Jasna Jelisić

Dr Jasna Jelisić is Head of the Western Balkans Task Force in the Strategic Communication Division of the European External Action Service in Brussels.

Working for the EU since 2006 as a policy advisor and strategic communicator, Dr Jelisic has had a wide range of responsibilities related to the implementation of EU policies with the focus on the Western Balkans. During 2015/16, she also contributed to the development of the EU’s Global Foreign Policy and Security Strategy, arguing for public diplomacy as one of the key pillars of EU external action.

Jasna Jelisić’s academic and policy work is wide-ranging. She has frequent public appearances advancing the understanding of the EUs foreign and security policy, teaches strategic communications and public diplomacy at the graduate and postgraduate level and trains professional diplomats. She is known in diplomatic circles for her innovative strategies and a fresh approach in pursuit of resourceful diplomacy and for her dedication to policies and actions benefiting freedom of media.

Before involving herself in diplomacy, Jasna Jelisić was a prominent, award-winning journalist. She has also worked as a consultant and researcher for the European Commission, The World Bank, Freedom House and Princeton University. She is educated in international relations, foreign affairs, diplomacy, journalism and political science at the Universities of Oxford, New York, Belgrade and Sarajevo.