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Institute of Armenian Studies
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Research Calls

About

The Institute offers junior and senior scholars the resources to pursue new and rigorous research on the forces and factors that shape and impact the Republic of Armenia, the Diaspora, and Artsakh/ Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Institute has thus far conducted 4 major research calls, providing $325,000 in research funding to scholars from across the world. Much of the supported research has been published in academic journals, served as a basis for policy proposals, and/or presented at various conferences.

The Institute does not currently have an active research call. Please check this page regularly for updates.

Below you can find additional information about past research calls and grant recipients.

The Future of Karabakh

The war in 2020 created new challenges and exacerbated unanswered questions about the future of regional relations and the status of Karabakh. This new research, entitled THE FUTURE OF KARABAKH, aims to address some of the questions that are crucial to the region’s existence and development.

More than 60 applicants from 15 countries submitted proposals in response to this call, which culminated in December 2022.

The researchers were provided $90,000 in funding to investigate these urgent challenges.

  • Diasporas as cyberwarriors and peacemakers after the 2020 Karabakh war

    Dmitry Chernobrov
    University of Sheffield, Russia

     

    Understanding Geopolitical Shifts and the Context of the Second Karabakh War

    Vicken Cheterian
    Webster University Geneva

     

    Follow-up Assessment of Healthcare Needs and Outcomes in Nagorno-Karabakh post-2020 War

    Araz Chiloyan
    Armenia’s Ministry of Health

    Shant Shekherdimian
    University of California, Los Angeles

    Kim Hekimian
    Columbia University, New York

     

    Artsakh’s Energy Security: Post-war challenges and opportunities

    Vahe Davtyan
    Russian-Armenian University, Yerevan

    Natalie Shahbol
    Free-Flowing Rivers Initiative, United States

    Mikael Matossian
    Tetra Tech, United States

     

    The Language of War: Negotiating Karabakh in Iranian Media

    Rebecca Gould
    University of Birmingham, United States

    Kayvan Tahmasebian
    Researcher, UK

     

    Understanding Post-War Security & Policy

    Aleksandr Grigoryan
    American University of Armenia

     

    Impact of the 2020 Karabakh (Artsakh) War on Entrepreneurial Activity: Insights from Businesses

    Knar Khachatryan
    American University of Armenia

     

    Securing Democracy Amidst Insecurity : A Study of Political Support for Democracy in Armenia in the aftermath of the 2020 War

    Evgenia Kitaevich
    University of Michigan

     

    The Legal and Diplomatic Contours of Nagorno Karabakh’s Sovereignty: The Grand Strategy of Remedial Sovereignty

    Nerses Kopalyan
    University of Nevada, Las Vegas

     

    Cultural Heritage in Nagorno Karabakh

    Armen Marsoobian
    Southern Connecticut State University

     

    Artsakh-Gharabagh: Land, Language, and Culture

    Hrach Martirosyan
    Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences, The Netherlands

     

    Between Bothsidesism, Bias, and Responsibility: The Responses of the Media in Armenia, Russia, and the U.S. to the 2020 Karabakh War

    Hayarpi Movsesian
    University of California, Santa Barbara

     

    War Volunteers’ Trajectories and Societal Organizations After the 2020 Nagorno Karabakh War

    Taline Papazian
    The Paris Institute of Political Studies, France

     

    Analysis on the Prevention of Atrocities in Karabakh

    Sheila Paylan
    Independent, The Netherlands

     

    The Evolving Geopolitics of the South Caucasus: The Policy of Regional and Global Actors and its Implications for the Settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict

    Benyamin Poghosyan
    Center for Political and Economic Strategic Studies, Armenia

     

    Azerbaijani Islamic Nationalism in the Background of the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict, 2003-2020

    Naira Sahakyan
    Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, Armenia

     

    Prospects of Peace: Assessing Welfare Benefits for Armenia and the Region in the “Era of Open Communications”

    Hayk Sargsyan
    Pompeu Fabra University, Spain

     

    The Imagined Past, Depressive Present and Fuzzy Future: Landscapes of Traumatic Memories

    Nona Shahnazarian
    Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Armenia

    Anita Khachaturova
    Free University of Brussels, Belgium

    Elena Nikiforova
    Center for Independent Social Research, Russia

     

    Narratives of Hostility, Narratives of Responsibility: Responses to 1920 Shushi Massacre in Early Soviet Russian and Azerbaijani Literature
    Ararat Şekeryan
    Columbia University, Turkey

     

    Cultural Heritage and Human Rights in Karabakh

    Heghnar Watenpaugh
    University of California, Davis, United States

From a Democratic Breakthrough to Challenges of Consolidation in Armenia

In the Spring of 2018, the world watched as large-scale peaceful protests combined with acts of civil disobedience overthrew Armenia’s autocratic regime in what came to be known as the Velvet Revolution. Free of influence from outside forces, this democratic transition has altered the regional fabric. Unlike previous movements in the post-Soviet space and the Middle East, it was not geopolitically polarizing. The movement was decentralized and disciplined, and nonviolent tactics were applied with consistency and determination. The Armenian transition, driven by non elites and built on decades of civic activism, unfolded through the country’s institutions rather than against them. Following the formation of a new government, Armenia’s institutions have begun the processes of reforms, moving from the streets to institution-building.

Twenty-three researchers examined the following areas:

  • The interests, institutions, socio-economic conditions, values, identities, and regional as well as global security conditions that shaped the context and primed the groundwork of the movement.
  • The strategies and events that facilitated the Velvet Revolution.
  • The challenges of democratic consolidation.

Together with the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, research support in 2019 for the following projects totaled $75,000.

  • The Platform State: Technologies of Citizenship in Post-Revolutionary Armenia
    Rik Adriaans
    University College London, UK

     

    Democratic Consolidation and Higher Education in Armenia
    Ani Apyan
    Claremont Graduate University, USA

     

    What Made the Mobilization of Such a Large Number of People Possible?
    Margarita Baghdasaryan
    London School of Economics, UK

     

    Armenian Diaspora and the Velvet Revolution: Attitudes to Political Transition and Digital Experiences of Consolidation Among Diasporic Youth in Russia and the UK
    Dmitry Chernobrov
    University of Sheffield, UK

     

    Evaluating the Effectiveness of Asset Declarations in Combating Corruption: A Research Proposal for Armenia
    Carolyn Coberly, Dan Gingerich
    University of Virginia, USA

     

    Armenia’s National Role Conception After the Velvet Revolution and the Implications for the Country’s Foreign Policy
    Marina Danoyan
    Tampere University, Finland

     

    Engagement for Democracy from Abroad: Case Study of the Armenian Community in Glendale
    Nare Galstyan
    Brusov State University, Armenia

     

    Political Rhetoric and Changes in Labour Market Decisions in Armenia
    Armine Ghazaryan
    University of Southampton, UK

     

    When Triggers Cause Unrest: Explaining New Revolutions in the Post-Soviet Region
    Stas Gorelik
    George Washington University, USA

     

    The Impact of Mining on Social Outcomes in Armenia
    Aleksandr Grigoryan
    American University of Armenia, Armenia

     

    Post-Revolution New Armenia: Ideologies of Political Parties on Nagorno Karabakh Conflict in the New Parliament of Armenia
    Hasmik Grigoryan
    Dublin City University, Ireland

     

    Pashinyan vs. the Karabakh Clan: Re-examining Patronal Relations between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh
    Urban Jaksa
    University of York, UK/Slovenia

     

    Perceptions of State Initiated Social Change Towards Inclusivity of Armenia’s LGBT Community
    Armen Karamanian
    Macquarie University, Australia

     

    Emerging Agricultural Clusters in Armenia
    Knar Khachatryan
    American University of Armenia, Armenia

     

    Democratic Consolidation or Partial Insulation: Examining Institutional Reform and Armenia’s Democratic Breakthrough
    Nerses Kopalyan
    University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA

     

    Contending Voices in Armenia’s “Velvet Revolution
    Asbed Kotchikian
    Bentley University, USA

     

    The Influence of Facebook on Youth Political Participation in Post-Revolutionary Armenia
    Viktorya Melkonyan
    Yerevan State University, Armenia

     

    A Tale of Two Elections: Analyzing the Impact of Conditional Cash Transfers on Voter Turnout in Armenia
    Rafael Oganesyan, Zareh Asatryan
    University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA/Germany

     

    Rethinking Borders and Identities in Armenian Education
    Garine Palandjian
    Arizona State University, USA

     

    The Defense Sector and the Challenges of Democratic Consolidation
    Taline Papazian
    Institut des Sciences Sociales du Politique, France

     

    Velvet Revolution: Emergence of a New Political Culture in Armenia?
    Pedro Porto Bogossian
    Université Paris Diderot, Brazil

     

    Linking to the Roots: Idealization of the Democratic Republic of Armenia of 1918 in the Revolutionary Discourse of 2018
    Naira Sahakyan
    University of Amsterdam, Netherlands

     

    Regime Change in Armenia and Its Impact on the Dynamics of the Karabakh Negotiations
    Vahram Ter-Matevosyan, Hovhannes Nikoghosyan
    American University of Armenia, Armenia

Armenia: End of Transition, Now What?

Since the Soviet collapse, the Republic of Armenia – like all Soviet successor states – has undergone its own unique political, social, and economic transition process. The paradigm of transitology presupposes a fairly linear trajectory from authoritarianism to democratization and closer ties with Europe. Yet Armenia’s has been a decidedly nonlinear path toward democracy, a market economy, and most recently, to regional integration within the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union. Post-Soviet scholarship has paid relatively scant attention to the case of Armenia.

To understand these political, economic, and social processes of the past twenty-five years, and to fill the gap in scholarship, the USC Institute of Armenian Studies supported 23 researchers examining the following areas:

  • Demographics: fertility, mortality, and migration.
  • Patterns of social inequality.
  • Family, gender, and sexuality.
  • Regionalisms of Armenia.
  • Social policy: Education, healthcare, pensions, social security and housing.
  • Formal and informal political institutions and economy.
  • Rurality: changing agricultural systems, climate change, local economies and depopulation.
  • Foreign policy.
  • Bottom-up cultural production, social shifts, social movements, and political contention.
  • Armenia-Diaspora relations.
  • Regional (South Caucasus) and global integration.
  • Comparative analyses with political, social, and economic issues in other post-Soviet states.

In 2017, Institute support to the following projects totaled $90,000.

  • Digital Homecomings: Social Media in Repatriate Yerevan
    Rik Adriaans
    Central Europe University, Hungary

     

    Imminence of War and Gender Ideology in Nagorno Karabakh
    Victor Agadjanian
    University of Kansas, United States

     

    Public Policy and Entrepreneurship: Evidence From Armenian Communities
    Zareh Asatryan
    University of Freiburg, Germany

     

    Family Alienation in Terms of Labor Migration in the Republic of Armenia: A Comparative Analysis
    Anna Atoyan
    Yerevan State University, Armenia

     

    Democracy Exchange: United States Support for Democracy
    Nelli Babayan
    University of Freiburg, Germany

     

    The Armenian Diaspora Identity and the Nagorno Karabakh Conflict
    Dmitry Chernobrov
    University of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England

     

    The (Unfinished) Transition of the Armenian Diaspora: From Stateless to State-building Entity?
    Hamazasp Danielyan, Nareg Seferan
    Yerevan State University, Armenia

     

    Resistant Postmodernisms: Writing Postcommunism in Armenia and Russia
    Myrna Douzjian
    University of California Los Angeles, United States

     

    Connection Without Engagement: Paradoxes of North American Armenian Return Migration
    Daniel Fittante
    UCLA, United States

     

    Rural Economy in 25 Years of Independence: Economic, Social and Cultural Patterns
    Mkhitar R. Gabrielyan
    Yerevan State University, Armenia

     

    Syrian-Armenians: Refugees or Agents of Change?
    Armen Ghazarian, Alina Poghosyan
    National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, University of Fribourg, Switzerland

     

    Exploring Domestic Violence Intervention in Yerevan, Armenia
    Nelli Ghazaryan
    George Washington University, United States

     

    Disproportional Regional Development in Armenia: Causes, Consequences and Policies
    Aleksandry Grigoryan, Knar Khachatryan
    College of Business and Economic, American University of Armenia

     

    End of Transition – Shifting Focus A Quarter Century After the Soviet Collapse
    Narineh Mirzaeian
    University of California, Los Angeles, United States

     

    Soldiers, Statesman, and Statesman: Armenia Diplomacy in a Context of Regional Fracture in the South Caucasus
    Anna Ohanyan
    Stonehill College, United States

     

    War, Democracy and The Next Generation: The Surprising Teachings of War Veterans
    Taline Papazian
    Institut des Sciences Sociales du Politique, France

     

    Exploring Different Patterns of Nation State Diaspora Relations Within the Heterogeneous Diasporic Groups of the Post-Soviet Space
    Elli Ponomareva, Eviya Hovhannisyan
    European University at Saint-Petersburg, Russia

     

    The Armenians of Telavi: Social memory and cultural anxiety in post-Soviet Georgia
    Anton Popov
    Aston State University, United Kingdom

     

    What Calls People to Action Despite All Odds
    Nelli Sargsyan
    Marlboro College, United States

     

    The Missing Link: The United States, Armenia and Energy Sources in the South Caucuses
    James R. Stocker
    Trinity Washington University, United States

     

    Poverty, Inequality and Everyday Life in Post-Soviet Armenia
    Aghasi Tadevosyan
    Yerevan State University, Armenia

     

    Conflicts That Did Not Happen: Revisiting the Soviet Policy on Nationalities and the Javakhk Affair
    Vahram Ter-Matevosyan, Brent Currie
    American University of Armenia

     

    Geopolitical Challenges and National Identity in Armenia: Exploring the Contours of Domestic Insecurities and the Russian Security Discourse
    Ulrike Zimmer
    The University of Winchester, United Kingdom

     

    Cultural Heritage and Diplomacy: The Republic of Armenia and Ani
    Heghnar Watenpaugh
    University of California David, United States

Nagorno Karabakh Conflict

The 2016 escalation of the Karabakh conflict – the worst since 1994 – marks a new phase in the three decades of the conflict and highlights the need for research on the region.

To fill the scholarship gap on this issue and region, the USC Institute of Armenian Studies supported 14 researchers conducting original academic and policy research focusing on the many issues and topics that relate to Nagorno Karabakh and its wider region.

In 2016, the Institute’s support for the following projects totaled $70,000.  

  • The Experience of Women During the Four-Day War in Nagorno Karabakh: A Sociological Analysis of Gender Perspective
    Anna Atoyan, Shushan Ghahriyan
    Yerevan State University, Armenia

     

    Frozen Conflicts Heat Up: The Consequences of Nagorno-Karabakh
    Nelli Babayan
    Foreign Policy Research Institute, United States

     

    The Phases and Influential Factors of Institution-Based Formation and Development of the
    Nagorno Karabakh Republic Politic System
    Artak Beglaryan
    Institute for National Strategic Studies, Nagorno Karabakh

     

    Empowering Women in a “Strong-Man” Culture: Reflections on the Particularity of the Karabakh Case
    Sevan Beukian, Nona Shahnazarian
    University of Alberta, Canada
    The National Academy of Sciences, Armenia

     

    The Economic Impact of Landmines in Nagorno Karabakh
    Babken Der-Grigorian
    London School of Economics, England

     

    Nagorno Karabakh: Discourse On Its Status and “National Significance” in 1918-1923 and Today’s Representation of That Period
    Philip Gamaghelyan, Sergey Rumyansev
    Georgetown University, United States

     

    Political and Military Implications of the Four-Day War In Nagorno Karabakh
    Arsen Gasparyan
    University of Miami, United States

     

    Assessing Health System Infrastructure and Health Service Delivery in Nagorno Karabakh: A Cross-Sectional Survey of Major Health Services
    Kent Gerber; Shant Shekherdimian
    University of California, Los Angeles, United States

     

    Final Research Report: ‘Reactional (Trans)nationalism. Transformation of National Discourse From the Center to the Periphery.’
    E. Hovhannisyan, E. Ponomareva, A. Strzemzalska
    European University at Saint-Petersburg, Russia

     

    Do Conflicts Render States Less Accountable? Re-examining Social Contract Through Public Goods Provision in Armenia
    Jane Kitaevich
    University of Michigan, United States

     

    Emergency Medical Services and Primary Care Access in Nagorno-Karabakh
    Dickran Nalbandian
    University of Southern California, United States

     

    Report on the Research Project ‘Reassessing the Nagorno Karabakh Conflict in the Aftermath of the ‘4-Day War”
    Taline Papazian
    Institut des Sciences Sociales du Politique, France

     

    Karabakh Place-Names as Symbolic Devices in the Contest for Political Legitimacy
    Arsene Saparov
    University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

     

    Living with Uncertainty: Strategies of Daily Life and Life Decisions in the Nagorno Karabakh Republic
    Konrad Siekierski
    King’s College, London, England

USC Dornsife Institute of Armenian Studies

A hub of research and learning at USC that studies the contemporary Armenian diaspora and Republic of Armenia.

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3518 Trousdale Parkway
DMC 351; MC 0043
Los Angeles, CA
90089-0043

1 (213) 821-3943

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