Dr. Vladimir YAKUNIN

Chairman of the Supervisory Board
Dialogue of Civilizations Research Institute

Vladimir Yakunin is a co-founder and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Dialogue of Civilizations Research Institute. He also chairs the Department of State Governance at Lomonosov Moscow State University

Vladimir Yakunin graduated from the Leningrad Institute of Mechanics as a Mechanical Engineer in 1972. He worked with the Administration of the State Committee of the Council of Ministers of the USSR for Foreign Trade and as a department head at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Ioffe Physical-Technical Institute. He began his career in the diplomatic corps, serving at the USSR Permanent Representative office to the United Nations in New York. He subsequently held a number of senior positions in the private and public sectors, including Deputy Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation.

In 2005, Dr. Yakunin was appointed President of Russian Railways, a position he held for 10 years. Landmark projects implemented under his leadership included high-speed railway lines, the transport infrastructure for the 2014 Sochi Olympics, and international transport corridors. During this period, Dr. Yakunin also served as Chairman of the International Union of Railways (UIC), the first Russian to hold this position.

Dr. Yakunin, who holds a doctorate in political science, co-founded the World Public Forum Dialogue of Civilizations (WPFDC) in 2003 as a result of his strong and long-standing interest in social sciences and international affairs. The same year saw the inaugural Rhodes Forum, an annual gathering of leaders from the business, academic, diplomatic, and political communities, including current and former heads of state and government, to discuss crucial issues of the world development. In 2016, the WPFDC was transformed into the Dialogue of Civilizations Research Institute (DOC) with its headquarters in Berlin, with Dr. Yakunin as Chairman of the Supervisory Board. The DOC is an international think tank that works closely with partners including the UN, UNESCO, OECD, T20, SCO, and other international organisations, as well as other think tanks, foundations and the private sector.

Currently, Dr. Yakunin serves as the Head of the Department of State Governance at Moscow State University and as a Visiting Professor at Peking University. In Russia, he also leads a number of public, philanthropic, social and educational initiatives.

He regularly speaks at major international forums and leading universities on his key areas of expertise, including public policy and governance, geopolitics, geo-economics, sustainable infrastructure development, dialogue of civilizations and international relations.