Dr. David Akopyan, Advisor to the President of Armenia; Former UN Development Program Director
David Akopyan has had a dual career. With a Ph.D. in physics, he studied complex systems and afterwards worked for 26 years for the United Nations (UN) in 15 countries across many regions. During the last 10 years of his UN career, he spent time in Afghanistan, Somalia, and Syria, and held leadership positions as UN Development Program director and resident representative. He was named a Distinguished Alumnus of the American University of Armenia in 2019. He has also served as an official advisor to the president of Armenia and the chair of the Board of Trustees of the reArmenia foundation. Additionally, he serves on the Board of Directors of APRI (Applied Policy Research Institute/AGBU) and the Insurance Foundation of servicemen.
Dr. Cengiz Aktar, University of Athens, EKPA
Cengiz Aktar is an invited professor of political science at the University of Athens. He previously served as a director at the United Nations. He is known to be one of the leading advocates of Turkey’s integration into the European Union. His research areas focus on Turkish totalitarianism, the politics of memory regarding ethnic and religious minorities, the history of political ideas in the 19th and 20th centuries’ Ottoman Empire, and EU’s enlargement, regional development, and home affairs policies.
His latest essay, “The Turkish Malaise” was published in Armenian, English, French, German, Greek, and Italian.
Dr. Mustafa Aydin, Professor of International Relations, Kadir Has University, Istanbul
Mustafa Aydin is a professor of international relations at Kadir Has University in Istanbul, the president of the International Relations Council of Turkey, and the Coordinator of the Global Academy. From 2010 to 2018, , he served as the rector of Kadir Has University , and was a guest researcher at Michigan, Harvard, and Athens universities, the Richardson Institute for Peace Studies, the EU Institute for Security Studies, and the Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen. Among others, he is a member of the Turkish Atlantic Council, European Leadership Network, Greek Turkish Forum, and the European Academy of Art and Sciences. Professor Aydin’s areas of interest include international politics, foreign policy analysis, security issues related to the Caucasus, the Black Sea, the Middle East, and Turkish foreign and security policies.
Dr. Shalva Dzebisashvili, Associate Professor, University of Georgia, School of Social Sciences; Chairman of the Board, The Security, Policy & Nationalism Research Center (UGSPN)
Dr. Shalva Dzebisashvili is an associate professor and the head of the Political Science and International Relations Program at the University of Georgia (UGSPN). He also serves as the director of UGSPN’s advisory board, a UG-based research center for security, policy, and nationalism. Between 2003 and 2019, Dr. Shalva Dzebisashvili held senior positions in the Ministry of Defence of Georgia, including serving as the Senior Civilian Representative of Georgian Ministry of Defence (Defense Advisor) to the Georgian Mission to NATO. In October 2017, he assumed the capacity of a program manager for developing courses such as Strategic Policy and Planning, and Public Policy and Reporting at the Defense Institution Building School (DIBS), and from 2020-to 2024, he completed his postdoctoral research project on the role of security institutions in the democratic transformation of Georgia and Armenia. Dr. Dzebisashvili is a frequent guest in local and international TV and media outlets, a welcomed contributor to various regional conferences and workshops, and a prolific writer and author of multiple academic and policy-related articles and books.
Ms. Lilit Gevorgyan, Institute for Security Analysis
Lilit Gevorgian specializes in defence, security, political, and investment risks in Russia and the former Soviet states. She gained knowledge of the post-Soviet risk environment during her time at the Eurasia House at Cambridge University, the International Institute for Strategic Studies , LSE Enterprise, NATO Defence College, and the United Nations. Earlier in her career, she worked for the ministries of Foreign Affairs and Economy in Armenia and served as a press relations officer at the Armenian Diplomatic Mission in London. Gevorgyan has been a regular contributor to major media outlets. Her university degrees include a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts in Political Science from Yerevan State University, Armenia, as well as a Master of Science in International Relations and Political Economy from the London School of Economics and Political Science , United Kingdom.
Mr. Richard Giragosian, Director, Regional Studies Center , Yerevan
Richard Giragosian is the founding director of the Regional Studies Center , an independent “think tank” in Armenia. He holds over 35 years of policy experience in the fields of security and international relations and currently serves as a guest lecturer for the NATO Defense College in Rome. He was also a visiting professor at the College of Europe’s Natolin Campus and at Yerevan State University’s Centre for European Studies. Giragosian was a guest lecturer for the U.S. Army’s Special Forces and for nine years served as a professional staff member of the U.S. Congress.
Dr. Altay Goyushov, Invited Research Fellow, CERI/Sciences Po., Paris
Altay Goyushov is an Azerbaijani historian and political analyst specializing in the history of Islam and secularism in Azerbaijan. His research examines the intersection of religion, state policy, and society in post-Soviet states. He is currently an invited research fellow at CERI/Sciences Po. Goyushov has held fellowships and visiting professorships in France, Germany, Italy, and the United States, including a Fulbright Scholarship at Georgetown University, a fellowship at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, and academic appointments at Sapienza Università di Roma and UCLA.
Dr. Nzhdeh Hovsepyan, Director, Radar Armenia News Agency
Nzhdeh Hovsepyan is the director of Radar Armenia News Agency. He holds a Ph.D. in history from Yerevan State University and is a graduate of the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia. He also studied public policy and administration at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Hovsepyan previously served as the director of the Information Center of the Government of Armenia and later as the press secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia. His research interests include the Karabakh conflict, Armenia’s foreign policy, modern Armenian history, the post-Soviet transition, political parties, state institutions, reforms, etc. In addition to publishing numerous articles and papers, he authored the monograph The Armenian Architecture of the Status Quo in Nagorno-Karabakh (2023).
Dr. Alexander Iskandaryan, Director,Caucasus Institute, Yerevan Alexander Iskandaryan is a political scientist and director of the Yerevan-based Caucasus Institute. His areas of study are ethnopolitical conflicts, post-Communist transformations, and nation building in the former USSR, including the South Caucasus, Northern Caucasus, and Central Asia. He has extensively lectured and published on democracy, conflicts, formal and informal institutions in a transition setting, the building of post-Soviet identities, migration, regional integration, media development, and the formation of public discourses. Under his guidance, the Caucasus Institute engages in research and advocacy, and organizes public debates and scholarly events.
Dr. Stephen Jones, Senior Researcher, Program on Georgian Studies, Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University; Professor of Georgian Modern History, Ilia State University,Georgia
Professor Stephen Jones received his Ph.D. from the London School of Economics and Political Science. His books include Socialism in Georgian Colors: The European Road to Social Democracy, 1883-1917 (Harvard University, 2005), and Georgia: A Political History Since Independence (I.B. Tauris, 2012). More recently, he edited with Neil MacFarlane, Georgia from Autocracy to Democracy (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2020). Professor Jones is a foreign member of the Georgian Academy of Sciences and the founding director of the Program on Georgian Studies at the Davis Center, Harvard. He is currently a senior researcher at the Davis Center and professor of Georgian Modern History at Ilia State University in Georgia.
Dr. Ahmad Kazemi, Professor of International Law, Faculty of Law, Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch
Dr. Ahmad Kazemi is a faculty member at the Faculty of Law of the Islamic Azad University’s Central Tehran Branch.
He also serves as a senior researcher of Caucasus and Eurasia issues, and chairman of the Iranian Research Center for Minority Rights. Dr. Kazemi has authored several books in the field of Eurasia, including Security in the South Caucasus, Pan-Turkism, and Pan-Azerism
Additionally, he has authored several books in the field of international human rights, including The Concept of Minority in International Human Rights Documents, The Status of Minorities in the Republic of Azerbaijan from the Perspective of International Law, The Status of Minorities in Turkey from the Perspective of International Law.
Dr. Kazemi has authored over 20 scientific research articles.
Dr. Nerses Kopalyan, Ph.D, Associate Professor-in-Residence, Department of Political Science; Undergraduate Engagement Coordinator, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Dr. Nerses Kopalyan is an associate professor-in-residence of political science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. His fields of specialization include international security, geopolitics, paradigm-building, and philosophy of science. He is the author of World Political Systems After Polarity (Routledge, 2017), the co-author of Sex, Power, and Politics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), co-author of the upcoming Armenia, Azerbaijan, and the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War (2025, Routledge), and author of numerous book chapters and academic publications. His current research and academic publication focus on geopolitical and great power relations within Eurasia, with specific emphasis on small-state resiliency, hybridity, and the confluence of security and democratic consolidation. He has authored several policy papers for the government of Armenia and serves as a voluntary advisor to numerous state institutions. Dr. Kopalyan is also a regular contributor to EVN Report.
Mr. Achal Malhotra, Former India’s Ambassador to the Republic of Armenia; Managing editor, Indian Foreign Affairs Journal
Achal Malhotra is a retired career diplomat, who received his master’s from the Centre of Russian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Moscow was his first overseas diplomatic assignment. Later, he served as India’s Ambassador to Armenia and Georgia and as India’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organizations in Vienna. Post retirement, he was engaged as director at Delhi Policy Group, an independent think tank. Currently, he is engaged in pursuing different academic and philanthropic activities, including serving as the managing editor of the Indian Foreign Affairs Journal.
Mr. Arman Melikyan, Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia; Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh
From 1991 to 1993, Melikyan served ass the chief expert in the Commission on Foreign Relations (Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Armenia (RA) ). He was then appointed head of RA diplomatic mission in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan (1993-1999). From 1999 to 2001, he served as the ambassador of the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs on special missions. From 2001 to 2004, he served as a permanent representative of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR) in the RA . Thereafter, from 2004 to 2005, Melikyan served as the minister of Foreign Affairs of the NKR , before serving as advisor to the president of the NKR on Foreign Policy Affairs (2005-2007). In both the 2008 and 2013 RA presidential elections, he was a presidential contender.
Currently, he is a board member of the “Total Quality Management Assistance” NGO and a political consultant for the “Refugees and International Right” Civil Society Network.
Mr. Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia
Mr. Zohrab Mnatsakanyan is a graduate of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations and the Victoria University of Manchester. He entered Armenia’s diplomatic service in 1991 and held several posts in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Embassy of Armenia to the United Kingdom, the Offices of the Prime Minister and the President of Armenia. In 2002, he became Armenia’s ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations Office and other International Organizations at Geneva, as well as Armenia’s ambassador to Switzerland. In 2008, he was appointed Armenia’s ambassador and permanent representative to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France. Between 2011 and 2014, he held the post of deputy minister of Foreign Affairs and chief negotiator of the EU-Armenia Association Agreement. In 2014, he became Armenia’s ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations in New York. From May 2018 until his resignation in November 2020, he was Armenia’s minister of Foreign Affairs. He is currently an independent consultant and a guest lecturer at the American University of Armenia.
Dr. Anna Ohanyan, Richard B. Finnegan Professor of International Relations,Stonehill College; Nonresident Senior Scholar, Russia and Eurasia Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Professor Ohanyan is Richard B. Finnegan Distinguished Professor of International Relations at Stonehill College in Massachusetts. She is a two-times Fulbright scholar, and a Nonresident senior scholar in the Russia/Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She has authored and edited five books and numerous academic articles. Her “Regional Fracture and Its Intractability in World Politics,” published with Nationalities Papers in 2022, received the 2023 Huttenbach Prize by the 27th Convention of the Association for the Studies in Nationalities at Columbia University. Professor Ohanyan has contributed to Bloomberg, CNBC, MSNBC, BBC, PBS, the Washington Post, Foreign Policy, The Washington Quarterly, among many other news outlets.
Mr. Yeghia Tashjian, Regional and International Affairs Cluster Coordinator, Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs, American University of Beirut
Yeghia Tashjian is IFI’s Regional and International Affairs Cluster coordinator, a regional analyst, and researcher. He holds a master’s degree in public policy and international affairs from the American University of Beirut and completed the “Strategic Leadership in Global Societal Security Program” at the Swedish Defense University in 2022. He earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from Haigazian University in 2013. His master’s thesis focused on China’s geopolitical and energy security interests in Iran and the Persian Gulf. Currently, Tashjian is engaged in research on the phenomenon of Turkish-Russian “co-opetition” in the MENA+ Caucasus region and Russia’s involvement in the International North-South Transport Corridor. He contributes to various local and regional newspapers, serves as a columnist for the Armenian Weekly, and is a part-time instructor at the Political Studies and Public Administration department at the American University of Beirut.
Dr. Vahram Ter-Matevosyan, Professor, Interim Associate Dean, American University of Armenia
Dr. Ter-Matevosyan has received his doctorate in history from the University of Bergen,Norway, a master’s degree from Lund University,Sweden, Candidate of Historical Sciences degree from the Institute of Oriental Studies,Armenia. He was a visiting professor at Duke University, NC, and a Fulbright Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, CA. He has authored three monographs: Komünizm Gozünden Kemalizm: Türkiye’nin Donüçümüne Sovyet Yaklaçimlari (Istanbul. iletiçim. 2023); Turkey, Kemalism, and the Soviet Union: Problems of Modernization, Ideology and Interpretation (New York & London. Palgrave Macmillan. 2019); and the award-winning monograph Islam in the Social and Political Life of Turkey, 1970-2001(Yerevan. Limush Press. 2008);. He also co-authored History of the Turkish Republic(Yerevan. YSU Press. 2018). Dr. Ter-Matevosyan’s research articles have been published both in edited volumes by Routledge and Springer, as well as peer-reviewed journals, including Nations and Nationalism, Third World Quarterly, Europe-Asia Studies, and Turkish Studies, among others.
Dr. Marat Terterov, Founding Partner, European Geopolitical Forum, Brussels
Dr. Terterov received his education in Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom. He holds a doctorate in Middle Eastern politics from St. Antony’s College, Oxford University. His academic record includes the status of a Chevening scholar to Oxford University (1995-96), endorsed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom. He also lectured on Middle Eastern and Islamic politics as a visiting lecturer for four years at the Brussels School of International Studies/the University of Kent. He speaks English and Russian fluently, and has working knowledge of Egyptian Arabic.
Dr. Terterov has 25 years post-graduate professional experience in the area of international relations, inclusive of a 15-years career in the area of international energy relations. He specialises in the areas of interstate and regional energy cooperation, energy security, interstate investments agreements (the Energy Charter Treaty), investment climate analysis, and market development in the Middle East and former-Soviet Union regions, European energy policy and EU-Russian energy relations.
Dr. Terterov also founded the European Geopolitical Forum website and research network of experts engaged in sensitive debates on Eurasian geopolitics. Throughout his career, he developed ongoing relations with multiple officials from the European Institutions, particularly the European Commission DG ENER.
Ms. Olesya Vartanyan, Regional Expert on Security and Conflicts in the South Caucasus
Vartanyan is a conflict analyst with over 15 years of experience in the South Caucasus, specializing in security, peace processes, and foreign policy. She has worked with international organizations such as the International Crisis Group, OSCE, and Freedom House, conducting research on conflict zones like Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and South Ossetia. Previously a journalist, she reported on security issues, including for The New York Times during the 2008 Russia-Georgia war. She has received awards such as the International Young Women’s Peace Award and the EU’s Peace Journalism Prize. She holds advanced degrees in conflict studies and journalism from King’s College London and the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs.
Dr. Zheng Yuntian, Professor; Assistant Director, Belt and Road Initiative Research Center, Renmin University of China
Zheng Yuntian (郑云天, 1985-) holds a Ph.D. from Tsinghua University, and is currently a professor at the School of International Studies, Renmin University of China (RUC). He is the director of the World Socialism Institute in RUC, a senior research fellow of the School of Global and Area Studies (RUC), an academic committee member of the China-Eurasia Council for Political and Strategic Research (Armenia), and a member of Good-neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation Committee of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. His main research areas focus on issues dealing with contemporary China, and the “Belt and Road Initiative” regional studies (Central Asia and South Caucasus). He has published seven books and over 30 academic papers.