The tenth anniversary Monterey Summer Symposium will take place in Uzbekistan, Georgia, and Armenia from June 19 to July 10, 2026. For the first time, the symposium expands into Central Asia, adding a crucial new dimension to our examination of Russia’s imperial legacy, Soviet transformation, and contemporary influence across the post-Soviet space. Participants will travel through historic cities—Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, Tbilisi, and Yerevan—where the interplay of great power competition, cultural identity, and geopolitical realignment unfolds in real time.
Twelve selected fellows will join world-leading scholars and prominent regional experts for an intensive, bilingual (English-Russian) multidisciplinary program. Drawing on history, political science, cultural anthropology, and area studies, fellows will analyze imperial formations and their afterlives, examine the war in Ukraine in comparative historical context, and explore how Central Asian and South Caucasian nations navigate relations with Moscow, Beijing, and Washington. Through site visits, engagement with local communities, and dialogue with experts from across the region, participants will develop nuanced understanding of these complex societies at a moment when direct contact between Russia and the West remains limited.
This extraordinary opportunity is open to rising experts, diplomats, and serious graduate students of Russian history, Eurasian geopolitics, and international relations. Monterey Symposium’s curriculum is bilingual; advanced Russian language skills at the time of application are a requirement.
Application deadline: February 9, 2026
Monterey Symposium is funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York.
For more information and to apply, please visit https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centers-initiatives/monterey-initiative-russian-studies/monterey-summer-symposium-on-4