Alena is a PhD candidate in Political Science and Sociology at the Scuola Normale Superiore (SNS). Her research project investigates biographical outcomes of Serbian and Croatian activists involved in the student protests in the late 2000s and aims to discover the role of context in shaping the individual trajectories.

Alena achieved a BA with honours in Linguistics (Spanish and English) and a BA in Journalism from Perm State University. She graduated with a Master’s degree in International Relations from Perm State University before starting her PhD in Florence.

Between 2021 and 2023 she worked as a junior researcher at the Sociological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and co-authored publications on urban planning and regional integration across Europe as a data analyst. She also has work experience teaching several courses in political science at HSE (St Petersburg) and coordinating various student support services.

Research interests: collective action, comparative politics, political sociology, and social movement outcomes