New Cohort of Research Scholars Ready to Tackle Policy Issues

IREX is pleased to announce the 2013-2014 Individual Advanced Research Opportunities (IARO) fellowship recipients. The IARO program provides highly qualified U.S. scholars and professionals the opportunity to impact the formation of U.S. foreign policy by conducting open-source research on current regional issues of importance to the United States. Those who present the most relevant and timely projects are selected for conducting field research.

This year's fellows will be traveling to 13 countries across Eastern Europe and Eurasia to perform policy relevant field research, covering topics such as volunteerism, nationalism, religious tolerance, and migration. Meet our new  scholars below and make sure to visit IREX's online library to read their research findings. 

 

Jason Anderson

Marine Corps Tactics and Operations Group

Project Title: "Insurgent Strength and Appeal in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan – and State Response"

Research Countries: Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan

 

 

 

 

Helmut Baer

Texas Lutheran University

Project Title: "Religious Freedom in Hungary: The Effects of Hungary's New Religion Law on Deregistered Religious Communities"

Research Country: Hungary

 

 

 

 

Sarrah Bechor

Georgetown University

Project Title: "A Crisis in the Caucasus: The Wider Regional Implications of the Iranian Nuclear Crisis for Georgia and the South Caucasus"

Research Country: Georgia

 

 

 

 

Khashayar Beigi

University of California at Berkeley

Project Title: "Transformations of Everyday Islam in Russia by Tajik Migrants"

Research Countries: Russia, Tajikistan

 

Douglas Foster

University of Oregon

Project Title: "Militarism in Tajikistan: Realities of Post-Soviet Nation Building"

Research Country: Tajikistan

 

 

 

 

 

Philip Gamaghelyan

George Mason University

Project Title: "Sustaining Change: Middle and Long-Term Impact of Armenian-Azerbaijani Dialogue Programs"

Research Countries: Armenia, Georgia

 

 

 

 

Egzon Gashi

University of Oxford

Project Title: "The European Union's Role in Kosovo and Serbia"

Research Countries: Kosovo, Serbia

 

 

 

 

 

Colin Johnson

Brown University

Project Title: "Nationalism and Perception: Migrant Integration in Russia"

Research Country: Russia

 

 

 

 

 

Irina Levin

New York University

Project Title: "Uncertain Returns: Citizenship, Property, and Law in the Caucasus"

Research Countries: Azerbaijan, Georgia

 

 

 

 

 

Suzanne Levi-Sanchez

Rutgers University

Project Title: "Politics at the Periphery of Tajikistan: Who Makes the Rules That Count at the Border?"

Research Country: Tajikistan

 

Elizabeth Peacock

Grinnell College

Project Title: "Emerging from the 2nd World: Class, Language, and Migration among the First Generation of
Postsocialism"

Research Country: Ukraine

 

 

 

 

David Siegel

City University of New York

Project Title: "State Formation in Central Asia: Clientelism in the Periphery"

Research Countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan

 

 

 

 

 

Christopher Snively

Purdue University

Project Title: "Silent Cleansing - The Politics of Population in Movement in Vojvodina during the Milosevic Era"

Research Countries: Hungary, Serbia

 

 

 

 

 

Joseph Torigian

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Project Title: "Military Politics and the End of Revolution in the Soviet Union and China"

Research Country: Russia

 

 

 

 

 

Chelsi West

University of Texas at Austin

Project Title: "Ethnography in the Margins: A Study of Socioeconomic Crisis, Mobility, and the Albanian-Greek Border"

Research Country: Albania

 

 

 

 

Michael Zboray

Rutgers University

Project Title: "Sino-Russian Relations in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization"

Research Country: Russia