Iskra Kirova
Research Associate
Master of Public Diplomacy, USC
Master of International Relations, Sofia University
 
As a Research Associate at the USC Center on Public Diplomacy since August of 2005, Iskra Kirova is responsible for expanding the Center's cutting-edge research agenda, managing content production and supervising the team of student researchers and interns, supporting outreach to domestic and international constituents and daily communication operations.

Iskra is a graduate of the pioneering class in the Master of Public Diplomacy program at the University of Southern California and holds a second Master's degree in International Relations from Sofia University, Bulgaria. Her academic and professional interests are in the sphere of democracy promotion and global governance through public diplomacy.

Iskra has diverse professional experience in public diplomacy, including internships at the United Nations' Department of Public Information where she contributed in various capacities to the UN Chronicle Journal and Online Edition, and at the Euro-Atlantic Integration Department of the Bulgarian Ministry of Defense where she worked on a project aimed at engaging the Bulgarian society in greater understanding and appreciation of Bulgaria's NATO and European Union memberships.

Iskra speaks fluently Bulgarian, English, German and French, and has intermediate knowledge of Russian.