Elena Korosteleva is Professor of International Politics and Jean Monnet Chair in European Politics at the University of Kent which she received twice in recognition of her research and teaching excellence. Before joining the School in 2012, Elena was Director of the Centre for European Studies at Aberystwyth University. This experience contributed to the successful launch and leadership of the Global Europe Centre (GEC) at Kent, in partnership with Professor Richard Whitman. Elena is currently Deputy Head of School with responsibility for Internationalisation, working on strengthening existing and developing new international partnerships and student recruitment opportunities.Elena received her Doctoral Degree in European Politics from the University of Bath (2001), and a PhD equivalent in Political Sociology from the Belarusian State University (1997). Thereafter she served as a British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Glasgow, and is currently a visiting Professor at the Belarusian State University, College of Europe (Natolin, 2015-16), CIFE (2016+) and Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy (2016+). Elena is member of the International Advisory Board for the GLOBSEC and Central European Strategy Council; Professorial Fellow of the Dahrendorf Forum at LSE IDEAS, and member of BASEES executive committee. Elena works closely with the European Commission, EEAS, IRI, and national governments of the Eastern region and Central Asia; and is a regular media commentator for BBC, ITV, France24 and Sky News.Recently Elena has been awarded a prestigious GCRF RCUK 1st Call GROW funding (ES/PO10849/1, £4,1mln), the only such award in the field of Politics and IR in the UK. In partnership with Professor Siddharth Saxena from Cambridge University, Elena will focus on ‘good governance’ and research excellence capacity-building with the Belarusian State University, Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy, University of World Economy and Diplomacy in Uzbekistan and National University in Tajikistan.