is the Robert and Florence McDonnell Professor of East European Studies, a Professor of History and (by courtesy) of German Studies, and Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution and (by courtesy) of the Freeman-Spogli Institute for International Studies. Norman formerly served as the Sakurako and William Fisher Family Director of the Stanford Global Studies Division, the Burke Family Director of the Bing Overseas Studies Program, the Convener of the European Forum (predecessor to The Europe Center), Chair of the History Department, and the Director of Stanford’s Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies. Norman earned his Ph.D. in History from Stanford University in 1972 and before returning to join the faculty in 1988, he was a professor of history at Boston University and a fellow of the Russian Research Center at Harvard. He also held the visiting Catherine Wasserman Davis Chair of Slavic Studies at Wellesley College. He has been awarded the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (1996), the Richard W. Lyman Award for outstanding faculty volunteer service (1995), and the Dean's Teaching Award from Stanford University for 1991-92 and 2002-3. Norman is interested in modern Eastern European and Russian history and his research focuses on Soviet policies and actions in Europe after World War II and on genocide and ethnic cleansing in the twentieth century. His published monographs on these topics include The History of the "Proletariat": The Emergence of Marxism in the Kingdom of Poland, 1870–1887 (1979, Columbia University Press), Terrorists and Social Democrats: The Russian Revolutionary Movement under Alexander III (1983, Harvard University Press), The Russians in Germany: The History of The Soviet Zone of Occupation, 1945–1949 (1995, Harvard University Press), The Establishment of Communist Regimes in Eastern Europe (1998, Westview Press), Fires of Hatred: Ethnic Cleansing In 20th Century Europe (2001, Harvard University Press), and Stalin's Genocides (2010, Princeton University Press). Moreover, he is the author and editor of numerous additional articles, books, and chapters. In his latest book, Genocide: A World History (2016, Oxford University Press), Norman builds upon his earlier work by presenting the entire history of genocide in a single comprehensive but concise volume. The book examines numerous genocides that occurred between those in ancient civilizations and the post-Cold War genocides in the Balkans and Darfur including the warrior genocides such as during the expansion of the Mongolian empire, communist genocides such as those under Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot, and anti-communist genocides as occurred during the Guatemalan civil war. This book contributes to the literature not only by providing a single, complete presentation of the history of genocide but also by its inclusion of social and political groups as subjects of mass extermination. In so doing, Norman is able to identify additional episodes of genocide throughout history, thereby facilitating a better understanding of how mass murder has been used as a political tool and how it has developed over time. Having completed Genocide: A World History, Norman is turning his attention to his other major research stream: the pos-twar history of Europe and, in particular, the period from the end of WWII to 1948/49. He is currently working on a book manuscript that builds upon earlier work in which he examines what happens after war and genocide.
E-mail: naimark@stanford.edu

is an Assistant Professor at the University of Bucharest. She is the co-author of Education, Politics, and Propaganda: Romanian Students in Nazi Germany (in Romanian, 2016) and Culture and Propaganda. The Romanian Institute in Berlin, 1940-1945 (in Romanian, with Lucian Nastasă-Kovacs, 2018). Postdoc grant holder: “Forms of soft power in Cold War Europe. Humboldt fellowships for Romanian scholars (1967-1989)”.
E-mail: irina_nastasa@yahoo.com

is a Professor with the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania, the Design Engineering and Robotics Department. He is specialised in 3D scanning, computed aided modelling and the design and simulation of production systems. His expertise includes aspects related to the digitalizing of cultural heritage objects in 3D format and their digital restoration. He authored more than 100 studies in speciality journals and volumes of which 25 focus on various aspects related to the digitalizing of the cultural heritage objects and their promoting. He is the editor of two journals indexed Web of Science (ISI) Journal of Ancient History and Archaeology (http://www.jaha.org.ro) and Acta Technica Napocensis Series: Applied Mathematics, Mechanics and Engineering (https://atna-mam.utcluj.ro/index.php/Acta).
E-mail: alin.neamtu@muri.utcluj.ro

is a researcher at the Institute of Legal, Political, and Sociological Research at Moldova State University (since 2017) and, since May 2025, a lecturer in Southeast European Studies at the University of Regensburg. He was a Humboldt Fellow (2020–2023) at the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (IOS) in Regensburg, later continuing there as a researcher and subsequently as a fellow at the Aleksanteri Institute in Helsinki. In 2025, he served as a social science expert for the EU-funded VCA4D project in Moldova. He holds a PhD in Sociology from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris and has been Associate Professor at the Free International University of Moldova, as well as a visiting scholar at EHESS Paris and the University of Bucharest. His research has been supported by fellowships from the Fulbright Program (UC Berkeley), the New Europe College, the Gerda Henkel Foundation, and the Open Society Foundations. He currently directs the PLURAL Forum for Interdisciplinary Studies in Chișinău and co-edits Plural: History, Culture, Society, a Scopus-indexed journal. His work focuses on nation-building, education, public perceptions of war and peace, and social welfare and poverty in Eastern Europe and the former USSR.
E-mail: petru.negura@sti.usm.md
ORCID no: 0000-0001-5337-0767

is a scientific researcher within the Agency for Military Science and Memory of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Moldova. Member of the Association of Military Historians. His major academic interests are recent history and military history of the Republic of Moldova. Among his recent works are Cojocaru Gh., Ciobanu V., Balan Gh., Noroc Al., Chirilenco Al., Omagiu și recunoștință: În memoria eroilor căzuți în luptele de la Nistru, Chișinău: Bons Offices, 2017, and Noroc L., Al. Noroc, „Mass-media, metode de influență versus dreptul la informare și formarea gândirii critice”, Educația în spiritual valorilor naționale și universal din perspective dialogului pedagogic, Chișinău: UPS „Ion Creangă”, Garamond Studio, 2020, 403-412.
E-mail: alexandrunoroc1969@gmail.com

Ph.D., head of the History and Geography Department, Faculty of Philology and History of the “Ion Creangă” State Pedagogical University of Moldova. She is the author of more 60 scientific publications. Her major academic interests are Culture of Bessarabia in 1918-1940, political history.
E-mail: larisa.noroc@gmail.com

is an Associate Professor of Classical Archaeology at the University in Trnava, Slovakia. Her research focuses on the archaeology of Archaic and Classical Greece, Hellenistic art and architecture, funerary rites in Anatolia, epigraphy, and the use of written sources. Currently, she is engaged in environmental studies of the ancient world, including water management, climate change, and biodiversity decline in antiquity. Her most significant publications include “Greeks who dwelt beyond the sea: people, places, monuments”, published by Rudolf Habelt in 2019 as part of the Universitätsforschungen zur prähistorischen Archäologie series (Volume 333). Another key work is “Tombs and burial customs in the Hellenistic Karia”, published by the same publisher in 2016 (Volume 282).
E-mail: lucia.novakova@truni.sk
ORCID no. 0000-0001-9595-2351