LOCAL STAFF
Country Director
Gursel Aliyev
Gursel received his MA in Economics from Northeastern University (Boston, USA – Muskie Alumnus) and Bachelor's degree in International Economic Relations (graduated with honors) from Azerbaijan State Economic University. He has extensive development experience at different international organizations including the World Bank and UNICEF. He also teaches Business Statistics, Microeconomics and Math for Economists at the School of Economics and Management at Khazar University. His major fields of interest are Econometric Analysis, Microeconomics and Labor Economics.
E-mail: gursel@crrccenters.org
Program Manager
Yuliya Aliyeva
Yuliya Aliyeva received MA in Gender Studies from Central European University (Budapest) and BA in International Relations from Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Prior to joining CRRC, she worked for International Rescue Committee where she served as a Project Manager from 2005 to 2007.
Yuliya has been participating in various research projects mainly related to gender studies since 2003. She was a fellow of the Heinrich Boell Foundation (2006) and conducted a research on Gender Education in Azerbaijan.
Yuliya has also been a senior lecturer in Gender Studies and Social Work at Baku State University since 2008.
E-mail: yulia@crrccenters.org
Program Associate
Aytan Mammadova
Aytan holds MBA from Khazar University. In 2008-2009, she studied Business Administration at A.T.E.I in Thessaloniki, Greece as a beneficiary of Erasmus Mundus Cooperation Window Lot 5 project and was awarded of being the Best of the Best Erasmus Mundus Master student for that academic year. While taking an internship in Thessaloniki, Aytan involved in various projects funded by EU, implemented in countries of South-East Europe.
Her experience also includes working in oil industry and educational institution.
E-mail: aytan.mammadova@crrccenters.org
Library/Information Specialist
Lyudmila Sotova
Lyudmila Sotova received BS degree in Library Science from Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts (Ukraine). She began her professional career as a librarian at the Electronic Information Services of Khazar University and she has been the Deputy Director of the Library Information Center at the same university since 2008.
Her experience includes reference and electronic library services, strategic planning and service analysis as well as staff management. She has been involved in a number of university projects and participated in Erasmus Mundus academic staff mobility program (Greece) in 2009.
E-mail: lyudmila.sotova@crrccenters.org
IT Manager
Nadir Teymurov
Nadir Teymurov graduated from Azerbaijan State Economic University, the Department of Commerce in 2008. He had over 5 years experience in IT field before joining CRRC. His previous job was with Azerbaijan International Mining Company as an IT specialist, where his duties included design, implementation, installation and configuration of Windows 2003 and 2008 Network Environment, Linux servers, firewalls, wired and wireless networks.
E-mail: nadir@crrccenters.org
Office Manager
Saadat Mamedova
Saadat Mamedova holds a Bachelor of Arts in English Language Philology. She graduated from the Azerbaijan State Languages University in 1999. Prior to joining CRRC in 2003, Saadat Mamedova worked as an Office Manager for Land Lakes, Inc.
E-mail: saadat@crrc.az
REGIONAL STAFF
Regional Director
Hans Gutbrod
Hans Gutbrod holds a Ph.D. and a B.Sc. in International Relations from the London School of Economics. Originally from Germany, he is the author of a Handbook for Professional Communication, which has been published in Georgia, Mongolia, Bulgaria and is currently being translated in other countries. His primary research interests are notions of judgment/evaluation across various disciplines, and within a transition context.
Prior to joining CRRC in 2006, Hans worked in the Caucasus region for several years. He has taught at Tbilisi State University and trained lecturers and higher education staff on methods. His experience includes helping to set up a Liberal Arts college in Berlin, working as a Long Term Election observer for OSCE, as well as teaching and training in various other institutions and organizations.
E-mail: hans@crrccenters.org
Associate Regional Director
Robia Charles
Robia Charles is a California native and a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. She holds a M.A. in Eurasian and Russian Studies from the European University of St. Petersburg, Russia and a M.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley. She also earned a B.A. from the University of California, Davis where she studied Russian and Mathematics.
Prior to joining CRRC, Robia was employed as a Graduate Student Instructor at UC Berkeley for courses on Comparative Politics and Contemporary Russian Politics. She also worked as a community organizer in Northern California and as a limnological researcher in both Tanzania and Siberia. Robia specializes in comparative politics, post-communist politics and both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Her academic interests include nationalism and the intersection of politics and religion, especially in the post-Soviet region.
E-mail: robia@crrccenters.org
Regional Research and Outreach Associate
Nana Papiashvili
Nana Papiashvili holds an MA. in International Relations and European Studies from Central European University (CEU), Hungary and a B.A. in Humanities from Tbilisi State University of Economic Relations. In 2003-2004, through a Freedom Support Act (FSA) exchange program, Nana studied International Relations at Wilson College in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Nana has also attended summer sessions at American University in Washington, D.C. in 2003 and passed courses in professional development at Bologna University in the summer of 2004.
Before joining CRRC, Nana worked on a variety of research project relating to external migration, ethnic conflicts and the autonomous regions of Georgia. During her studies, Nana served as an intern at National Democratic Institute of International Affairs (NDI) (Tbilisi Office), the Parliament of Georgia and the Greater Chambersburg Chamber of Commerce. Her research interests include Georgian ethnic conflicts and European integration.
E-mail: nana@crrccenters.org
Data Initiative Project Coordinator
Tinatin Zurabishvili
Dr. Tinatin Zurabishvili is the Project Coordinator for the CRRC Data Initiative. Since 1999, she has taught B.A. and M.A. courses in sociology, focusing on research methods, at Telavi State University and Tbilisi State University Center for Social Sciences, where she was a Civic Education Project (CEP) Local Faculty Fellow (2001-2003) and Academic Fellowship Program Returning Scholar (2005-2006). In the spring semesters between 2004 and 2007 she was an OSI Faculty Development Fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles in the Department of Sociology. Her academic publications focus on social research methods, sociology of transition and sociology of the media.
Prior to teaching in Georgia, between1999 and 2001 Dr. Zurabishvili served as junior researcher for Yale University's project, Poverty, Ethnicity and Gender in Eastern Europe during the Market Transition. Dr. Zurabishvili also worked for five years as a sociologist at the Russian Center for Public Opinion and Market Research (now the Levada Center), where she worked on the Russian Public Opinion Monitor. Dr. Zurabishvili holds her Ph.D. in the sociology of journalism from Moscow M. Lomonosov State University (1999).
E-mail: tina@crrc.ge