Institute for Russian and Eurasian Studies - IRES

22/09/2026

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26/05/2026

We have great news to share!

Our current student Eskil Strand has received the 2025 Swedish Chamber of Commerce for Eurasia Thesis Award for his thesis ”The EU's secondary sanction threat and its impact on sanctions-busters: a multi-method comparative analysis of Armenia, Georgia, and Kazakhstan". You can access the thesis here https://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?aq2=%5B%5B%5D%5D&c=314&af=%5B%5D&searchType=LIST_LATEST&sortOrder2=title_sort_asc&query=&language=sv&pid=diva2%3A2034524&aq=%5B%5B%5D%5D&sf=all&aqe=%5B%5D&sortOrder=author_sort_asc&onlyFullText=false&noOfRows=50&dswid=3070

Eskil’s thesis has demonstrated academic rigor and strong analytical ability. In addition, the thesis addresses a subject of considerable relevance to Swedish businesses engaged in trade and commercial relations with several Eurasian markets.

This year, a total of 27 submissions on a wide range of topics were received from students at, among others, the Swedish Defence University, University of Gothenburg, Linnaeus University, Lund University, Stockholm University, and Uppsala University.

Sincere congratulations to Eskil and thank you to everyone who has applied!

11/03/2026

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1263772752545753&set=a.422425833347120

You are kindly invited to visit an exhibition "Unissued diplomas" arranged by the IRES student association TSARES on 12 March at IRES library at 13.00-19.00.

🇺🇦Unissued Diplomas exhibition🇺🇦

Unissued Diplomas is an international project aimed at commemorating the Ukrainian students whose lives were taken by the Russian full-scale invasion that started on February 24, 2022. Those students, supposed to get them, were killed by Russia before they could graduate, either as civilians or through taking up arms to defend their home country.

This exhibition aims to remind the world about the ongoing war and the price Ukrainians pay daily in their fight for freedom.

The exhibition will therefore show a number of these unissued diplomas, offering Uppsala students the opportunity to reflect and learn about the fates of some of those Ukrainian students killed by the war.

Speaker: Kateryna Boyko, IRES researcher specialising in activism within online communities in Ukraine

Speaker at 15:00

Free entry to the Exhibition

Where: IRES Library (Institute for Russian and Eurasian Studies) Uppsala University

Entrance from Gamla Torget 3, 753 22, Uppsala

When: Thursday, 12 March

Open doors from 13:00 to 19:00

16/12/2025

IRES Thesis Award - win 25,000 SEK for your thesis!

For the fifth year in a row the Institute for Russian and Eurasian Studies (IRES) in cooperation with the Swedish Chamber of Commerce for Eurasia announces a degree thesis competition where you have a chance to win 25,000 SEK. The award is given for an outstanding thesis that deals with economics, trade, history, political science, cultural studies, etc. in relation to Russia, Ukraine or CIS countries.

Application deadline is 30 January 2026.

More information about the award and how to apply https://www.uu.se/en/department/russian-and-eurasian-studies/study/thesis-award

We look forward to receiving your application!

16/12/2025

MASTER'S LEVEL COURSES AT IRES

Are you interested in deepening your knowledge about justice, nationalism or media systems in post-Soviet Eurasia? In that case you should apply to our elective courses that are still open for application! Apply via https://www.antagning.se/se/start or https://www.universityadmissions.se/intl/start

• National Identity and Nationalism: Contemporary and Historical Perspectives in Russia and Eurasia, 15 credits
https://www.uu.se/en/study/course?query=2EU021

• Perspectives on Justice in Post-Soviet Eurasia: Ethnocultural Pluralism, Gender, and Environmental Governance,15 credits
https://www.uu.se/en/study/course?query=2EU018

• Just Sustainable Cities: Perspectives from Post-Socialist Eurasia, 7.5 credits. (This course is part of a course Perspectives on Justice in Post-Soviet Eurasia: Ethnocultural Pluralism, Gender, and Environmental Governance,15 credits) https://www.uu.se/en/study/course?query=2EU022

• Post-Soviet to Post-Truth: Eastern European Media Systems, 15 credits
https://www.uu.se/en/study/course?query=2EU020

We look forward to meeting you at one of our courses!

The official website for application to higher education studies in Sweden. Study bachelor's and master's courses and programmes taught in English.

27/11/2025

We would like to congratulate our PhD student Alexandra Brankova on nailing her PhD thesis on 26 November! Her thesis entitled "Russian Digital Nationalism: Digital Practices and Discursive Constructions of the Russian Nation in a Nationalist Media Ecology" explores the digital enactment through practices and discursive construction of Russian nationalism in a hybrid media system, before and after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The public defence will take place on Friday 5 December at 13.00 at Ekonomikum, Lecture Hall 2.

For more information kindly visit https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A2006494&dswid=1824

03/11/2025

CALL FOR PAPERS

IRES announces call for papers for an interdisciplinary workshop “Failure as governance in the post-socialist contexts”. Application deadline December 19, 2025. For further info visithttps://www.uu.se/download/18.65dd10ac19a0f54aa1534448/1762179427674/Failure%20CfP%20V281025.pdf

28/10/2025

Congratulations to our PhD student Ausra Padskocimaite, who nailed her thesis entitled "Different but Similar?: A Comparative Case Study of Russia's and Lithuania's (Non)Compliance with Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights" on Friday 24 October! This dissertation examines compliance with final judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) by two former Soviet states that joined the Council of Europe (CoE) and ratified the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in the 1990s – Russia and Lithuania.

The public defence will be held on 14 November 2025 in Brusewitzsalen, Östra Ågatan 19, Uppsala starting at 10:15.

For more information kindly visit https://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?aq2=%5B%5B%5D%5D&c=19&af=%5B%5D&searchType=LIST_COMING&sortOrder2=title_sort_asc&query=&language=en&pid=diva2%3A2001791&aq=%5B%5B%5D%5D&sf=all&aqe=%5B%5D&sortOrder=author_sort_asc&onlyFullText=false&noOfRows=50&dswid=1933

10/10/2025

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: IRES Visiting Researcher Programme November 9th

The Institute for Russian and Eurasian Studies hereby announces the call for applications to the IRES Visiting Researcher Programme for 2026. The programme offers fully funded one-month research fellowships at IRES, including travel, accomodation and a fee of 20 000 SEK. Full access to IRES premises and Uppsala University library resources is provided throughout the research period. The current round of applications offers two individual fellowships.
See more information about application here:

The Institute for Russian and Eurasian Studies (IRES) at Uppsala University announces the call for applications for the IRES Visiting Researcher Program 2026. The program offers a one-month research fellowship at IRES, including travel, accommodation and a stipend of 20 000 SEK. Full access to IRES....

03/09/2025

Congratulations to our PhD student Aliaksandra Shrubok, who today nailed her thesis entitled "Cultivating Love: Elderly Women and their Plants in the Belarusian Countryside"! This thesis is based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted from August 2021 to August 2022 in the Dokšycy district of post-Soviet Belarus. It documents how elderly rural women navigate pervasive state-induced neglect (bezkhaziajstvennasć) through their intricate relationships with plants.

The defence will be held on 26 September 2025 at 09:15
in Geijersalen, room 6-1023, Engelska parken, Thunbergsvägen 3P, Uppsala. For more information kindly see https://www.uu.se/en/events/defences/2025-09-26-aliaksandra-shrubok-cultivating-love-elderly-women-and-their-plants-in-the-belarusian-countryside