Chief Executive Director
Viliam Ostatník
Viliam Ostatník, M.A., Ph.D., is a Chief Executive Director at the Adapt Institute in Bratislava, where he leads teams, projects and initiatives regarding emerging technologies, specifically in the automotive industry (SDVs, cybersecurity) and the
defence industry. His main focus regards resilience and security on collective (international and national) and individual level. With his team, he has been identifying and analysing key uncertainties and change drivers and has been modelling scenarios of the future development, using the method of strategic foresight. On these topics and over the years, he closely cooperated with organisations such as NATO, CIPE, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, International Visegrad Fund or the Korea Foundation. Since 2025, Viliam is also responsible as the leader for the annual Adapt Institute’s Security Academy. Viliam is also a researcher at the Department of Political Science at the Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia. He focuses on the privatisation of warfare (private military companies and their impact on the core functions of the modern state and on the international system/security). In his doctoral research at the Comenius University (Ph.D.), he analysed the processes of formation of the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the EU (CFSP). He is a graduate of the University of Bologna (International Relations with a specific focus on Central and Eastern Europe, M.A.). In 2022, Viliam was a Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for Security, Diplomacy, and Strategy at the Brussels School of Governance (VUB) in Brussels. He is also a Fellow at Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund (SYLFF) based in Tokyo, Japan. Viliam also works as a private consultant and has published several academic and non-academic works, organized, co-organized or actively participated on various international conferences, workshops, roundtables and seminars, and has also conducted active cooperation with private actors, government entities and research institutions both at home and abroad.
Deputy Executive Director
Alexandra Fratrič
Alexandra holds a Master of Arts in Sales and Marketing from the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, a Master of Science in International Business Development from Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University in Russia,
and a Bachelor in Business Administration from Laurea University of Applied Sciences in Finland. Additionally, she has a master’s degree in International Relations from Matej Bel University in Slovakia. Alexandra further expanded her regional expertise by studying Turkish at Istanbul Medeniyet University and working in Turkey.
Beside her work for the Adapt Institute, Alexandra is also the Project Coordinator for the Defence & Security Stream at GLOBSEC. Her previous work experience includes participation in the Blue Book Program at the European Commission, where she focused on enhancing EU-US cooperation in technology standards and preventing the misuse of technologies that threaten security and human rights. Prior to that, she worked at the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, managing numerous artificial intelligence and innovation projects funded by the EU.
Head of Partnerships
Marek Janiga
Marek Janiga is a humanitarian worker with extensive field experience in conflict zones. He has spent over six months in eastern and southern Ukraine, coordinating projects for civilian and military stakeholders. His portfolio also includes humanitarian and development
initiatives in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region and Armenia. A former member of the NATO Youth Advisory Board, he advised NATO leadership on bolstering youth engagement, with a focus on policy measures to enhance societal willingness to defend one’s country. At the Adapt Institute, he serves as Head of Partnerships and junior analyst, specializing in defense willingness and societal resilience. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Law from Comenius University in Bratislava and is pursuing a master’s in International Law and Dispute Settlement at the UN-mandated University for Peace. Additionally, he serves as an active reserve soldier in the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic.
Head Coordinator of the Security Academy
Magdaléna Borková
Magdaléna studied international relations at Masaryk University. Her thesis focused on the role of religion in Vladimir Putin’s politics. During her gap year, she studied liberal arts at Collegium of Anton Neuwirth. She then spent two years interning at the
Great Works Academy, where, among other things, she led seminars for university students in Brno. She also interned at the Office of the President of the Slovak Republic at the Department of Protocol and participated in the organization of the 5th edition of the Climate Academy under the auspices of President Zuzana Čaputová. She currently works at Adapt Institute, where she co-organizes the Security Academy.
Senior Research Fellow
Peter Dubóczi
Peter Dubóczi, PhD. currently lectures at the Department of Political Science at the Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice. His research focuses on issues related to contemporary challenges of liberal democracy and aspects of information
security in international relations. In his dissertation he focused on the concept of open society. Beyond academia, Dubóczi has been actively engaged in Slovakia’s non-governmental sector and professional community, notably as the director of Infosecurity.sk. As a researcher, he also participated in the activities of the Association for International Affairs in Prague. His expertise sharply focuses on the threats to global stability posed by hybrid warfare tactics, especially emphasizing the dissemination of Russian influence and propaganda.
Marketing Manager
Daniel Dvorský
Daniel Dvorský serves as Marketing Manager at Adapt Institute. In his work, he focuses on the organisation’s strategic communication, social media management, visual presentation of analytical outputs and the creation of digital content. His role
is to connect expert topics in the fields of security and defence policy with clear, factual and trustworthy communication aimed at the wider public. At Adapt Institute, he contributes to building a consistent communication and visual identity for the organisation. He is involved in presenting outputs across digital platforms, particularly LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook. In content creation, he places emphasis on ensuring that communication remains expert and accurate, while also being accessible to people interested in security, defence and foreign policy topics beyond the narrow expert community. He studies Air Transport with a focus on pilot training at the University of Žilina. His studies in aviation naturally deepen his interest in security, strategic planning, technological development, defence policy and the international environment. He has a long-standing interest in security and defence policy, societal resilience, hybrid threats, the information space, modern technologies and their impact on the security environment. He pays particular attention to strategic communication and to the question of how complex expert topics can be explained in a way that is understandable, professional and factually accurate. He sees communication as an important tool for connecting the expert community, the media, public institutions and the wider public. In this area, he focuses mainly on creating clear messages, visually consistent outputs and formats that can bring expert content closer to relevant audiences. At Adapt Institute, he focuses on strengthening the organisation’s digital presence, increasing the visibility of its analytical outputs and developing communication that supports the credibility of the Adapt Institute brand. His goal is to ensure that expert topics do not remain confined to a narrow professional space, but also reach people who want to better understand security challenges, defence, geopolitics, societal resilience and broader international affairs. In his work, he combines an interest in public affairs, security topics and digital communication. He places emphasis on consistency, accuracy, visual clarity and a professional tone that reflects the character of an analytical think tank.
Co-Founder of Factaprofutura.com
Imrich Marton
Imrich Marton worked in foreign service (2000-2024). He served in New York,
Budapest and London. From 2018 till 2024 he was Director for Analyses and Policy
Planning in the Slovak Ministry
of Foreign and European Affairs. He studied law at Pavol Jozef Safarik University in Kosice and Foreign Service Programme at the Oxford University. Currently he is PhD Candidate at Comenius University Bratislava and founder of foresight platform Facta Pro Futura (www.factaprofutura.com).
Co-Founder of Factaprofutura.com
Filip Šandor
Filip Šandor is an assistant professor at the Department of Regional Geography and Regional Development at the Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University and is a graduate of the Karol Rybárik
Diplomatic Academy. He focuses on geopolitics, foreign policy and the European Union. He is also an editor at Council of Slovak Exporters and co-founder of foresight platform Facta Pro Futura
(www.factaprofutura.com).
(www.factaprofutura.com).
Research Fellows
Matej R. Riško
Matej Rafael Risko works as a senior specialist in the defence industry in the fields of radar, electronic warfare, and C4ISR. His academic research focuses on nuclear strategy, deterrence theory, operational art, military planning and wargaming, air power
and land power, with a particular interest in the interaction between conventional and nuclear operations, counter-force strategies, and extended deterrence. In the past he worked with many think-tanks and research institutes on the issues of conventional and nuclear operations both home and abroad. He is a graduate of Charles University in Prague.
Matej Bazovský
Matej Bazovský, B.A., is a student in the master’s program in International Studies at the Masaryk University in Brno. His research focuses primarily on the post-Soviet space and the development of the Russian Federation’s armed forces, primarily in the
context of the war in Ukraine. In addition to his studies, he takes an active interest in security and strategic issues and devotes his free time to military history.
Tomáš Iliev
Tomáš Iliev is a graduate of the Bratislava International School of Liberal Arts and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in International Relations with a focus on Conflict and Security at the Central European University in Vienna. He is a
founder of a think tank specialising on Ukraine.
Founder of the Institute
Matej Kandrík
Matej is a cofounder of Adapt Institute and a PhD candidate in Political Science with a specialisation in Security and Strategic Studies at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia. In 2016 he did a research stay at the National Defence University of Poland.
He collaborated as an external analyst with Visegrad Insight and as a research fellow with the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Since 2017 he was working at STRATPOL – Strategic Policy Institute, between 2019 – 2022 in the position of executive director. His research interests include comprehensive defence, paramilitarism, strategic communication and propaganda.