Verena Knaus studied modern history at the University of Oxford, and international relations and economics at Johns Hopkins University. She first came to Kosovo in 2001 to set up a ‘lessons learned and analysis unit’, a joint project of the European Stability Initiative (ESI), a non-profit think tank, and the UN administration in Kosovo. After working in Turkey and enjoying a short stint at Yale University as a ‘world fellow’, she returned to Kosovo in January 2007, just in time for independence. She has led academic and biking tours across Europe for many years and is a co-author of Bradt’s Kosovo guide (now in its fourth edition). Knaus now works in a senior capacity for UNICEF, overseeing the organisation’s relationships with several European countries. Austrian by nationality, she is a passionate skier, camper, marathon runner and traveller. She speaks fluent German, Albanian, French, Italian and some Turkish.