22 March 2023
On March 22, the Institute for International Studies hosted the opening ceremony of the spring InteRussia fellowship program for foreign researchers organized by MGIMO in cooperation with the Alexander Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Fund.
Over the course of the fellowship, the invited researchers will work on individual projects under the guidance of leading MGIMO experts. At the end of the program, foreign professionals will publish the results of their work in leading Russian and foreign scientific publications. This year, 37 applications have been received from 18 countries with nine researchers from India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Madagascar and Tanzania accepted into the program. The theme of the spring fellowship program is "New Centers of Power in World Politics."
The InteRussia Fellowship Program Participants
- Armina Arm (Iran), Ph.D., Director, Eurasia and Middle East Department, Center for Strategic Research
- Vali Golmohammadi (Iran), Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of International Relations, Tarbiat Modares University
- R Rajoli Siddharth Jayaprakash (India), Ph.D. Student, Jawaharlal Nehru University
- Zhanerke Kochiigit (Kazakhstan), Ph.D. Student, Nazarbayev University
- Nicodemus Michael Minde (Tanzania), Ph.D., Senior Lecturer, Catholic University of Eastern Africa (Nairobi, Kenya)
- Israel Nyaburi Nyadera (Kenya), Ph.D., Lecturer, Egerton University
- Malalaharivony Noary Ralafiarindaza (Madagascar), Research Analyst, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Madagascar
- Ayushi Saini (India), Ph.D. Student, Jawaharlal Nehru University
- Seyed Mahdi Tadayon (Iran), Ph.D. Student, Imam Sadiq University
Maxim Suchkov, Director of the MGIMO Institute for International Studies welcomed the foreign researchers. In his opinion, due to its multicultural nature, the InteRussia program is equally useful to Russian and foreign researchers, since it promotes the exchange of best research practices, allows everyone involved to learn about new ways of looking at international processes, approaches to international research, and share their own professional experience. As the program has conceptually evolved and expanded its geographical coverage, professionals from non-CIS countries are participating in it for the second time and the topics studied are becoming more diverse.
Lyana Dymova, Academic Programmes Coordinator at the Alexander Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Fund, said that each new program was unique. In her opinion, this is not just a vertical transfer of knowledge, but a horizontal communication between scientists. She expressed the hope that InteRussia would create a real community of international researchers.
Nikita Lipunov, an analyst at the Center for Academic Diplomacy (the Institute for International Studies), spoke in more detail about the upcoming scientific research in cooperation with the invited professionals and about their fellowship program. The guests were given a sightseeing tour of MGIMO University after the meeting.
Under the fourth fellowship program, the following researchers will become academic advisors: Maxim Suchkov, Director of the MGIMO Institute for International Studies; Ekaterina Arapova, Director of the Institute’s Sanctions Policy Expertise Center; Vladislav Vorotnikov, Director of the Institute’s Center of European Studies; Alexander Nikitin, Director of the Institute’s Center for Euro-Atlantic Security; Ivan Safranchuk, Director of the Institute’s Center of Euro-Asian Studies; Sergey Markedonov, Leading Researcher at the Institute’s Center for Euro-Atlantic Security and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of International Analytics; Mayya Nikolskaya, Junior Researcher at the Institute’s Center of Middle-Eastern and African Studies; Maria Reshchikova, an analyst at the Institute for International Studies and Dennis Kalashnikov, Associated Professor, World Economy Department.
The previous programs took place in November-December 2021, March-April and October-December 2022. During this time, more than 20 young researchers from Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Argentina, Brazil, India, Myanmar, Serbia and South Sudan have completed fellowship programs at MGIMO. The participants’ research focused on current trends and key issues in the CIS space, as well as on the policy of the great and middle powers in Eurasia.
InteRussia fellowship programs are part of the "Priority 2030" Strategic Academic Leadership Program.
Institute for International Studies
Photographer: Dmitry EREMEEV, Gorchakov Fund
