Lara Popescu is currently studying for her International Relations Master’s, specialising in Conflict and Security at Central European University in Vienna, Austria. Despite specialising in security, Lara is also pursuing an Advanced Certificate in International Political Economy, being interested in the impact of conflict on the economic development of societies, especially in the cases of post-conflict reconstruction. She graduated in 2022 from the University of Bucharest with a degree in International Relations and European Studies, as well as from the Bucharest University of Economic Studies with a degree in Marketing. Her research interests revolve around counter-terrorism and conflict mitigation, particularly that of ethnic conflict.
She has participated in several academic conferences, having two papers published in internationally recognised volumes of conference proceedings.
Previously, she worked as an intern for the Security and Safety Service at the United Nations Office in Vienna, where she was responsible for the data processing of the Training and Development Team, as well as for organising security-related events and conferences, including security briefings for the whole organisation. In the past, Lara has interned at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Sports of Romania, where she worked in the Consular Department, respectively, the European Project Department. Furthermore, she worked as the editor of an independent international affairs news website – PoliticALL.ro – where she wrote daily news summaries and analysed international politics.