Common Sense Society–Hungary Hosts the 2022 Class of Europa Fellows at the Károlyi Castle in Fehérvárcsurgó, Hungary

Mr. Jawaid Beg graduated from St. John’s College in 2020 with a B.A. in liberal arts. He is currently a U.S. Army officer stationed in Germany and hopes to pursue a Ph.D. in political philosophy.

Mr. Edgar Beltrán is a professor of medieval philosophy at the Santo Tomás de Aquino Catholic seminary and the deputy editor of El American. He has bylines in The Pillar, The American Conservative, and European Conservative.

Mr. Ben Crocker is presently completing his M.A. at St. John’s College, Annapolis, where he is a Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation scholar. Ben is a constitutional fellow at The American Conservative and writes on U.S. and Australian politics for The Spectator Australia. He is from Sydney, Australia, and holds degrees in music and education from Griffith University and the University of Southern Queensland. He has taught music at the University of Sydney and recently conducted new recordings for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 

Mr. Benjámin Fellegi received a B.A. in history from Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, specializing in Central Europe. He is pursuing an M.A. in international relations at Corvinus University of Budapest. He works as a research analyst at a Budapest-based business consultancy and has published articles on geopolitics.

Mr. Kristóf Gáspár is a senior political analyst at the Budapest-based Paradigm Institute and a Ph.D. student at Eötvös Loránd University. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s degree in public policy from Eötvös Loránd University and a master’s degree in economics from Corvinus University of Budapest. Formerly, he worked in the Hungarian Ministry of Human Capacities and was a research fellow at the Institute of Political Sciences in the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

Ms. Emese Hegyi is a political advisor in the European Parliament in Brussels, working on human rights issues and E.U. foreign policy. She has previously worked as a press advisor at the E.P.P. Group and a policy officer at the Hungarian State Secretariat for E.U. Affairs. Emese’s passion for E.U. politics led her to study E.U. and international law.

Mrs. Gwen Hellickson is the events and operations associate at Common Sense Society–US. She received her B.A. in economics at Hillsdale College, where she graduated summa cum laude and participated in the George Washington Fellowship Program for statesmanship and constitutionalism.

Ms. Emily Horton is currently a graduate student at Harvard Business School. She graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2016 with degrees in civil engineering and studio art. After working in construction, Emily joined the Boston Consulting Group where she specializes in aerospace and defense.

Dr. Lilla Nóra Kiss is a visiting scholar at Antonin Scalia Law School. She participates in the Hungary Foundation’s Liberty Bridge Program and conducts research in social media regulation. Before law school, Lilla was a senior counselor on E.U. legal affairs at the Hungarian Ministry of Justice and worked as a researcher and lecturer at the University of Miskolc Institute of European and International Law, where she earned her Ph.D. in 2019.

Mr. Giorgi Labadze is a Ph.D. candidate in American studies at Tbilisi State University, with a focus on the early American republic, U.S. political parties, and federalism. He teaches American studies at Tbilisi State University and also works as a TV and radio host at Georgian Public Broadcaster, where he discusses American democracy. Giorgi also writes expert opinions in regional political outlets.

Mr. Ármin Ladányi is the international business development manager at EuroAtlantic Consulting and Investment Plc. and a board member of the Youth Business Group, an international talent management organization. He holds a degree in international studies and an M.P.P.M. from the Corvinus University of Budapest. He has international experience from Sciences Po University in France and George Mason University in the U.S.

Mr. Paul Maritz is a South African Ph.D. student in political philosophy at the University of Leiden. He holds M.A. degrees in theology and politics. He is the host of a weekly news podcast Podlitiek, which is hosted in Afrikaans, his mother tongue. His research interests include the nature of political radicalism and the origins of revolution. 

Ms. Morgan Miller is a graduate of Ashland University where she received a B.A. in philosophy and political science. She currently works for the Center for Religion, Culture, and Democracy, an initiative of the First Liberty Institute. Morgan has previously worked with the Acton Institute, the American Institute for Economic Research, the Discovery Institute, and the Foundation for Economic Education.

Ms. Tanvi Mishra is a biologist who specializes in the nexus between ecology and economics. Her work includes writing energy and agriculture related policies with the U.N., being a delegate and youth leader at Stockholm+50, working in plant biotechnology, and starting Youth in Fashion for Climate Action, a nonprofit organization focused on sustainable fashion.

Mr. Dénes András Nagy is a Hungarian europeanist. He studied history, politics, and economics at the University College London’s School of Slavonic and East European Studies. He is currently in the process of finishing his M.A. in history at Leiden University.

Mrs. Marypili Navas is a Venezuelan lawyer and economist with experience in public policy and human rights promotion and defense. She has recently worked as a translator and with the 40 Days for Life movement.

Dr. Balázs Tárnok is a Hungarian jurist from Slovakia. He received his J.D. and Ph.D. at the Pázmány Péter Catholic University Faculty of Law and Political Sciences. Currently, he is the managing director of the Europe Strategy Research Institute at the University of Public Service, Budapest, and the deputy director of the training program on national minorities at the Károli Interdisciplinary Academy. In 2021, he was the Hungary Foundation’s visiting research fellow at the University of Notre Dame. He is also vice chairman of the Rákóczi Association and international adviser at the Institute for the Protection of Minority Rights, Budapest.

Mr. Jesse Velay-Vitow is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Toronto studying climate physics. He received his M.Sc. in physics from the University of Toronto and his B.Sc. in mathematical physics from Simon Fraser University. He has twice been a Morgenstern Fellow at the Mercatus Center and is currently a graduate fellow at the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology.

Mr. Thayer Wade serves as senior associate for Vestria Capital, where he makes strategic investments in registered investment advisors. Prior to Vestria, he was assistant vice president at Morgan Stanley and senior analyst at Maximus, a Virginia-based systems integrator. He studied electrical engineering at Harvard University.

Ms. Sofia Wernick is a rising graduate student at the Luxembourg School of Business, a 2021-22 Fulbright grantee in the Canary Islands, and a graduate of the Catholic University of America where she majored in French and German literature. Her work has focused on K-12 language education in both underserved communities and classical private schools. Originally from Miami, Florida, Sofia has studied and worked in Massachusetts, Washington, D.C., Nicaragua, Germany, and Spain.