Contributor(s): Professor Dominic Lieven, Professor Janet Hartley, Professor Alexander Semyonov | This event launches the Paulsen Programme at LSE International History Department, which has been set up to allow historians in Russia to realise their full potential in their research and to enable them to make a powerful impact within the worldwide community of historians. The core of the Programme are fellowships and grants to enable Russian historians to work in archives and attend conferences outside Russia. The Programme also includes two seminars, a final conference and publication aimed at bringing together outstanding historians of Imperial Russia, both Russian and foreign. The imperial period deserves a larger place in European, imperial and global history than it currently occupies. Nor is it possible to understand contemporary Russian politics and identity without some grasp of pre-1917 Russian history. The discussion during the launch will explain why this is the case. It will also provide insights into the history of Imperial Russia, how knowledge of this history can help Western policy-makers, and what is the current state of pre-revolutionary history in today's Russia. Dominic Lieven is Senior Research Fellow, Trinity College, Cambridge and Fellow of the British Academy and Chair of the Board of the Paulsen Programme. Janet Hartley is Professor of International History at LSE. She is a historian of eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Russia with particular interests in Anglo-Russian relations, the social and administrative history of the Russian empire, and the relationship between warfare, state and society during Russia’s rise to great-power status. She is on the board of the Paulsen Programme. Alexander Semyonov is Director of the Center for Historical Research, National Research University-Higher School of Economics in St. Petersburg. He is a historian of modern Russian history, his research interests include political and intellectual history, history of empire and nationalism. Matthew Jones is Professor of International History at LSE and Head of Department. The Department of International History (@lsehistory) teaches and conducts research on the international history of Britain, Europe and the world from the early modern era up to the present day. Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSEPaulsen