Russian Centers for Advanced Study and Education

The Program is being implemented with the support of the Russian Ministry of Education, the Carnegie Corporation of New York (USA), the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (USA), and the Open Society Institute (Soros Foundation)  Russia.

The Program was initiated in April, 2000 by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, whose intention is to support the Program financially for a period of 6 to 8 years.

Program Goals

• Mobilizing intellectual and professional resources of the Russian academic community;
  
  
• restoring the disrupted horizontal links between researchers and research institutions;
  
  
• providing institutional and individual support to Russian social scientists;
  
  
• assisting the integration of Russian scholars in the international academic community;
  
  
• establishing Russian academic community as an integral part of civil society.

Program Objectives

• Maintain and expand Russia's intellectual potential in humanities and social science,with equal emphasis on areas where Russia has strong traditions and comparative advantage (history, philology, ethnography), and areas where Russia is well behind the developed market economies (political science, law, economics, international relations, etc.);
  
  
• support horizontal and vertical links between Russian educational, research and analytical centers, as well as between individual researchers, through both traditional (seminars, conferences, congresses) and innovative (web-conferences, virtual workshops) activities;
  
  
• assist dialogue and cooperation between the academic community, on the one hand, and Russian entrepreneurs and political elite, on the other; this will be achieved by focusing Centers for Advanced Studies and Education (CASE) on in-demand applied research, developing CASE Boards of Trustees, and using CASEs to implement large-scale federal and regional programs;
  
  
• facilitate integration of Russian scholars in the international academic community, by popularizing CASE research findings in the West, involving individual grantees in international exchange programs for scholars and study tours, creating CASE Web sites in English, inviting international scholars and professors to CASEs, etc.;
  
  
• introduce new research methodologies and techniques to facilitate work performed by Russian scholars in the regions, by supporting contacts between CASEs and academic and educational centers in Moscow, including private universities;
  
  
• help bridge the gap between academic research, training and applied analytic projects; support CASEs in their efforts to use the results of research projects in education; encourage CASE cooperation with local NGOs and mass media;
  
  
• support the development of professional groups and associations of Russian scholars; CASEs could become centers around which regional branches and affiliates of nation-wide professional associations would grow (Russian Association of Political Science, Russian Association for International Research, etc.);
  
  
• facilitate contacts between Russian scholars and their colleagues in other CIS countries, by supporting institutional cooperation of CASEs with leading research and educational centers in the neighboring countries.

Tasks for CASEs

• Covering three to four research areas within the selected subject (both in fundamental and applied forms);
  
  
• holding at least one major (50-70 participants) subject-focused conference annually that reflects the research subject of the particular CASE;
  
  
• holding at least two or three smaller, subject-specific seminars (10-15 participants) and meetings for scholars and practitioners;
  
  
• obtaining Russian and foreign literature under the library support component and making this literature available to Program participants;
  
  
• building subject-focused libraries and databases, participation in Program activities that support libraries;
  
  
• supporting publishing activities;
  
  
• selecting and reviewing the most interesting research papers and monographs to be published in Moscow or in the West;
  
  
• communicating information about current competitions, grant programs and research projects, providing information and methodological support to Program participants;
  
  
• developing and supporting local initiatives;
  
  
• assisting the Program in the implementation of nation-wide activities and events (holding conferences, seminars and grant competitions; providing information to be placed on the Program's Web site, etc.);
  
  
• cooperating with other CASEs (exchange of information and research results, joint conferences, seminars, projects, etc.);
  
  
• providing organizational and administrative support to foreign scholars as well as Russian scholars from Moscow and St. Petersburg.

CASE Board of Trustees

A CASE Board of Trustees includes Rector of the host university and prominent representatives of the regional educational, academic and political communities (Rectors of educational institutions, staff members of academic institutes, top regional officials, regional mass media managers, etc.).

The Board of Trustees meets at least twice a year to discuss the following range of issues:

• relations between the CASE and the host university;
  
  
• setting priorities for the CASE in the context of political, intellectual and cultural development of the region;
  
  
• CASE budget execution and setting budget priorities for the coming year;
  
  
• recommendations to the Program Board concerning changes to the Program format;
  
  
• coordinating additional fund raising efforts for the CASE;
  
  
• PR support for the CASE.

CASE Academic Board

The Academic Board of a CASE consists of experts (representing both the host university and outside organizations) recognized by the professional community in the specific area of the CASE's research activity. The CASE Academic Board functions include the following:

• Discuss and approve specific study areas (modules) for CASE research activity;
  
  
• review plans for seminars, conferences and other CASE activities proposed by the CASE Academic Director;
  
  
• approve lists of publications that will be added to the CASE library;
  
  
• review and approve monographs, reports, conference materials and other publications of the particular CASE;
  
  
• give recommendations on possible participation of CASE representatives in various international events, study tours and research projects.

CASEs and Individual Grantees of the Program

The Program provides for annual, countrywide competitions for individual and collective grants in the areas of social science and humanities (up to 250  300 grants per year); winners in the competition must work on their projects in close contact with one of the CASEs. The competition is open to Russian scholars and researchers specializing in social sciences and humanities who have completed university education as of grant award date and are employees of research institutes (academic, departmental or independent) or higher educational institutions, graduate students (full-time or external), or persons who have worked at research or training centers for at least five years.

Cooperation between CASEs and individual grantees includes:

• administrative support (travel and accommodation);
  
  
• academic consultations in respective research areas;
  
  
• providing access to information resources of the CASE and the host university (library, archives, Internet);
  
  
• integration of grantees in CASE research programs (seminars and conferences, co-authorship of multi-author books, etc.);
  
  
• involvement of grantees in international projects implemented by CASEs.

CASE Information Network is a mega portal with the main website located at www.iriss.ru. Websites of the regional CASEs will also make part of the network. Those are currently under construction. There is still a role for the old CASE websites. As the regional sites are launched the content will be transferred into the new system.

While developing the network five principal information FLOWS were identified:

1. ISE-Center  CASE (through the main network site)
2. CASE  ISE-Center
3. CASE  CASE
4. CASE  regional academic community
5. Regional academic community- CASE

The first and the second flows will serve an administrative function, in addition to carrying professional information content. The 3rd flow will support horizontal links between CASEs and, ideally, between regional academic communities. The last two information flows will provide a realistic assessment of intensity and quality of CASEs' interactions with individual scholars and educators in their respective regions, and to what extent those institutions are respected by the regional communities.

CASE: Location and the Areas of Study

• Center for Advanced Study and Education Kaliningrad State University
  Subject of Research: Russia and Europe: Past, Present, Future
  www.baltic.iriss.ru,
  
  
• Center for Advanced Study and Education Novgorod Grand Duke Yaroslav the Wise State University
  Subject of Research: State, Society, and Individual in the, Russian Cultural Context: Values Dimension
  www.novgorod.iriss.ru,
  
  
• Center for Advanced Study and Education Saratov Nikolai Chernyshevsky State University
  Subject of Research: Phenomenology of Power in Russia: State, Society, and Individual Destiny
  www.saratov.iriss.ru,
  
  
• Center for Advanced Study and Education Voronezh State University
  Subject of Research: Dialogue and Continuity Among Cultures in Contemporary Society
  www.voronezh.iriss.ru,
  
  
• Center for Advanced Study and Education Tomsk State University
  Subject of Research: Eurasian Frontier: Inter-Cultural Community and Communication System
  www.tomsk.iriss.ru,
  
  
• Center for Advanced Study and Education Far East State University
  Subject of Research: Russia and Asia-Pacific Region: Comprehensive Security, Conflicts and Cooperation in the 21st Century
  www.far-east.iriss.ru,
  
  
• Center for Advanced Study and Education Irkutsk State University
  Subject of Research: Siberia as Part of Russia and the World: Challenges Posed by Development Strategies
  www.irkutsk.iriss.ru,
  
  
• Center for Advanced Study and Education The Urals M.Gorky State University
  Subject of Research: Tolerance in a Contemporary Civilization
  www.ural.iriss.ru,
  
  
• Center for Advanced Study and Education The Rostov State University
  Subject of Research: Russia's modernisation problems
  www.rostov.iriss.ru,

Program Staff

• Andrei Kortunov,
  Program Director
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• Irina Laktionova,
  Program Manager
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• Tatyana Vagina
  Coordinator
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• Lyudmila Yerokhina
  Coordinator
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• Alexandr Teslya,
  Coordinator

Program's Contact Information

13/17, Bolshoy Kozlovsky Pereulok, Moscow, 107078, Russian Federation

Phones:
7-095-921-2065,
7-095-928-1738,
7-095-928-4507

Fax:
7-095-928-7943

E-mail:
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