Kelly O’Neill

Kelly O'Neill is a historian of the Russian Empire and an advocate of spatial history. Her first book, Claiming Crimea: A History of Catherine the Great’s Southern Empire, was published by Yale University Press in 2017. In 2018 she established The Imperiia Project, which integrates history, geographic information science, and historical cartography. She teaches, conducts training workshops, and regularly presents her research to audiences ranging from high school students to colleagues at academic institutions around the world. Kelly holds both a Ph.D. in history and a master's in regional studies from Harvard, the latter from our REECA Program.