Stefan Kirmse II

PD Dr. Stefan B. Kirmse is a Senior Research Fellow and Research Coordinator at the Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient (ZMO), Berlin, since 2016. He leads the ERC Consolidator Grant project *In Pursuit of Legality and Justice: Minority Struggles in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union* (2023–2028). His research focuses on legal history, imperial governance, and ethnic relations in Russia and Central Asia, with a particular emphasis on topics like bride kidnapping, Soviet youth culture, and legal pluralism.

**Education**:

• B.A. in European Studies, Trinity College, University of Dublin (1997–2001)
• M.Phil. in Russian and East European Studies, University of Oxford (2001–2003)
• PhD in Development Studies, SOAS, University of London (2003–2009)
• Habilitation in Modern History, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (2017–2018)

**Research Interests**: Legal history, Russian/Soviet imperialism, Central Asian sociocultural practices, minority rights, and transregional entanglements. His work bridges legal frameworks, cultural diversity, and state-society dynamics across imperial and post-Soviet contexts.

**Awards**: ERC Consolidator Grant, Julian Kamensky Prize, and multiple fieldwork grants. His publications include monographs on Soviet youth, legal change in Tsarist Russia, and edited volumes on Central Asian modernization debates.

**Teaching & Mentorship**: Supervises PhD candidates on topics ranging from Soviet legal history to Tatar cultural politics. Teaches courses on Russian imperialism, Soviet Cold War politics, and borderland studies.

**Grants & Projects**: Principal investigator for the ERC Grant; former roles include Research Fellow in Humboldt-Universität’s Collaborative Research Center (SFB 640) and visiting scholar at Hokkaido University.