About FLAS

Teaching staff

Professors and tutors at FLAS bring a wealth of international experience and a proactive approach to guiding students on their learning journey

Vasily Zharkov

Head of the New Political Science major at FLAS. Expert at the Sapere Aude School of Civic Education and formerly Dean of the Faculty of Political Science at the Moscow School of Social Sciences (Shaninka).

7 пустая карточка

Nadezhda Chamina

Head of the Art History major at FLAS. Ph.D. in Art History; translator, and art critic.

Anna Guseva

Deputy Head of Art History major at FLAS. Ph.D. in Art History; historian of architecture and urban planning.

Victor Vakhshtayn

Head of Social Theory and Sociological Research at FLAS. Ph.D. in Sociology, Professor.

Kirill Kharatyan

Lecturer at Journalism and Media Studies major at FLAS. Editor of the ‘Opinion’ section of The Moscow Times.

2 пустая карточка

Dinara Gagarina

Head of Digital Humanities major at FLAS. Digital humanist, digital historian, Ph.D. Researcher of East European and Central Asian History at FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg.

3 пустая карточка

Alexandra Pletneva

Head of Cross-Cultural Linguistics major at FLAS. PhD in Philology, specialist in linguistic and cultural studies.

Bio

For me, our Faculty is an opportunity to uphold and continue the principles of modern, liberal education that we used to foster back home. The environment of collaboration and dialogue initially drew me to the Arts and Humanities program at St. Petersburg University. Over time, the program evolved into a distinct department, the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences, in 2011. A decade later, my colleagues and I inaugurated a faculty bearing the same name at Shaninka. And now, when we are opening FLAS, I hold firm to the belief in the educational model of Liberal Arts and Sciences and have personally witnessed the profound growth of our students.

We welcome open-minded students who seek to study in an international environment and are ready to embrace the Liberal Arts model. Alongside their professors, they will become co-authors of their educational journey.

Academic interests: modern educational systems, folklore studies, anthropology
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Graduate (1995) of Herzen Russian State Pedagogical University (St. Petersburg), Associate Professor at the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Smolny College) of St. Petersburg State University (2012-2018), developer of Russian educational programs on the Liberal Arts and Sciences model (until 2022).
Former Dean of the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences at MSSES (Shaninka).
Former Dean of the Liberal Arts College, RANEPA

Publications

Калашникова М.В. Через тернии - и все еще где-то там... Что мешает модели свободных искусств и наук стать по-настоящему успешной в России? // Образовательная модель Свободных искусств и наук: мировой и российский опыт. /под ред. А. Л. Кудрина, Д. Е.Раскова, Д. В.Кадочникова.—Москва; Санкт-Петербург : Издательство Института Гайдара; Факультет свободных искусств и наук СПбГУ, 2021.—(Новое экономическое мышление).—512 с. С. 201-230.
Kalashnikova M.V. Through the thorns - and still somewhere out there... What prevents the liberal arts and sciences model from becoming truly successful in Russia? // Educational Model of Liberal Arts and Sciences: World and Russian Experience. / Edited by A. L. Kudrin, D. E. Raskov, D. V. Kadochnikov. -Moscow; St. Petersburg: Gaidar Institute Publishing House; Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences, SPbSU, 2021.-(New Economic Thinking).-512 pp. С. 201-230.

Калашникова М. Как студенту понять, чего же он хочет // Коммерсант, 14.09.2023. Режим доступа: https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/6209944/.
Kalashnikova M. How a student can understand what he wants // Kommersant, 14.09.2023. Access mode: https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/6209944]

Marina Kalashnikova

Dean of FLAS, PhD in Philology, MA in Ethnology (EUSP)

Vladimir Shmelev

Co-founder of FLAS. Head of the Adriatic School network, founder of the Edumonte educational company, co-founder of the Pristanište Refugee Charity Foundation

4 пустая карточка

Ljubomir Filipović

Co-founder and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of FLAS. Political scientist.

Bio

I'm pleased to be part of the FLAS team and be engaged in the challenging endeavor of founding a university. This institution, centered on freedom and creativity, reflects current trends in education. In the modern world, education transcends the mere transfer of knowledge; it's a dynamic dialogue shaping worldview and critical thinking, fostering individuality. The Liberal Arts model, embracing the right to make mistakes, offers diverse opportunities for forging one's path.
Initially drawn to history, I lacked a solid foundation and encountered unexpected challenges. Fortuitously, Academician I. Kovalchenko introduced me to cliometrics, a method bridging history and mathematics. My interest led to defending my thesis and a seamless transition to sociology.
I wholeheartedly believe in our project, uniting like-minded individuals. We eagerly anticipate collaborating with students to shape the future collectively.

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Academic interests: economic sociology, sociology of financial behavior of households, consumer finance, management of money in households, the distribution of financial power between spouses, statistical methods in humanities, and for a long time dealt with consumer expectations of the population.
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Post graduate (1995) of Lomonosov Moscow State University, Historical Department, Ph.D. (History, Computer Science). Investigated methods of mathematical statistics applied to social-economic history
Associate Professor in economic sociology at the National Research University 'Higher School of Economics', Former Academic Supervisor the Master's program “Applied Methods of Social Analysis of Markets” (2008-2023)

Publications

Guseva, A., Ibragimova, D. (2021). Autonomy as Empowerment, or How Gendered Power Manifests Itself in Contemporary Russian Families. In: Bluhm, K., Pickhan, G., Stypinska, J., Wierzcholska, A. (eds) Gender and Power in Eastern Europe. Societies and Political Orders in Transition. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53130-0_12
Ibragimova, D., & Guseva, A. (2017). Who Is in Charge of Family Finances in the Russian Two-Earner Households? Journal of Family Issues, 38(17), 2425–2448. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X15623588
Ibragimova D. Kh. Den'gi, gender, vlast' v domohozyajstve: konceptual'nye podhody // Ekonomicheskaya sociologiya. 2016. T. 17. № 2. Pp. 116-145. https://ecsoc.hse.ru/data/2016/04/01/1126456877/ecsoc_t17_n2.pdf#page=116
Ibragimova D., Kuzina O. E., Vernikov A. V. Which banks do Russian households (dis-)trust more?, in: XV aprel'skaya mezhdunarodnaya nauchnaya konferenciya po problemam razvitiya ekonomiki i obshchestva: v 4-h knigah / Otv. red.: E. G. YAsin. Kn. 4. M. : Izdatel'skij dom NIU VSHE, 2015. P. 548-556. https://publications.hse.ru/pubs/share/folder/qoxxfaib7i/147966411.pdf
Ibragimova D. Kh. Potrebitel'skie ozhidaniya naseleniya Rossii (1996-2009): kak vzaimosvyazany kogorty, pokoleniya i vozrast // Ekonomicheskaya sociologiya. 2014. T. 15. № 3. Pp. 24-69. https://ecsoc.hse.ru/data/2014/05/30/1325397359/ecsoc_t15_n3.pdf#page=24

Diliara Ibragimova

Vice Dean of FLAS. Sociologist, Ph.D. in history. Former Head of the Master's program "Applied Methods of Social Analysis of Markets" and the Department of Economic Sociology at the Higher School of Economics (Moscow), 2008-2023

Natalia Krasovskaya

Head of the Center for Individualized Tutoring

Vyacheslav Kuritsyn

FLAS educator. Philologist, writer, researcher of Balkan culture

Ksenia Luchenko

Vice Dean for Public Relations of FLAS and Head of the Media Studies and Journalism major at FLAS. Journalist, Ph.D. in philology, former Dean of the Faculty of Media Communications of the MSSES ("Shaninka"), and Head of the Department of Theory and Practice of Media Communications at RANEPA.

6 пустая карточка

Evgeny Berman

Lecturer at New Political Science major at FLAS. MA in Political Science and IR. PhD Student in Politics at Bar-Ilan University. Political consultant. Co-author of the Telegram channel “Political Animals”.

Bio

I teach courses on visual and film studies, art history and cultural urbanism. I graduated from Tartu University, Estonia first by Russian philologist in 1996 and as PhD in semiotics and theory of culture in 2004. Also I studied (2000-2002) and then taught (2002-2008) art history in the European University at St.Petersburg. Later I had been a professor of cultural studies in the Higher School of Economics, Moscow (2009-2021).

I left Russia in 2022 and returned to Estonia. Now I’m a journalist, critic, publicist, and also a teacher at liberal arts educational projects, being granted by the scholarship of the Smolny Beyond Borders, Bard College Berlin. My books include The Other Science. Russian Formalists in Search of Biography (Moscow, 2012), The Age of Defamiliarization: Russian Formalism and Humanities (eds. with Igor Pilshchikov, Moscow, 2016), A Man With the Diamond Arm. On the Centenary of Leonid Gaidai (ed., Moscow, 2023).

Publications

“Theme for an Imaginary Eastern: Cinematic resources in The Death of Vazir Mukhtar”, The Companion to Yuri Tynianov’s Death of Vazir Mukhtar. Beyond the Document to Modernist Invention, ed. by Anna Kurkina Rush. Lanham (MD): Lexington Books, 2026. In Press.
“Adaptatsiia breda: kak Viktor Shklovsky uchil novyi sovetskii iazyk.” Slavic Literatures. Special issue: Russian and Ukrainian Formalism: Travels across Space and Time. Eds. Igor Pilshchikov, Galin Tihanov. 2025. <Adaptation of Ravings. How Viktor Shklovsky learned new Soviet language> In Press.
“Dekolonial’naia perspektiva formalizma v ‘Smerti Vazir-Mukhtara’”. Novoe Literaturnoe Obozrenie. No 188 (4/2024), 395-401. <A Decolonial Perspective of Formalism in The Death of Vazir-Mukhtar (Review of the book: Aydinyan, Anna. Formalists against Imperialism: The Death of Vazir-Mukhtar and Russian Orientalism. University of Toronto Press, 2022)>.
Dobro pozhalovat’ v Zombieland: Rossiiskii kinematograf novoi voyny, Palladium. Free University Journal. 2023. No 7, 181-190. <Welcome to Zombieland: Russian cinema of a new war>
“Esli vsyo rabotaet navyvorot i v kontse vzryvayetsya”, Palladium. Free University Journal. 2023. No 6(5), 289-293 <If everything works conversely and finally implodes>
“Formalism – Metalogos avangarda”. Logos: golos konstruktivizma. Katalog vystavki. Tsentr “Zotov”. Moscow: Boslen, 2023, 40-47 <Formalism as a meta-logos of the avant-garde>
“Slepaia teoriia: o svedenii fil'ma k tekstu v kinovedenii russkikh formalistov i Iuriia Lotmana.” KINEMA. No 4-5. 2023, 212-223. <Blind Theory. On reducing films to literary text in the film research of Russian Formalists and Yuri Lotman>
“Rossija, kotoruyu ya upustil”. Novaya Gazeta Evropa. May 14, 2022. https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2022/05/14/rossiia-kotoruiu-ia-upustil
“Biography.” M. Tamm and P. Torop, eds. The Companion to Juri Lotman: A Semiotic Theory of Culture. London, New York, et al: Bloomsbury, 2022, 257-269.
“Evropeiskaia natura: Smysl i naznachenie Kaliningrada v kino.” Novoe Literaturnoe Obozrenie. No 174 (2/2022), 143-163. <European setting: The meaning and purpose of Kaliningrad in Cinema>

Jan Levchenko

Visiting Professor of FLAS, PhD in Semiotics, MA in Art History

8 пустая карточка

Bio

Ilya Kalinin is a cultural historian and literary schola. He is a Visiting Researcher at Humboldt Universität zu Berlin. He got his PhD at Saint Petersburg State University (the title of his thesis was “Russian Literary Utopia, XVIII-XX Centuries: The Philosophy and Poetics of the Genre.” (2002). By 2022 he was a professor at the Department of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Smolny College), Saint Petersburg State University; and at the National Research University “Higher School of Economics” (Saint-Petersburg). In 2005-2022 he was an editor-in-chief of the Moscow-based intellectual journal “Emergency Rations: Debates on Politics and Culture (Neprikosnovennyj Zapas/NZ: Debaty o politike i culture)”. His recent researches focus on Russian Literature, early Soviet intellectual and cultural history, and on the historical and cultural politics of post-Soviet Russia. He is an author of more than 200 academic articles and public essays which have been translated into 15 languages.

Publications

Books Edited:

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1. Память о войне 60 лет спустя. Россия, Германия, Европа (совместно с М. Габович, А. Золотов, Ф. Вайксель, М. Заппер). М.: Новое литературное обозрение, 2005.

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2. Виктор Шкловский. Собрание сочинений. Т. 1. Революция / Отв. ред. и сост. И. Калинин. М.: НЛО, 2018.

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3. Виктор Шкловский. Собрание сочинений. Т. 2. Биография / Отв. ред. и сост. И. Калинин. М.: НЛО, 2019.

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4. Владимир Сорокин: вне канона (совместно с Е. Добренко, М. Липовецким). М.: Новое литературное обозрение, 2018.

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5. Энергия кризиса. Сборник в честь 77-летия Игоря Смирнова (совместно с К. Ичин). М., Новое литературное обозрение. М., 2019.

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6. Энергия: трансформации силы, метаморфозы понятия (совместно Ю. Мурашевым, С. Штретлинг). М.: НЛО, 2022.

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Recent publications:

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1. The Body of Plot: Viktor Shklovsky's Theory of Narrative // Garrett M. (Ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Narrative Theory. Cambridge University Press, 2018. Р. 46-61.

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2. Die Satten und der Pöbel. Traditionen der russischen Intelligencija und das Scheitern der Protestbewegung 2011/2012 // OSTEUROPA. 2019. Vol. 69. № 1–2. S. 35-45.

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3. Shklovsky as a Technique: Literary Theory and the Biographical Strategies of a Soviet Intellectual // Gratchev S., Mancing H. (Eds.) Shkolvsky’s Heritage in Literature, Arts, and Philosophy. Lexington Books, 2019.

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4. Symbol // Tamm M., Torop P. (Eds.) The Companion to Juri Lotman. A Semiotic Theory of Culture. Bloomsbury, 2021. P. 211-224.

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5. USSR: The Union of National Form and Socialist Content (Culture, Nation, Class) // Russian Studies in Philosophy. 2022. Vol. 60. № 5. P. 382-394.

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6. Russian Oil: Tragic Past, Radiant Future, and the Resurrection of the Dead // Porter J., Vinokour M. (Eds). Energy Culture: Work, Power, and Waste in Russia and the Soviet Union. Palgrave Macmillan, 2023. Р. 225-247.

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7. Economic Rationality and Socio-Technological Fantasy: Soviet Oil and its Geochronological Formations (A. Konchalovsky’s The Siberiade, 1978) // Lagoonscapes. The Venice Journal of Environmental Humanities. 2023. Vol. 3. № 1. Р. 91-116.

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8. Technique of Estrangement as Experience of Sublime // Meyer H., Berlina A. (Eds.) One Hundred Years of Ostranenie: Perspectives. Genève-Lausanne: Sdvig Press, 2024.

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9. GULAG Testimony between Pluto and Orpheus // Engstrőm M., Glanc T., Kukuj I., Lipovetsky M., Smola K. (Eds.) Soviet Underground Culture (1932-1990). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024. P. 625-652.

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10. Russian Formalism and Trajectories of Evolution. How Viktor Shklovsky Challenged the Boundaries of Historicism // Poetics Today. № 2. 2025 (in press)

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11. The Cultural Processing of Oil: Between Greed and Messianism // Zähringer M., Probst S., Grotkopp M. (Eds.) Climatic Subjects. Bielefeld: Transcript, 2025.

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12. Russischer Formalismus: Kunst als Technik // Literatur und Technik (series «Handbücher zur kulturwissenschaftlichen Philologie»). Hrsg. von Bernhard Dotzler und Hans-Christian von Herrmann. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2026.

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13. Soviet Oil and Russian Cosmism: Techno-Conservative Formation // Günther C., Kohl Ph., Petzer T. (Eds.)Palgrave Handbook of Russian Ecological Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, 2026.

Ilya Kalinin

Lecturer at FLAS

Bio

Professor of Social Sciences at the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences in Montenegro. I used to work with studies of the organizational structures of criminal justice and other law enforcement agencies in various countries. Police, crimes, victims, trials – all these phenomena organize our lives in the most complex and heavy situations. These things tell us the most critical information about society in general and various cultures. Using qualitative and quantitative methods of the social sciences, I am involved in reconstructing the process of data production in many areas (mainly for the Institute for the Rule of Law at the European University at St. Petersburg). Extracting new knowledge from quantitative information with attention to the process of data collection is the most interesting thing under this sky (I summarized my experience in the course ‘Administrative Data’ at Yale University). Currently, I am teaching courses related to the methodology of empirical methods in social sciences.

Publications

(2018, book, in Russian) The Trajectory of the Criminal Case: an Institutional Analysis. St. Petersburg, EUSPPress, (with E. Paneyakh & M. Shklyaruk)

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(2025) Crime Reporting in Russia: Testing Theoretical Perspectives with National Survey Data in International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, (with A. Dzmitryieva)

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(2024) The Lull Before the Storm? Criminal Justice, Crime, and Incarceration in Russia (2000 – 2020) in Europe-Asia Studies, 76 (8): 1229-1252, (with A. Knorre, E. Khodzhaeva, V. Kudryavtsev, & K. Runova)

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(2022) COVID-19 Pandemic in Saint Petersburg, Russia: Combining Population-based Serological Study and Surveillance Data in PloS one 17 (6): 1-13, (with A. Barchuk, D. Skougarevskiy, A. Kouprianov, D. Shirokov, O. Dudkina, R. Tursun-Zade, M. Sergeeva, V. Tychkova, A. Komissarov, A. Zheltukhina, D. Lioznov, A. Isaev, E. Pomerantseva, S. Zhikrivetskaya, Y. Sofronova, K. Blagodatskikh, L. Barabanova, & D. Danilenko)

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(2021) Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies in Saint Petersburg, Russia: a Population- based Study in Scientific Reports 11 (1): 1-9, (with A. Barchuk, D. Skougarevskiy, D. Shirokov, Y. Raskina, A. Novkunkskaya, P. Talantov, A. Isaev, E. Pomerantseva, S. Zhikrivetskaya, L. Barabanova, & V. Volkov)

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(2018) When Business Goes to Court: Arbitrazh Courts in Russia, in Kurkchiyan, M., & Kubal, A. (Eds.), Sociology of Justice in Russia: 118-140. Cambridge Studies in Law and Society, Cambridge University Press (with T. Bocharov).

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(2017) Pretrial Detention in Russian Criminal Courts: a Statistical Analysis in International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice 41 (3): 145-161

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(2016) Investigators in Russia in Russian Politics & Law, 2016, 54 (2-3): 112-137, (with M. Shkliaruk)

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A wide range of analytical materials, including public lectures, discussions, and media publications, are available for various top media outlets.

Kirill Titaev

PhD, computational social sciences, criminal justice, empirical studies of state.

Zinaida Yurovskaya

PhD in History of Art (Moscow State University), MA in History of Religions (EPHE, Paris), MA in Archaeology (Università Statale di Milano).

Artyom Melnik

Lecturer at FLAS, journalist, MA in Music Criticism.

Marina Kalashnikova

Dean of FLAS. Ph.D. in Philology, founder of the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences (MSSES, or Shaninka), Dean (till 2022)

Andrei Fetisov

Co-founder and Director of FLAS in Montenegro. Head of the School of Media Communications at the Institute of Social Sciences of the Russian Presidential Academy (ISS RANEPA), 2012-2022

Vladimir Shmelev

Co-founder of FLAS. Head of the Adriatic School network, founder of the Edumonte educational company, co-founder of the Pristanište Refugee Charity Foundation

Ljubomir Filipović

Co-founder of FLAS and Chairman of the FLAS Board. Political scientist.

Diliara Ibragimova

Vice Dean of FLAS. Sociologist, Ph.D. in History. Former Head of the Master's program "Applied Methods of Social Analysis of Markets" and the Department of Economic Sociology at the Higher School of Economics (Moscow), 2008-2023

Natalia Krasovskaya

Head of the FLAS Center for Individual Student Support. The author and the developer of the tutor support system for liberal arts programs at Russian universities (MSSES, RANEPA)

Marina Bragina

Social media manager at FLAS. Philologist.

Ksenia Luchenko

Vice Dean for Public Relations of FLAS and Head of the Media Studies and Journalism major at FLAS. Journalist, Ph.D. in Philology, former Dean of the Faculty of Media Communications of the MSSES ("Shaninka"), and Head of the Department of Theory and Practice of Media Communications at RANEPA.

Alexander Zaritsky

FLAS educator. Sociologist.

Vasily Zharkov

Nadezhda Chamina

Head of the Art History major at FLAS. Ph.D. in art History; translator and art critic.

Anna Guseva

Deputy head of the Art History major at FLAS. Ph.D. in Art History; historian of architecture and urban planning.

Victor Vakhshtayn

Head of Social Theory and Sociological Research at FLAS. Ph.D. in Sociology, Professor.

Kirill Kharatyan

Lecturer at Journalism and Media Studies major at FLAS. Editor of the ‘Opinion’ section of The Moscow Times.

Dinara Gagarina

Head of Digital Humanities major at FLAS. Digital humanist, digital historian, Ph.D. Researcher of East European and Central Asian History at FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg.

Elena Shmeleva

Head of Cross-Cultural Linguistics major at FLAS. Linguist, Ph.D in Linguistics. Leading researcher at the V.V. Vinogradov Institute of the Russian Language.