Starting a postdoc in times of pandemic: interview with Milos Resimic

In 2020 Milos Resimic joined the ICSID team as a new postdoctoral fellow. We asked him to tell us more about his reasons for choosing the ICSID and the ways pandemic affected his work at the Center.

Please tell us about your educational background.

I got my bachelor degree at the Faculty of Political Sciences University of Belgrade, at the Department of Journalism and Communication. Somewhere along my studies I realized I want to specialize in political science. So, after my BA, I did an MA in Political Sociology at the same university. In 2013, I moved to Budapest, where I first completed an MA degree in political science at the European University, and then enrolled in the PhD program at CEU. During my PhD, I spent some time at the University of California Santa Cruz and at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna, where I worked on my dissertation. I got my PhD in political science from the Comparative Politics track in 2019.

Why did you choose the ICSID as a place to do your postdoc? What other options did you have in mind?

My research interests are interdisciplinary, at the crossroads of political science, economic sociology and network science. What I liked the most about ICSID is that they are encouraging interdisciplinary work: their staff comes from various disciplines, they use novel methods and don’t shy away from unorthodox research. I think that was one of the main attractions of ICSID for me. There was also a possibility to teach, which was important to me as a junior scholar, so that I can gain additional teaching experience. Finally, the center has very interesting elite level data, and there was a possibility for collaborative research which I also found very exciting.

You joined the ICSID team in 2020 when the pandemic started. What was your experience like as a remote postdoctoral fellow?

I joined ICSID in extraordinary times. Due to the pandemic, I only managed to arrive to Moscow in early February. Academic work (especially during PhD, which I completed recently) often tends to be a lonely experience. This pandemic made it even lonelier, so it was challenging to enjoy the full benefits of the ICSID environment. I tried to focus on my ongoing projects related to state capture in the post-communist countries during the remote work and get several papers out for review. Also, I was co-teaching one course with colleagues from ICSID, which was my first remote teaching experience. 

What are your future plans?

I will be coming back to CEU (now in Vienna) in the fall to teach in the next academic year, probably in the fall and spring semesters. I am currently working on the book manuscript based on my doctoral dissertation, which will be taking a lot of my time in the coming months.