Angelina Atanasova (PhD in Law, KU Leuven) has been a Researcher at the European Social Observatory since September 2021. Her work covers the areas of gender equality and discrimination, disability rights, social inclusion as well as more specifically the role of the Court of Justice of the European Union in the social policy domain. In her work, she combines her in-depth knowledge of EU law with her methodological skills in conducting qualitative and quantitative analysis.
Angelina defended her PhD at the Public Law Department of KU Leuven in 2023. Her dissertation (Abstract) focuses on the role of civic actors and lawyers in triggering the preliminary ruling procedure (Article 267 TFEU) in EU law disputes regarding social policy, with focus on cases from Belgium and Denmark. As a Fellow of the Re:constitution programme, in 2020-2021, Angelina further explored the civic actors’ fight for democracy through legal mobilization in Central and Eastern Europe.
Previously, she held positions as a Research Manager with a focus on social policy at Ecorys, a private sector consultancy, and as a consultant on equality and anti-discrimination issues at the Open Society European Policy Institute in Brussels. In 2019, she was a Visiting Doctoral Researcher at the Danish National Research Foundation's Centre of Excellence for International Courts (iCourts) and in 2016, at the Department of Political Science, both at the University of Copenhagen.