Gästforskare 2015
Yulian Konstantinov is a Social Anthropologist, currently Adjunct Professor at the University of Tromsø, Norway. He is known for his ongoing long-term research with Sami/Komi reindeer herders in the Kola Peninsula (NWRussia) ('Reindeer Herders', Uppsala University 1995); previously for his work with Bulgarian Muslims and Roma in the Balkans (with G.Alhaug 'Names, Ethnicity, and Politics', Oslo, 1995), on trader-tourism ('Patterns of Reinterpretation', American Ethnologist 1996, 23(4)). His visit at the UCRS (1-30/10) is connected with the realization of Conference on Roma Migrations together with Ildikó Asztalos Morell (Communicating with States: ‘Underprivileged’ Migrations within the European Union, Uppsala. Conference organized by UCRS with the support of Riksbanken’s Research Initiation Fond, Uppsala, 5-6 Oct. 2015). The rest of his stay shall be devoted to assisting in the preparation of research-project proposals in two main directions. First, with Ildikó Asztalos Morell, Margaret Greenfields (Buckinghamshire New University, UK), and David Smiths (Greenwich University, UK) on Roma and other mobilities in Europe; and, second, with Stefan Hedlund and Leonid Polishchuk - on Russian real estate acquisition abroad. Dr Konstantinov is available for consultations 9-17 hrs, workdays, Room 305. Appointments at yulian.konstantinov@uit.no
Mykola Riabchuk is a senior research fellow at the Institute of Political and Nationalities’ Studies in Kyiv and a lecturer at the Center of East European Studies, University of Warsaw. He penned many books and articles on various problems of postcommunist transformation, national identity and nationalism, including De la petit Russie a l’Ukraine (Paris 2003), Die reale un die imaginierte Ukraine (Berlin 2006), Gleichschaltung. Authoritarian Consolidation in Ukraine, 2010-2012 (Kyiv 2012), and Ukraina. Syndrom postkolonialny (Wroclaw 2015). Mykola Riabchuk will devote his UCRS visit to a study of modern Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian identities in the process of splitting/emancipation from the premodern supranational East-Slavonic/Orthodox Christian "ummah" - an imagined community that was constructed in the late 17th - early18th centuries, and still hampers modern development of all three nations with outdated political mythology and retrograde, paternalistic and etatist, values. Mykola Riabchuk is staying at the UCRS 5-31 October.
Andrey Semenov is a doctoral student at the Center for Comparative History and Politics Studies, Perm State University and co-chair of Standing Research Committee for institutional Studies, Russian Association for Political Science. His research interests include institutional theory, contentious politics, postcommunist transition, and democratisation. His current research projects are focused on the dynamic
s of contention in Russian regions and organisational dimension of civil society. Some of his research findings appeared in “Politicheskaya Nauka” (“Political Science”), ”Vestnik Obssetvennogo Mneniya” (“Public Opinion Herald”) journals, and edited volumes including recently published book “Systemic and Non-Systemic Opposition in the Russian Federation. Civil Society Awakens?” edited by Cameron Ross (Ashgate, 2015). During his stay at UCRS (7 September - 4 December 2015) Andrey Semenov is going to focus on the social origins of anti-Western mobilisation in Russia and work on his forthcoming book entitled “Contentious Politics in Russian Regions”. His visit to UCRS is funded by Sverker Åström Foundation.
Alexander Golts a journalist with vast experience in and expertise in military and security issues. Currently he is a deputy editor for the website http://www.ej.ru/ and runs a column for “The Moscow Times”. He holds an M.A. in journalism from the Department of Journalism of the Moscow State Lomonosov University. Between 1980 and 1996 Alexander was a member of editorial board of the newspaper "Krasnaya zvezda" ("Red star") - a Soviet (and later) Russian military daily. In 1996-2001 Alexander served as military editor of “Itogi”, a premier Russian news magazine (Moscow). In 2001-2004 he was deputy editor-in-chief of the magazine "Yezhenedelnyi journal" ("Weekly") (Moscow). He spent a year at the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) of Stanford University as visiting fellow in 2002. Alexander is staying at the UCRS 1-30 September and will be working on his new book on Russian military reform.
Vasil Navumau completed his PhD at the Graduate School for Social Research at the Polish Academy of Sciences. He specializes in social movements' theory and is author of the book "Belarusian Maidan: A New Social Movement Approach to the Tent Camp Protest Action in Minsk." Currently he is an editor of Belarusian web-based journal e-gov.by, devoted to discussion and popularization of ideas in the sphere of public sector innovation, e-government formation and e-participation enhancement in Belarus. His research interests focus on the ways new ICTs influence the transformation of repertoire, scope and ideology of social movements and the ways they can contribute to the formation of more transparent, participative and inclusive government. Vasil is staying at the UCRS between 1 September- 31 May and is working on a research project entitled "Social Activism in Belarus and Ukraine. Application of the New Social Movement Approach to Euromaidan, 2014".
Volodymyr Kulikov is a historian, 
PhD, and associate professor at the Kharkiv National University in Ukraine. He researches the formation of modern business enterprises and the history of company towns in Eastern Ukraine. He was a grant recipient of the German Historical Institute, Moscow (2011), the New Europe College, Bucharest (2012), the Institute for East and Southern European Studies in Regensburg (2014), and the Texas University in Austin (2014). In 2013, in collaboration with the Center for Urban History in Lviv he launched a project "Industrialization and Urban Landscape: Industrial South of the Russian Empire." His main research interests include: business history, history of company towns, social and economic history of Ukraine during the industrial era. Volodymyr is staying at the UCRS from September 2015 until February 2016 with the financial support of Swedish. During his stay he will be working on the project entitled "The Rise of Modern Firm in the Southern Industrial Region of the Russian Empire".
Chris Marshall is currently an intern at UCRS and a second-year Master’s student at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University. Over the course of his internship Chris will split his time equally between supporting the UCRS faculty with a variety of research projects, seminars and conferences, and by conducting his own research for his Master’s Thesis. His areas of research interest are regional and human security, securitisation theory, drug trafficking, and the study of the Uyghur ethnic population in China and across Central Asia. For his Master’s Thesis, Chris intends to investigate migration and human security in Uyghur diaspora communities. Chris will remain at UCRS from 31 August 2015 – 15 January 2016.
Dmitry Rudenko is an Associate Professor at the Department of International Economics and Business, Tyumen State University. Before joining Tyumen State University in 2012, Dmitry worked at the Tyumen State Academy of World Economy, Management and Law as a chairman of the International Economics Department. His research interests include poverty and inequality, human development, spatial development, economic geography, globalization, the Arctic. His papers have appeared in Regional Research of Russia, Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences. The main research projects in 2014 were the Russian President Grant for young scientists (project №14.Z56.14.3051-MK) and the Grant of the Russian Scientific Foundation (project №14-38-00009). Dmitry is staying at the UCRS 1-31 August 2015 with the financial support of Sverker Åström Foundation. The main aim of his research visit is to compare changes in patterns of multidimensional poverty in Sweden and Russia.
Emily Trudeau is an intern at UCRS. During her six-week stay here (1 August-18 September), she will be supporting UCRS researchers with the preparation and execution of various UCRS events. As well, she will be completing research for her final Master’s Research Project, an exploration of the use of information and the media by pro-government civil society groups. Emily is a Master's Candidate at the Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs. She studies intersections between Russian history and contemporary politics, propaganda, structures of civil society, and protest and social movements in Putin’s Russia.
Konstantin Antonov is the Head of Department of Philosophy of religion and religious aspects of culture of Theological faculty of St.-Tikhons’ Orthodox University. After graduating from Philosophical faculty of Moscow State University in 1995, he received a PhD degree in Philosophy at the same university in 1998 with a thesis “Anthropology of I.V. Kireevskij”. He has been working at St.-Tikhons’ Orthodox University, Theological faculty, Department of philosophy since 1999. Konstantin’s research interests include history of Russian religious philosophy, philosophy of religion, and history of religious studies in Russia and in the USSR. While at the UCRS (1-31 May) Konstantin is working on a project “Religiousness and rationality in Russian intellectual culture of XIX century: the problem of personal and national self-determination”.
Alexander Polikarpov is Professor and the head of the Department of Interpreting, Translation and Applied Linguistics, director of the Scientific and Educational Centre “Intergrative Translatology of Arctic Regions” at the Northern (Arctic) Federal University (Russia). His main research interests include Translation studies, Pragmatic linguistics, Linguistic ecology, Semantic and pragmatic analysis of the utterance and text, Topological theory and complex sentence in German grammar, Syntax of oral speech in German and Semiotics of speech and translation. His stay with the UCRS is scheduled between 23 April and 15 May, 2015. The main aim of Alexander’s research visit is to investigate different aspects of interactional linguistics and linguistic ecology in order to create a study guide in comparative linguistic ecology in the future.
Ketevan Bolkvadze is a PhD Candidate at the Department of Political Science, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Her research revolves around issues of hybrid regimes, bureaucratic reforms, and EU democracy promotion. She has recently contributed with a book chapter to "Communicating Europe in Times of Crisis" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015) and some of her other research findings are forthcoming in “Cherry-picking EU Conditionality: Selective Compliance in Georgia’s Hybrid Regime” (Europe-Asia Studies). Ketevan holds a Master’s degree in European Studies from Maastricht University, the Netherlands. Prior to her doctoral studies, she worked as a research fellow at Goethe University Frankfurt in a project “EuroGaps”. She has also been a research assistant at ETH Zürich within a project on "Differentiated Integration in the European Union". Ketevan is visiting the UCRS between April and May, and will be conducting research for an article on public administration reforms in Georgia in 2003-2012.
Kerttu Mäger is a PhD student at the Faculty of Law, University of Tartu and a part-time doctoral fellow at the Centre for EU-Russia Studies (CEURUS). Her research topic is “The Tension between Russia’s Civilizational Approach to Human Rights and the European Legal Standards” (supervisor Prof. Lauri Mälksoo/Tartu University). Kerttu spent major part of 2014 in Saint Petersburg State University, conducting research and taking various courses related to Russian constitutional and human rights law. Kerttu’s research interests fit particularly well under the thematic area “Identity formation”, as she focuses on human rights discourse in Russia and the interplay of values and legislation. Her research concentrates on three fundamental freedoms: freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and freedom of association and she analyzes how changes in Russia´s approach towards human rights are mirrored in legislation and court practice in these areas. While at the UCRS Kerttu will work on a paper focusing on the effects of Russia´s ideology on the practice of Constitutional Court of Russian Federation in the sphere of civil and political rights.
K
ataryna Wolczuk is Reader in Politics and International Studies at the Centre for Russian, European and Eurasian Studies (CREES), the University of Birmingham. She holds an MA in Law from the University of Gdansk, Poland, an MSocSc and a PhD from the University of Birmingham. She has been a Jean Monnet Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence and a visiting professor at the University of Lucerne. Her research has focused on the state-building process in the post-Soviet states; relations between the European Union and the post-Soviet states as well as Eurasian integration and its impact on EU's eastern policy. Her current research projects examine: 1) the impact of the EU on domestic change in the Eastern Partnership countries and 2) Eurasian economic integration and its implications for the ‘common neighbourhood’ with the EU. Kataryna stays in Uppsala mid-March to mid-April. During her research visit, Kataryna is completing a book In a Cross-Fire of Integration: EU, Ukraine and Russia (co-authored with Rilka Dragneva) to be published by Routledge Pivot in the summer 2015.
Yulian Konstantinov is a Social Anthropologist, currently Adjunct Professor at the University of Tromsø, Norway. He is known for his ongoing long-term research with Sami/Komi reindeer herders in the Kola Peninsula (NWRussia) ('Reindeer Herders', Uppsala University 1995); previously for his work with Bulgarian Muslims and Roma in the Balkans (with G.Alhaug 'Names, Ethnicity, and Politics', Oslo, 1995), on trader-tourism ('Patterns of Reinterpretation', American Ethnologist 1996, 23(4)). His visit at the UCRS (19/1-21/2) is connected with an initiative, together with Vladislava Vladimirova and an international team, for realizing a research-project on Indigenous Gender Asymmetry (INGA) in the Arctic. To this end a workshop of the team was held at the UCRS on 23 January, and an application for support submitted. Yulian shall present his latest book ('Conversations with Power', Uppsala University (in press)) on 5 February. He is currently leading a major NFR-supported project 'INPOINT: Socioeconomic developments in Murmansk Region – the insiders' point of view' which is a reason for wishing to share current project findings and thus benefit from being – till 21 February – in the stimulating research environment that UCRS has created.
George Katsitadze is a PhD candidate at the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Federation (Moscow). His PhD research is focused on the features of the political process in Sweden during the period of 2006 and 2014, both domestic as well as Swedish-Russian bilateral relations. Previously Mr. Katsitadze pursued studies in international economic relations at MGIMO (Moscow) and international and change management at RANEPA (Moscow). Mr. Katsitadze is staying at the UCRS between 21 February and 21 April 2015 with the financial support of Sverker Åström Foundation.
Anar K. Ahmadov (PhD, 2012, London School of Economics and Political Science) is currently Assistant Professor of Comparative Political Economy at the University College, Leiden University, where he teaches courses on political institutions, political economy of development and statistics. Between 2012 and 2013, he was a post-doctoral fellow at the Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance at Princeton University, USA, and the Global Economic Governance Programme at Oxford University, UK. Prior to joining academia wholeheartedly, Anar spent what now seems a merry decade as a consultant and executive in international development, alongside engaging in teaching, curriculum design and university development, most notably at Khazar University, Azerbaijan. His research tries to understand autocracies, natural resource governance, radical movements and migrant political behaviour with particular reference to post-Soviet Central Eurasia. His work has appeared in Comparative Political Studies, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies and PS: Political Science & Politics. Anar will join the UCRS and the Uppsala Forum for January 2015, where he will work on a project that investigates geographic factors affecting the so-called "resource curse," using the cases of four post-Soviet petroleum producers – Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan.