Arevik Anapiosyan holds MA in Political Science from American University of Armenia (2008), and MA in International Affairs, from Yerevan State University (2008). She did her studies towards Ph.D. at the University of Tartu, Estonia (2015), and during her studies she was a visiting fellow at the Human Rights Centre, University of Essex, UK (2012-2015). She did academic fellowship at the University of Massachusetts, in collaboration with Harvard University, on the Study of US Political Thought and Politics (2016). She is a founding member and the Executive director of the Institute of Public Policy (www.ipp.am). She is a consultant for international organizations (Council of Europe, EU Delegation to Armenia, Konrad Adenauer Foundation,) within education policy related programmes. She is an adjunct faculty member at the American University of Armenia, and at the Centre for European Studies, Yerevan State University.
Sos Avetisyan holds a MPhil in Russian and East European Studies from St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford (2016) and a MA in Human Rights and Democratization from European Studies Center of Yerevan State University (2013). He is a recipient of the Luys scholarship as well as the Harry Shuckman Scholarship for Eurasian Studies from St. Antony’s College and the Armenian Studies Scholarship from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. His research interests are the Post-Communist Transitions, Comparative Democratization and Security Studies and Ethnic Conflicts. Currently, he is visiting lecturer at the Center for European Studies at Yerevan State University, and Civil Society Program Coordinator at Open Society Foundations Armenia.
Olya Azatyan is Armenia Programme Coordinator at South Caucasus Regional Office of the Heinrich Boell Foundation since September 2016. For the period of 2009-2016 she was supervising Human Rights and Conflict Transformation projects at British Embassy Yerevan. Her work experience also involves short term consultancies with the OSCE/ODIHR, CoE/Venice Commission, UNDP and IFES at several countries for the period of 2002 – 2013 in the domain of election administration, election law reform and election monitoring. Since 2014 she is a visiting lecturer on Policy Planning and Policy Analyses at Yerevan State University of Languages and Social Sciences. Olya is a British Chevening Alumni (2006/2007). She studied in Armenia, UK and France on the field of Politics and Governance. In 2015 she graduated from the UK Diplomatic Academy affiliated to Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Vahan Bournazian is California-licensed attorney who was born and educated in California, and relocated to Armenia in 2004. He served as associate dean of the Law Department of the American University of Armenia until 2012. Currently he teaches human rights courses in the Master’s Programme in Human Rights and Democratisation at Yerevan State University, and he is engaged in a variety of research projects. He has conducted human rights fact-finding and reporting in countries such as Mexico, Guatemala, Iraq, and Armenia. He is also the author of Development Discourse, a discussion guide dedicated to individual and societal development in Armenia.
Victoria Burnazyan graduated from Yerevan State University Journalism Department; Journalism Department of the International Center for Science Education at the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, and holds a master’s degree. A journalist by profession, she covers environmental issues. The scope of her research interests include hydropower, mining, natural resource conservation and management and human rights protection. She is the Editor-in-chief of “EcoLur” Information NGO (www.ecolur.org). She also works at the Information-Analytical Center of the RA National Academy of Sciences as a journalist.
Davit Dadalyan studied at the YSU and the Southern Illinois University public policy and political science department. He is working in the health policy sector for three years, conducting research and awareness raising campaigns on public health, healthcare law, human rights in patient care, reviewing medical cases of military conscripts and servants, mental health etc. He is a member of the Public Monitoring Group of Psychiatric Institutions. Davit is working at the “Center for Rights Development” NGO and provides expertise to “Helsinki Citizens Assembly” Vanadzor Office and “Health Policy and Innovation Center” NGOs.
Hamazasp Danielyan holds PhD in Political Science from Yerevan State University, where he also was engaged as a professor delivering various graduate courses, including on public policy analysis. Elections and electoral systems is one of the important subfields both in terms of his academic interests and expertise as a practitioner. Member of the International Political Science Association since 2013, he has contributed to the works of Institute of Public Policy and Appella Institute of Policy Analysis and Dialogue, and served in the past as a board member of Policy Forum Armenia. https://yerevan.academia.edu/HDanielyan [email protected]
Hayk Daveyan received his degree as an education psychologist from Armenian State Pedagogical University. He then studied educational and psychological measurements at the Higher School of Economics (Moscow) receiving a Master’s degree. Currently, he is a PhD student at the Armenian State Pedagogical University. His professional engagement includes work in the fields of higher and general education. In the field of higher education, he has experience in working on student quality assurance and accreditation, evaluation mechanisms, university – labour market model development, qualification frameworks and development of educational system efficiency indicators. In the field of general education, he was involved in developing and promoting proposals for inclusive education. He has experience in project management, public fundraising and entrepreneurship.
Mkhitar Gabrielyan is ethnographer. He is a Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Archeology and Ethnography at Yerevan State University, Senior Researcher at the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of NAS RA. He completed his graduate and post-graduate study at the YSU Faculty of History. His scientific interests include socio-cultural transformations of modern societies, anthropology of war and ethnic conflicts, problems of Caucasian political history and ethnography of the peoples of Caucasus, ethnographic theory and methodology. He is the author/co-author of 10 monographs and more than 40 scientific articles, and has participated in more than 30 international conferences in Armenia and other countries. He is a member of the Academic Council of the Faculty of History, scientific and scientific-methodological councils of scientific-educational and cultural institutions, scientific magazines and periodical journals. He leads and manages research projects supported by local and international organizations. [email protected]
Lilit Gevorgyan holds Bachelor’s degree in Law from French University in Armenia (2010-2014) and Master’s degree in International Business Law from Jean Moulin Lyon 3 (2014-2016). The scope of her research interests are related to human rights in the sphere of healthcare, public health policy, social entrepreneurship, right to education as well as the development of Civil Society in Armenia. Since 2015 she is working in healthcare sector. Currently, Lilit is a founding member and projects director in “Health Policy and Innovation Center” NGO.
Susanna Gevorgyan is Senior Expert at the Regulatory Impact Assessment Department of the Prime Minister’s Office of Armenia. Prior to that she worked at international organizations including USAID, UNDP, OSCE and delivered analyses on different topics including public policy impact analyses for better governance and social, environmental, economic impact assessments for evidence based regulatory studies. In 2017, she participated in World Bank Group’s Award and honored as a winner of Influential Regulatory Impact Assessment category. She graduated from the Armenian State University of Economics in 2008.
Valentina Gevorgyan holds Master’s degree in Political Science from American University of Armenia. Her academic interests are in the spheres of society – state relations and development of post-Soviet countries. She served as a senior researcher of a four-year study (2012-2016) on Armenian civil society supported by Academic Swiss Caucasus Net. She has published articles and reports on civil society and volunteering. Currently, she is Policy Research Fellowship Coordinator at Open Society Foundations Armenia, and a doctoral student in Political Science at University of Fribourg. [email protected]
Arevik Ghalumyan graduated from Romance and Germanic Philology Faculty of YSU, after which gained her Master’s degree at YSU Center for European Studies. Currently she does her studies towards PhD at Yerevan State University of Languages and Social Science. The scope of her research interests includes the relationships between HEI and labor market, the development of Civil Society in Armenia, the relationships between EU and Armenia. She is a co-author of the book ”The Political Stability Index of the South Caucasus, EURASEC and EU Member States”. She has also published a few articles about HEI-labor market relationships in different countries. She has been a researcher at ”Caucasus Regional Studies Center” and YSU Center for European Studies. At the moment she works at ”Champord Public Fund” as a translator.
Artak Ghazarian received his Master’s Degree from Academy of Educational Complex of Police of the Republic of Armenia, and currently pursues his PhD in the same Academy. Since 2015 he teaches in the Academy of Educational Complex. He has participated in discussions of several legislative initiatives. The areas of his academic interest include the possibility to import the concept of criminal suit into Armenian Criminal proceedings, the models of Criminal proceedings, the problems of criminal pursuit by a private person. He is author of a monography and a number of scientific articles.
Hasmik Grigoryan is a PhD researcher at Dublin City University School of Law and Government. Her research interests include the behavior of non-democracies, political situation in post-Soviet space and conflicts. She is also currently a program manager at Yerevan based Analytical Centre on Globalization and Regional Cooperation.
Lilit Grigoryan holds a master’s degree from University of Southern California and a bachelor’s degree from Yerevan State University. The fields of specialization are International Relations and Diplomacy. Her research interests include gender studies, role of media in shaping gender roles, reproductive health and education, anti-tobacco campaigns and policies. Currently, she is Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist at the National Institute of Health of the Armenian Ministry of Health. [email protected]
Samvel Grigoryan holds a Master’s degree in Public Health from the American University of Armenia (2018). His research interests include health systems, global health, universal health coverage, health information systems, tobacco control, health behavior and health education. Previously, he provided his technical assistance to the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Armenia (MoH RA) in designing National Hospital Master Plan and Needs Assessment Tool, as well as made his contribution in enhancing the utilization of best EU evidence-based practices in national health policy. Currently, he is a researcher at the National Institute of Health of the MoH RA and contributes to the development, advocacy and implementation of new Tobacco Law and related regulations in Armenia. [email protected]
Arsen Hakobyan graduated from YSU Faculty of History, and received his PhD in Social/Cultural Anthropology. His research interests include complex identity and diaspora groups, anthropology of ethnic conflicts, violence, and deportation. He is a senior researcher at the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography, and a lecturer at YSU. [email protected]
Hasmik Harutyunyan is currently working at the “Protection of rights without borders” local NGO as legal exert, and is the head of Prison Monitoring Group of the Armenian Ministry of Justice. Currently she is teaching in the RA Advocates School, and is a visiting lecturer at the Center of European Studies of the Yerevan State University (YSU). In 2013, she received her MA in Human Rights and Democratization from the Center of European Studies (YSU), in 2007-2011 she studied at French University in Armenia. Her research interests include the issue of independence of judiciary in Armenia and the effectiveness of legal and judicial programs.
Lusine Karamyan holds a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from Yerevan State University and a Master of Science degree in Social Management and Social Work at Manchester University. She is a full-time professor at the Faculty of Sociology of the Yerevan State University, a researcher and a member of the Institute of Public Policy team. Her research interests include public health and HIV; Human Rights; SOGI and LGBT issues; education, diversity and inclusion. [email protected], [email protected]
Serine Khachatryan holds degree in high legal education from Yerevan State University Faculty of Law, specializing in Civil law, Corporate law, and Administrative law. The areas of her research interests include pension (social security) rights, labor rights, right to education. Currently she serves as a corporate lawyer in commercial (business) organization. [email protected]
Lusine Kharatyan is a Researcher at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, where she also works towards her Ph.D. In 2012-2017, she headed DVV International (Institute for International Cooperation of German Adult Education Association) Armenia Country Office. In the past, Lusine worked for different national, international and bilateral development agencies and NGOs, including The World Bank, GIZ, Millennium Challenge Account-Armenia, and World Learning. Her research, publications and practical work focus on education, reconciliation and conflict resolution, politics of memory, anthropology of borderline, integration of refugees, social/cultural impact of policy reforms, and civil society formation. Outside Armenia, she has been involved in research and consultancy in Kirgizstan, Syria, and Turkey. She holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the University of Minnesota (2004), General Diploma in Demography from Cairo Demographic Center (2000), and a Diploma with distinction from the History Department of Yerevan State University (1999). In 2018, she participated in International Visitor Leadership Program (the U.S. Department of State’s premier professional exchange program) on Accountability and Reforms in Education. Since November 2018, she represents Armenia in the Committee of Experts of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.
Artak Kyurumyan is an independent researcher and consultant with experience in international development, public policy and administration. He has worked for the Ministry of Finance of Armenia. As an independent consultant he worked in the World Bank, European Union, USAID, DFID funded projects on implementation of medium term expenditure framework, program budgeting and public debt management. He received Master’s in Engineering degree from American University of Armenia and an MBA from Tulane University.
Nvard Manasian holds a Master of Arts in political science and Master of Community Planning. The specific field/s of specialization include higher education policy and integration into the European Area of Higher Education. Further knowledge in quality assurance processes. Besides, is also specialized in equity issues linked to gender sensitive socialization and policy provision. Her research interests include education policy, higher education policy and gender relevant research into the perceptions and foundations of socialization, as well as gender relevant analytics of the labor market. Currently, she is Gender Equality Officer at the UNICEF. [email protected], [email protected]
Sofia Manukyan is a researcher, human rights defender & environmentalist. She received her first MA degree in European Studies from the Yerevan Brusov State University of Languages and Social Sciences (2011). She obtained her second MA in Theory and Practice of Human Rights from the University of Essex, England (2013). Sofia Manukyan’s researches concentrate on the impact of private sector on the environment and human rights, specifically social and economic rights. She is also interested in labor and women rights protection. independent.academia.edu/SofiaManukyan
Sona Manusyan is an assistant professor at the Department of Personality Psychology, with doctoral degree in psychology. Among other subjects, she teaches cultural psychology and qualitative inquiry in psychology. Her research interests are in philosophy and methodology of psychology, identity questions and boundary-work, national subjectivity, and more generally – questions of the relationship between the individual and the societal/cultural/political. Her current research is related to civic activism and socio-cultural change in Armenia. Currently, she is a Fulbright visiting research scholar at CUNY (City University of New York) Graduate Center, Urban Education program.
Nikol Margaryan is an ethnographer and culturologist. He has a degree of Candidate of Historical Sciences and the title of YSU Associate Professor. During 2005-2018 academic years he lectured at YSU (Applied Anthropology; Introduction to Intercultural Communication, Culture in Social and Human sciences, Sociology of Culture, Globalization and culture, Gender and culture). From 1993 to present he has been working at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia. The scope of scientific research includes Anthropology of Names, Theoretical and Applied Anthropology, Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication. He is the author of about 40 scientific publications. He participated in more than two dozen research projects. N. Margaryan has 34 years of field research experience. [email protected]
Avetik Mejlumyan holds PhD in Social Philosophy (2009) from Yerevan State University, where he also was engaged as a professor (2007-2017) in the department of Sociology, delivering various graduate courses (including on Social work technologies, Social technologies, Human behavior in social environment, etc). Labour rights and the operation of the Labour Inspectorate in Armenia are the important subfields of his academic interests and expertise as a practitioner. Avetik is the author of some researches dedicated to the actual educational issues in Armenia, such as the corruption in education, the operation of the inspectorate of education, etc. He is a co-founder of Institute of Public Policy and serves as a Research coordinator in the same think tank (www.ipp.am). [email protected] [email protected]
Sona Melikjanyan is a sociologist. She holds MA in sociology from Yerevan State University (2015). Since 2017 Sona is a PhD student at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of NAS RA, and from 2020 works as a research assistant at the same Institute (http://iae.am/hy/users/սոնա-մելիքջանյան). Sona started her career from 2013 working as a researcher/sociologist in different organizations and being involved in many projects. Her research interests are in migration studies, mainly in the Armenian female migration. From October 2018 until March 2019 she was working on the methodological approaches of female migration at the Centre of Migration Research of the University of Warsaw as the Visegrad scholarship holder (http://www.migracje.uw.edu.pl/zespol/sona-melikjanyan-2/).
Araks Melkonyan holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Law from the Yerevan State University. In 2014 she graduated from the University of Essex (UK) with LL.M. in International Human Rights Law and in 2015 from the University of Turin with LL.M in International Criminal Justice. Her research interests include international law, human rights and criminal justice. She authored a number of publications in those fields. Currently, she works as legal expert in “Protection of Rights without Borders” NGO. E-mail: [email protected]
Armine Mkhitaryan holds MA degree in Political Science and International Affairs from American University of Armenia. Previously, she worked as a Research Assistant in the Council of Europe office in Armenia and Caucasus Research Resource Centers. Currently, she is a freelance researcher and evaluation specialist working on issues connected with the decentralization policies and mechanisms. [email protected].
Mariam Mkrtichyan holds an LL.M degree from American University of Armenia and an LL.B degree from Russian-Armenian (Slavonic) University. She is specialized in corporate, IP, labour, family law and alternative dispute resolutions. The scope of her research interests includes alternative dispute resolution (e.g. mediation, arbitration), justice system, human rights. Mariam is a senior associate, attorney at law and a licensed mediator at “Hovhannisyan and partners” law firm. She has also worked as a lawyer at Women’s Resource Center NGO. E-mail: [email protected]
Naira Mkrtchyan holds PhD in Philosophy and is Associate Professor. The scope of academic interests includes issues concerning transitional societies, epistemological and methodological aspects of the Social sciences and Humanities, as well as contemporary theories of justice and post-structuralist political theories. She has authored more than twenty scientific publications in Armenian, English, Russian and German, among which is – Social Cognition (Yerevan, 2019). She has also edited the multidisciplinary collection of articles The Post-Soviet: Discourses and Practices (Yerevan, 2019) in Russian. She is currently the Acting Director of the National Institute of Labour and Social Research of the Ministry of Labour and Social Issues, RA. She has been teaching at the Yerevan State University.
Anna Ohanjanyan holds PhD in Historical Theology from Institute of Ethnography and Archeology at NASA. She is a post-doctoral fellow at Centre for Eastern Mediterranean Studies (CEMS) at Central European University (CEU) in Budapest. She is also affiliated to Institute of Ancient Manuscripts “Matenadaran” as a senior researcher. Her current interests include confessional dynamics of Armenian communities in Early Modern period. She has more than 20 publications in various languages.
[email protected]
Alina Poghosyan is a researcher in the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the National Academy of Sciences, Armenia. She received her PhD in Social Anthropology in the same institute. In 2015-2016 as a post-doctoral fellow, she worked at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA, researching and teaching on the migration and cultural changes. Her active involvement in the researches resulted in more than 15 publications on migration, transnationalism, cultural changes and gender issues. [email protected]
Karine Poghosyan graduated from Yerevan State University with a bachelor’s degree in jurisprudence (2010). She then continued her studies at the American University of Armenia and received a master’s degree (LL.M. 2012). The scope of her scientific interests lie within the scope of alternative (effective) dispute resolution. Currently, she works at Prudence Law Firm as an associate attorney. Also, she is a civil court certified mediator. [email protected]
David Sarkisyan holds a BA (summa cum laude) and MA (with distinction) in international relations from Yerevan State University (YSU). He is currently a PhD student at YSU. David’s research interests involve the application of quantitative and formal methods in international relations. He has published 15 academic papers in international peer reviewed journals and conference proceedings. David is a winner of a number of research and travel grants from the Caucasus Research Resource Center—Armenia, Young Scholars Assistance Program, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, and the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs of Armenia.
Aghasi Tadevosyan graduated from the Department of History of Yerevan State University. He holds a PhD in Social Anthropology, certified by the Highest Certification Commission of the Republic of Armenia. His main research interests are anthropology of social changes and poverty, civic movements, cultural transition and value transformation, modernisation, anthropology of city and space, anthropology of everyday life and migration processes of post-Soviet Armenia. He has authored and co-authored 11 monographs and more than 40 scientific articles published in Armenian, English and Russian languages. From 2001 he lectures at the Department of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Faculty of History. He is also Senior Scientist at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of National Academy of Sciences (NAS) of Republic of Armenia and Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the University of California at Berkeley for the 2012-2013 academic year.
Lusine Tanajyan holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Sociology from the Armenian State Pedagogical University after Kh. Abovyan. Currently she is a PhD student in ethnography. Lusine is a researcher at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography NAS RA. She has participated in the international and state research projects. She has also conducted fieldwork and analytical work on comparative studies among Armenians in Diaspora, Syrian-Armenians etc. Lusine’s scientific and research interests include Diaspora Studies, Migration and Social changes in the Diaspora.
Vahram Tokmajyan holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in History from the Yerevan State University (2002-2008, specializing in history and ethnography). He has been teaching in Mkhitar Sebastatsi Educational Complex since 2009. He has also worked as a history expert at “Union of Informed Citizens” NGO. He holds a regular column for Medialab website. He has academic articles published in Armenia and Germany. The scope of his research interests include education and education law, education content, and issues related to the freedom of conscience, thought, and religion, as well as conflict resolution, subcultures, and labor rights.
Edgar Vardanyan received a qualification of a researcher-trainer after his postgraduate studies at Saint Petersburg State University. He holds Master’s degree in Political Science from NAS RA International Scientific-Educational Center. His areas of interest are the theory of democracy, democratization processes, civil resistance, Armenian internal politics. He is the author of selected studies on those topics. He has taught political science at the Moscow Institute of Business and Law (2007-2012) and at the Eurasia International University (2008-2009). As a political analyst Edgar Vardanyan has collaborated with a number of leading Armenian and international organizations and foundations. Currently he is the editor-in-chief of “Detector” analytical project at Boon Foundation. [email protected]
Artak Yengoyan has an extensive experience in banking and finance holding managerial positions in international banks. Currently, he is engaged in Risk Controlling and Compliance at ProCredit Bank Germany (Frankfurt am Main). His educational degrees include PhD in Economics from Yerevan State University and Master of Science Degree from Humboldt University of Berlin. His main fields of specialization are Finance and banking, International Economics and Econometrics. His research interests include Finance and banking, Macroeconomics, International Trade and Finance.