Jeremy Smith
KI Senior Researcher / EUCAM-SD Project Leader
Jeremy Smith is a senior research fellow specialising in Russian History at the Karelian Institute, University of Eastern Finland. His research focuses on the experiences of the major non-Russian nationalities in and after the Soviet Union, with a special focus on the South Caucasus and Central Asia. He has a particular interest in ethnic conflicts and their pre-histories. In addition to working with EUCAM, he is currently running projects on sovietisation in the Baltic Sea region, on Georgian nationalism and Soviet power, and on "Russia's Next-door", a comparative network exploring Russia's interaction with different neighbours. His latest monograph "Red Nations: the Nationalities Experience in and after the USSR", will be published by Cambridge University Press in early 2012.
Elmira Satybaldieva
EUCAM Researcher
Her research focuses on state-society relations in Central Asia and the role of international actors in the region. Elmira Satybaldieva completed her PhD in 2010 at the School of Politics and International Relations of the University of Kent. After obtaining an MA in International Journalism from Ball State University, US, she became a lecturer at the Journalism and Sociology Departments of the American University - Central Asia. During this period, she was also involved as a senior researcher in several research projects, including mass media and political participation in Kyrgyzstan, sponsored by the Swiss National Science Foundation, and childhood poverty in Kyrgyzstan, sponsored by the UK Department for International Development.
Paul Fryer
KI Senior Researcher
Paul Fryer (PhD) is a lecturer in the Department of Geographical and Historical Studies, University of Eastern Finland, as well as co-ordinator of its English-medium International Human Geography Master's Degree Programme (since 2000). Author of several academic articles on ethnic minorities in Russia and cross-border co-operation, Paul Fryer conducts research on ethnic minority mobilisation and development in the former USSR, indigenous peoples of the North, and migration across the post-Soviet space.
Joni Virkkunen
KI Senior Researcher
Joni Virkkunen is project researcher at the Karelian Institute, University of Eastern Finland. His research focuses on post-Soviet change, borders and identity politics, nationalism and migration, particularly in Russia and Central Asia. He is currently coordinating the University's Competence Centre in Russian and Border Studies and the "Russia in Europe" Doctoral Programme in Border Studies. Before joining the Karelian Institute, he worked as project manager of the Northern Dimension Advisory Network at North Karelia University of Applied Sciences. He received an MA in Human Geography from the University of Joensuu, Finland, in 1997 and a PhD in Public Administration (Regional Studies) from the University of Tampere, Finland, in 2002.
