Areg Kochinyan studied at the Faculty of History of Yerevan State University, receiving a bachelor’s degree in 2015 and a master’s degree in 2017. In 2017, he also attained a bachelor’s degree in “Political Science” at the Faculty of International Relations of the same university. Later, he graduated from the American Institute of Political and Economic Studies of Charles University in Prague and the Diplomatic School of the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Currently, he is doing a post-graduate course of the chair of World History, Faculty of History, Yerevan State University.
Dumitru Minzarari is a lecturer in security studies in the Department of Political and Strategic Studies at the Baltic Defence College. His research interests focus on modern warfare, determinants of military strategy, interstate conflict below the threshold of conventional war, including “hybrid warfare”, Russian foreign and security policies, and NATO deterrence on its eastern flank. Prior to joining the Baltic Defence College, he was a research associate with the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin (SWP), covering Russia’s domestic, foreign and security policies.
Dr. Nino Kemoklidze is an Associate Professor at the Defence and Security Program at Rabdan Academy (UAE) and teaches Humanitarian Operations at Zayed Military University (ZMU) campus. Before joining Rabdan, Nino was a Senior Lecturer at the University of Chichester (UK) where she led Politics and International Relations programmes. She previously held a prestigious Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship at the University of Birmingham (UK) where she continues to hold an Honorary status. Nino serves as a co-Convener of the International Relations as a Social Science (IRSS) working group at the British International Studies Association (BISA) and is an Editor of the Caucasus Survey.
Ivane Abramashvili is the head of the Peace Program at Caucasian House. His professional focus is on researching the past and present of Georgian-Abkhaz and Georgian-South Ossetian conflicts. He is an author of several analytical publications dealing with peace and conflicts in the South Caucasus.
Nadiia Koval is a foreign and security policy analyst, currently heading the department of Research, Analytics, and Academic Programmes at the Ukrainian Institute, the key cultural diplomacy institution of Ukraine. She is also a lecturer in European integration in Kyiv School of Economics. Previously she occupied different positions in Foreign Policy Council “Ukrainian Prism”, Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine, National Institute for Strategic Studies and the Ukrainian Institute for the Future. In the recent years her research has focused on the knowledge and the perception of Ukraine and Ukrainian culture abroad, including current state of Ukrainian and Eastern European studies worldwide; the discourses and interpretations of the causes and consequences of the Russian-Ukrainian war in the intellectual circles of the different Western countries; the political usage of culture by Russian state institutions.
Natia Seskuria is an Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). She is also a Founder and Executive Director of the Regional Institute for Security Studies (RISS), a Tbilisi-based think tank and an official partner of RUSI. Additionally, Natia holds an advisory position at Chatham House and is a lecturer in Russian politics. She has a broad experience in policy-making, strategic foresight and provides analysis on defence and security issues. In the past, she served at the Office of the National Security Council of Georgia and the Ministry of Defence of Georgia. Natia’s research focuses on Russia’s domestic and foreign policy, in particular Russia’s relations with its neighbours, strategic approach to occupied regions, relations with the West and the use of active measures. She also specialises in conflicts and security in the South Caucasus and the Black Sea region and regularly contributes to leading academic journals and online magazines.
Mariia Zolkina is DINAM Fellow (2022-2024) at the Department of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science and Head of Regional Security and Conflict Studies at Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation (DIF), Kyiv-based think tank. She is a Ukrainian Researcher working in the fields of regional security, reintegration policies towards occupied territories and wartime diplomacy. Since 2014 she has been producing public policy analysis regarding political and diplomatic components of Russo-Ukrainian war, especially regarding the Donbas region, and implications of the conflict both at the national and international levels. Mariia has rich experience in designing and conducting public opinion polls regarding conflict-related issues, including in frontline areas.