Timo Aava to join the ESC as the first Estonia-Oxford Visiting Fellow

Timo Aava will join the European Studies Centre (ESC) in October 2025 as the first Estonia-Oxford Postdoctoral Visiting Fellow in Baltic Studies for the 2025–2026 academic year.

Timo holds a doctoral degree in modern East European history from the University of Vienna.

His research focuses on twentieth-century European intellectual history, minorities, international and diplomatic history, with a particular emphasis on the Baltic region. His work lies at the intersection of history and political science, adopting a transnational approach to explore cross-border entanglements, particularly how people, ideas, and institutions travel and operate across borders.

‘I am looking forward to the exciting opportunity to be a visiting fellow at St Antony’s College. It is a great honour to work with scholars affiliated with the College and the Centre for European Studies, and to have the time and space to focus on my own research projects.’

At Oxford, Timo will examine the transformation of political elites following the collapse of the Romanov Empire, focusing on Baltic German elites both within the Baltic region and in various international forums.

On the creation of the Fellowship, Professor of Modern European History Paul Betts said:

‘The European Studies Centre is delighted to announce that we have secured a generous agreement from the Estonian Ministry of Education for a three-year pilot Estonian-Oxford Visiting Fellowship as the step toward a new Oxford-Baltic Studies academic cooperation, based at the College. Currently the ESC covers much of Europe, including West, East and the South. Missing is regional expertise in Northern Europe, especially the Nordic and Baltic regions. We are pleased that the Estonian Embassy has agreed to sponsor a yearly two-year research fellowship in Nordic/Baltic Studies, specifically in the fields of International Relations, Politics and History. Establishing links with leading Estonian universities is of great mutual benefit to all parties – we would value the regional expertise at the Centre, whilst Oxford would offer Nordic/Baltic scholars from the Baltic region the opportunity to enhance, deepen and communicate their research across the university.’