Håvard Bækken

Håvard Bækken has a PhD in Russian Area Studies from the University of Oslo, 2014, and has been a senior research fellow at the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies since 2015.

His current research focus is militarism and military patriotic education in Russia and in occupied parts of Ukraine.. Bækken is heading the research project Contested Ukraine: Military Patriotism, Russian Influence, and Implications for European Security, and is actively participating in both the Russia Program at IFS and the NDUC Research group on Ukraine.

Bækken teaches extensively and is responsible for introductory courses on Russian politics, culture, and society; Russian history, and theory of science. His previous research includes several publications on quasi-legal practices in Russia.