Meet the 2023–25 CPD Research Fellows

The Center is pleased to announce the addition of four new CPD Research Fellows: Noé Cornago, Kristin Eggeling, Anna Popkova, and Alistair Somerville.

CPD Research Fellows are selected from a competitive pool of international applicants from around the world and each oversees a substantive research project that yields at least two outputs, including one paper published by CPD Perspectives on Public Diplomacy. The second output may consist of a series for the CPD Blog or another type of publication the Fellow develops with CPD.

Noé Cornago, Ph.D.is an Associate Professor of International Relations at University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) School of Social Sciences and Communication in Leioa (Spain), where he was responsible of the Graduate Programme in International Studies (2012-2018), and currently serves as academic coordinator of International Law and International Relations. Trained as both journalist and political scientist and keenly interested in transdisciplinary approaches, his research is focused on the past and present transformations of diplomacy, global regulation, critical sociology of knowledge, post-development, global media events, and aesthetics and politics. 

Cornago’s 2023-2025 CPD Research Fellowship project, ‘Hegemonic Transition through Communication? Evolving narratives and interplay between material and ideational elements in USA-China diplomatic incidents (1990-2020)’ examines an aspect of Chinese diplomacy that so far has been largely neglected, namely the communicative strategy that Beijing deploys in the context of its recurrent diplomatic incidents with the USA.

Kristin Anabel Eggeling, Ph.D. is assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Copenhagen. Her research interests are in diplomatic studies, International Relations theory, global tech policy and political ethnography. She is the author of ‘Nation branding in practice: The politics of promoting sports, cities and universities in Kazakhstan and Qatar’ (Routledge, 2020), and has published articles in Review of International Studies, European Journal of International Relations, Global Studies Quarterly, Millennium: Journal of International Studies, Big Data & Society, Geopolitics and Qualitative Research. Kristin’s research on the role of digital technologies in international diplomacy has won international prizes, including the Best Article Award of the ISA Diplomatic Studies Section in 2022.  

Kristin Eggeling’s 2023-2025 CPD Research Fellowship project, "Diplomatic mimes: Big tech, digital regulation and mimetic diplomatic practice," examines the intersection of diplomatic, regulatory and lobbying practices in the field of international tech policy. 

Anna Popkova, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor at Western Michigan University School of Communication and an allied faculty member at the Global and International Studies program. Her research on public diplomacy and international strategic communication examines the public diplomacy efforts of such non-state actors as transnational advocacy networks, citizen diplomacy communities, and dissenting diasporas. By focusing on such concepts as agency, representation, power, and legitimacy, Popkova’s work aims to gain a deeper understanding of the role of public diplomacy in the shifting dynamics of global politics. 

Popkova’s 2023-25 CPD Research Fellowship project "Political Dissent as Non-State Public Diplomacy" will examine the role and impact of the public diplomacy efforts of dissenting actors cross-nationally, as well as in the context of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Alistair Somerville is a researcher and writer focused on the intersection of public diplomacy, multilateral institutions, and negotiation. He has worked in various capacities in the United Nations system, including for the Department of Global Communications in the UN Secretariat, and on external affairs for the Sustainable Development Vice Presidency at the World Bank. He was most recently the focal point for the UN Secretariat's think tank, media, and academic engagement in the United States, based in Washington, DC. He covered climate communications, drafted reports to UN headquarters on U.S. politics, and undertook other projects for the director of the UN Information Centre in Washington.

Somerville's CPD project is "The United Nations’ Public Diplomacy in Donor Countries," which will evaluate how the United Nations is fairing in its global communications, public outreach, and donor engagement efforts in a world of mis- and disinformation, declining trust in institutions, and immense humanitarian, development, and peace and security challenges. He is completing this fellowship in a personal capacity, and his views and recommendations do not necessarily reflect those of any part of the United Nations system.

About CPD Research Fellows

Since 2009, the USC Center on Public Diplomacy Research Fellowship has supported and publicized the work of scholars and practitioners of public diplomacy. Each year, the Center selects three non-resident fellows, each serving a two-year term. All CPD Research Fellows can be viewed as part of our network here.