Evgenia (Eve) Markvardt is a programme coordinator at the School of Transnational Governance at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. She is an experienced project manager having worked across NGO, university and intergovernmental organization environments as part of multicultural teams spanning from the US to Malawi to Kazakhstan. She speaks fluent Russian, Finnish, English and Italian. Her work has focused primarily on promoting access to health care and education, and she currently manages a fellowship programme designed to bridge the gap between academia and policymaking. She has successfully set-up and implemented complex programmes across 20+ countries supported by IDRC, Sida, Gates Foundation and Gavi. She obtained her master's degree in socio-cultural anthropology from Brandeis University in the United States.