30 March 2022
On March 30, the Institute for International Studies hosted a meeting between InteRussia fellowship program participants, Rector of MGIMO Academician Anatoly Torkunov and Executive Director of the Gorchakov Fund Leonid Drachevsky.
MGIMO University has been implementing the InteRussia program together with the Alexander Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Fund and Rossotrudnichestvo since 2021. Ten international experts from Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are participating in the on-going program. For six weeks, young professionals are conducting independent scientific research under the guidance of leading MGIMO scientists.
Rector of MGIMO Anatoly Torkunov welcomed the foreign specialists, their academic advisors and colleagues from the Gorchakov Fund and Rossotrudnichestvo. According to the Rector, "the program has already proved its effectiveness, and it should be expanded as there is an urgent need for academic and intellectual cooperation between specialists from the CIS countries."
Anatoly Torkunov called on the InteRussia program participants to share ideas on multilateral institutional cooperation and said that MGIMO was open to such initiatives and dialogue formats in the post-Soviet space. The Rector spoke about the multi-level network of MGIMO educational programs beyond Russia, from lyceum classes to University branches.
Leonid Drachevsky, Executive Director of the Gorchakov Fund, thanked the University management for fruitful cooperation and shared plans for the development of the fellowship program. The next program for international scientists is going to take place in autumn, and the program will also be open to IT specialists, medical professionals and journalists.
The meeting was attended by Andrey Baykov, Vice-Rector for Science and Research; Maxim Suchkov, Director of the Institute for International Studies; Ekaterina Arapova, Director of the Institute’s Sanctions Policy Expertise Center; Ekaterina Koldunova, Director of the ASEAN Center, Publishing Editor of Russian Comparative Politics Journal; Ivan Safranchuk, Director of the Institute’s Center of Euro-Asian Studies; Adlan Margoev, Research Fellow at the Centre of Middle East and Africa Studies.
The Gorchakov Fund was represented by Victoria Karslieva, Deputy Executive Director, and Lyana Dymova, Leading Specialist, while Yulia Vlasova, Head of the Department of Social and Humanitarian Programs, the Department for International Development and Humanitarian Programs, spoke for Rossotrudnichestvo.
The InteRussia program participants asked Anatoly Torkunov and Leonid Drachevsky questions about the future of academic diplomacy, the potential of the CIS and the future of MGIMO institutional projects in the post-Soviet space.
During the fellowship, professionals can use all the facilities of the MGIMO campus, including a new office of the world-class Research Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Human Potential. InteRussia fellowship programs are part of the "Priority 2030" Strategic Academic Leadership Program.
