Valentina Izmirlieva is a scholar of Balkan and East Slavic religious and political cultures, focusing on multi-ethnic and multi-religious empires and their successor states. The topics of her publications range from the medieval societies of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, including Kyivan Rus’, to the post-Soviet cultural space. The recipient of many awards and distinctions, including the Fellowship at the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library,

Professor Izmirlieva delivered the inaugural memorial Shevelov lecture of Ukrainian Studies in 2018. She founded and leads Black Sea Networks, a global initiative to investigate the Black Sea as a hub of cultural, political, and historical interest.

Valentina Izmirlieva is also director of the Harriman Institute: Russian, Eurasian and East European Studies at Columbia University.

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Per Arne Bodin

Professor Emeritus,
Professor of Slavic Languages,
Department of Slavic and Baltic Studies, Finnish, Dutch and German Languages and Literatures,
Stockholm University.

Professor Bodin has written extensively on Russian, Polish and Ukrainian literature with a particular interest in the relationship between Russian culture and Russian Orthodox tradition. His books include Eternity and Time: Studies in Russian Literature and the Orthodox Tradition (2007) and Language, Canonization and Holy Foolishness: Studies in Post-Soviet Russian Culture and the Orthodox Tradition (2009). He has written several collections of essays in Swedish on Russian culture, literature and church history. He has also translated poetry from Russian, Polish and Ukrainian.

Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities and doctor honoris causa at Uppsala University.

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