Archived news - RUSSIAN HONORARY FOR BANGOR ACADEMIC

A member of the University of Wales, Bangor's School of Social Sciences has received a rare honour from a university in the Russian Federation.

Prof Howard Davis, Professor of Social Theory and Institutions, has been awarded one of four Honorary Doctorates to mark the 200th anniversary of Kazan State University.

Prof Davis is the first sociologist to receive this title, usually awarded to a leading Russian scientist or academic, and the only international scholar to receive this recognition in recent years.

"It was a great honour to receive the award. It was totally unexpected and I was delighted because it shows that our international cooperation is highly valued in Russia," said Prof Davis.

Professor Davis is one of only a few western experts in the sociology of the Russian region of Tatarstan. He has been closely associated with Kazan State University over the last ten years, and his award is in recognition of his contribution to the development of the university since the end of the Soviet period. In conjunction with colleagues in Kazan University, Prof Davis has been investigating post-Soviet culture in the light of transformations bought about by political change, market processes and globalization. Russian sociology has also had to change from a Marxist/Leninist approach to one which encompasses the new political and social institutions. Prof Davis has worked closely with the university's Centre for the Sociology of Culture to enable them to develop their curriculum and research. This work was carried out under three major European Union projects under the Tempus Tacis scheme.

As well as visiting the republic of Tatarstan, of which Kazan is the capital, the work also involved the exchange of staff between Kazan and Bangor universities.