Stephen Hutchings (Principal Investigator) 
Stephen Hutchings is Professor of Russian Studies at the University of Manchester and Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. He has published six monographs and five edited volumes on various aspects of Russian literary, film and media studies. He has held 6 large research grants with the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council since 2000. He was President of the British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies from 2010-2013. Stephen tweets @StephenHutchin6.
Vera Tolz (Co-investigator)
Vera Tolz is Sir William Mather Professor of Russian Studies at the University of Manchester and Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. She has published widely on various aspects of Russian nationalism, identity politics and the media. Her books include Nation, Ethnicity and Race on Russian Television: Mediating Post-Soviet Difference (with Stephen Hutchings) (2015); ‘Russia’s Own Orient’: The Politics of Identity and Oriental Studies in the Late Imperial and Early Soviet Periods (2011); (co-editor) Gender and Nation in Contemporary Europe (2005); Russia: Inventing the Nation (2001); (co-editor) European Democratization since 1800 (2000); and Russian Academicians and the Revolution (1997). Her research has been funded through grants from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the British Academy and the Leverhulme Trust. She held research fellowships at Harvard University and the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton.
Marie Gillespie (Co-investigator)
Marie Gillespie is Professor of Sociology at The Open University. Her research interests revolve around media, migration and diasporic cultures, religion and social change, public and cultural diplomacy. Her work brings sociological and anthropological perspectives to bear on the role of transnational media and communications in socio-cultural change. Marie has published extensively on South Asian and Middle Eastern diaspora cultures. Her books include: Social Media, Religion and Spirituality; Diasporas and Diplomacy: Cosmopolitan Contact Zones at the BBC World Service and Drama for Development: Cultural Translation and Social Change. Her recent research includes projects on forced migration and digital connectivity, artistic and cultural diplomacy in conflict societies.
Alistair Willis (Co-investigator)
Alistair Willis is a Senior Lecturer in Computing at The Open University. Alistair’s research interests focus mainly upon natural language processing and Artificial Intelligence. His current areas of interest include computational, natural language applications and how they can interact with other domain-specific resources; how to align same language texts across genres and how technical terminology is used in natural language resources.
Rhys Crilley (Former Research Associate)
Rhys Crilley was a Research Associate at The Open University. Prior to this, Rhys completed his PhD at the University of Birmingham and worked as a Teaching Fellow at the University of Warwick. His expertise lie in the areas of political communication, global politics, and security studies. Rhys tweets @RhysCrilley.
Vitaly Kazakov (Research Associate and Administrator)
Vitaly Kazakov is a Research Associate and Administrator at The University of Manchester. Vitaly completed his PhD in Russian Studies at The University of Manchester. His doctoral dissertation is entitled “Representations of ‘New Russia’ through a 21st Century Mega-Event: The Political Aims, Informational Means, and Popular Reception of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games”. His research interests include mega- and media events, international mass-media, social media, national image, nation branding, and soft power. Prior to starting his PhD, he worked as a journalist and communications specialist in Canada and Russia and obtained an MA in International Studies from Aarhus University in Denmark.
Precious Chatterje-Doody (Former Research Associate)
Precious N Chatterje-Doody was a Research Associate at The University of Manchester. Precious has published research on the politics of national identity, historical narrative, identity construction and representation, Russian foreign and security policy and global governance. Precious tweets @PreciousChatD.
Kat Lowe (Former Research Administrator) 
Kat Lowe was the administrator for the Reframing Russia project. Kat obtained a PhD in the Department of English Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Manchester. Her research interests include print and paratexts related to propaganda and social reform during the English Reformation.
‘Reframing Russia for the Global Mediapshere: From Cold War to “Information War”?’ 