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| Research Opportunities

Flagship students may be interested in taking advantage of the research opportunities available at UCLA by utilizing Russian language sources or researching topics related to the history, culture or politics of the Russian-speaking world. With this in mind, students can add a Russian research project component to any of their courses or term papers.

Opportunities

Research Courses

Conducting research within the structure of a course allows you to work under the guidance and support of a faculty member and receive academic credit for your project.


Students with a major in the Department of Slavic, East European & Eurasian Languages & Cultures take Slavic 191TA-B-C and work with a faculty advisor to write a senior thesis on a topic of their choice. All of these students present their research at the department's undergraduate conference and many of their projects go on to be published in the undergraduate journal.


The UCLA Quarter in Washington Program includes a research development seminar (M194DC), in which students produce an original research project under the supervision of a professor.


Most departments offer research courses (99s and 199s), which allow students to receive course credit for an independent research or creative project under the guidance of a faculty mentor.

Research Programs


Most majors at UCLA have Departmental Honors Programs which include a research project component - each department has different requirements so check out the website of your department.


The Luskin Center for History and Policy hosts a summer research institute to equip students with the skills to conduct historical research and policy analysis. Students interested in topics related to history or policy in the former Soviet space should consider applying to this institute.

Campus-wide Research Platform 


The Undergraduate Research Portal lists undergraduate research projects with UCLA faculty in all disciplines. You can search for research opportunities both on and off campus, or create a profile that faculty can find when looking for student researchers.

Resources for Research

The UCLA Library offers numerous resources for those interested in research relating to Russian and Eurasian area studies. Make sure to sign up for the UCLA VPN proxy server to (or your local library or community college VPN) to access materials from off-campus locations.

  • The librarian for Slavic, Eastern European and Eurasian Studies
  • Dr. Alena Aissing (aaissing@library.ucla.edu)

  • Stream movies and videos from the Slavic, East European and Eurasian world
  • Kanopy (UCLA proxy or VPN required)

Undergraduate Conference and Journal

Presenting your research at a conference or publishing it in a journal is very prestigious as an undergraduate. Flagship students have the opportunity to participate in the UCLA Slavic Department’s undergraduate research conference and journal where students present on a variety of topics dealing with Slavic and East or Central European studies.