FORSCHUNGSSTELLE FUR UNABHANGIGE LITERATUR UND GESELLSCHAFTLICHE BEWEGUNGEN OSTEUROPAS AN DER UNIVERSITAT BREMEN

Their core work

This Bremen-based university research centre specialises in the politics, societies, and economies of Eastern Europe and the post-Soviet world, with a particular focus on the Caucasus, Central Asia, and the Caspian region. Their work combines area studies expertise with political economy, examining how informal institutions, social movements, and historical legacies shape development outcomes in countries such as Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, and the Central Asian republics. In EU projects they contribute as a training and knowledge partner for doctoral researchers, bringing deep regional expertise that few Western European institutions can match. Their applied angle has sharpened over time toward understanding how informal barriers and uncertain business environments affect emerging markets — making their research directly relevant to companies and policymakers operating in or entering post-Soviet economies.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their earlier H2020 work (2015–2018), the centre focused on geopolitics and development cooperation in the Caspian basin, training researchers to understand state-level dynamics involving Russia, Iran, and the Central Asian republics. By their second project (2020–2025), the lens shifted decisively toward economic behaviour: informality, market uncertainty, and the practical barriers facing businesses in post-Soviet countries. This is a meaningful pivot — from macro-level international relations toward micro-level institutional and market analysis — suggesting the centre is repositioning its expertise to speak to economic and business audiences, not only political scientists.

The centre is moving toward applied political economy of emerging markets, making it increasingly relevant to partners working on market entry, investment risk, or economic governance in post-Soviet countries.

How they like to work

This organisation has participated exclusively as a consortium partner rather than a project coordinator, suggesting it contributes specialised regional knowledge rather than managing large research networks. With 24 unique partners across 17 countries in just two projects, it clearly operates in broad, internationally diverse consortia — consistent with the MSCA-ITN format which assembles multi-country training networks. Working with them likely means accessing a focused regional expertise node that anchors the post-Soviet dimension of a wider research team.

Despite only two projects, the centre has built connections with 24 partners spanning 17 countries, reflecting the geographically dispersed nature of MSCA doctoral training networks focused on the post-Soviet world. Their network likely includes universities and think tanks across Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus, and Central Asia.

What sets them apart

This centre occupies a rare niche: it is one of very few German academic institutions with documented EU-funded research expertise specifically on the Caucasus, Central Asia, and the Caspian basin as an integrated region. Most Western European researchers treat these as separate areas; this centre studies them as a connected post-Soviet space shaped by shared institutional legacies. For any consortium needing credible regional grounding for projects touching Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, or neighbouring states, this centre brings area knowledge that is genuinely difficult to replicate.

Highlights from their portfolio

• MARKETS
  The largest-funded project (EUR 505,577, running to 2025) and the most applied in scope — directly mapping informal barriers and business environment challenges in emerging post-Soviet markets, with clear relevance to economic policy and business intelligence.
• CASPIAN
  An early doctoral training network that established the centre's international footprint, bringing together researchers focused on a strategically important but under-studied region spanning Russia, Iran, and Central Asia.