I joined the Aleksanteri Institute as a post-doctoral researcher at the Finnish Centre of Excellence in Russian Studies “Choices of Russian Modernisation” in September 2015. My work formed part of the “Politics” and “Welfare State” clusters of the Centre of Excellence, led respectively by Professor Vladimir Gel'man and Professor Markku Kivinen. Since January 2018 I have been a Post-doctoral researcher at the Aleksanteri Institute.

My earlier work focused on policy-making processes and social policy formation in the context of post-communist transition, with specific emphasis on Russia and the development of its housing policy. My book “The Policy-Making Process and Social Learning in Russia: The Case of Housing Policy” (Palgrave Macmillan 2015) – completed during my first post-doc at St Antony’s College (University of Oxford) – examines the transformation of the Russian housing policy. The analysis which follows the new-institutionalist and particularly historical institutionalist approach within political science, demonstrates that the policy process was formed by the interaction between the institutional environment, with expert policy ideas and interests of important state and non-state actors. Using the method of historical process tracing and a comparative case study research design, I trace the transformation of the paradigmatic basis of policy, following revolutionary and evolutionary scenarios, in three issue areas of housing property rights, housing maintenance and utilities and housing finance.

My recent work has concentrated on the influence of bureaucratic politics, policy ideas and experts, state-society relations, regime type and different strategies of regime legitimization on policy formation. My article in Post-Communist Economies (December 2017) presents an analysis of the formation of the social budget in Russia during the crisis years of 2015-2016. This research highlights diverse and contradictory bureaucratic groupings and the associated with them societal interests that shaped the budgetary process in the social sphere. Another article, published in Russian Politics (August 2017) examines the mix of policy tools/or instruments the Russian government has applied to promote the goal of development and the strategies to accommodate contradictory interests in the process of policy design and implementation. My paper entitled "Politics of Expertise in Putin's Russia: the Hollow Paradigm Perspective" is forthcoming in Europe-Asia Studies in May-June 2020.

My recent and on-going collaboration include:

·         with colleagues from “Politics” and “Welfare State” clusters of the Centre of Excellence, specifically Markku Kivinen, Vladimir Gel’man, Meri Kulmala and Jouko Nikula among others, on respective chapters of the final volume of the Centre of Excellence “Choices of Russian Modernisation” (Routledge 2020)

·         with Professor Stephen Fortescue (University of New South Wales and Australian National University) in the special issue of Post-Communist Economies (December 2017) and a Routledge volume "Russian Budget" (2018)

·         with Ulla Pape (Freie Universitan Berlin) on a joint paper currently in preparation analysing the influence of policy ideas and discourses in the context of regime hybridity

·         with Sevinc Bermek (King's College London) on a paper comparing policy processes and the use of public policy tools in Russia and Turkey

·         with Marc Berenson (King's College London) and Katalin Miklossy (AI) on developing a new research project devoted to new forms of welfare policy and politics in East Central Europe and Russia

·         with Immirosa Ihalainen on an article analysing urban governance and housing renovation programme in the city of Moscow, the paper is currently under review at a reputable journal for a special issue edited by Professor Vladimir Gel'man and Margarita Zavadskaya

·         with Dr Jo Zhou from the Department of Architecture and Built Environment, of the University of the West of England on a comparative study of housing policies in Russia and China. The paper resulting from this collaboration is currently under review by a comparative public policy journal.

In February – March 2018 I was a visiting researcher at King’s College London, Russia Institute. This fellowship was funded by the Faculty of Arts, University of Helsinki international mobility scheme 2018. In March 2019 I was a visiting fellow at the University of the West of England, working with Dr Zhou.

During 2015-16, as a part of the organizing committee team, I was coordinator of the Aleksanteri Institute 16^th Annual Conference on welfare and social policy, held in October 2016. The Conference was attended by over 300 participants from Finland, Russia, other European countries and the US.

In addition to this major annual conference, I organised two international workshops on policy-making, held in January 2016 and September 2017, several conference panels and participated in many academic events of the Aleksanteri Institute and other international conferences and events, notably: PSA, ASEEES, BASEES, ENHR and its specialist group on Housing Finance, and UNECE housing and land management section.

Recently, building on my earlier teaching experience at several colleges of the University of Oxford, I had ample opportunities to become involved in teaching on the courses coordinated by the AI. These included: MSc and PhD summer schools; online based course: “Choices of Russian Modernisation”, “Life cycle and Social policy”, “Governance, Religion and Society” modules and the new MA programme coordinated by the Aleksanteri Institute.