Meet the 2025–27 CPD Research Fellows

The Center is pleased to announce the addition of two new CPD Research Fellows: Dr. Sandra Montoya and Petrit Selimi.  

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.

Dr. Sandra Montoya is an interdisciplinary researcher at the Latin American Institute of Higher Studies (ILAE), specializing in cultural diplomacy, development, human rights, and migration in Latin America. She also serves as the Director of Special Projects at Colombia Noviolenta NGO. An accomplished scholar, Dr. Montoya is the author of Foreign Policy and Cultural Diplomacy: Towards Colombia in Post-Conflict and has published numerous articles and book chapters examining the intersections of cultural diplomacy, foreign policy, development, human rights, migration, and peacebuilding—particularly in the Global South, with a focus on Latin America and the Caribbean.

Dr. Montoya's 2025-2027 CPD Research Fellowship project, "Disruptive Cultural Diplomacy as a Peacebuilding Platform: Cases of Chile, Cuba, and Colombia," examines how cultural diplomacy has been mobilized in three Latin American cases—Chile, Cuba, and Colombia—where historical trauma, political polarization, and efforts to reshape national identity have defined their post-conflict and transitional periods. 

Petrit Selimi is the former Foreign minister of the Republic of Kosovo. He is currently active active in the private sector, engaged both in renewable energy projects as well as digital media landscape. Prior to this, he served as the CEO of Millennium Foundation Kosovo, the country’s biggest non-profit tasked with implementing the $49 million Threshold Program, focused on projects in green energy, open data, and women inclusion in energy sector

Selimi’s 2025-2027 CPD Research Fellowship project, "Public and Digital Diplomacy in Post-Conflict Nation-Building: The Case of Kosovo,"  will analyze Kosovo’s nation-building efforts through public and digital diplomacy, investigating key diplomatic initiatives, including interfaith dialogue and digital diplomacy. By assessing their impact on Kosovo’s global reputation and international recognition, the project will extract lessons applicable to other post-conflict and emerging nations facing diplomatic challenges.

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.