Stepan Polikanov

Year: 2026

Center: Social Sciences

Stepan Polikanov is a doctoral candidate in sociology at the Graduate School of Economic and Social Sciences (GESS). He holds a bachelor's degree in political science from the Higher School of Economics (HSE) in Moscow and a master's  degree in social sciences from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M). He has worked as a research assistant at the Center for Institutional Studies (HSE, 2021–2023) and on the “FINCH – Companies, Investors and Uncertainty in 20th Century Spain” project (UC3M, 2024–2025). 

His primary research interests center on the social, political and economic development of Eastern Europe, with a particular emphasis on industrialization processes in the Russian Empire. Secondary research agendas include Spanish economic development in the first half of the 20th century and the Spanish Civil War, modern Russian politics, and African economic history during the Cold War.