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About the INFLUENCE DN
Russian influence in Europe is a multifaceted phenomenon. When considering how the European Union and its Member States should manage their relations with Russia and what, if anything, ought to be done to address or counteract Russian influence in different contexts, it is important to look beyond the reductionist depictions of influence that dominate the news media. The INFLUENCE Doctoral Network intends to build knowledge of the various mechanisms, structures, and relationships that facilitate Russian influence in Europe, focusing on Europe’s strategically important Eastern periphery: the Baltic States and the Western Balkans.
The project pursues this core aim by providing systemic and holistic training for ten doctoral candidates in five European countries. The project relies on a combination of research and transferable skills training, intersectoral and international networking and extensive communication, dissemination and exploitation activities. It provides them with a set of tools, skills and capabilities not only to successfully implement the research goal of developing a broad and innovative understanding of Russian influence in the indicated region but also to increase the potential of their career options inside and outside of academia. The INFLUENCE DN will also strengthen Partner Universities to ensure continuity of high-quality doctoral training and research after the end of the project.
At a glance
The team
Dovilė Jakniūnaitė
Rūta Vyšniauskaitė
Sari Autio-Sarama
Damir Kapidžić
Nedžma Džananović Miraščija
Sead Turčalo
Ehlimana Spahić
Marek Madej
Alicja Curanović
Andrzej Szeptycki
Marta Jas-Koziarkiewicz
Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen
Vladimir Gel’man
Vilius Mačkinis
Ira Jänis-Isokangas
Aleksandra Borycka-Dziekańska
Lesley Arnold
Margarita Šešelgytė
Vainius Bartaševičius
Ramūnas Vilpišauskas
Luca Anceschi
Kaarina Aitamurto
Doctoral candidate DC1
Dovilė Jakniūnaitė
Damir Kapidžić
Nedžma Džananović Miraščija
Sead Turčalo
Ehlimana Spahić
Marek Madej
Alicja Curanović
Andrzej Szeptycki
Marta Jas-Koziarkiewicz
Margarita Šešelgytė
Vainius Bartaševičius
Ramūnas Vilpišauskas
Luca Anceschi
Kaarina Aitamurto
Vladimir Gel’man
Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen
Sari Autio-Sarama
Doctoral candidate DC1
Aleksandra Borycka-Dziekańska
Rūta Vyšniauskaitė
Vilius Mačkinis
Lesley Arnold
Ira Jänis-Isokangas
Open vacancies
The Global Energy Transition and Russia’s Strategic Influence in Europe’s Eastern Periphery
- University of Glasgow
- United Kingdom
Economic Interdependencies and Russian Influence: A Comparative Analysis of Power Dynamics
- Vilnius University
- Lithuania
Exploiting Digital Platforms: Russia’s Influence Strategies in Europe’s Eastern Periphery
- University of Glasgow
- United Kingdom
Framing the West: Russian Anti-Western Narratives in the Eastern Periphery
- Vilnius University
- Lithuania
Russophobia: Discursive Manipulation as a foreign policy tool
- University of Warsaw
- Poland
Exploiting Migration to Influence and Destabilise Societies in Europe’s Eastern Periphery
- University of Helsinki
- Finland
Teaching Authoritarianism: Russia’s Role in Promoting Illiberal Governance
- University of Helsinki
- Finland
Understanding Complexities and Political Impact of Russian Subversive Activities
- University of Warsaw
- Poland
Electoral Intervention as Foreign Policy: The Russian Toolkit and its Impact
- University of Sarajevo
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
Russian Influence in Multilateral Frameworks and Exploiting International Institutions
- University of Sarajevo
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
Partners
Vilnius University
Lithuania · Coordinator
University of Helsinki
Finland
University of Sarajevo
Bosnia and Herzegovina
University of Warsaw
Poland
University of Glasgow
United Kingdom
Vilnius University
Lithuania · Coordinator
Vilnius University is the oldest and largest institution of higher education in Lithuania, comprising numerous faculties and affiliated research institutes across the natural sciences, medicine, law, philology, economics, and the social sciences, in addition to a branch campus in Kaunas. In global rankings, Vilnius University is consistently ranked first among Lithuanian institutions.
Within this institutional structure, the Institute of International Relations and Political Science constitutes one of the more prominent social science units in the Central and Eastern European region. Its research faculty conduct work in foreign policy analysis, security studies, international political economy, conflict analysis, international law, the study of political regime change, historical memory studies, media analysis, and border studies.
University of Helsinki
Finland
The University of Helsinki is Finland’s largest and oldest academic institution, founded in 1640. With a diverse community of 40,000 students and employees, the University fosters an environment that is inclusive, quality-conscious, and joyfully serious.
Within the Faculty of Humanities, the Aleksanteri Institute serves as one of the largest centers specializing in Russian, Eastern European, and Eurasian studies. Research at the institute focuses on five broad themes: environment and climate change; security and war; politics, ideologies, and institutions; societal change, including identities, migration, and integration; and knowledge production and the information society.
University of Sarajevo
Bosnia and Herzegovina
University of Sarajevo (founded 1949) is the largest and the leading higher-education institution in Bosnia and Herzegovina, offering a broad range of study programmes and research across 22 faculties, 3 art academies, 5 research institutes, and 5 centres. Learn more at www.unsa.ba.
The Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Sarajevo (est. 1961), combines strong teaching and research traditions with active internationalisation. The faculty comprises five departments: Political Science, Security and Peace Studies, Sociology, Social Work, and Communication Studies. Learn more at: www.fpn.unsa.ba.
University of Warsaw
Poland
The University of Warsaw is the largest and highest-ranked university in Poland, comprising numerous faculties across the natural sciences, medicine, law, philology, economics, and the social sciences.
Within this institutional structure, the Faculty of Political Science and International Studies constitutes one of the largest teaching and research units of its kind in Central and Eastern Europe. The Faculty’s research interests encompass political science, international studies, and national and cyber security.
University of Glasgow
United Kingdom
The University of Glasgow’s College of Social Sciences brings together the university’s teaching and research across the social sciences, working closely with the arts, humanities, and applied health fields.
Within the College, the School of Social and Political Sciences functions as its largest and most interdisciplinary unit. Within the Political and International Studies division, research and teaching are organized around subject groups in Politics, International Relations, International Political Economy and Development, Economic and Social History, and Central and East European Studies
Associated partners
Citizens’ Association “Why Not?” ↗
Atlantic Initiative Sarajevo ↗
Finnish Institute of International Affairs ↗
Polish Institute of International Affairs ↗
New Europe Institute Foundation ↗
BASIC (British American Security Information Council) ↗
Civic Resilience Initiative ↗
European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats ↗
Eastern Europe Studies Centre ↗
Governance
General Assembly
The General Assembly serves as the key decision-making body of the INFLUENCE DN, which organises an online gathering at least every second month. General Assembly discusses the progress of the project, makes strategic decisions on its development and authorises key operational decisions, presented by the Project manager.
Chaired by prof. Dovilė Jakniūnaitė (VU), the General Assembly consists of at least one academic representative of each partner university, manager of the INFLUENCE DN, a representative of doctoral candidates, a representative of associated partners, additional members upon need.
Recruitment Board
Supervisory Teams / Supervisory Board
The doctoral training programme is guided by a gender-balanced team of supervisors who mentor the ten doctoral candidates recruited within the network. From the outset, supervisors work with each candidate to develop an individual research plan and career development plan — documents that chart the intended direction of their work and serve as the benchmark for tracking progress throughout the project. Supervisors stay engaged through regular on-site and online meetings, where they report progress and flag emerging risks.
This work is overseen at the network level by the Supervisory Board, which monitors how faithfully those early-stage research plans are being carried out in practice. The Board ensures that training remains well-tailored to each candidate’s individual needs, that research training is balanced against the development of transferable, career-relevant skills, and that every researcher is progressing adequately. Jointly chaired by Prof. Dovilė Jakniūnaitė and Prof. Luca Anceschi, its composition mirrors the network’s collaborative character: one researcher from each INFLUENCE partner university, a representative of the associated partners, and the INFLUENCE project manager at VU.
Ethics Advisory Board
The Ethics Advisory Board offers advice to the members of the INFLUENCE network about specific ethical, regulatory, and social issues arising from their research. The Ethics Advisory Board includes a representative from each member of the consortium, responsible for research ethics at their home institution. Recommendations of the Board are of an advisory nature, but its members closely collaborate with the participants of the INFLUENCE DN to ensure that all project activities comply with the principles of ethical research and relevant national, EU and international legislation.