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John O鈥橪oughlin, second from right, accepts the Semenov-Tyan-Shansky gold medal |
John O鈥橪oughlin, CU-Boulder professor of geography, IAFS committee member聽and faculty associate in the Institute of Behavioral Science, has become the first foreigner in more than 100 years to win the Semenov-Tyan-Shansky gold medal for research on Russia.
It is the highest research award of the聽聽typically targeted toward Russian and, previously, Soviet scholars working in the area of the former Soviet Union.
聽鈥淭his honor is an unusual one because of the political sensitivities between the U.S. and Russia right now,鈥� said O鈥橪oughlin, whose research in 2014 was featured in a聽New York Times聽.
O鈥橪oughlin studies the political geography of the former Soviet Union including post-conflict relations among different ethnic groups in the north and south Caucasus Mountain region and de facto, or separatist, states.
鈥淚t鈥檚 very much field-based research on ordinary people living in these war zones and what they think and what their lives are now like,鈥� said O鈥橪oughlin.
Supported by continuous finding from the National Science Foundation, key to his 25-year body of work is the collaboration he鈥檚 been able to cultivate with Russian scholars. He also thinks it鈥檚 part of why he won the medal.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 a signal that they don鈥檛 want to put off contact with foreign researchers and according to the president of the society, they want to encourage collaboration with foreign scholars,鈥� said O鈥橪oughlin. 鈥淭his very much goes against what a lot of people think is happening in Russia, of increased control and isolation.鈥�
The Semenov medal was personally presented to O鈥橪oughlin by Sergey Shoigu, president of the society, at a formal banquet in honor of the 170th anniversary of the Russian Geographical Society in Moscow in late August.
鈥淚 actually was quite surprised by this whole thing,鈥� O鈥橪oughlin said.
By Elizabeth Lock,聽editor at the聽