Dr Vera Axyonova

Dr Vera Axyonova

Department of Political Science and International Studies
Assistant Professor
Lecturer in European Politics

Contact details

Address
Department of Political Science and International Studies
School of Government
Muirhead Tower
University Âé¶¹¾«Ñ¡
Birmingham
B15 2TT

Dr Vera Axyonova is a political scientist with research interests in international crisis and conflict management, cross-border transfer of norms and practices, expert knowledge production, and the politics of internationalization in higher education and research.

Qualifications

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

Biography

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.

Teaching

Debates in World Politics II

Global Cooperation on Global Problems

Understanding International Relations 

Postgraduate supervision

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

Research

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. 

Publications

Recent publications

Book

Axyonova, V, Richter, C & Kohstall, F (eds) 2022, . The academy in exile book series, vol. 2, Transcript Verlag.

Article

Kyselova, T & Axyonova, V 2024, '', Peacebuilding.

Axyonova, V & Lozka, K 2024, '', European Security, vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 557-575.

Axyonova, V 2024, '', Review of Policy Research, vol. 41, no. 6, pp. 941-960.

Axyonova, V & Kartsonaki, A 2024, '', Ethnopolitics.

Axyonova, V & Lozka, K 2023, '', Journal of International Relations and Development, vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 711-721.

Axyonova, V, CenuÅŸa, D & Gawrich, A 2022, '', East European Politics and Societies, vol. 36, no. 2, pp. 378-398.

Weiffen, B, Gawrich, A & Axyonova, V 2021, '', Journal of Global Security Studies, vol. 6, no. 1, ogz080.

Axyonova, V & Gawrich, A 2018, '', Ethnopolitics, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 408-425.

Axyonova, V, Gerasymchuk, S, Kakachia, K & Rosca, A 2018, '', European Foreign Affairs Review, vol. 23, pp. 23-40.

Chapter

Axyonova, V & Kyselova, T 2025, . in C Friesendorf & A Kartsonaki (eds), OSCE Insights: Securing States and People. Nomos, Baden-Baden.

Axyonova, V & Tsertsvadze, T 2024, . in J Lempp & S Mayer (eds), The EU as an Actor in Central Asia: External Action, Regional Responses. Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 213-240.

Axyonova, V 2023, . in O Burlyuk & L Rahbari (eds), Migrant Academics’ Narratives of Precarity and Resilience in Europe. Open Book Publishers, pp. 1-8.

Axyonova, V & Gawrich, A 2023, . in A Gawrich, P Haslinger & M Wingender (eds), Analysing Conflict Settings: Case Studies from Eastern Europe with a Focus on Ukraine. Interdisziplinäre Studien zum östlichen Europa, vol. 10, Harrassowitz Verlag, pp. 11-24.

Axyonova, V, Richter, C & Kohstall, F 2022, . in V Axyonova, C Richter & F Kohstall (eds), Academics in Exile: Networks, Knowledge Exchange and New Forms of Internationalization. The academy in exile book series, vol. 2, Transcript Verlag, pp. 11-29.