YEREVAN, Armenia — The American University of Armenia (AUA) is proud to share that Associate Professors in the Manoogian Simone College of Business and Economics (CBE) Dr. Knar Khachatryan (principal investigator) and Dr. Vardan Baghdasaryan, together with scholars from the Stockholm School of Transition Economics (SITE) in Sweden, have been granted a two-year Eastern Partnership Cooperation Project from the Swedish Institute.
The “Closing gender gaps through economics research in Armenia” project, which started in September 2024, aims to enhance research capacity in gender economics at AUA and leverage that capacity to inform the public and policymakers on the existence of gender gaps in Armenian society, as well as their causes, consequences, and potential solutions.
Two major groups of activities will be designed and implemented for achieving the project’s objectives: the organization of workshops in gender economics aimed at providing training and networking opportunities to AUA faculty members, and the development of a joint research project designed to address women’s underrepresentation in STEM fields.
“The AUA and SITE team of scholars plan to organize workshops and seminars involving both local and international researchers working on issues of gender inequality. Next, we plan to apply the know-how and networks acquired through these workshops and seminars to coordinate the production of policy reports and podcast episodes on gender gaps in Armenia. Finally, we will collaborate with the CareerLab Career and Mobility Center in Armenia to design a career orientation module to inspire young women to choose STEM fields in their studies. We plan to run randomized interventions at public schools in Armenia that will allow rigorous evaluation of the effectiveness of the module and thus advance local knowledge on appropriate tools to address gender gaps in educational choices,” said Dr. Khachatryan.
The project is led by Dr. Pamela Campa, associate professor of economics at SITE. Dr. Campa and her SITE colleagues will provide valuable expertise for the implementation of the project and for building policy analysis capacities at CBE. The project will also facilitate AUA’s formal integration into the Forum for Research on Eastern Europe and Emerging Economies (FREE Network) supported by SITE.
SITE is a leading research and policy center on economic development in low- and middle-income countries, with a particular emphasis on transition in the former Soviet Union and Central and Eastern Europe. The SITE faculty members who will be engaged in this project possess extensive knowledge and experience in gender economics and are engaged in various professional communities.
Founded in 1991, the American University of Armenia (AUA) is a private, independent university located in Yerevan, Armenia, affiliated with the University of California, and accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission in the United States. AUA provides local and international students with Western-style education through top-quality undergraduate and graduate degree and certificate programs, promotes research and innovation, encourages civic engagement and community service, and fosters democratic values.
