Ruzha Smilova is the program director of "Political Analysis" and a lecturer at the Department of Political Science, Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski ". She teaches history of political ideas and contemporary political theory. She holds a PhD in Political Science from the Central European University in Budapest. Her dissertation on the authority of democracy won second prize in 2006 for Best Doctoral Dissertation at the Central European University. She majored in political philosophy at Oxford.