15TH ANNUAL ALEKSANTERI CONFERENCE “CULTURE AND RUSSIAN SOCIETY”, Helsinki, 21—23 October 2015 The Aleksanteri Conference is an annual, multidisciplinary, international conference organised by the Aleksanteri Institute, the Finnish Centre for Russian and Eastern European Studies, affiliated with the University of Helsinki. <...> The Aleksanteri Institute functions as a national centre of research, study and expertise relating to Russia and Eastern Europe, particularly in the social sciences and humanities. <...> It coordinates the Finnish Centre of Excellence in Russian Studies — Choices of Russian Modernisation which was funded by the Academy of Finland for the years 2012— 2017. <...> As the traditional frameworks and theories of individual disciplines are clearly inadequate for analysing the contradictory developments in Russia, the Centre of Excellence strives to redefine the agenda of Russian modernisation. <...> The multidisciplinary research conducted in the Centre of Excellence will produce a new paradigm for Russian studies. <...> At the same time, it will also provide a new platform for policy implications at the most basic level of EU-Russia relations. <...> As well as researchers from the Aleksanteri Institute, it consists of researchers from the Department of Modern Languages (Russian language and literature) at the University of Helsinki and the School of Management (Politics) at the University of Tampere. <...> In addition, several distinguished scholars from both Finland and abroad are involved as associated partners, including those from CEMAT (Aalto University) and the European University at Saint Petersburg, Russia. <...> Aleksanteri Conferences have attracted widespread interest among researchers and policy-makers in a wide variety of disciplines, both in Finland and abroad, interested in the development of post-socialist countries. <...> To be precise, there were 406 individuals who registered for participation, and many more attended without registration. <...> Besides the University of Helsinki, there were representatives from the Univer201 Russian Journal of Linguistics, Vestnik RUDN, 2015, N. 4 sity of Tampere, the University of Eastern Finland, the Finnish Institute of International Affairs and others. <...> Her current, AHRC-funded project, 'Mediating post-Soviet difference: an analysis of Russian television representation of inter-ethnic cohesion issues', addresses the Russian state television's approach to ethnic tensions. <...> Tolz’s interests include nationalism and ethnic politics in modern and contemporary Russia; oriental studies and national identity in imperial and early Soviet Russia; and comparative imperial history. <...> Evert van <...>