The Legacy of Aleksei Navalnyi and the Future of Russian Opposition

Iver Ørstavik

Iver Ørstavik has facilitated a broad variety of projects in assistance of the work of Rafto laureates since 2010, working extensively with laureates and other partners from India, Bahrain, Mexico, Honduras, Korea, Hungary, Russia, Uganda.

He has covered subjects ranging from Dalit discrimination, via migrants and LGBTIQ rights, to rule of law. He headed the Free Speech to Overcome Hate Speech Program 2016-2018. Ørstavik has also been a member of the Rafto Prize Committee, and was Head of the educational work at Rafto Foundation in 2007-2009.

Ørstavik holds an M.A. in philosophy from the University of Bergen. He has approximately 15 years of teaching experience from various universities and community colleges, in the history of philosophy, philosophy of science, critical thinking, philosophy of law, and ethics.

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Irina Anisimova

Irina Anisimova’s scholarship combines insights from the humanities and social sciences. Her scholarship falls within three broad categories 1. contemporary culture and politics; 2. empire and postcolonial theory; 3. Russian media and film.

Irina received her Ph.D. in Russian Studies from the University of Pittsburgh, USA. Before moving to Bergen, she worked at Miami University in Ohio and Florida State University. Until recently, Irina was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Bergen. She is a co-organizer and a co-leader of the Research Group for Contemporary Russia.

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Martin Paulsen

Martin Paulsen work with Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian language and literature. He is particularly interested in metadiscourse on language, language ideology and the history of linguistics in these East Slavonic languages.

He has a PhD in Russian studies from UiB. He has worked as a teacher, researcher and senior adviser at UiB. His research has been devoted to the developments in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

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Inna Sangadzhieva

Inna is director for Europe and Central Asia in the Norwegian Helsinki Committee and one of their leading experts on issues related to Russia.

Inna grew up in Russian Republic of Kalmykia, and experienced as a teenager the collapse of the Soviet Union. She graduated from the University of Kalmykia in linguistic studies and continued with bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Oslo in Norway. Her master’s thesis in Political Science on political elites in Russia; examined sources of political power when institutions fail to work. 

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