Dr. Michael carpenter

Prior to joining ICDS, Mr. Jarmalavicius worked at the Baltic Defence College (BALTDEFCOL), first as deputy director of the College’s Institute of Defence Studies in 2001-2004, and later as dean of the college in 2005-2008. In the latter capacity, he was also the editor of the journal ‘Baltic Security and Defence Review’. At BALTDEFCOL, he lectured and published articles on strategy, military theory, defence policy and civil-military relations. He was also involved in the Prometheus Programme of Transition Studies at the Euro-College of the University of Tartu, post-graduate military diplomacy programme at the Lithuanian Military Academy as well as in various projects of the Estonian Academy of Young Scientists (ENTA). In 1998-2001 and in 2005, Tomas worked at the Defence Policy and Planning Department of the Lithuanian Ministry of National Defence. At the end of 1998 - beginning of 1999, he was a research fellow at the Swedish National Defence Establishment (FOA, now FOI).

Dr. Usov studied history and journalism at Mogilev State University, while acquiring his PhD in political science at the The Belarusian State University in Minsk. Moreover, he did post graduate studies in in Polish Academy of Science, where in 2012 defended a dissertation ,,The neo-authoritarian regime in Belarus: consolidation and functioning."

From 2005 to 2008 he had been the member of the board of the Mogilev Human right defense center. From 2007 he serves as political analyst and expert for Belarusian Independent Television “BELSAT”, while working as director at the Center for Political Analysis and Prognosis.

Dr. Usov speaks fluently in four languages, while he is able to understand and read in three more. His sphere of the interests consists of ancient and modern history of Russia and Belarus, geopolitics and political processes in post-soviet countries.

In 1993 Mr. Samus finished the Kyiv Shevchenko National University and in 2007 acquired a degree in the Institute of Journalism, Kyiv.

He is also a senior vice-president at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA).

In 2008 he wrote The New Cold War, a prescient account of Vladimir Putin’s Russia. In 2011 he wrote Deception, an investigative account of east-west espionage. He is a strong critic of the fugitive NSA contractor Edward Snowden, and author of an e-book>The Snowden Operation. His latest book is Cyberphobia. He has also contributed to books on religion and media ethics.

An experienced broadcaster, public speaker, moderator and panelist, Edward Lucas has given public lectures at Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge and other leading universities. He is a regular contributor to the BBC’s Today and Newsnight programmes, and to NPR, CNN and Sky News. He is regularly cited by Foreign Policy magazine as one of the top 100 Twitterati.