Building Bridges Between East and West – New Research Ambassador From Moscow

‘Building bridges between Eastern Europe and Bremen’ is the declared goal of the University of Bremen’s new Research Ambassador, Prof. Andrei Yakovlev. Thus, the alumnus and economics professor at the renowned National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE) in Moscow is now one of twelve research alumni of the University of Bremen who promote the university and its research across the globe as ambassadors.

Excellent networker and scientific heavyweight – that probably describes the highly active economist best. As director of the Institute for Industrial and Market Studies at HSE, Yakovlev’s research focus is the political economy of reforms in Russia, business management, and government procurement. He wrote his first prominent studies on the influence of interest groups on economic reforms in Russia during his research stay in Bremen. That was almost twenty years ago, when Yakovlev spent a year as guest researcher at the Research Centre for East European Studies in the framework of the German Chancellor Fellowship program of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. There has been a lively exchange with the University of Bremen ever since: joint summer schools and workshops, research stays of multiple months both for researchers from Bremen at the HSE with its approximately 44,000 students as well as for Russian economists at the University of Bremen. In numerous academic organizations, Prof. Yakovlev has established networks in Russia and towards Europe, among them four years as president of ARETT, the Association of Russian Economic Think Tanks. “I am looking forward to working together even more closely now,” said the newly appointed research ambassador. And the University of Bremen can also look forward to exciting new projects.