transformation of social
and political values:the EU practice

Andrey Kinyakin is Associate Professor (PhD) at the department of comparative politics of RUDN University and academic director of TSPV-Module. The fields of his research interests are political economy, political practices in Russia and European counties, international relations (special emphasis on European and German studies), public administration. The most recent field of research is macro-level integration issues, namely interrelation between the EU and the Eurasian Economic Union – the integrationist structure in the post-soviet area. Andrey Kinyakin has a solid academic knowledge on European affairs, within the period 2002-2003, 2004-2005 being a visiting student (Gaststudent) of Jean Monnet Centre for European Studies at University of Bremen. That enabled him to elaborate teaching courses, which are connected with European issues and presently are embedded in curriculum of department of comparative politics:

• Comparative politics: Russian and European practice
• Public administration in European countries: comparative analysis

Andrey Kinyakin is an active researcher, having a number of publications on topics international relations and interrelations between Russia and EU member-states in internationally peered scientific magazines and being participant of international conferences, devoted to European affairs. Besides his academic and research activity Andrey Kinyakin is the head and academic coordinator of the double-degree master programme “Political science – public administration” (“Deutsch-Russischer Master der Verwaltungswissenschaft” M.A.), which is successfully developed since 2010 in cooperation with University of Potsdam. Within 2014-2019 Andrey Kinyakin was a visiting professor of University of Potsdam (Germany).

Marina Mchedlova is Professor (Dr. habil) and the head of department of comparative politics of RUDN University. The fields of her research interest are political sociology, political philosophy, interrelation between politics and religion. Marina Mchedlova is one of the leading and well-known Russian specialists on issue of political identity – influence of social and cultural factors on the political activity and formation of political values. Being active researcher not only at PFUR but also at other research centres – for instance Institute of Sociology of Russian Academy of Science Marina, Mchedlova managed to transform her research interest into practical sphere, being the member of board of working group at the Presidential Council for Religious and National Relations and the member of board of the Russian Association of Religious Freedom. Besides academic and research activity Marina Mchedlova is the head and scientific coordinator of two successful double-degree programmes with the renowned French universities – “Political problems of European integration” (in cooperation with University of Bordeaux IV (Sciences Po Bordeaux) since 2005) and “Public administration – political sciences” (in cooperation with Pierre Mendes University of Grenoble since 2007). During the period 2008-2010 Marina Mchedlova was a visiting professor at University of Bordeaux IV (Sciences Po Bordeaux).

Yuri Pochta is a Professor (Dr. habil) and the deputy head of department of comparative politics (up to 2015 he headed the department) of RUDN University. His research interests comprise political culture (in different societies), comparative studies of political regimes and international relations (with special emphasis on the Middle East region). Yuri Pochta is one of a well-known Russian specialist of “political Islam” – the influence of Muslim religion on political sphere in different regions of world (including Europe), having more than 30 publications on this topic. Yuri Pochta is an active researcher, taking part in many scientific events all over the world and having publications in many renowned scientific papers and being the member of editorial boards of some of them. The specifics of Yuri Pochta`s research activity enabled him to work out teaching courses, that at the moment are very popular among the students:

• Political culture: East-West-Russia
• Islam and politics: contemporary practices

Besides his academic and research activity Yuri Pochta is very active in international cooperation as well, heading the double-degree master programme “Political problems of globalizing world”) (in cooperation with Chinese University of Shandong since 2007).

Darya Kazarinova is Associate Professor (PhD) at the department of comparative politics of RUDN University. Her fields of research encompass European studies (political, social and cultural aspects), “soft power” politics, and human capital development. The major field of study by Darya Kazarinova is “soft power” practices, forms and tools used by different countries with the special emphasis on the European states and the EU as supranational political structure. Darya Kazarinova is one of the leading Russian young researcher in comparative studies of “soft power” policy. The embodiment of her research interests is the series of teaching courses, devoted to the European affairs and “soft power” practices. Among them:

• European Union and Russian: social and cultural dimension
• International organization
• Contemporary practices of formation and realization of foreign policy

Alongside academic and research activity Darya Kazarinova actively deals with international cooperation, coordinating academic exchanges with Italian educational institutions. Among them – University of Bologna, University of Palermo and University of Siena.

Olga Frolova is Assistant Professor (PhD) at the department of comparative politics of RUDN University. She got her PhD in 2015. She is specialized on the topic of political elites in US and European politics as well as international relations (with special emphasis on the foreign policy implementation and specifics of decision-making process). The recent research interest of Olga Frolova is practices of migration policy in different counties as well as supranational structures (the EU). This interest is underpinned by the situation with migration in contemporary world, which turns out to be one of the major challenges for foreign policy on different levels. Besides academic and research activity Olga Frolova has practical experience of work in PR-agency, dealing with the event-management. That turns out to be very helpful for the research component of the current project, which supposes organization of the scientific event (workshop).

Mario De Martino is a PhD candidate at the department of comparative politics of RUDN University. The field of research of his doctoral studies is educational policies as instruments of soft power. Such analysis is focused on the EU and Russian educational programs and how they strengthen their role of regional and global actors. Mario De Martino has a solid academic knowledge on European affairs as demonstrate the studies he completed before his PhD. More specifically, Mario De Martino gained his:

• Postgraduate Master in European Studies from the College of Europe (Natolin Campus) in 2010;
• Master in European Studies from University of Siena in 2007;
• Bachelor in Political Science from University of Siena in 2005.

Besides the academic sphere, Mario De Martino has extensive experience in the policy and programmatic dimensions of EU education policies. From 2010 until 2012, he worked at EACEA in the Erasmus/Jean Monnet unit dealing with the management, monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of the Jean Monnet projects. During his 15 month stay at EACEA, Mario De Martino supported the Jean Monnet team in managing more than 700 Jean Monnet applications, contributed to managing the evaluation process as well as backed the oversight of 200 projects approved for funding for the years 2008/2009 and 2009/2010. Moreover, he has experience in EU policies and programmes in education from the perspective of Grant recipient having worked as project officer at the EU Association of Higher Education Institutions (EURASHE) in a team tasked with the management of EU funded projects on behalf of the Association and its members. Since 2013, Mario De Martino works in the international relation office of Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia, where he is in charge of the EU funded projects and is responsible of cooperation with European universities (developing and managing relations with partner universities, support in establishing new partnerships, organization of events).