Samet Shabani

Samet Shabani is a US-based expert on countering violent extremism and Islamist populism in South East Europe. He has several coordinated projects and published products in the abovementioned topics, in individual capacity as expert, consultant, trainer and/or activity coordinator to a number of domestic and international organizations, such as: Radicalization Awareness Network (RAN), OSCE, Council of Europe (CoE), IOM, British Council and GLOBSEC. He is co-founder and former Chief Executive of Horizon Civitas, a North Macedonia-based non-profit on abovementioned topics. Samet Shabani is a non-resident research fellow at ELIAMEP (Hellenic Foundation for European & Foreign Policy). Shabani’s former working experience includes Research Fellow at Security and Foreign Policy Programe at Analytica Think-Tank, Deputy Head of Project Office at International Burch University, BiH and Project Consultant at ALFA Project Consultant & Management. He has also served as Political Analyst Assistant to 2018 Referendum Observation Mission to North Macedonia by ODIHR/OSCE. Samet's academic background includes a Master's degree (candidate) in Organizational Management from International Burch University, BiH and a Bachelor's degree in Political Science and International Relations from Istanbul University, Turkey. His former fellowships include: International Visitors and Leadership Program (IVLP) on P/CVE and REMVE by U.S State Department; Advanced Summer Programme: Terrorism, Counter-terrorism and the Rule of Law by International Centre for Counter-Terrorism and T.C.M Asser Institute in Netherlands; Sustainable Public Management in Malmö University by Swedish Academy for Young Professionals (SAYP); School of Public Policy by Council of Europe; School for Politics by Presidency of North Macedonia. He has been recognized for his work with awards such as the IVLP Impact Award "For Dialogue, Against Extremism!" from the U.S. Department of State and the Best Idea at campaign #IfItIsUpToMe from the OSCE Mission to Skopje. Samet is a native Albanian and Macedonian speaker, fluent in English and Turkish, and proficient in Bosnian and French.