Curriculum Vitae

Personal Information

• date of birth: 19 November 1978
• place of birth: Yerevan, Armenia, ex-USSR
• citizenship and place of residence: Czech Republic - Prague

Education

• 2005: PhD in International Relations - Charles University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Political Science, Department of International Relations, Prague
• 2004: A LL.M. equivalent (in Law) - St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University, Faculty of Humanities, Department of Sociology and Law, St. Petersburg
• 2001: M.A. in International Relations - Charles University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Political Science, Department of International Relations, Prague
• 1999: A B.A. equivalent in German and Russian Studies - Charles University, Faculty of Humanities, Institute for East European and Slavonic Studies /Institute for Germanic Studies, Prague
• 1995–1997: Studying of German and English Languages - Moscow State Pedagogical University, Faculty of Foreign Languages, Department of Romance and Germanic Languages

Professional Experience

• 2006/2007: Fulbright Visiting Scholar at Harvard University, Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Cambridge, MA. The research topic was The Shaping of Islamist Terrorism in Post-Soviet Eurasia: Assessing Present and Prospective Security Threats 
• 2006 to 2008: Assistant Professor, Metropolitan University Prague
• 2003 to present: Assistant Professor, Charles University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Political Science, Department of International Relations, Prague
• Courses taught since 2003: Global Terrorism, Turkey at Crossroads (in English), Ethno-Political Conflicts, National Security and Asymmetric Threats (in English), State- and Nation-Building in the Asian Parts of the Former USSR (in Russian), International Terrorism, The Russia-Chechen Conflict as a Case Study of Asymmetrical Conflicts, New Security Threats, Oil and Security in the Caspian Region, Ethno-Political Conflicts in the Caucasus etc.

Areas of Research

• Regional focus: The Caucasus, Russia, Turkey, partly Iran
• Thematic focus: Identity - Territory - Conflict

1. inter/national security (ethno-political conflicts; insurgency/counter-insurgency; cultural aspects of violence & its politicization)
2. nation-building in transforming societies (ethnicity & nationalism; historism & collective memory; traditionalism & modernism etc.)
3. regional & cultural geography; frontier regions; geopolitics; political geography of armed conflicts

Publications, Consultations, Participation on Conferences, Media Activities

• ca. 150 academic studies and columns published in English, German, Russian and Czech in a number of international journals such as Europe-Asia Studies, Middle East Policy, Problems of Post-Communism, Middle East Review of International Affairs, OSCE Yearbook, etc. (For a detailed overview, click here)
• ca. 20 expert analyses provided since 2004 to the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defense, the NATO; consultations provided to the Czech Ministry of Interior. (For a detailed overview, click here)
• participation (as invited lecturer) on around 30 conferences and workshops organized by Harvard University (8), Columbia University (2), Boston University (1), Georgetown University/Koç University (1), Charles University, Masaryk University in Brno, University of Economics Prague, the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, etc. (For a detailed overview, click here)
• ca. 50 interviews provided since 2002 to Czech Television, Czech Radio, BBC Czech, a number of daily newspapers et al.

Language Skills

• Russian, Czech (excellent)
• English, German, Turkish, Armenian, Azerbaijani (very good)
• Italian, Slovak (good)
• French, Polish, Serbo-Croatian, Crimean Tatar etc. (basic knowledge/beginner/reading knowledge)

Hobbies

• sports, especially boxing (junior superheavyweight champion of the South Moscow District, 1997)
• dancing, singing, piano, painting
• literature, writing poetry (author of a collection of poetry in Russian)
• studying foreign languages