Blanka Benkő-Kovács
Founder - Political Advisor, International Security and Defence Policy Expert
Biography
Blanka Benkő-Kovács is a qualified expert in international security and defence policy. Her research and policy focus primarily covers the foreign and security policy developments of Central Asia, Iran, and Afghanistan, with particular attention to the interplay between climate risks and energy policy. She currently serves as a Political Advisor at the State Secretariat for Circular Economy and Climate Policy of Hungary’s Ministry of Energy, and is also an external expert at the Ludovika Center for Turkic Studies of the Ludovika University of Public Service. Previously, she worked as an advisor and later as a strategic analyst at the Institute for Energy Strategy, and spent more than five years as an analyst and media coordinator at the Migration Research Institute. During her career, she also coordinated international relations for the INPARK–NIPÜF Group, and in the first year of the Russia–Ukraine war she served as a humanitarian crisis volunteer coordinator at the Hungarian Red Cross. She completed her studies at the Ludovika University of Public Service, earning a BA in International Public Administration and an MSc in International Security and Defence Policy.
Areas of Expertise
Education
MSc in International Security and Defence Policy
University of Public Service2023
BA in International Administration
University of Public Service2021
Marked for Death: The Long Persecution of Hazaras
Although the persecution of the Hazaras stretches back centuries, the decades-long armed conflict in Afghanistan and its aftermath has meant that the plight of minorities is often overlooked by mainstream media. Millions of Hazaras still live in uncertainty, poverty, and fear in Afghanistan and Pakistan. But what lies behind that fear – and beyond it?