A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmental organizations, but some are semi-autonomous agencies within government or are associated with particular political parties, businesses or the military. Think-tank funding often includes a combination of donations from very wealthy people and those not so wealthy, with many also accepting government grants.
The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) is an international, non-profit organization founded in 1987. Based in Arlington, Virginia, the organization provides assistance and support for elections and electoral stakeholders in new and emerging democracies. Since 1987, IFES has worked in 145 countries and currently has programs in more than 50 countries throughout Asia-Pacific, Africa, Eurasia, the Middle East and North Africa, and the Americas.
Yerevan State University, also simply University of Yerevan, is the oldest continuously operating public university in Armenia. Founded in 1919, it is the largest university in the country. It is thus informally known as Armenia's "mother university". Of its 3,150 employees, 1,190 comprise the teaching staff, which includes 25 academicians, 130 professors, 700 docents, and 360 assistant lecturers. The university has 400 researchers, 1,350 post-graduate students, and 8,500 undergraduates, including 300 students from abroad.
Yerevan Brusov State University of Languages and Social Sciences, is a public university in Yerevan the capital of Armenia, operating since 1935. It is named after the Russian poet and historian Valery Bryusov since 1962.
Matthew James Bryza is a former United States diplomat. His last post in the United States foreign service was the United States Ambassador to Azerbaijan.
Ruben Karlenovich Vardanyan is an Armenian and Artsakhi politician who has served as the State Minister of Artsakh, an unrecognized state in the South Caucasus, since November 4, 2022. Prior to his political career, Vardanyan was a businessman and philanthropist. He is the former chief executive officer and shareholder of the Troika Dialog investment bank.
The International Centre for Democratic Transition (ICDT) is a non-profit organization founded in 2005 based in Budapest, Hungary which collects the experiences of recent democratic transitions and shares them with those who are determined to follow that same path. Instead of promoting democracy in general, the ICDT sets more concrete and pragmatic goals. The Centre strives to show how dozens of young democracies have made and are making the transition, so that those who set off on this difficult journey from dictatorship to democracy in the future may learn from the successes as well as from the failures.
Caucasus University is a private university in Tbilisi, Georgia. The university was established in 2004 on the foundation of Caucasus School of Business, which was established in 1998 in partnership with Georgia State University, Atlanta, U.S., during the country's transitional period. This was when Georgia was making the first attempts to move from a planned to free market economy. Caucasus University has evolved and is now one of the most prominent higher education institutions in Georgia and the South Caucasus region.
The Armenian State University of Economics (ASUE) is a state-owned university of economics in Yerevan, the capital Armenia, founded in 1975.
Gloria Charmian Duffy is a former U.S. Department of Defense official, businesswoman, social entrepreneur and nonprofit executive. Since 1996, she has been the president, CEO and a member of the Board of Governors of the Commonwealth Club of California, America's largest and oldest public forum, founded in 1903. From 2010 to 2017 she led the acquisition, financing, design, entitlements and construction of the club's first headquarters building, at 110 The Embarcadero in San Francisco. The grand opening for the club's new building took place on September 12, 2017. The building received a 2016 California Heritage Council award for historic preservation.
The European Cooperation in Science and Technology is running an EU-funded programme which enables researchers and innovators to set-up their own research networks in a wide range of scientific topics, called COST Actions. While COST does not fund research activities as such, it provides funding for scientific collaboration in the form of conferences, meetings, training schools and scientific exchanges.
The Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO is a graduate business school located near Skolkovo, Moscow Oblast, close to Moscow, Russia. The school, founded in 2006, is a joint project between major Russian and international business leaders.
Eisenhower Fellowships is a private, non-profit organization created in 1953 by a group of prominent American citizens to honor President Dwight D. Eisenhower for his contribution to humanity as a soldier, statesman, and world leader. The organization identifies, empowers and connects innovative leaders through a transformative fellowship experience and lifelong engagement in a global network of dynamic change agents committed to creating a world more peaceful, prosperous and just. The organization describes itself as an "independent, nonpartisan international leadership organization".
Steven Karl Pifer is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution's Center on the United States and Europe as well as the director of Brookings' Arms Control Initiative. He was formerly senior adviser with the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington, D.C., and the third United States Ambassador to Ukraine from 1998 to 2000.
Nancy Lubin is president of JNA Associates, Inc—a research and consulting firm on the former USSR, especially the Caucasus/ Central Asia.
The U.S. Russia Foundation (USRF) is an American non-profit organization founded in 2008 that aims to strengthen relations between the United States and Russia and to promote the development of the private sector in the Russian Federation. While initially established with its headquarters in Moscow, the organization attracted negative attention from the Russian government and relocated to Washington, D.C. in 2015.
Sergei Chernyshev, born 4 August 1952, Bohodukhiv, Kharkiv Oblast, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic is a Russian philosopher, educator and expert in the field of organization and management science.
Shombi Sharp is an American diplomat with the United Nations, UN Resident Coordinator in India․
Mehdi Sanaei is an Iranian academic, politician, Professor in University of Tehran and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the Russian Federation (2013–2019). Sanaei was lawmaker at Iran’s Islamic Parliament (Majlis) from 2008 to 2013. He was Senior Adviser to the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2019-2022
Ruben Karapetyan is an Armenian diplomat, historian, author, Ambassador, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor.
