Dr. Elena DANESCU

Since 2017, Elena Rodica Danescu is a Research Scientist at the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C²DH), and a member in the Contemporary European History research group.

She holds an accreditation to supervise PhD candidates in history (ADR) and is a supervisor for the Doctoral School in Humanities and Social Sciences (DSHSS).

She is an elected member of the University Council (2018-2023 and 2023-2028), the Board of the Fondation du Mérite européen and the Council of the Fondation Jean Monnet pour l’Europe (Lausanne).

She’s also in charge of Europe Direct University of Luxembourg. She is a founding fellow of the Robert Schuman Initiative for European Affairs (previously the Robert Schuman Institute of European Affairs).

Her research includes questions of contemporary European history, history of economic thought, Luxembourg and European integration, intellectual history of Economic and Monetary Union and economic governance, banking history, oral history, women in international relations and diplomacy, democratic transitions in Eastern European countries, Europeanisation and the EU’s eastward enlargement.

Elena Rodica Danescu was the PI of several the interdisciplinary research projects including:

1). “Pierre Werner and Europe” research project (2011-2017) based on an exploration of the Werner family archives, opened for the first time for research purposes.

2). “Competition, convergence, harmonisation – a comparative analysis of taxation in the Benelux states” (FISCOLUX: 2018-2021).

3).  “Le rôle des femmes dans les relations européennes et internationales du Luxembourg” (RelINT_EULUX: 2021-2025).

In recent years, she also successfully submitted successfully two competitive European public history projects for the University of Luxembourg co-funded by the European Union: “Europe Direct Information Centre de l’Université du Luxembourg (2019-2021)” and “Europe Direct University of Luxembourg (2021-2025)”.

Her teaching activities at the University of Luxembourg include the courses:

1)- 2). “Histoire de la construction européenne (1919-1993)” and “Histoire économique et sociale de l’Europe après 1945 – concepts, processus, acteurs”, both part of the Master en Histoire européenne contemporaine (MAHEC)

3).  “Transitions démocratiques en Europe centrale et orientale: histoire, mémoire(s), défis” for the Bachelor en Cultures européennes (BCE).

In 2015 she began running the course “Le Luxembourg et l’intégration européenne” at the Luxembourg National Institute for Public Administration. Since 2017 she has supervised 11 Master’s students and one PhD student.

Elena Rodica Danescu has authored numerous publications in her areas of expertise. She regularly participates in the peer review process for the Journal of the History of Economic Thought (Cambridge Core), Business History (Taylor & Francis), Journal of Digital History (De Gruyter), and the Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe (Routledge),   Since 2015, she has been involved in the evaluation of interdisciplinary research proposals submitted to the COST Association, the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR) and to the Robert Triffin International Foundation. 

In 2024 Elena Rodica Danescu was awarded a Jean Monnet Fellowship at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (RSCS) at the European University Institute (EUI), Florence, for the research project “The female face of the EU”, which will be developed over a 12-month period (September 2024–September 2025).

In 2020, she was awarded the Fernand Braudel Senior Fellowship in international relations by the European University Institute (Florence) for the research project “ Network diplomacy in shaping European economic and monetary integration in the 1970s. Case study: The Werner Committee”.

Elena Rodica Danescu is an elected member of the Board of the Fondation du Mérite européen and the Council of the Fondation Jean Monnet pour l’Europe (Lausanne).

Elena Rodica Danescu began her career as a researcher at the National Institute of Economic Research (INCE) of the Romanian Academy and a guest lecturer at the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies (ASE) before becoming a researcher and diplomat in the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She was a researcher in the European Integration Studies Department at the Centre Virtuel de la Connaissance sur l’Europe (CVCE), where she developed the interdisciplinary “Pierre Werner and Europe” research project (2011-2017) and she joined the University of Luxembourg on 1 July 2016.

Elena Rodica Danescu holds a PhD in Political Economics (1998) from the National Institute of Economic Research (INCE) of the Romanian Academy, with a thesis on the Luxembourg development model and the achievements of Pierre Werner. She previously obtained a DEA postgraduate diploma in international, diplomatic and strategic relations from Paris III University and a Master’s degree in Economics from the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies (ASE).