The idea for The Counterintuitive Institute was born in a small, shaded office in Sofia in 2022. As three of our co-founders sat and worked together day after day, the motivation to create an organisation that was inclusive, impactful, and true to its values grew and strengthened. We finally came together, supported by four other impressive women, to establish CI in August 2024.
OUR TEAM
We often say that CI may be a new organisation, but the team behind it is not. Over the years, we have worked together on a number of highly impactful national and international projects in each of our focus areas. We draw inspiration from each-other, we rely on each-other's skills, and we bring the best of our capabilities to CI!
Our core team consists of experts in sociology, human rights, international law, policy, and impactful communication with long-standing experience in creating and running challenging projects at various scale.
Dr Gergana Tzvetkova
Co-Founder & CO-President
PhD in Politics, Human Rights and Sustainability (Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa (cum laude)
13+ years of experience in qualitative research, project management, and non-profit organisation management.
Expertise: human rights, gender-based violence, gendered disinformation, public policy analysis, foreign policy analysis
Rosalina Todorova
Co-Founder & CO-President
MPhil in Sociology (University of Cambridge, UK), PhD candidate (Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, BG)
10+ years of experience in theoretical and empirical research on topics of inequality and social dynamics.
Expertise: inequality, stratification and social structuring, gender and racial exclusion, minority rights, post-socialist and regional studies
Leda Kuneva
Co-Founder & CO-President
MSc in Human Rights (London School of Economics and Political Science, UK)
6+ years of experience in mixed method and co-creative research, public deliberation, Horizon project management, and consultancy.
Expertise: human rights, digital & AI ethics, gender-based and domestic violence, migration, policy influence
