Predrag Zenović

Sunday, 17 May - Keynote conversation on arts, democracy, cultural rights and beyond

Assoc. Dr. Predrag Zenović (born 1986, Montenegro) is a distinguished political scientist, academic, and senior public official currently serving as the Chief Negotiator of Montenegro with the European Union, a position he was appointed to by the Government of Montenegro on 29 December 2023. In this capacity, Dr. Zenović leads Montenegro’s EU accession negotiations, coordinating expert and political efforts to advance alignment with European standards and reforms. 

Dr. Zenović’s academic career is rooted in political theory, European integration, and normative political analysis. He earned his undergraduate degree from the Faculty of Political Sciences at the University of Belgrade and completed his Master’s degree in International Law and Human Rights at the Riga Graduate School of Law. He pursued doctoral studies under the Erasmus Mundus Programme, specializing in political theory and European studies at LUISS University (Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali Guido Carli) in Italy and the University of Geneva in Switzerland. Following his PhD, he was a fellow in the postdoctoral programme at New Europe College in Bucharest. Dr. Zenović was also the recipient of the prestigious 2020/2021 Fulbright Fellowship for his research in feminist political theory at the New School for Social Research in New York. 

As an academic author, Dr. Zenović has published two books in the field of political theory and is the author of more than thirty scholarly articles in national and international journals, covering topics such as citizenship, constitutionalism, European studies, identity, and gender studies. 

In addition to his primary academic appointment at the Humanities Studies Department of the University of Donja Gorica in Podgorica, Montenegro, Dr. Zenović also teaches at the Faculty of Legal Sciences and the Faculty of Culture and Tourism (International Studies for Hospitality and Management – Vatel). 

Dr. Zenović actively contributes to public policy and institutional development. He is a member of several expert groups responsible for drafting national legislation and strategic documents, including the Law on Scientific and Research Activities and cultural development strategies at both state and local levels. He also serves on the Committee for Sociology and Political Science of the Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts. 

In addition to his native Montenegrin, Dr. Zenović speaks English, Italian, and Spanish, with working knowledge of French, and basic proficiency in Russian and German.