Employees

Elo Süld (PhD) is the Head of the Asia Centre, and has been at the centre since its establishment in 2016. Currently, she is organising the day-to-day work of the center, initiating new partnerships, projects to bring Asia and the Middle East closer to Estonia at both the academic and societal levels. In her research, Süld focuses on the Qur'an, Islamic religious diversity and comparative theology and is lecturer at School of Theology and Religious Studies.

Contact: elo.suld@ut.ee, +372 528 4922

Evelyn Pihla (MA) is the Head of Communication at the University of Tartu Asia Centre. In her daily work, she makes sure that information about the activities of the centre reaches out to the wider public within the university and beyond. In addition, she builds up the communication strategy of the centre and is also the main contact point for media. She is also an Assistant Manager, dealing with documents related to our daily duties and activities. Evelyn also works at the University of Tartu Johan Skytte Institute for Political Studies as a Marketing and Communication specialist.

Contact: evelyn.pihla@ut.ee, + 372 56158017

Tiit Tammaru (PhD) is a Professor of Population and Urban Geography at the University of Tartu and the Development Manager of the Asia Centre, where he helps to strengthen the centre's research. His own research focuses on migration and cities. He is one of the editors of ‘Socioeconomic Segregation in European Cities: East Meets West’ (Routledge, 2016) and ‘Urban Socioeconomic Segregation and Income Inequality: A Global Perspective’ (Springer, 2021). Tiit is waiting for doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows interested in the population and social problems of Asian cities and spatial development at the Asia Center.

Contact: tiit.tammaru@ut.ee

Urmas Hõbepappel is the Analyst at the Asia Centre and a Lecturer at the Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies. His research interests focus on history and identity politics, nationalism, contacts between Orient and Occident, and Chinese politics and society. He is the co-author of book ‘The Origins of Estonia-China Relations’. He has lived in China for five years.

Contact: urmas.hobepappel@ut.ee, +372 516 8744

Helen Haas (PhD) is the Middle East coordinator at the Asia Centre. She also works at the University of Tartu School of Theology and Religious Studies as a junior research fellow. In her research, she focuses on minority groups in Islam as her PhD was also about Alevis in Contemporary Izmir.

Contact: helen.haas@ut.ee

Anastasia Sinitsyna (PhD) is a Research Fellow at the Asia Centre, specializing in EU-Asia relations with a focus on China. She has a strong background in migration studies, with publications in internationally recognized journals such as Social Inclusion and Housing Studies. Anastasia holds a master’s degree in quantitative economics and has completed research exchanges at Kiel University and the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. Her work spans migration studies, geoeconomics, and international trade agreements.

Contact: anastasia.sinitsyna@ut.ee

Kikee Doma Bhutia (PhD) is a Research Fellow and India Coordinator at the Asia Centre. In her PhD she explored the symbiosis of institutional Buddhism and the indigenous beliefs in the Himalayan region. Her current research interests range from conceptualizing national identity, tracing the importance of vernacular symbols in redefining, and understanding the perspective of different communities and ideas of belonging, the role of religion and culture in the wider unrest and foreign policymaking within the transnational framework of the politics of globalization.

Contact: kikee.doma.bhutia@ut.ee

Mart Tšernjuk is the Taiwan Coordinator at the University of Tartu Asia Centre. He is also a lecturer in Chinese language and culture at the Institute of World Languages and Cultures, and Research Secretary of the Estonian Academic Oriental Society. He has lived and studied in Hong Kong and Taiwan. He is currently a PhD student at the Institute of Cultural Studies, where his research topic is Classical Ancient Chinese Thought. At the Asian Centre, his role is to build and maintain partnerships with Taiwanese universities and research institutions.

Contact: mart.tsernjuk@ut.ee

Agnieszka Nitza-Makowska is a Research Fellow at the Asia Centre, and an Assistant Professor and Head of Asian Studies at Collegium Civitas in Warsaw, Poland. Her PhD, titled Political Conditions of Democracy in India and Pakistan – a Comparative Analysis, was defended at the Polish Academy of Sciences and was based on fieldwork with political elites in both India and Pakistan. Her current research focuses on soft power, sustainable connectivity, and environmental diplomacy, with a regional emphasis on India, Pakistan, and China. She has published in journals such as the International Journal of Cultural Policy (Routledge) and the Journal of Peacebuilding and Development (SAGE).

Contact: agnieszka.malgorzata.nitza-makowska@ut.ee

Rodion Krupin is the Japan Coordinator at the Asia Centre. He is currently an MA student at the Johan Skytte Institute and his scholarly interests focus on Japanese studies, international relations and region studies and contemporary politics in the Asia region. In addition to his studies, he works as a research assistant at the Centre for Oriental Studies. In these roles, he promotes Japanese topics both within the centre and externally, while also building and maintaining partnerships with Japanese universities and research institutions.

Contact: rodion.krupin@ut.ee