Dr Stepanova heads Peace and Conflict Studies Unit and is a Chief Researcher at National Research Institute of the World Economy & International Relations (IMEMO), Moscow, and a Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) Professor. Her research and publications focus on armed conflicts, insurgencies, terrorism and radicalization, violent networks, peace processes and peace-building, human security, and political economy of conflicts.


Author of 228 publications in ten languages. Nine individual monographs include “Between War and Peace: Peace Processes and Armed Violence” (IMEMO, 2023; Tehran: Peace Culture Charter, 2024), “ISIS and the Phenomenon of Foreign Terrorist Fighters in Syria and Iraq” (IMEMO, 2020) and “Terrorism in Asymmetrical Conflict: Ideological and Structural Aspects” (Oxford University Press, 2008). Her edited volumes and special issues include “Peace Processes, Violence and De Facto States” (2022), “Humanitarian Challenges, Humanitarian Support and Human Protection in Armed Conflicts” (2018), “Addressing Terrorism, Violent Extremism and Radicalization: Perspectives from Russia and the United States” (2017), and “Terrorism: Patterns of Internationalization” (New Delhi: Sage, 2009). She is editor-in-chief of Russia's only academic journal on peace and conflict studies, “Pathways to Peace and Security”.

Prof. Stepanova teaches at the International Programs at MGIMO-University and at the IMEMO/MGIMO M.A. program "Political Economy of International Relations". She serves as an expert at the Global Peace Index international methodology panel, as the IMEMO contact point for the UN Counterterrorism Committee Executive Directorate's Global Research Network and is a member of the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime.