Dr. Gayane Novikova is a Founding Director of the Spectrum Center for Strategic Analysis (since 2001) in Yerevan, Armenia, and Associate, the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (since September, 2016). Her academic career began at the Institute of Oriental Studies at the National Academy of Science of Armenia (1978-2000). In 1994-2000, Dr. Novikova was employed as a Middle Eastern security issues analyst at the Armenian Center for National and International Studies (Yerevan). She was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University (2008-2009), and in 2009-2013 a Visiting Scholar at the Middle Eastern Languages and Civilizations Department and at the Davis Center (both Harvard University). In 2011, 2013, and 2018 Dr. Novikova was a Visiting Lecturer at the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, where she taught two courses: “Russia's Foreign Policy” and “International Relations in Eurasia: Politics and Security in the Caucasus.”
Dr. Novikova's areas of expertise cover international relations and regional security issues, including but not limited to ethno-political conflicts and unconventional threats, Russia's politics in the South Caucasus, and the EU Eastern Neighborhood Policy. She is the author of 5 books, including The Conflict Potential of the South Caucasus: The Geopolitical Dimension (2011), The Turkish-Israeli Strategic Partnership and Its Impact upon the Political Situation in the South Caucasus and the Middle East (1999), and more than 70 articles and chapters in peer-reviewed anthologies and journals. She served as editor-in-chief of the Spectrum's annual Regional Security Issues anthology. Dr. Novikova is the recipient of several awards, including the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation grant (1999-2000). In 2002-2006, Dr. Novikova was Co-Chair of the Regional Stability in the South Caucasus Study Group of the NATO Partnership for Peace (PfP) Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes. She is one of the founders of the George C. Marshall Center Armenian Alumni Association, and led this organization as its president in 2004-2018.