Research Initiative on Post-Soviet Space
The Research Initiative on Post-Soviet Space (RIPSS) is an interdisciplinary seminar series and research network for scholars working in Soviet/post-Soviet/Slavic studies, convened by Professor Mark Edele and Dr Julie Fedor.
This research network was founded in 2017, as the Melbourne Eurasianist Seminar Series (MESS). In 2023, it was re-launched as the Research Initiative on Post-Soviet Space (RIPSS).
Core Aims
- Consolidate the emerging strength of post-Soviet studies at the University of Melbourne
- Build a platform for further grant success
- Advance postgraduate and post-doctoral recruitment and enhance the postgraduate experience in post-Soviet studies across the University
- Build relationships of mutual benefit with other research groups and institutions in the Asia-Pacific Region
Core Activities
- Convening the RIPSS seminar series
- Promoting high-quality research through peer-reviewed journals and book series:
- Journal of Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society (General Editor: Julie Fedor) (an international bi-annual journal published by ibidem Press, Stuttgart and distributed by Columbia University Press)
- Elements in Soviet and Post-Soviet History (Editor: Mark Edele) (a new Cambridge University Press series designed to support an intellectually sophisticated reinvigoration of historically informed post-Soviet area studies)
- Australian Slavonic and East European Studies (Editor: Robert Lagerberg) (a refereed venue for work on all aspects of Slavonic and East European studies, including language, literature, history, political and social science, and art)
- Embedding our research into teaching at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels
- Fostering a collegial community of scholarly inquiry embracing both staff and students
- Extending the research and impact of our research, including through digital scholarship
- Building relationships with local diaspora communities and other stake-holders
For more information or to be added to our mailing list, email Julie Fedor.
Feature image: Памятники (Pamyatniki/Monuments), Grisha Bruskin, 1983 via Wikimedia Commons