Kosovar Centre for Security Studies (KCSS) is an independent policy research centre founded in April 2008 and based in Prishtina, Kosovo. KCSS is dedicated to security sector development and reform in Kosovo and the Western Balkans by proactively promoting principles of good governance, integrity, and resilience. In more than a decade, KCSS has been building and offering alternative expertise in security studies, by filling a void in the limited academic contribution in the field in Kosovo. Advancing new ideas and social science methods are core values of the centre. Each year, KCSS publishes numerous reports, policy analyses and policy briefs. It also organizes more than 200 public events, including conferences, round-tables, debates, and lectures in Kosovo -in collaboration with regional and international partners. For more than six years, KCSS has been producing pioneering research on violent extremism in Kosovo and the broader region of Western Balkans and implementing community-based projects to prevent radicalization and violent extremism and strengthen community resilience. Leveraging its extensive network of partnerships with local and international actors involved in national security research and policy making, KCSS has been able to implement tens of projects that aim to advocate for policies that are sustainable in addressing security threats and promoting security sector development in the long run. In the more recent years, KCSS has been focusing on investigating in depth community resilience factors, including the analysis of existing national frameworks and systems in place to deal with crises arising from natural or human-made disasters.
Mentor Vrajolli is Executive Director of Kosovar Centre for Security Studies (KCSS) a position which started to exercise from January 2019. Before this, from 2011 Mr Vrajolli held the position of Senior Research and Secretary of KCSS. While, his association with KCSS started back in 2008 when he joined KCSS as a Researcher. For more than a decade long engagement in the research at KCSS (first as Researcher and then as Senior Researcher) Mr. Vrajolli have been involved in a significant number of projects, playing a crucial role on their implementation. The projects that Mr. Vrajolli has been involved were of the various geographic scopes which included domestic, regional (Western Balkans) and broader area. Since 2009, Mr. Vrajolli have been engaged as researcher in the regional think-tanks consortium “Civil Society Capacity Building in Mapping and Monitoring the Security Sector Reform in the Western Balkans”. Since 2011 Mr. Vrajolli has represented the KCSS in the European Peacebuilding Liaison Office (EPLO) a Brussels based European think tank and NGO network. In 2012, he has also been a coordinator and later the methodologist of the Kosovo Security Barometer Programme of KCSS. From 2016 Mr. Vrajolli has been engaged in different Horizon 2020 Consortiums in which KCSS have member, which includes projects such as: Peacetraining.Eu (Led by SYNYO, Austria) and EUNPACK.Eu (Led by NUPI, Norway).
Teuta Avdimetaj is a Researcher at the Kosovar Center for Security Studies (KCSS) where she focuses on topics of preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE), gender and security, and the intersection between technology and security. Teuta holds an M.A. degree in Security Studies from Georgetown University, majoring in International Security with research focus on sub-state violence and terrorism. She previously served as a Policy Adviser to the 4th President of Kosovo and as an External Adviser to the Minister for European Integration of Kosovo, seconded through the Norwegian Embassy in Kosovo. She has also been consulting international organizations on P/CVE, including the International Organization for Migration, CIJA US, Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, and C-Rex Center for Research on Extremism. Her expertise in P/CVE includes research and policy analysis on trends in radicalization and violent extremism in the Balkans, extremist propaganda, reintegration programs for returning foreign fighters, monitoring and evaluation of P/CVE projects, and community resilience.
Skender Perteshi is a researcher at KCSS, and head of the KCSS programme on countering and preventing violent extremism. He graduated from University College “Universum” with a dregree in International Relations and Diplomacy. Skender is author and co-author of many researcher reports related security topics such as: Integrity in Kosovo Security Sector, risks and threats towards national security, preventing and countering of violent extremism and terrorism, and reforming of security sector. Skender has worked also as a junior/senior associate and consultant for international and local organizations in security related topics such as: Finn Church Aid Foundation- Heksinki, RUSI institute, International Organization of Migration (IOM), OSCE and other organizations.
Tringa Naka has completed her studies at the University for Business and Technology – Department of Management, Business and Economics with focus on Marketing and Sales. Her previous experience in managing employees and communication with customers and other interested parties in various well-known companies in Kosovo and abroad has helped her to increase the overall capabilities in the field of public relations. During the period of October 2014 to June 2016, she held the position of communication Officer and now she serves as Office Manager where her main responsibilities are finance, communication and human resources.