2022–2023
Merit Tatar is a Member of the Board of the Institute of Baltic Studies and an expert in evaluating the effectiveness and impact of programmes, as well as in smart cities and sustainable development. At the think tank, she is responsible for project development and international cooperation. Merit holds a PhD in Public Administration from the Ragnar Nurkse Institute of Innovation and Governance at TalTech (Tallinn University of Technology), where she defended her doctoral thesis on the impact of EU cohesion policy on multi-level governance in Estonia. In addition, he holds Master’s degrees in Public Administration and Politics from the University of Tartu and European Union Politics from the London School Of Economics and Political Science.
Previously, Merit has worked as a consultant on developing EU-funded projects for local authorities, businesses and NGOs in Estonia and abroad. She has been a project manager and analyst for several development projects and studies. Since 2008, Merit has focused on policy analysis and impact assessment, in particular in the field of EU cohesion policy. In recent years, Merit has been passionate about working on international research and applied projects in green turnaround, smart cities, open and inclusive governance and social innovation.
Merit has lectured on EU integration and policies and multi-level governance in EU policy-making at both TalTech and the University of Tartu and still does so from time to time.