Board

Board

Oliver Reisner works as Jean Monnet Professor in European & Caucasian Studies at Ilia State University and teaches courses for BA, MA and PhD students with majors in “European Studies” and “Caucasian Studies.” He graduated with a Dr. phil. in Eastern European History, Slavic Studies and Medieval and Modern History from Georg August University Göttingen (2000). He prepared and coordinated a MA program “Central Asia/Caucasus” at the Department for Central Asian Studies at Humboldt University in Berlin. Recently, he published on Europeanisation, religion and civil society in Georgia and Georgia Country Reports for Bertelsmann Transformation Index. He is leading a research project "In Search of Social Cohesion in Minor Urban Settings of Georgia" (Rustaveli National Science Foundation) and is a co-editor of the "Caucasian Studies" series at Reichert Verlag Wiesbaden. In 25 years of research work he has covered various issues related to Georgia and the South Caucasus. 

 

Tigran Keryan with a postdoc experience at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna and the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD) University, Portugal, he earned an MSc in Geography from Yerevan State University in Armenia and a doctoral degree from the Doctoral School Transitions to Sustainability (T2S) at BOKU University, Vienna. He specializes in ecosystem services and nature-based solutions, addressing sustainability challenges through transdisciplinary and participatory research. Fostering collaboration among academics, practitioners, and policymakers, he focuses on developing practical solutions for societal issues in the Caucasus Region.

 

Azer Garaev has in-depth experience working on environmental issues in Azerbaijan and other Caucasus countries. He has over 25 years of experience in the environmental NGO sector on national and regional levels and in-depth knowledge of the governmental institutions and legal frameworks of the South Caucasus environmental sector. He is experienced in managing various environmental projects that have been supported by different donors including international organisations. He is an editor and author of several education manuals and tutorials and an international magazine on environmental issues. He has experience in the design and organisation of special trainings, events, contests and other public awareness and communication activities about the environment.

 

Kakha Artsivadze holds a PhD in Biophysics and has more than 30 years of professional experience in managing projects in the fields of biodiversity conservation, land degradation, forest management, climate change, integrated policy development and integrated environmental management. He also has more than 20 years of teaching and supervisory experience. Kakha is a member of the Group of Experts on Biodiversity and Climate Change of the Bern Convention.