Heidi Hoogerbeets

Heidi Hoogerbeets is research associate in the CSIS Russia and Eurasia Program. Before joining CSIS, she worked at the Carnegie Corporation of New York, assisting President Vartan Gregorian with research on global nationalism and Soviet-Afghan relations. Heidi holds an M.A. in Russian, Eurasian, and East European studies from Columbia University, where she focused on Russian politics and media and human rights and post-conflict development in the Caucasus. She received a grant from the Harriman Institute to travel to many regions of Russia, including Chechnya and Ingushetia, to complete research for her thesis. While earning her B.A. in Russian and political science at Hunter College, she interned at the New York office of Senator Hillary Clinton, the UN Office of the Women’s International League of Peace and Freedom (WILPF), and the Europe and Central Asia program at the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). She speaks fluent Russian. Before pursuing a career in foreign policy, she spent five years in St. Petersburg, Russia, as a professional dancer and studied academic and artistic disciplines at the St. Petersburg State University, Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory, and the Vaganova Ballet Academy.