Currently, Ekaterina is working on two research themes, which connect in the fact that they both study how institutions affect political behavior. The first theme researches how electoral rules encourage and constrain party behavior and how this affects party system development. Entitled "Electoral Law in Contemprary Central and Eastern Europe", this is a project funded by the Nachwuchsförderung grant from the University of Innsbruck, and which was for the most part executed at the Netherlands Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS). The second theme researches gender politics in Southeastern Europe, and involves a series of studies, including an upcoming book on Gender Politics in Southeastern Europe, which Ekaterina is co-authoring with Dr. Emilia Zankina (AUBG). Most of the work on this second theme has been executed with the financial support of the Swarovski Research Foundation for the "Women in High Politics" project, which Ekaterina was awarded in 2015.