Since 2009, the Ronald and Eileen Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia at the University of Michigan has been awarding Weiser Professional Development Fellowships to faculty and artists at institutions of higher education in select countries in Europe and Eurasia. Fellows work on projects with a faculty partner at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. See below and on past fellow pages the profiles of successful Weiser Professional Development Fellows.
For more information about the fellowship, and to apply, see our Visiting Fellows page.
Andrei Bezruchonak
Weiser Professional Development Fellow, 2023
Andrei Bezruchonak is an associate professor of economic and social geography at Belarusian State University in Minsk, Belarus, where he also earned his Ph.D. in geography. His research interests include transportation geography, urban studies, and related areas of human geography. He has held several international fellowships including Fulbright and Erasmus, and has done work for the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Minsk Urban Platform, and Polish Geographical Society. Professor Bezruchonak is visiting U-M in January to work with on his research project, “Geographic and Socio-economic Aspects of Zero-Emissions Urban Mobility: The Case of Electric Busses in the U.S.A. and Belarus," with Jonathan Levine, professor of urban and regional planning.
Zarina Burkadze
Weiser Professional Development Fellow, 2023
Zarina Burkadze is professor of political science at Ilia State University and Business Technology University, Tbilisi, Georgia. She is a founding member and secretary general of the Georgian Association for Public Opinion Research, and author of Great Power Competition and the Path to Democracy – The Case of Georgia, 1991-2020 (Rochester University Press, 2022). She received her Ph.D. in political science from the University of Zurich and was a Fulbright Postdoctoral Scholar at the Elliott School of International Affairs, IERES, George Washington University (2019-20). Professor Burkadze is visiting U-M in September to work on her research project, “Research Design in Political Science, a Student’s Guide,” with Michael Traugott, professor emeritus of communication studies and political science.
Bosiljka Djikanovic
Weiser Professional Development Fellow, 2023
Bosiljka Djikanovic is an associate professor at the Institute of Social Medicine and Centre – School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade. She received her Ph.D. in public health at Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; M.Sc. in public health at Maastricht University, The Netherlands; and M.D. and M.Sc. in social medicine at the University of Belgrade, Serbia. Her research interests include health promotion and disease prevention, health services research, gender-based differences, and violence against women. Recent publications include articles about the outcomes of interventions for improving physical activity using social media and motivational interviews, and design of the cluster-randomized clinical trial for measuring outcomes of intervention for improving lifestyle. Professor Djjikanovic is visiting U-M in April to work on her research project, “Strengthening Gender Perspective in Public Health Research and Capacities to Apply Gender Equity in Academic Settings,” with Elizabeth King, associate professor of health behavior and health education.
Adriana Duris Adameova
Weiser Professional Development Fellow, 2023
Adriana Duris Adameova is professor and head of the Laboratory of Experimental Cardiology and Pharmacology at the Faculty of Pharmacy, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia. Her research interests include pharmacological approaches for the treatment of cardiac diseases (acute myocardial infarction, heart failure) and their pathology due to cell death (necroptosis, pyroptosis, inflammasomes). She received her Ph.D. in pharmacology at Comenius University and has conducted research projects in collaboration with the Slovak Academy of Sciences; national hospitals; and foreign institutions in Canada, Hungary, and England. Professor Duris Adameova will visit the University of Michigan in September 2023 to work on her project titled “From Bench through Bedside to Bench: Basic and Translational Research in the Areas of Precision Cardiac Pharmacotherapy” with Amit Pai, professor of clinical pharmacy.
Akmal Khudaykulov
Weiser Professional Development Fellow, 2023
Akmal Khudaykulov is an assistant professor of business at TEAM University and a lecturer at the Ministry of Innovative Development of the Republic of Uzbekistan. He graduated from the Wuhan University of Technology with a Ph.D. in management science. His research interests include sustainable development, digital marketing, consumer behavior, psychological well-being, and enterprise sustainability. He teaches about marketing strategies and entrepreneurship and has worked on educational projects related to improving local scholars’ professional and research skills. Professor Khudaykulov will visit U-M in September to complete research for the project “Exploring the Relationship between Social Commerce Features and Online Purchase Intention: The Mediating Role of Pricing,” in cooperation with John Branch, clinical associate professor of business administration.
Liliya Morska
Weiser Professional Development Fellow, 2023
Liliya Morska is a professor of foreign languages at Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Ukraine. She holds a variety of degrees: Ph.D. in foreign language education, Kyiv Academy of Sciences; Ph.D. in teacher education and M.Sc. in teaching foreign languages, National Pedagogical University of Ternopil; M.B.A. in international business, Slupsk Academy; and courtesy M.Sc. in teaching Polish as a second language, Adam Mickiewicz University of Poznan. Her research interests include foreign language teacher education, as well as the issues of digital education, MOOCs, and blended and hybrid learning. Professor Morska is visiting U-M in September to work on her research project, “MOOCs with Embedded Learning Analytics Tools for Sustainable University Education,” with Lisa Lattuca, professor of education and integrative systems and design, and director of the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education.
Dinara Mussabalina
Weiser Professional Development Fellow, 2023
Dinara Mussabalina is an acting assistant professor in the Department of Management at L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University in Kazakhstan, where she also received her Ph.D. in innovation management. She is head of the marketing department at the university and also CEO of ENU Endowment Fund in Kazakhstan. She teaches courses in innovation management, brand management, and strategic planning. Professor Mussabalina visits U-M in January to conduct the research project “Innovation Cluster in Regional Scale and Global Effect” in partnership with John Branch, clinical associate professor of business administration.
Arvesa Studenica
Weiser Professional Development Fellow, 2023
Arvesa Studenica is professor of psychology at the AAB College and a cognitive researcher, counselor, and trainer at Multidisciplinary Clinic “Empatia” in Prishtina, Kosovo. She completed her bachelor’s degree in psychology and her doctorate in cognitive psychology at the University of Sheffield. Her research interests include cognitive development of adolescents and adults, effects of bilingualism on cognitive abilities, and effects of video games on cognitive abilities of adolescents. She works as a trainer on promoting mental health, previously training rule of law institutions including EULEX, the Belgian diplomatic office in Kosovo, and the Kosovo Police. Professor Studenica is visiting U-M in March to work on her research project, “Kosovo and Education: Challenges and Ways to Move Forward,” with Priti Shah, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Psychology, professor of educational psychology, and professor of information.
Gayrat Urazboev
Weiser Professional Development Fellow, 2023 (postponed from 2020)
Gayrat Urazboev is a professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Mathematics Physics and vice-rector of international collaboration at Urgench State University in Urgench, Uzbekistan. He graduated from the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics at Moscow State University and has a Ph.D. (Doctor of Sciences) in mathematics physics from the National University of Uzbekistan. His research interests are inverse scattering method, nonlinear evolution PDE with self-consistent source, solitons theory, and integrability. Professor Urazboev will visit U-M in March to work on the project, “The Finding of Analogies between Continuous and Discrete Properties of Korteweg de Vries Type Equations with Self-consistent Source,” with Peter D. Miller, professor of mathematics.
