Russian and Eurasian Studies Centre

The Russian and Eurasian Studies Centre was launched in 2003 to carry forward the work of the internationally renowned Russian and East European Studies Centre, established in 1953. The Centre is a major component of research on Russia, Ukraine, the Caucasus and Central Asia at Oxford University. In matters relating to this last area it has close links with The Oxford Society for the Caspian and Central Asia (TOSCCA).

Approximately half of all graduate students in one branch or another of Russian studies at Oxford University come to St Antony's.

Its former students occupy very prominent positions in academia, politics, the higher reaches of journalism, the civil service and international financial institutions.

The Centre organises seminars, addressed by visiting speakers, which have been weekly in term-time thoughout the past fifty years. They have drawn in the most outstanding scholars in the field who come to Oxford both from the countries which are the object of study and from Western Europe, North America, Australia and elsewhere.

There are currently three senior (Governing Body) Fellows at St Antony's involved in teaching and research in the field of Russian and Eurasian studies. The Max Hayward Research Fellowship is offered every other year. Between them, the Centre Fellows cover Twentieth Century Russian history, Russian and Soviet politics and foreign policy, Russian and Ukrainian literature and culture, and the economics of Russia, Ukraine and Central Asia.

Statement on the Russian War against Ukraine

As a scholarly community with deep connections with Ukraine, Russia, and neighbouring states we are horrified by the military aggression unleashed by the Russian government against Ukraine and the terrible human tragedy unfolding as a result. Such a resort to war cannot be justified by any claims about the Ukrainian state or its people and their choices. It is an assault against their independence and self-determination, against their democratic freedoms.

We have engaged in research and academic exchanges in the region for over seventy years with the central purpose of developing a deep understanding of the countries and peoples we study. But also with the hope of developing greater mutual understanding through the collaboration and dialogue which academic and cultural relationships can foster. We will continue to support these efforts, even as wider relationships of trust and exchanges collapse, while upholding the fundamental values and principles of open societies and the sovereign rights of nations.

At this time of supreme crisis, the Russian and Eurasian Studies Centre at St Antony’s College, Russian and East European Studies and the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies express our solidarity with the people of Ukraine and all those suffering as a direct consequence of this terrible conflict."