M.I.R.E.E.S. is an innovative graduate program, taught entirely in English, unique in Italy and Europe, devoted to students that have a BA background in Economics, Politics, International Relations, History, Languages, or Cultural studies at large, and would now like to acquire specialized, in-depth knowledge of Eastern Europe and the broad Eurasian space, from Europe to China. That variegated, geopolitically crucial area, can only be understood through an interdisciplinary approach that combines political, economic, cultural, and historical perspectives.

Moreover, students are asked to gain direct experiences on the ground, in the first place through a 5-months compulsory mobility in one of the partner universities from the area, secondly through guest lectures with professors, activists, and politicians from Eastern Europe, Russia, or Central Asia, and finally – if they wish - through fieldwork or further exchange programs in preparation of their thesis.

M.I.R.E.E.S. combines an academic approach with professional training, forging potential insightful consultants, analysts, and managers as Area Experts for international agencies, public administrations, private and public companies, and NGOs, while also offering a solid basis for further academic studies at the Ph.D. level.

Professors

Sonia Lucarelli. Professor at the University of Bologna, member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the Forum on the Problems of Peace and War in Florence and of the Institute of International Affairs (IAI) in Rome. She is a member of the Directive Board of the Italian Political Science Association. Lucarelli has been a Resident Member of the Bologna Institute for Advanced Studies and a Jean Monnet Fellow at the European University Institute. Her areas of expertise include the EU foreign policy and external image, European security, NATO, European identity and Foreign Policy, Migration, and Global Justice.

Stefano Bianchini. Full Honorary Doctor of Vytautas Magnus University. Stefano Bianchini is a Professor of East European Politics and History at the University of Bologna. From 2015 to 2021 he was Rector’s delegate for relations with Eastern Europe. Previously, he was the director of the two-year Interdisciplinary Master of Arts in East European Studies (MIREES). He is a member of the Executive Committee and former Vice president of the Association for Studies of Nationalities (ASN) based at the Harriman Institute, Columbia University, New York, and Executive Editor of the blind peer-review journal “Southeastern Europe”, published by Brill, Leiden, and other academic journals. As an expert on Balkan issues, he was an adviser of the ICTY, in the Hague

Tvrtko Jakovina. Full Professor and former head of the Department of History, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb. He is the author of several books including “The Third Side of The Cold War” /Treća strana Hladnog rata/ (2011), as well as many articles dealing with the foreign policy of Tito’s Yugoslavia and Croatian history in the 20th century. His latest publication is a biography of the last Yugoslav minister of foreign affairs, Budimir Lončar. He is vice-president of the Croatian Fulbright Alumni Association, a member of the Board of the Croatian-American Association, a Management Board President of the Center for Democracy and Law “Miko Tripalo” and a member of several editorial boards.