Irina Kulikova

I am a graduate of the Politics and Security Programme at the OSCE Academy in Bishkek and I have an LL.B. in Law from KIMEP University in Almaty. I also did a one-year exchange programme at the University of Ferrara in Italy and am an alumna of the US Department of State SUSI Women’s Leadership Program in Washington State. I worked at the OSCE-ODIHR in Warsaw, Poland, and have been involved in various research projects over the past few years, including the analysis of foreign policy directions in the East European and Central Asian regions. Prior to that, I worked as a paralegal at the Kazakhstani law firms. My current research interests lie in the field of gender studies and women empowerment. At EUCAM, I plan to explore the rise of gender-based violence in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan during the Covid-19 pandemic, and the work of civil society and women’s rights organisations in assisting the victims of domestic violence.