki holds a master’s degree in Global Studies with a focus on sustainable development and climate change adaptation from the University of Gothenburg, a master’s degree in European Policies and Industrial Relations from the Georgian American University, and a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Tbilisi State University.

Bogdana Leshchyshyn is a Research Associate at Stockholm Environment Institute, on the Environmental Policy and Strategy Team and within the Societies, Climate, and Policy Support Division. She supports the implementation of the “Green Agenda for Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Armenia” as a thematic coordinator for Climate, Energy, and Buildings & Renovation.

Bogdana previously worked for the Government of Ukraine, at the State Agency on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving. In this role, she was responsible for close collaboration with international partners and donor organizations, managing a variety of development-related projects funded by the European Commission, NEFCO, UNDP, USAID, GIZ. Bogdana was also involved in Ukraine’s European Union integration, particularly in implementing the energy efficiency and renewable energy measures outlined in the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement.

Additionally, Bogdana conducted research on circular economy at the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Energy, and Environment in Germany, and gained insights into international affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

Bogdana holds a master’s degree in International Administration and Global Governance, with a focus on climate and energy policies from the University of Gothenburg. She also holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in International Relations from Taras Shevchenko National University.

Melano Sirbiladze is a Research Associate at the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) in the Societies, Climate, and Policy Support Division and supports the implementation of the “Green Agenda for Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Armenia” project. 

Previously, Melano managed the Fact-Finding Mission in Georgia on the Waste and Chemicals Management Project at SEI and supported the development of the Environmental Strategy and Action Plan of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH ESAP 2030+) project. She has also held an economic projects coordinator position at the Georgian Centre for Strategy and Development (GCSD) - an NGO based in Tbilisi, Georgia. Within the GCSD, she worked with development-related programs/projects funded by UKAID, USAID, and the European Commission. Melano was employed for almost three years at the Government of Georgia, specifically at the City Hall of Kutaisi Municipality. She was mainly responsible for developing different policy documents (city development strategy, local economic development plan, etc.) and writing grant project proposals.
 
Melano is currently pursuing a Doctoral Study in political science at Ghent University, Belgium in the area of sustainable finance in Eastern Europe/Georgia. Melano holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Tbilisi State University and a master’s degree in International and Development Economics from the University of Applied Sciences – HTW Berlin. She also participated in UNEP/UNESCO/BMU 6-month course in Environmental Management and obtained a postgraduate diploma from TU Dresden.

Khatia Revazishvili is the Thematic Coordinator for the Research and Development Innovation team within the “Green Agenda for Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Armenia” project. She also provides administrative and procurement support to the Green Agenda project. Khatia’s role in the project is done in part of her position as a Research Associate at Stockholm Environment Institute, on the Environmental Policy and Strategy Team and within the Societies, Climate, and Policy Support Division.

Khatia brings working experience from governmental, intergovernmental, and non-profit sectors in Georgia and Sweden. Previously, she held an administrative assistant position at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), an EU agency based in Stockholm, where she supported the team of healthcare experts to effectively respond to Covid pandemic threats around the world. Khatia was also employed as a consultant at the Diplomatic Training and Research Institute of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, where she implemented projects for the professional development of the diplomatic service staff as well as civil servants of other government agencies – contributing to the implementation of Georgia’s foreign policy strategy. Additionally, she gained experience in international organizations through internships at the UNDP Georgia, the Danish Refugee Council of South Caucasus, and Reach for Change in Sweden.

Khatia obtained an international master’s degree in Political Science from Stockholm University where her thesis explored the perspectives of the EU’s future enlargement, specifically examining three accession countries: Serbia, Montenegro, and Turkey). She also holds master’s degree in European Studies from the Institute for European Studies, and a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Tbilisi State University. She also studied at Porto University in Portugal as an Erasmus Exchange.

Ieva Galkyte is the Thematic Coordinator for the Farm to Fork team within the “Green Agenda for Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Armenia” project. She supports the Green Agenda project through her role as a Project Coordinator focusing on agriculture and food systems at the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) Headquarters, on the Environmental Policy and Strategy Team, within the Societies, Climate and Policy Support Division. 

Ieva brings to the Green Agenda project her experiences in sustainable food systems and policy advocacy. Before joining SEI, she held the role of Special Advisor to the CEO at 50by40 – a global collective-impact organization bringing together 70+ partners worldwide. In this capacity, she led the Just Livestock Transition programme, advancing the food systems transformation agenda in global political fora, including the UNFCCC climate negotiations, the UN Food Systems Summit, and the European Union. Ieva has also worked as Programme Officer of Accessibility and Innovation at ANEC, a Brussels-based European association representing consumers in standardisation, as well as the European Commission Representation in Vilnius.

Ieva holds a master’s degree in European Studies and a bachelor’s degree in Political Sciences from Vilnius University. She has also studied at the Université Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium and the University of Montana in the United States.

Sofia Strive is a project manager at SEI Headquarter – Environment Policy and Strategy Team – Societies, Climate and Policy Support Division. She is involved in the implementation of the Green Agenda for Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine (GUMA) programme. Sofia comes with strong experience in programme management in different international contexts and through experiences with public, private, grassroot and civil society actors. As a red thread through her career, she has built, coordinated and managed projects aimed at strengthening civil society’s resilience to social, political, and environmental challenges.

Before joining SEI, Sofia has been the coordinator of the secretariat of a European network called MenEngage Europe consisting of more than 100 members covering 33 countries in EU, Western Balkans and Eastern Partnership and focused on gender equality and violence prevention. She has also supported the Stockholm Center for Eastern European Studies (SCEEUS) at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs (Utrikespolitiska Institutet – UI) with a pilot study covering the Eastern Partnership region and been the programme manager of the “Swedish Civil Society Network for the Eastern Partnership and Russia” at the Swedish civil society platform ForumCiv. Moreover, she was elected to the role as co-chair in the Steering Committee of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum – a regional forum with 1200 member in the EaP and EU with the aim to represent the voice of civil society in policy discussions, consultations and political advocacy initiatives towards EU policy makers and local governments in the EaP. In these roles, Sofia has contributed to building cross-border collaborations, advocacy efforts and policy dialogue between EU actors and civil society organisations in Eastern Europe and been managing different parts of the programme cycle, from fundraising to implementation and evaluation.

Before moving to Sweden, Sofia lived in Serbia where she worked for the international consultancy company NIRAS with implementation of different development projects, in for instance Ukraine, Poland and Ethiopia. She has also lived in Iran where she has supported the UN World Food Programme, in Kosovo for the Swedish Embassy and in Georgia for a local grassroot organisation focused at increasing the engagement of women in local politics.

Sofia holds a Master’s degree in International Development and Management (LUMID) from Lund University and an Executive Master’s degree in European Studies from University of Gothenburg, where her thesis explored the EU’s External Action Service’s role in promoting LGBTQI rights in Georgia and its impact on the LGBTQI community in the country. She also has a Bachelor’s degree in Global Development Studies from Gothenburg University.

Erika Tšerkašina joined SEI Tallinn in October 2024. She works in the Climate Systems and Energy Policy Unit on projects related to energy sustainability and energy resilience.

Erika is a humanitarian and a researcher working to advance access to critical resources for all, with a particular focus on vulnerable social groups. Her work centres on efficient aid mechanisms, resource optimisation, and evidence-based policy-making. She is committed to designing policies and implementation strategies that support both sustainability and social justice.

Erika has a background in development cooperation and interdisciplinary research, and holds an MSc in Global Development from the University of Copenhagen. Her main interests include green and just transition, reduction of energy poverty, and community resilience.

Over the past four years, Erika has focused on emergency response and advancing the green and just transition in Ukraine. She is also dedicated to promoting climate resilience and expanding access to clean energy across Eastern Europe and Central Asia, drawing on more than ten years of experience in the region.

Saša Solujić is Team Leader for Environmental Policy and Strategy at SEI Headquarters, where she also serves as Project Manager within the Societies, Climate and Policy Support Division.

She is managing the BiH Sustainable Transition Programme, that is focused on issues of environmental governance and capacity building of environmental stakeholders as well as questions of sustainable transition at the local level. Sasa is also part of the SEI’s gender equality, social equity and poverty (GESEP) initiative, and she is one of the Environmental Policy Officers in SEI, supporting the implementation of SEI Environmental Policy.

She is a PRINCE2®-certified project manager with over 10 years of experience in the development cooperation arena in the Western Balkans, MENA and ENPI East countries, through multi-lateral agencies. She has extensive experience with implementation of complex projects and programmes, as well as project development and fundraising.

She holds a MSc degree in environmental protection from the Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade. She is also finalizing a second master’s degree (MA) in  sustainable financing at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management.

Amila Alidžanović is a Research Associate at SEI Headquarters, working within the Environmental Policy & Strategy (EPS) Team and providing support to the Economics of Sustainability Transitions (EST) Team – both part of the Societies, Climate, and Policy Support Division. She works primarily with the Sustainable Transition of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH SuTra), and the Green Agenda for Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Armenia (GUMA) projects. She also supports the Financing Urban Transitions portfolio.

Before joining SEI, Amila worked with the EU-funded Regional Communication Programme for the Eastern Neighbourhood, ‘EU Neighbours East.’ In this role, she coordinated youth-focused projects and external communications, raising awareness about the EU’s initiatives in the Eastern Partnership region. Her professional experience also includes her role as a Case Officer at the Swedish Migration Agency, where she managed cases related to both reception and return processes. Additionally, as part of her studies, Amila was an intern at the Embassy of Sweden in Armenia, where she gained practical experience in bilateral and multilateral development cooperation, political affairs and public diplomacy.

Amila holds a Master of Science in European Affairs from Lund University, focusing on EU law, external actorness, and enlargement policy. She also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from the same university. Her bachelor’s thesis analyzed how Chinese investments under the Belt and Road Initiative influenced Montenegro’s political ambitions for EU integration, while her master’s thesis analyzed the EU’s effectiveness and credibility as a security actor in Armenia through the establishment of the EU Mission in Armenia (EUMA). In 2022, Amila was selected by Lund University to participate in the U21 Global Citizenship Programme – a global leadership course aimed at advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Gábor Schneider is a project manager at SEI Headquarters – Environmental Policy and Strategy Team, at the Societies, Climate and Policy Support Division.

Gábor’s main focus is the recently started project, the Green Agenda for Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova and Armenia (hereafter GUMA countries). The project aims to enhance the green transition of these four Eastern Partnership countries. The initiated process, for the 2023-2026 period, is expected to deliver policy changes, make the GUMA countries‘ economy greener, improve their environmental governance, stimulate investment and uptake of innovative technologies and create green jobs.

His core expertise is in transnational policy development and process building – exemplified from the Danube and the Baltic Sea regions and the Eastern Partnership countries. He has solid knowledge about promoting cooperation between different governance levels and different sectors and stakeholders. Gábor has been engaged in various international cooperation projects. Gábor joined SEI from the Swedish Institute where he worked as programme manager for project funding and for leadership training programmes dealing with BSR and EaP countries. He also worked as researcher and as policy officer.

Gábor holds a Ph.D. in applied political science and an MA in international relations and EU politics.

Peter joined SEI Tallinn in September 2020. He works in the Climate Systems and Energy Policy Unit on a project related to developing quantitative tools for assessing the role of spatial planning policies at different scales on greenhouse gas emissions.

Peter’s background is in the physical sciences and he holds a PhD in chemistry from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium, where he worked in nanoscience. Before that he obtained an MSci in Natural Sciences from University College London, and is currently also a postdoctoral researcher in the department of materials and environmental technology at Tallinn University of Technology. He hopes to now successfully apply his skills in research and data analysis to a new field.

Gowtham Muthukumaran is an Energy expert in the Climate Systems and Energy Policy Unit at SEI Tallinn. Since joining in March 2022, he has seamlessly integrated renewable energy, energy engineering, sector coupling, energy system modelling, economic modelling, and finance tool development for cities into his specialties.  

With a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from India and he has experience working as a turbine engineer in a husk boiler power plant in India, coupled with diverse internships and workshops during his academic journey, he has fortified his practical understanding of the energy field. He holds a Master’s degree in Business Engineering Energy from Technische Universität Berlin in Germany, Gowtham’s academic prowess forms the foundation of his comprehensive skill set.

His contributions at SEI Tallinn span crucial roles, focusing on research, tool development, scenario modelling for energy systems, and project management. 

Gowtham has played a pivotal role in various impactful initiatives, particularly in projects aiding Baltic countries, Finland, Sweden, and Eastern European countries in achieving their sustainability goals. His contributions span a spectrum of projects, including climate neutrality modelling, specialized tool development, and fostering resilience through decentralization. As a project manager in GA GUMA, Gowtham is involved in managing the project as well as developing climate neutrality models tailored for Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Armenia. In UA-GRIDEX, he focuses on enhancing Vinnytsia’s resilience by leveraging decentralization and digitalization to improve energy efficiency. Additionally, in the Viable Cities project, Gowtham was instrumental in crafting a web-based finance dashboard for 290 Swedish municipalities, facilitating their transition towards sustainable urban development. Furthermore, his scenario modelling analysis for decarbonizing the gas sector and heating and cooling sector has laid the groundwork for developing an action plan for the countries by 2050.

Gowtham has experience in engaging with stakeholders through various projects, showcasing his ability to collaborate effectively and ensure the success of sustainable energy projects. His multifaceted experiences underscore his dedication to advancing climate-friendly solutions and contributing to a more sustainable future.