I was born in 1976 in the town of Baia Mare in the NW of Transilvania (Romania). Baia Mare was then a primarily mining town with industry drawing upon it. Nevertheless it is situated in a beautiful valley within mountains and hills, surrounded by lakes and rivers and forests. It is there where I found so much fun being a child, swimming, trekking, climbing, skiing, caving, exploring ruins, abandoned mines and so on.
When I finished school I went on to study Philosophy and Anthropology in the city of Cluj where I took my B.A. and, a year later, my M.A. in Classical Philosophy. With a short stop in Ireland on a research fellowship at Trinity Colege Dublin I moved then to England where I received my Cert. Teach. and Ph.D. in Philosophy from University of London.
Half of my career so far has been in the field of education. Since I began teaching full time in 1999 I have taught from grade 5 in primary school to undergraduate and graduate courses in University. I taught Philosophy and Classics at the University of London (King’s College, University College and Royal Holloway) and for five years I taught Western Culture and Civilisation as well as Social Studies in the People’s Republic of China. At the turn of the the second decade of the 21’st century I left Asia for Europe where I took employment as the Director of the Centre for International Cooperation at the National School of Political and Administrative Studies of Bucharest, position which I held for a year. Concurrently I continued my work as a Tutor in Philosophy at Royal Holloway College, University of London. My research interests are in the fields of Philosophy, Anthropology, Political Science and International Relations.
Outside of academia, between 2015 – 2016, I was Senior Consultant & Head of Political Division with People&People Agency working on three projects (Somalia, Republic of Moldova and Romania).
Since I began (in 1989) I climbed extensively throughout Europe, Asia, New Zealand, Africa, the USA and South America. I established first ascents (trad, ice and mixed routes in both Europe and Asia at lower altitudes or on +6000m peaks) and I competed in national and international events in sport climbing. Since 2003 I took part in several expeditions (by 2017 over 30…). In paralel with my studies and academic work I took this passion further qualifying as a mountain guide.
Since 2010, with a short break, I switched completely my career and I chose to make a living full time in the outdoors. I currently work as an IFMGA Mountain and Ski Guide based in Chamonix, France.