Dr Aleksandr V. Gevorkyan is Henry George Chair in Economics and Associate Professor of Economics at the Department of Economics and Finance of the Peter J. Tobin College of Business at St. John’s University in New York City. He is a Senior Research Fellow at the Vincentian Centre for Church and Society, a Research Fellow at the Center for Global Business Stewardship. He is a Board Member at the Armenian Economic Association and at the Henry George School of Social Science. Dr. Gevorkyan also serves as ad-hoc Economics Subject Matter Expert for the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See To the United Nations. He is also a member of the editorial boards at the Review or Political Economy, Review of Keynesian Economics, Armenian Journal of Economics, and Journal of Eastern European and Central Asian Research. Dr. Gevorkyan is the author of Transition Economies: Transformation, Development, and Society in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union (Routledge, 2018).

Available to download:

Webinar Presentation by Aleksandr Gevorkyan

Dr Roland Dannreuther is Professor of International Relations at the University of Westminster. He joined the University in September 2009 as head of the Department of Politics and International Relations. He was Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities (2013-15) and then Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) (2015-19). He was previously Professor of International Relations at the University of Edinburgh (1995-2009); International Fellow at the Department of International Relations, Tbilisi State University, Georgia; Faculty Fellow at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (2000-02); and Research Associate at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (1992-5). He is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. His research revolves around the area of security studies and international relations with a regional focus on Russia, Central Asia and the Middle East. He also has an interest in the engagement of historical sociology in International Relations.

Available to download:

Webinar Presentation by Roland Dannreuther

Dr Kundan Kishor is currently a professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. His primary research interest is in empirical macroeconomics. Much of his work has focused on monetary policy, data revisions and the housing market. In addition, He is also interested in the broader issue of business cycles and monetary policy in emerging economies.

He received his PhD in Economics from University of Washington in 2005. Previously, he received his MA in Economics from Delhi School of Economics in 2000.
Presentation by Kundan Kishor and Salome Giorgadze

Nienke van Twillert is a research assistant at the Section of Economics of the Social Sciences Group at Wageningen University and Research Centre in the Netherlands. She has a background in Economics and Governance with a focus on econometric modelling. Currently her research concentrates on the role of economics in climate change and the energy transition with an emphasis on spatial differences. She also has a special regional interest in West and Central Asia. Recent works are "Risk or opportunity? The Belt and Road Initiative and the role of debt in the China-Central Asia-West Asia Economic Corridor" and "Uptake of residential energy efficiency measures and renewable energy: Do spatial factors matter?". 
Nienke van Twillert is the author of the Risk or opportunity? The Belt and Road Initiative and the role of debt in the China-Central Asia-West Asia Economic Corridor

Dr Wojciech Ostrowski joined the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Westminster in 2016. Prior to that (2010-2015), he was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in International Politics of Energy and Mineral Resources at the Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy, University of Dundee; Research Fellow in Energy Security in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Westminster and a Visiting Research Fellow in L’Institut d'Économie et de Politique de l'Énergie, University of Grenoble.

His research concentrates on the areas of energy security, political economy of resources and international relations with a regional focus on Central Asia and Eastern Europe. He is an author of Politics and Oil in Kazakhstan (Routledge 2010 and 2011), and an author and co-editor of Global Resources: Conflict and Cooperation (co-edited with Roland Dannreuther) ( Palgrave 2013); Understanding Energy Security in Central and Eastern Europe: Russia, Transition and National Interest (co-edited with Eamonn Butler) (Routledge 2018); Handbook on Oil and International Relations (co-edited with Roland Dannreuther) (Edward Elgar, Forthcoming).

Dr Ostrowski has PhD in International Relations (University of St Andrews); MSc by Research in Politics (University of Edinburgh); MA in International Relations (University of Kent at Canterbury); BA in History and Politics (Queen Mary, University of London).