Mag. Marija Apostolova

As a writer for the forum, I have been contributing summaries, articles and web stories on current social and political issues from the region. My publications focus on the challenges in the educational and healthcare systems in the respective countries, as well as those in the domain of gender equality and access to justice. My other responsibilities include liaising with NGOs and foundations to expand the forum’s network, as well as considering ideas for possible future partnerships.

My core responsibilities involved contributing through research and analysis to the ongoing formulation process of the Programme for Country Partnership (PCP) in the region, as well as preparing detailed briefing notes and reports on the status of cooperation with Member States and other counterparts. Additionally, in consultation with project managers and SAP, I wrote progress summaries and developed informative budget tables and graphs for the annual UNDAF reporting process.

As part of the Open Learning Initiative (OLIve), supported by the University of Vienna and the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union, I provided academic, non-degree English language courses for people of refugee and asylum-seeking status, supporting them in connecting their previous professional and academic experience to their new lives in Europe, including the possibility of higher education studies at a later stage.

Within the Editing and Production Sector in the Fundamental Rights Promotion Department, I was responsible for editing and proofreading highly scientific reports and handbooks for digital and print publication. I worked on valuable FRA publications, namely EU-MIDIS II, the Fundamental Rights Report, as well as FRA's contributions to child-friendly justice, violence against women and independent living, for which I conducted editorial assessment with great attentiveness to detail.

At Alma, I evolved and optimised the communications infrastructure, internally and externally, to create high-impact campaigns that were on time and on budget. I managed the full marketing mix and created innovative initiatives that generated revenue growth and competitive differentiation.

In the period 2013-2016, I worked as a project coordinator for two major educational projects and, within their frameworks, administered trainings for 100+ participants on the subject of teachers’ professional development and interethnic education. Additionally, I supervised participants’ progress, revised portfolios and assisted assessment by selecting appropriate peer reviewers according to project areas.

As an English language teacher, I actively participated in numerous curricular and extracurricular activities. I prepared detailed short- and long-term plans of the teaching process and adapted curricula for the purpose of inclusive education. In the course of ten years, I was able to conduct several case studies on phenomena I could perceive during my teaching practice, two of which were published by the Bureau for Development of Education of the Republic of Macedonia.

As a translator and interpreter at the Municipality of Kochani, I worked on large-scale literary translation projects, i.e. monographs, surveys and reports, and facilitated simultaneous and consecutive translation during conferences and meetings at national and international level. Additionally, I wrote and edited content for the Municipality’s print and web publications and revised project proposals for partners’ funding considerations.

Anglophone cultures; postcolonial literatures; gender studies; Irish studies

Cognitive linguistics; sociolinguistics; syntax

Literary translation; translation theory, terminology

Contemporary English language; English literature; methodology, psychology