Vadzim Smok

PROJECT COORDINATOR

Vadzim Smok is the former Ostrogorski Centre coordinator in Belarus. He is a researcher at the Institute of Political Studies 'Political Sphere' based in Minsk and Vilnius. Originally from Hrodna, he currently lives in Minsk. Vadzim has a BA and an MA in Political Science from European Humanities University in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Areas of expertise: comparative politics, political institutions and local and regional politics.

Languages: Belarusian, Russian, English, German, Polish.

Volha Charnysh

ANALYST

Volha Charnysh is an analyst at the Ostrogorski Centre. She is a PhD Candidate in Government at Harvard University. Her research explores how ideas, identity and culture shape patterns of political attitudes and behaviour within and across states. Her dissertation focuses on the long-term effects of forced migration in the wake of WWII on economic and political development in Europe. Volha comes from Hrodna, Belarus. Her web site is charnysh.net.

Areas of expertise: identity politics, migration, historical legacies, ethnic conflict, framing effects, Eastern Europe.

Languages: Belarusian, Russian, English, German, Polish.

Jeremy Coppock

INTERN

Jeremy Coppock is an intern at the Ostrogorski Centre. He holds a BA in Slavic Languages from the University of Washington and is currently working on an International MA in Russian and East European Studies at the University of Glasgow and Jagiellonian University in Krakow. He was a Fulbright fellow at the Belarusian State Economic University in Minsk and has also worked in Moscow.

Areas of expertise: Belarusian nation-building, identity, and Belarusian migration.

Languages: English, Russian, French, Czech.

Alena Mikhalkovich

INTERN

Alena Mikhalkovich is an intern at the Ostrogorski Centre. She is currently pursuing a BA degree at New York University Abu Dhabi, specialising in Middle Eastern Studies. She is also a United World College scholar, studied at UWC Maastricht.

Areas of expertise: Middle East, IT in Belarus.

Languages: Belarusian, Russian, English, Arabic.