Ieva Giedraitytė, MA in Latin American Studies from Barcelona University (2010) and Ph.D. in Political Science from Vilnius University (2021), has ten years of experience in research and teaching. Her research interests include Latin American studies (with a focus on Central America), EU external action (especially development cooperation), and the formation of global and regional orders. As a researcher continually shaped by two vastly different geographical realities—Eastern Europe and Latin America—Ieva is particularly interested in comparative approaches and how concepts of order, hegemony, and region-building evolve in various contexts. In 2023, as a Fulbright Scholar at the Center for Latin American & Latino Studies (American University, Washington D.C.), she worked on a project comparing the regional orders that the EU and US attempt to build in their respective Southern Neighborhoods.