Biography
Ben is an associate fellow of Chatham House, having joined in December 2020. He is also an associate professor of Russian politics at University College London (UCL SSEES).
He frequently provides commentary and analysis on Russian domestic politics for academic, policy, and general audiences, as well as for the media. His co-authored book on Alexei Navalny (published by Hurst and Oxford University Press) was selected by the Financial Times as one of the best books on politics in 2021.
His academic research on authoritarianism and legislative politics has been published in leading journals, and has been recognised with awards from the Political Studies Association and the British Academy.
Before joining UCL in 2017, he was the Herbert Nicholas Junior Research Fellow at New College, University of Oxford.
He received his BA (PPE), MPhil (Russian and East European Studies), and DPhil (Politics) from the University of Oxford.
Past experience
| 2017-present | Lecturer/Associate Professor of Russian Politics, University College London (UCL SSEES) |
| 2017-21 | Senior Research Fellow, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow |
| 2015-17 | Herbert Nicholas Junior Research Fellow, New College, University of Oxford |
