Anna Alexandrova

In memoriam

On 16 December Anna Alexandrova passed away after a courageous struggle against cancer. Anna was Executive Director of the Soros Foundation in Kazakhstan but also part of the EUCAM Advisory Group. In that capacity she followed EUCAM closely, served us with valuable advice and helped us to strengthen our research. She will be missed.

Alain Délétroz

Vice-President (Europe), International Crisis Group, Brussels

Alain Délétroz concentrates on European policy and advocacy issues, with a special focus on the EU and its member states. He maintains senior-level contacts and advocates Crisis Group recommendations to officials in Brussels, Latin America, EU member states and Russia. He pays regular advocacy visits to these countries and gives interviews to local and international media on the conflicts Crisis Group covers. His areas of expertise include Russia; Northern/Southern Caucasus and Central Asia; Latin America; conflict assessment and conflict resolution; democratic reforms; and humanitarian assistance. Before joining the International Crisis Group, he worked as director of the Open Society Institute in Tashkent (1998-2001), in the International Committee of the Red Cross in Moscow (1994-1998), and in adult literacy and capacity building projects in Peru (1986-1991). 

Michael Denison

Michael Denison is research director at Control Risks, a leading international business consultancy. He has been special adviser to the UK foreign secretary, lecturer in International Security at the University of Leeds, and associate fellow at Chatham House. He has published widely on Central Asia, including in IISS Strategic Survey, Europe-Asia Studies, OstEuropa, World Today and for the Centre for European Policy Studies.

Michael Emerson

Senior Research Fellow, Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), Brussels

Since 1998, Michael Emerson is programme director for European foreign, security and neighbourhood policies in CEPS. A graduate of Balliol College, Oxford, he worked for the OECD in Paris (1966-1973), the European Commission (1973-1996), and as economic adviser to former EC President Roy Jenkins and as the Head of Delegation / Ambassador to Moscow (1991-1996). He has also been senior research fellow at the London School of Economics (1996-1998). Michael Emerson has numerous publications on EU integration, EU relations with the wider European neighbourhood and contemporary European conflict areas. 

Cornelius Graubner

Programme Officer, Open Society Foundations, New York

Cornelius Graubner is responsible for regional programme development at the Central Eurasia Project. He studied Political Science at the Freie Universität Berlin, and holds an MA with distinction in Russian Studies from the European University in St. Petersburg. Prior to joining the Central Eurasia Project, Graubner was a research associate at the Center for Governance and Empiric Conflict Research at the Freie Universität Berlin and visiting research fellow at the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC. He spent extended periods of time carrying out field research in Central Asia with the OSCE Academy in Bishkek. He is fluent in German, English and Russian, and has published articles on Central Asia and various other development issues.

Jacqueline Hale

Senior Policy Analyst, Open Society Institute - Brussels

Jacqueline Hale focuses on Central Asia and the Southern Caucasus, EU energy, and human rights policies. She is based at the Brussels office of the Open Society Foundations. She has a BA from the University of Cambridge, where she studied languages, and holds an MA with distinction in International Relations from the University of Sussex. Prior to joining the Open Society Foundations, Hale worked at the European Parliament and researched for UNHCR. She has published articles on South Caucasus and Central Asian affairs, as well as on other development issues. She is frequently invited to speak on EU relations with the South Caucasus and Central Asia, both in Europe and in the region, and has given testimony to the European Parliament, at Westminster, and in the Bundestag.

Nargis Kassenova

Assistant Professor, Department of Political Sciences, KIMEP

Nargis Kassenova is assistant professor at the Department of Political Sciences of the Kazakhstan Institute of Management, Economics and Strategic Research (KIMEP). Her main areas of research are Central Asian security, Eurasian geopolitics, EU-Central Asia relations, and Kazakhstan's foreign policy.                                                                             

Neil Melvin

Senior Fellow, SIPRI, Stockholm

Neil Melvin is director of the Armed Conflict and Conflict Management Programme at the Stockholm International Research Institute (SIPRI). Previously, he was the senior adviser to the Secretary-General of the Energy Charter, where he worked on energy, including in the Central Asian states. From 2001-2005, he was senior adviser to the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities. He has worked in leading policy institutes in Europe, including Chatham House and the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS). Dr. Melvin has published extensively on security and conflict issues, with a particular focus on ethno-religious and resource disputes in Eurasia.

Parviz Mullojanov

Executive Director, Public Committee for Development of Tajikistan

Project coordinator of one of the projects of International Alert office in Tajikistan, member of the Board of the OSI, Tajikistan; specialized in conflict resolution, political and oriental studies. Former member and a member of organizing team of the Inter- Tajik Dialogue  (1997-2004),  former member of the EUCAM expert group (2009-2010), worked for a number of international organizations and projects as employee and consultant such as  Human Rights Watch/Helsinki, UNHCR, UNDP, ADB,UNDP, GTZ. Author of a series of publications in the field of political science, conflict resolution and Islamic studies.

Vladimir Shkolnikov

Senior Human Rights Advisor for the South Caucasus, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Tbilisi

He served for thirteen years at the Warsaw-based office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE/ODIHR) as head of the Migration Unit and later as head of the ODIHR's Democratisation Department. Vladimir Shkolnikov has been head of Freedom House Europe, Senior Fellow at the Jefferson Institute and a consultant to the Open Society Institute.  He has travelled extensively in Central Asia. Vladimir Shkolnikov received an MPP and a PhD in Public Policy from the Pardee RAND Graduate School of Policy Analysis, where he specialised in Russian and Eurasian Studies.