Research Associates

Dr Jason Bruder

Dr Jason Bruder is a former career diplomat and U.S. Senate foreign policy aide who holds a PhD from the University of St Andrews. His research interests include U.S. Foreign Policy toward Europe and Eurasia, the geopolitics of the Black Sea and Caspian Regions, and Russian Foreign Policy. Dr Bruder has taught as an adjunct professor at Columbia University and Georgetown University.

Dr Kristin Eggeling

Dr Kristin Eggeling is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Political Science at the University of Copenhagen and holds an MLitt and PhD from the School of International Relations. She currently works on an ERC-funded research project on digitalisation and diplomatic practices in the EU. Her research interests are in practice theory, identity politics, diplomacy, interpretive methods and methodologies, ethnography, and fieldwork in International Relations. Kristin has recently published her PhD in Routledge’s Interventions Series. Nation-branding in Practice: The Politics of Promoting Sports, Cities and Universities in Kazakhstan and Qatar develops a practice-theoretical approach to nation-branding, a core practice of international identity politics and illustrates how we can understand nation-branding as a mechanism of regime legitimation by drawing on contemporary examples from the sports, urban development and higher education sector in Kazakhstan and Qatar. Kristin participates in MECACS research seminars and is happy to talk to current students about methodology and fieldwork.

Dr Josephine Jackson

Dr Josephine Jackson is a Policy Analyst in the Office of the U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, the Pentagon, and holds an MLitt and PhD from the School of International Relations.
Josephine’s research interests are in mass atrocity prevention and response; ‘Responsibility to Protect’ (R2P); Women, Peace, and Security (WPS); international human rights (laws, norms, practices, institutions, and ethical frameworks); international criminal law; NATO policy on the use of force; U.S. and U.K. foreign policy and national security; the Middle East, North Africa, and European regions; and the constructivist approach in International Relations. Josephine has also worked on democratic stability and conflict prevention. Josephine has delivered lectures and presentations on peace and security issues in a variety of global forums and academic conferences.
Most recently, having served for two years as a ‘New Leader’ with the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, Josephine is now a Program Mentor for the 2023 cohort of Carnegie Ethics Fellows. In this role, she guides the Fellows in exploring the ethical dimensions of contemporary global issues of concern, such as risks from artificial intelligence, institutional resilience, totalitarianism, and Great Power conflict. Josephine is currently spearheading an expert forum on how Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS) are changing beliefs about the future of warfare, as well as the resulting implications for human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Dr Karolina Kluczewska

Dr Karolina Kluczewska is visiting research fellow at the DFG Collaborative Research Centre SFB / TRR 138 “Dynamics of Security”, Justus Liebig University Giessen (Germany), and an associate senior research fellow at the Laboratory for Social and Anthropological Research, Tomsk State University (Russia). Dr Kluczewska’s research interests concern development aid, international organisations and localisation of global governance frameworks in Central Asia. She has contributed a book chapter to a volume titled Managing Security Threats along the EU’s Eastern Flanks, edited by MECACS member Professor Rick Fawn. She is currently co-editing a Special Issue on the European Union – Central Asia interactions, together with Professor Rick Fawn and Dr Oleg Korneev.

Further details on: Google Scholar

Dr Nina Lutterjohann

Dr Nina Lutterjohann holds a PhD from the University of St Andrews and is currently Research Assistant at the Centre for East European and International Studies (ZOiS) in Berlin. In Autumn 2020, she is embarking upon a six months post-doc scholarship funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). Her interests include pan-European and International Organisations, protracted conflicts, border regions, identity politics, migration, diaspora, cultural studies, and radicalization research. Research collaboration with MECACS includes presenting at the MECACS roundtable on ‘Threats to Stability in Wider Europe’ and contributing a book chapter to an edited collection Managing Security Threats along the EU’s Eastern Flanks, edited by MECACS member Professor Rick Fawn.

Further details on: LinkedIn | ResearchGate

Dr Helen Murphey

Helen Murphey’s PhD research analysed the diverse trajectories of Salafi political parties in Egypt and Tunisia after the Arab Uprising. She has also written and presented on North African populism and the symbolic and ideological dimensions of regional conspiracy theories. Her research interests include religious identities in the MENA region, political communication, contentious politics, populism, conspiracy theories and misinformation. She is available to offer advice or mentoring to PhD students.

Dr Aliya Tskhay

Dr Tskhay completed her PhD at the University of St Andrews and is an ad-hoc consultant for businesses on issues related to political risk and economic policies in Central Asia. Her research is directed at three areas, broadly-defined: extractive industries policies and energy transition; international norms compliance; and geoeconomics. Dr Tskhay actively participates in MECACS seminars and roundtables, as well as in research collaboration projects, contributing to Dr Costa Buranelli’s work on international norms and order in Central Asia and Dr Fumagalli’s work on migration and diaspora in the region. She is a member of FLEET (Fresh Look at Eastern European Trends) a network of young professionals and experts that work on security and cooperation in wider Europe and produce policy-relevant reports.

Dr Elena Zhirukhina

Dr Zhirukhina is currently a MECACS Research Associate. Elena was a Marie Curie Fellow and gained a PhD at the University of St Andrews. Her work focuses on international and national strategies countering violent non-state actors and their various illicit activities, micro dynamics of irregular conflicts, and Russia, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. Dr Zhirukhina is currently working on a book titled The Price of Peace: Chechnya and Russia co-authored with MECACS members Professor Rick Fawn and Dr Marat Iliyasov.

Further details on: LinkedIn

Dr Tina Zintl

Dr Tina Zintl is Senior Researcher in the German Development Institute’s (DIE) Stabilization and Development in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) project. Her research focuses on the political economy and state-society relations in the Middle East, especially labour markets, digitalization, social cohesion, and the renegotiation of social contracts. She holds a PhD in International Relations from the University of St Andrews, where she is also affiliated with the Centre for Syrian Studies, and previously worked at the University of Tübingen (Germany). She also provides policy advice in development cooperation.

Further details on: German Development Institute | Research Gate