Vitaly Kazakov

Dr Vitaly Kazakov was awarded a PhD in Russian Studies at the University of Manchester for the dissertation titled 'Representations of "New Russia" through a 21st Century Mega-Event: The Political Aims, Informational Means, and Popular Reception of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games' (2015-2020). Prior to starting his doctoral research, he worked as a journalist and communications specialist in Canada and Russia, and in 2013 obtained an MA in International Studies from Aarhus University in Denmark.

During 2015-16, Vitaly was member of the research team at Open University investigating the cultural value and international impact of the British Council’s Shakespeare Lives 2016 campaign. In 2017 he joined the CrossLangDyn research team as Research Assistant on the Broadcasting Russia subproject, led by Professor Stephen Hutchings. In this period he also worked as Teaching Assistant in the Departments of History and Language-Based Area Studies at the University of Manchester (2017, 2018), and as Visiting Lecturer at the Department of Politics at the University of Liverpool (2019). During 2019-20 he served as Research Associate and Administrator on the AHRC-funded project ‘Reframing Russia for the Global Mediasphere: From Cold War to “Information War”?’, based at the University of Manchester.