Stephen Fortescue is the Deputy President of the University’s Academic Board and Director of Postgraduate Research for the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. He is a political scientist in the School of Social Sciences and International Studies, whose research is focused on the contemporary Russian policy-making process and the Russian mining and metals industry.

Stephen’s most recent monograph is Russia’s Oil Barons and Metal Magnates (2006, Palgrave) which offers an analysis of the role of the so-called oligarchs in the post-Soviet Russian political economy. His next book is to be on the relationship between personalist and institutionalized politics in Russian policy-making, with taxation as the main case study. He publishes regularly on a wide range of issues related to Russian mining and metals. He currently supervises research students working on the Russian gas industry, environmental policy in Russia, and on various business and politics topics not related to Russia.