About

Who we are

The Russian Studies Workshop (RSW) is affiliated with the Robert F. Byrnes Russian and East European Institute (REEI) at the  Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies (HLS) and is based on the model of the Ostrom Workshop

The heart of our work is supporting graduate training and promoting research collaboration, both of which are significantly strengthened by departmental and institutional relationships with a variety of units across IU and institutions across the U.S., Europe, and Russia.  Our work addresses the need to prepare Russia specialists with the knowledge and skills to understand and anticipate social, economic, political and cultural developments in Russia, aiming to prepare top scholars in Russian Studies to engage with academic as well as practical issues while fostering a deep understanding of Russian society on a global stage.

Support for RSW is provided by a generous grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York. Indiana University is one of three universities that received this grant, the other two of which are the University of Wisconsin's Wisconsin Russia Project and Columbia University. RSW is also supportive of Carnegie Corporation's numerous other programs that advance and further develop Russian Studies, such as at Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.

For more on IU’s rich history in Russian studies, see the two most recent issues of the IU International—the Winter 2018 issue and the 25th Anniversary issue published in 2018—published by the Office of the Vice President for International Affairs. Credit for photos of snowy Siberia on this website thanks to Susan Crate