Panel Discussion on Eurasia and the Unfolding Dynamics in Global Governance

Cambridge Central Asia Forum invites you to a Panel Discussion on 

Eurasia and the Unfolding Dynamics in Global Governance

Panellists:

Prajakti Kalra, Wolfson College 

Ayur Zhanaev, University of Cambridge 

Ainsley Trahan, University of Cambridge 

Rachel Kay, University of Cambridge 

Date: 14 November 

Time: 11am-1pm

Venue: Room 119, Alison Richard Building, 7 West Road, Cambridge CB3 9DT

Online Zoom registration link: https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/meeting/register/AQ50hWn8SNqeWDZGwPjUQg 

Everyone is welcome.  

Abstract: As a starting point this panel will explore Eurasia and its geographical remit. The conceptualization of Eurasia regarding its geography has varied significantly over time, reflecting shifts in scientific understanding, geopolitical interests, and cultural perceptions.This panel will delve into the complex and rapidly evolving geopolitical landscape of Eurasia, analyzing its critical role as the nexus of global power dynamics, trade routes, and ideological competition. Eurasia, often conceptualized as the supercontinent stretching from Europe to East Asia, is not merely a geographical space but a crucial theater where the future of global politics and governance is being contested.

Biographies

Prajakti Kalra is a researcher and academic whose work explores the history and political economy of Eurasia, with a particular focus on the Mongol Empire and Central Asia. She has been affiliated with the University of Cambridge in multiple roles, including Research Officer at the Cambridge Central Asia Forum, Lecturer at the Centre of Development Studies, and Coordinator at the Centre of South Asian Studies. She is currently the Research Networks Manager at Wolfson College. Her scholarship highlights how historical perspectives can inform contemporary debates on development, diplomacy, and regional integration, and her major works include The Silk Road and the Political Economy of the Mongol Empire (2018) and articles on trade, resilience, and science diplomacy in Eurasia. Alongside her research, she has played a key role in academic exchange and dialogue by organising international conferences, workshops, and lecture series that bring together scholars, policymakers, and practitioners to discuss Eurasia’s (Central Asia, Caucasus, Afghanistan) historical and contemporary issues. 

Ayur Zhanaev's research in historical anthropology focuses on the early modern history and societies of Inner Asia. He completed his degrees at the Buryat State University (Russia) and the University of Warsaw (Poland). For the Silk Roads Programme at King’s, Ayur focuses on the historical makeup of Bayanhot, a town formerly known as Dingyuanying in the Alasha league of Inner Mongolia, China. The town was a Mongol-governed but complex site synthesising different economic and ethnic cultures at a crossroads of the Silk Routes. Through a close reading of archival sources, travelogues, and fieldwork material, Ayur considers the city in terms of complex inter-communal interactions.

Ainsley Trahan is a PhD student in the Department of Geography in the University of Cambridge. She is interested in the ways that historical, political, and geographical factors may influence institutional connectivity in cross-border disaster risk management (DRM) networks. More specifically, her research investigates the impact of a shared Soviet history on transboundary earthquake risk management in Eurasia today (Central Asia and the South Caucasus). Her current project focuses on the cross-border networks that dictate infrastructural preparedness to earthquakes.

Rachel Kay is a PhD candidate in Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge. She is funded by the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council. Previously, Rachel completed the MPhil in the Centre of Development Studies in University of Cambridge. She carried out long-term ethnographic fieldwork with people who live alongside Kyrgzystan’s walnut forests and participate in the walnut trade. She is interested in how working lives in this context are shaped by the intersection of ecological change and political economy in Central Asia.

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