PLACEMENTS & POSTINGS

H.E. Edward Ferguson, new UK Ambassador to Serbia

Edward Ferguson graduated with First Class Honours in Classics in 2001. Joining the Graduate Fast Stream of the UK Ministry of Defence, he managed a programme to consolidate the MOD estate in Greater London and redevelop RAF Northolt from 2004 to 2006, serving as Political Advisor to a British Battlegroup in Iraq, after which he was tasked with the strategic management of the UK’s bilateral defence relations with the U.S., Canada and Western Europe. He worked as Private Secretary to three Defence Secretaries from 2007 to 2009, then, in 2009, as Head of Afghanistan and Pakistan Policy. He served as Head of Defence Strategy and Priorities from 2011 to 2014, when - in 2013 – he graduated from the LSE and Political Science with an MSc with Distinction in Strategy and Diplomacy. An Honorary Fellow of Exeter University’s Strategy and Security Institute, he was UK Ambassador to Bosnia-Herzegovina from 2014-’18. From 20182022 he served as Minister Counsellor for Defence at the British Embassy in Washington, D.C.

H.E. Akira Imamura, new Ambassador of Japan to Serbia

Akira Imamura joined the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1984. Among his foreign postings, he has served in Moscow three times, but also in Washington, D.C., Canberra, London and Ottawa. He held the position of Director of the Central and Southeast Europe Division of the Japanese MFA from 2003 to 2006, when he was responsible for Japan’s relations with the Western Balkan countries and also had an opportunity to visit Belgrade. He was appointed Japanese Consul-General in the Russian city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk in 2015. Ambassador Imamura served as Ambassador of Japan to Georgia, until May 2023. A fluent speaker of both English and Russian, his interests include history and art and he has also translated Solomon Volkov’s book A History of 20th Century Russian Culture (2019).

H.E. Aleksandar Vranješ, new Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Serbia

Aleksandar Vranješ completed his BA in Communication Sciences at Banja Luka College from 2001-’05, before beginning his postgraduate studies at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Political Science in 2005, earning his his Ph.D. in 2017. Taking on the role of teaching associate at the University of Banja Luka Faculty of Philosophy in 2008-’09, he served at the same institution from 2009-’18, before being appointed its Vice-Dean for Education (2010-’14), Vice-Dean for Scientific Research (2018-’19) and Assistant Professor of Political Communication (2018-present). He served as Political Affairs Advisor to the Office of the President of Republika Srpska from 2013-’18. and from 2019 to 2023, as Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Croatia.

H.E. Andreas Photiou, New ambassador of Cyprus to Serbia

Andreas Photiou earned his BA in Business Administration from the University of Cardiff and also holds a BE-MA in European Studies from Belgium’s Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. His first foreign posting (2003 to 2007) was at the Embassy/Permanent Mission of Cyprus to Vienna, after which he served – from 2007 to 2011 – at Cyprus’s Permanent Representation to the EU in Brussels. Returning home to Cyprus, he served as Head of the EU Department at the MFA from 2011 to 2013, before returning to Brussels from 2013 to 2018, working on EU Enlargement - Turkey, Serbia, Montenegro – and the Cyprus settlement process at the Permanent Representation of Cyprus to the EU. After heading the EU-Turkey Department at the MFA from 2018 to 2022, he became Director of the Office of the Permanent Secretary.

H.E. Mohammed M. A. Al Namoura, new Ambassador of Palestine to Serbia

Mohammed M. A. Al Namoura completed his basic schooling at Tariq Ben Ziyad High School in Hebron, before moving to the then Yugoslavia (Serbia), to complete his higher education at the University of Niš, where he earned his Bachelor of Science in Safety Engineering Degree in 1993 and his Master’s Degree n 1999. He is being President of the General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS), former Yugoslavia branch, from 1992-‘99. He became Membership Committee Head of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Al Fatah) in 2009 – a position he still holds – before becoming a member of the Political Committee of the Revolutionary Council Al Fatah in 2016 and a member of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Palestine National Council, PLO, in 2018. Ambassador Al Namoura is married. He speaks English to a proficient level and is fluent in Serbian.

Born 1959 in Rio de Janeiro, professor Ivanka Popović studied at the University of Maryland in the U.S. and at the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy of the University of Belgrade, earning a Doctorate in Chemical Engineering from the latter. A former Rector of the University of Belgrade and professor at the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy, prior to being appointed rector, she served as Vice-Rector for Research (2012-2015) and Vice-Rector for International and Inter-University Cooperation (2015-2018) at the University of Belgrade. She also previously presided over the Serbian Rectors’ Conference (20182021), the Danube Rectors’ Conference and the Rectors’ Forum of Southeast Europe and the Western Balkans. Ivanka is currently Honorary President of the Danube Rectors Conference.

Born and raised in the Austrian city of Villach, Amadeus Faltheiner grew up at the crossroads of the three different cultures of the Alpe-Adria region. After completing his basic education at the artistic branch of High School in Austria, he graduated in Law at the University of Vienna, with a specialisation in European Law obtained at the College of Europe in Bruges. He had several work experience placements at Vienna-based notary and law firms before serving, from October 2017 to March 2018, as a legal officer at the Austrian Financial Market Authority. Joining the Austrian Foreign Service – at the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs in Vienna, he served in the department for Visa, Border, Residence and Asylum Affairs; Migration; and Combating trafficking in human beings from April 2018 to January 2019. After participating in EU visa tasks during the Austrian EU Presidency, he was assigned to the Austrian Embassy in Brasilia from February to July 2019, then returned to the Protocol Department in Vienna (Aug 2019 – Aug 2020). Prior to his arrival in Belgrade for his latest posting, he spent three years as a Political Officer at the Austrian Embassy in Rome.