Zhanna Popova is a postdoctoral researcher within Prof. Susan Zimmermann's project ZARAH: Women’s labour activism in Eastern Europe and transnationally, from the age of empires to the late 20th century (ERC Advanced Grant).
Her research interests include social history of Russia and Eastern Europe, global labour history, as well as history of punishment and forced migrations.
Before coming to Central European University, she completed a doctoral dissertation at the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam. This doctoral project was part of a larger research program entitled "Four centuries of labour camps" funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). Her dissertation explored continuity and change in the Russian and Soviet penal practices from 1879 to 1953, with a particular focus on the emergence of labour camps, and was defended in September 2019 at the University of Amsterdam.
She received her MA in social sciences in 2013 from École normale supérieure in Paris, and holds an undergraduate degree in history (2011) from the Moscow State University.
