The more time I spent at NEC, the more I realised how much love, energy, and dedication must have gone into creating an academic institution and making it flourish in politically and economically challenging circumstances. For so many of us, scholars both from and of Eastern Europe, NEC has been a shelter in which we could recognise, face, and start transforming the burdensome processes of self-colonisation/self-balkanisation. Even if there were nothing else, this alone would constitute an achievement of which NEC, its founders, supporters, and fellows can be proud.

Bojan Bilić, Ph.D., University of Lisbon
2016/ 2017 EntE Europe next to Europe Fellow