Dr Vera Axyonova

PhD in Political Science, University of Bremen and Jacobs University Bremen, 2013

MA in Intercultural Communication and European Studies, Fulda University of Applied Sciences, 2008

Diploma (BA) in International Relations, East Kazakhstan State University, 2006

Vera joined the Department as an Assistant Professor / DAAD Lecturer in European Politics in January 2025. Previously, she was a Senior Research Fellow and a Marie Skłodowska-Curie REWIRE Fellow at the University of Vienna. Vera’s professional experiences span academic research, science management and policy consulting, including appointments and visiting positions at the European University Institute, Freie Universität Berlin, Justus Liebig University Giessen, and the George Washington University. She was also a Hurford Next Generation Fellow with the Carnegie Endowment’s Euro-Atlantic Security Initiative and an associate researcher with Europe-Central Asia Monitoring programme at the Foundation for International Relations and Foreign Dialogue (FRIDE). Vera is founding Co-chair of the ECPR Research Network on Statehood, Sovereignty and Conflict. She holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Bremen and Jacobs University Bremen.

Debates in World Politics II

Global Cooperation on Global Problems

Understanding International Relations 

Vera welcomes PhD applications in the areas related to her research interests:

- human rights, cross-border transfer of values, norms and practices
- international conflict and crisis management
- international organisations, EU external action
- knowledge production in war-torn and closed political environments
- academic freedom in Europe, at-risk scholar protection, exile
- internationalization of research and higher education

Vera’s areas of research include international security and conflict management, cross-border transfer of values, norms and practices, and crisis knowledge production and communication. She has (co-)led research projects focusing on European (EU and OSCE) normative and security engagements and their perceptions and receptiveness by local actors in post-Soviet Eastern Europe and Eurasia. Her most recent research has additionally revolved around the politics of expertise in polarized, war-torn and closed political environments as well as internationalization processes in higher education and research in the context of forced migration and exile of academics.