Fellow of the British Academy; Research professor, Cambridge University
Formerly professor at London School of Economics, Visiting Professor at Harvard and Tokyo universities, and Humboldt Fellow (Germany).
Fields: Russian imperial history, comparative history of empires and political leadership.
Last two books: Towards the Flame: Empire, War and the End of Tsarist Russia (2015), winner Pushkin House Prize (UK), chosen as one of books of the year by The Economist; Russia against Napoleon (2009), winner Wolfson Prize (UK), Prix de la Fondation Napoleon, chosen as one of books of the year by The Economist.
Awarded Order of Friendship (Russia) in 2014.