GeoWel Research
GeoWel Research undertakes research, training, monitoring and evaluation as well as business planning and program and project design for think‐tanks, NGOs and companies.
We cover a wide range of research subjects but focus on economic development, business and governance. Our team is based in Georgia but has conducted research in 12 countries. Our research team integrates international expertise and local staff. This ensures a nuanced understanding of local affairs while also guaranteeing cost-effective delivery of the highest possible quality product. Our research combines an understanding of existing research and government data with primary research including large-N surveys, focus groups, expert interviews as well as legislative, budgetary and value-chain analysis.
Dr. George Welton regularly conducts research on economics, governance, politics and international relations across the region. He recently led a three‐country team of researchers to complete a comparative analysis of the agricultural sector across the region for UNDP and SDC and has conducted regional comparative analysis on structures of governance for GIZ, economic development for Oxfam, inter‐regional trade for GIZ and the regional security situation for CARE International. He has also analysed the political situation in Georgia for DfID and has written on economic/security in Abkhazia for International Crisis Group. Dr. Welton is the team leader of WP3 in the ISSICEU project.
David Jijelava is the Deputy Director of GeoWel Research and will be working on the ISSICEU project as research manager and senior researcher on Georgia. He has worked for GeoWel Research for over 5 years and has experience in designing and managing over 20 research projects for large development assistance organizations in Georgia, including UNDP, Mercy Corps, CARE International, and World Vision. He has a good understanding of all levels of the research process as he has been personally involved in data collection, data analysis, and report writing. David is currently completing a PhD in impact assessment at the University of Groningen, particularly focusing on the concept of Social License to Operate for development assistance organizations. He has published articles on the subject in peer-reviewed journals (Journal of Social Epistemology and Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal).
Arpine Porsughyan will be working with GeoWel Research in the ISSICEU project as senior researcher on Armenia. Arpine has worked with GeoWel since 2012. She has conducted research in the South Caucasus, Central Asia, Russia and the United States on a wide range of areas: cross-border economic development and value chains, migration, access to justice, gender-based violence, reproductive health, and media. She has also worked for the Caucasus Research Resource Centers regional office in Tbilisi as a Regional Research Associate, Trainer and Training Manager for the US Peace Corps Armenia, and has done extensive work with local non-profits working in the field of women's rights protection and domestic violence prevention. Arpine holds a Master's Degree in Public Policy from Duquesne University, where she was an Edmund Muskie fellow, and a Master's Degree in Social Sciences from Tbilisi State University.
Tamar Burduli will be working on the ISSICEU project as a researcher. She has been working for GeoWel Research since November 2014, where she has been involved in research projects for SDC, GIZ and Oxfam. Prior to joining GeoWel, Tamar has worked for Caucasus Research Resource Centers as a Research Fellow. Tamar has been involved in all levels of quantitative and qualitative research, including research design, data collection, analysis and report writing. She has also conducted several research projects on conflicts and identity, education, economics and visitor surveys. Tamar holds Master degrees in European Interdisciplinary Studies from the College of Europe and in Conflict Analysis and Management from Tbilisi State University.
William Dunbar will be contributing to the ISSICEU research across Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. William is a seasoned journalist, commentator and researcher who has been covering the region since 2006 and has an intimate knowledge of the politics and economics of the South Caucasus. He is a regular contributor to a number of international publications, including the Independent and the Economist Intelligence Unit, and has coordinated a number of research projects into the media, public opinion and political party development for the likes of the Eurasian Partnership Foundation, the Netherland Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD) and Transparency International. William holds an MA from Cambridge University.
Farid Guliyev holds a PhD in Political Science from Jacobs University in Bremen, Germany (2014), and an MA from Central European University in Budapest (2004). His work has been published or is forthcoming in Democratization, Demokratizatsiya, Energy Policy, and as book chapters in Challenges of the Caspian Resource Boom (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012) and Routledge Companion to Social Media and Politics (with Katy Pearce, forthcoming). His current research focuses on the comparative study of political institutions, governance of natural resources, and public policy in developing countries. Within the ISSICEU project, Farid is exploring the link between oil and foreign policy in the case of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Dr. Hamed Kazemzadeh will be working on the ISSICEU project as a scholar on Iran's impact in the Caucasus. His research is focused on the factors of (in)stability in the case of relation between Iran and the Caucasus. Additionally, he is writing a policy brief for the EU Horizon 2020 on the (in)compatibility of EU and Iranian policies in the South Caucasus. Currently he is a Senior Scholar on National Identity in the North Caucasus at the Center for East European Studies at the University of Warsaw. His focus is mostly on studying, ethnic crisis, religious conflicts, peace-building, identity, nationalism, democratization and human rights in the region based on historical and political studies. He is graduated in Caucasus and Central Asian studies from the University of Tehran. He is the former director of "Caucasus Studies Institute" under the University of Tehran from 2008 to 2011.