About Community

“We rejoice in the bright, unique mix of the PIR Community. We are proud of those who stood at the origins of the PIR Center, and we thank all those who contribute to its development even now.”

Orlov, Vladimir A.

Editor-in-Chief

PIR Center is about people in the first place – those who have been breathing life into the unique body of an independent non-profit organization specializing in nonproliferation, disarmament and global security for 29 years. Over the years of its active research and educational activities in the fields of nonproliferation, disarmament and global security, the PIR Center has formed a whole community of PIR members – PIR Alumni Community.

Nowadays, PIR Alumni Community includes more than 1000 PIR Center alumni, PIR Center current employees, interns and consultants, members of the Executive Board of PIR Center, as well as the Advisory Board of PIR Center. 

PIR Center Alumnies

The PIR Center alumni pool includes more than 1 000 people. About 752 people are graduates of the projects of the PIR Center Educational Program (International School on Global Security, double-degree master’s program “Global Security, Nuclear Policy and WMD Nonproliferation”, internship program, training courses), while the status of a PIR Center alumni is assigned to participants of the PIR Center research projects, former employees and consultants of the PIR Center, former members of the Executive Board of PIR Center and former members of the editorial board of the Security Index.

PIR Center alumni are scattered all around the world. There are specialists from Abkhazia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Brazil, Germany, Greece, Georgia, Iran, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Kazakhstan, Canada, Kyrgyzstan, China, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Republic of Korea, Russia, Romania, Syria, Slovakia, USA, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Finland, France, Montenegro, Czech Republic, South Ossetia, etc.

Speaking of the Russian Federation, Moscow and St. Petersburg are not the only “suppliers” of participants in the research and educational projects of the PIR Center, as well as its managerial, personnel and publishing pool. PIR Center graduates can be found in Arkhangelsk, Barnaul, Blagoveshchensk, Vladivostok, Volgograd, Volgodonsk, Voronezh, Grozny, Yekaterinburg, Zheleznogorsk, Izhevsk, Irkutsk, Kazan, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Lesnoy, Makhachkala, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Novgorodskaya regions, Novosibirsk, Novouralsk, Obninsk, Ozersk, Omsk, Perm, Podolsk, Rostov-on-Don, Samara, St. Petersburg, Saratov, Sarov, Seversk, Simferopol, Snezhinsk, Tambov region, Tomsk, Tyumen, Chelyabinsk, Yaroslavl.

PIR Center alumni, while interacting with the organization and afterwards, work in international governmental (OSCE, IAEA, CTBTO) and non-governmental organizations, national government bodies (Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Ministries of Defense, etc.), political parties, commercial structures, state corporations, research centers, “think tanks”, universities and the media. In general, PIR Center alumni can be divided into 2 categories (at the time of interaction with PIR Center):

1. experts, professors, journalists, students, business representatives;
2. diplomats, civil servants, military men.

Employees, interns and consultants of PIR Center

Currently, about 30 people ensure the active life of PIR Center. Staff, interns, trainees, and consultants from Russian cities (Ekaterinburg, Krasnoyarsk, Moscow, Tambov region, Tyumen, Ufa) as well as the United Kingdom (London), the United States (Monterey), Ukraine (Kyiv), Malaysia (Kuala-Lumpur), and Switzerland (Geneva) are among them.

Members of the Executive Board of PIR Center

The Executive Board of PIR Center is an analogue of the governing body. His authority includes reviewing the results of the organization’s activities in the reporting period, reviewing financial statements and adopting a financial plan for the upcoming reporting period, determining the main directions for the development of the organization and its project, research and educational priorities (usually within the meeting at the end of the year).

Currently, the Executive Board of PIR Center consists of 8 people from Russian experts in the field of various aspects of global security and social engineering:

1. Evgeny P. Buzhinskiy, Chairman of the PIR Center Executive Board, Co-Chair of the Trialogue Club International;
2. Elena V. Chernenko, Special correspondent of the Kommersant Daily, Co-Chair of the Trialogue Club International;
3. Vadim B. Kozyulin, Head of the Center for Global Studies & International Relations of the Institute for Contemporary International Studies of the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry, PIR Center Consultant;
4. Vladimir A. Mau, Rector of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration;
5. Vladimir A. Orlov, Founding Director of PIR Center;
6. Lubov A. Soldatkina, Head of the Department for Patriotic Work and Interaction with Public Organizations of the State Foundation “Defenders of the Fatherland”;
7. Ekaterina A. Stepanova, Head of the Group on Peace and Conflict Studies at Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences;
8. Dmitri V. Trenin, Lead Researcher at the Section for Non-Proliferation and Arms Limitation of the Center for International Security at Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences.

Advisory Board of PIR Center

Of particular value to the PIR Center is its expert pool represented by the members of the Advisory Board, the International Expert Group and the editorial board of the Security Index, who are also an important part of the PIR community.

The Advisory Board of PIR Center brings together leading Russian and international experts, representatives of government and business structures, and representatives of the interests of various countries, regions, and continents. It was formed with the aim of improving the level of scientific research, educational, informational, and publishing programs; improving the quality of the examination of published materials; and facilitating collective discussions of topical issues of international security and development in order to ensure international cooperation in the field of global security. The Advisory Board consists of 75 individual and 10 corporate members from 17 countries: Austria, Angola, Argentina, Great Britain, Germany, Iran, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Norway, Russia, the USA, Turkey, Switzerland, Sri Lanka, and South Africa. Among them are candidates and doctors of sciences, academicians of the Russian Academy of Sciences, employees of the state apparatus of Russia and foreign countries, domestic and foreign experts on global security issues.

Members of Advisory Board take an active part in various PIR Center projects, providing advisory support for their quality implementation. At meetings of the Advisory Board, a wide range of issues is discussed. Among them are the problems of nuclear nonproliferation, energy security, prospects for the development of the nuclear industry, and other priority areas for the development of global security at the present stage.

Together with the members of the Advisory Board, the PIR Center expert pool is formed by members of the editorial board of the Security Index journal (13 people from Russia) and the PIR Center International Expert Group (18 people from Argentina, Brazil, Hungary, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, China , Libya, UAE, Russia, USA, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa).