Professor Julian Cooper, OBE: Emeritus Professor of Russian Economic Studies, Centre for Russian, Eurasian and European Studies, School of Government at the University of Birmingham and an Honorary Senior Fellow, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). He was Director of Centre for Russian and East European Studies, University of Birmingham, 1990-2001 and 2007-08; and has also held positions as Co-Director, Centre for East European Language Based Area Studies (CEELBAS – Birmingham, London and Oxford), 2006-September 2011 and Associate Fellow, Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House, 2008-2016.
His research interests include the Russian economy, industry, and science/technology policy, and he has a long-standing interest in the economics of the military and security in Russia/USSR, including issues of military spending, the defence industry and arms exports. In addition, he pursues research into the economics of Eurasian economic integration, Russia’s economic and military relations with China and other Asian countries, and strategic planning in Russia. In 2012, he was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to the study of the Soviet and Russian economies.
Emily Ferris: Research Fellow in the International Security Studies department at RUSI, specialising in Russia and Eurasia. Emily has a particular interest in Russian organised crime and Russia’s domestic infrastructure in its Far Eastern region. She also researches political and security processes in Belarus.
Before joining RUSI in 2018, Emily worked at Control Risks as a Russian security and politics analyst, advising clients conducting business in Russia and other Eastern European countries. She holds a BA in Russian from the University of Cambridge and an MSc in Organised Crime and Terrorism from University College London, where she specialised in Russian organised crime. She speaks Russian and Hebrew and has a good working knowledge of German.
Dr Tracey German: Dr Tracey German is currently Deputy Dean of Academic Studies (Research) at the Defence Studies Department.
Prior to joining DSD in 2004 she taught at RMA Sandhurst and the University of Aberdeen, and spent several years as a research manager for a business intelligence company, specialising in energy security in Russia and the post-Soviet states. She speaks Russian and has travelled extensively across the post-Soviet area. Her current research interests are Russia’s relations with its neighbours, including its use of force in the post-Soviet space, and conflict and security in the Caucasus and Caspian regions.
Michael Kofman: Michael Kofman serves as Director of the Russia Studies Program at the CNA Corporation and a Fellow at the Kennan Institute, Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington, D.C. His research focuses on the Russia and the former Soviet Union, specializing in the Russian armed forces, Russian military thought, and strategy.
Previously he served at National Defense University as a Program Manager, and subject matter expert, advising senior military and government officials on issues in Russia and Eurasia. Mr. Kofman’s other affiliations include being a Senior Editor at War on the Rocks. He has written extensively on the Russian armed forces, military strategy, and ongoing conflicts, along with authoring analyses for the US government. Mr. Kofman holds a M.A. in International Security from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University and a B.A. in Political Science from Northeastern University.
Dr Katri Pynnöniemi: Katri Pynnöniemi is an assistant professor at the University of Helsinki (Aleksanteri-institute) and holds the Mannerheim Chair of Russian Security Studies. The joint professorship between the University of Helsinki and the National Defense University was established in August 2017. Katri holds Master’s and Doctor’s degrees in international relations (IR) from the University of Tampere, Finland.
Previously Katri has worked as a senior researcher at the Finnish Institute for International Affairs. She has been a visiting researcher at the University of Tarto, Estonia (2012), Swedish Institute of International Affairs, Stockholm (2016) and the Wilson Center, Kennan Institute, Washington, D.C. (2016). She is a member of The Scientific Advisory Board for Defence (MATINE). She has published widely on the system change in Russia and on Russian foreign and security policy, and her current research examines Russia’s security policy and strategic thinking.
Dr Andrei Sushentsov: Director of the Institute of International Studies at MGIMO University. He specializes in the US foreign policy in international conflicts, as well as in South Caucasus, Ukraine, and the Middle East, taking part in applied research on US foreign policy, conflict resolution in South Caucasus, Ukraine, and the Middle East. In his studies, he examines the spheres of conflicting interests of Russia and the United States in Europe, the Middle East and the post-Soviet space.
He was a Visiting Professor and Research Fellow at Georgetown University, Johns Hopkins University, Guido Carli Free University of International Studies, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Harvard University and Middlebury Institute for International Studies in Monterey. He is a member of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy and of the Working Group on the Future of Russian-American Relations. His publications include the monographs America’s Small Wars, Essays on US Policy in the Regional Conflicts of the 2000s, and the collective monograph Russia and the World in 2020. He is also an editor of the annual forecast International Threats.