After her Research Master in Social and Cultural Sciences and a Master in Human Geography, focussing on Europe’s Borders, Governance and Identities, together with her current PhD supervisors (Prof. dr. Hans Schmeets, Dr. Gergana Noutcheva, Dr. Petar Petrov), Anna-Lena applied successfully for a Dutch research talent grant for the project “Europeanization of census taking in the Western Balkan”. She started working at the project as a PhD Candidate in Political Science at Maastricht University, as of June 2013.