Staff
Dr. Koba Turmanidze
DirectorFrom 2005-2011, he was an Assistant Professor at Tbilisi State University, where he taught comparative politics, economies in transition, research methods and applied statistics courses in the Department of Political Science and the Center for Social Sciences.
Dr. David Sichinava
Research DirectorDavid Sichinava has been working for CRRC since 2009 on various positions. Currently, his work focuses on the development of evidence-based policy documents as well as on statistical modeling of survey and spatial data. David holds his undergraduate and graduate degrees in Human Geography from Tbilisi State University (TSU). In the fall semester of 2016 he was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the Institute of Behavioral Sciences of the University of Colorado Boulder. Apart from his work at CRRC-Georgia, David is an assistant professor at Tbilisi State University.
David’s research interests are focused on political geography, urban theory, election modeling and GIS applications in social sciences. He teaches introductory and advanced research methods classes at TSU and supervises graduate student research papers at TSU and Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA).
Kristina Vacharadze
Programs DirectorGiorgi Babunashvili
Senior Policy AnalystPrior to joining CRRC, Giorgi worked as a Lead Research Associate in a team evaluating the Ilia Chavchavadze Program for Reforming and Strengthening Georgian Secondary Education System, as a Research Assistant for Centre for Social Studies and a Project Administrative Officer in Union Business League.
His research interests are political parties and processes of political transition in post-Soviet societies.
Dr. Tamar Khoshtaria
Senior ResearcherTamar holds a PhD in Sociology from the Tbilisi State University, where she teaches quantitative and qualitative research methods. She holds her B.A. and M.A. in Social Science (Sociology) from the same university. During her M.A. she was awarded a scholarship and studied at the Humboldt-University Berlin for one year where she conducted qualitative research in family sociology.
Before joining CRRC, she conducted research projects for various organizations. Her research interests are the values of young people, social and religious issues as well as intercultural comparisons.
Mariam Kobaladze
Senior ResearcherMariam Kobaladze holds a B.A. in English language from Ilia State University and an M.A. in Social and Political Sciences from Tbilisi State University, Center for Social Sciences.
Prior to joining CRRC, Mariam worked with a long-term observation team for parliamentary elections in 2008. She was NDI's parliamentary intern for one year, serving at the Speaker's Office. Mariam also worked at the English-language newspaper Georgia Today, both as a contributor and as an executive editor. Her research interests include the influence of media on public opinion, disinformation, and the development of democracy in transitional countries.
Anano Kipiani
Policy AnalystAnano Kipiani took up the Policy Analyst position at CRRC-Georgia in 2016. Her main duties and responsibilities include determining impediments to agricultural insurance uptake in Georgia, providing input on research design, conducting interviews with key informants in the public and private sectors, and supporting qualitative and quantitative data analysis.
Anano holds a Master's Degree in Economics from ISET - International School of Economics at TSU. Her master’s thesis discussed the state of food security and its measurement methodologies in Georgia. She also holds a Bachelor's Degree in Informatics from TSU. Before joining CRRC, Anano worked on USAID’s Project on Georgia's Restoring Efficiency to Agriculture Production (REAP). She is a co-founder of the organization “High Bird Solutions”, which implements projects with special focuses on agriculture and development.
Her main research interests include the agricultural, social and education sectors.
Dustin Gilbreath
Non-resident senior fellowPrior to joining CRRC, he worked as an English teacher, freelance writer, editor and translator, and then as a lecturer in tourism geography at Batumi Shota Rustaveli State University. Dustin holds an MA in Political Science from Central European University and a BA in Philosophy from Skidmore College.
His research interests include applications of matching in evaluation contexts, quasi-experimental design, and political communications. Dustin speaks English and Georgian.
Eto Gagunashvili
ResearcherEto mainly works on research instrument development and qualitative and quantitative data analysis. She is also involved in ODK form development and fieldwork management procedures.
Eto holds B.A. in Social Sciences and M.A. in Sociology from Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (TSU).
Elene Ergeshidze
ResearcherCurrently Elene works on qualitative and quantitative data analysis. Moreover, she is involved data collection management, fieldwork planning and preparation. She works on the development of research instruments, programming of questionnaires in ODK form and data cleaning.
Elene holds BA in sociology from Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (TSU) and Master in Public Administration from the joint program of the TSU and German University of Administrative Sciences Speyer.
Elene’s research interests include public policy issues, including the development of local self-government, and civic engagement.
Makhare Atchaidze
ResearcherMakhare mostly works on qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis, including fieldwork management, ODK form programming and data cleaning. He also formats reports and creates infographics, posters, and other visual/printing materials.
Makhare holds B.A. in Sociology and M.A. in Sociology of Culture and Media from Tbilisi State University. He is currently studying for his PhD in Sociology of Culture and Media at the TSU.
Makhare's research interests include ethnic identity, nationalism, and migration issues.
Nino Zubashvili
ResearcherOver the years, Nino has worked mostly for the civil society sector on social research, monitoring and evaluation, policy analysis, and development programs around the issues of civic development, peace processes, youth and volunteering, gender, and migration. She has previous experience of working with CRRC-Georgia team on various positions as well. Nino holds an MSc in Development Studies from Lund University, an MA in Political Science from Tbilisi State University and a BA in European Studies from Ilia State University.
Her research interests include civic participation, attitudinal effects on minority integration and peace processes, as well as methodological issues in social sciences.
Givi Silagadze
ResearcherGivi Silagadze joined the CRRC-Georgia team in 2021. Previously, he worked as a junior policy analyst at the Georgian Institute of Politics. His main duties and responsibilities at CRRC-Georgia include quantitative and qualitative research and analysis.
Givi holds an MA in Political Science from Central European University, an MA in Diplomacy and International Politics from Tbilisi State University and a BA in Political Science from Tbilisi State University. During his MA studies, he specialized in political research methodology and social analysis.
His major research interests include democratization and its challenges, parties and party systems, and political research methodology.
Tinatin Bandzeladze
ResearcherTinatin Bandzeladze is a PhD of Applied Social Psychology at Tbilisi State University. As an exchange program student, she studied for a doctoral degree at Coruna University, Spain. She holds B.A and M.A. in psychology from Tbilisi State University. She is a visiting lecturer at TSU and GIPA (Georgian Institute of Public Affairs), as well as a trainer at the Training Center of Justice. Since 2015, she has worked in the law enforcement system, including on a position of the Head of the Department of Psychology, where her work has been related to psychologicalresearch and assessment, educational programs in legal psychology, and also investigative process related to juveniles in contact with the law.
Her research interests include issues related to the psychosocial factors of deviation, juvenile justice, legal culture, and socialization.
Salome Dolidze
ResearcherKeti Japaridze
Operations ManagerElza Narimanishvili
Admin-Finance ManagerElza Narimanishvili joined CRRC-Georgia in June 2013. Before joining CRRC, Elza worked as a Finance Manager at Save the Children International. She has more than ten years of experience in financial management, accounting, taxation budgeting, and donor reporting. She has managed several international donor funded grants and sub-grants.
Elza holds a Masters’ degree in Philology from Iv. Javakhishvili State University, and a diploma in English Language and Literature from the same university.
In 2003, Elza was awarded certificate of International Accounting Standards and Tax Systems by the Georgian Federation of Professional Accountants and Auditors (GFPAA).
She has undergone several certified trainings and courses in Georgia and abroad.
Nino Stavridi
Communications and Development OfficerNino has a Masters’ Degree in Public Relations from Georgian Technical University and a Bachelor's Degree in Greek Language and Literature from Tbilisi State University. Her Masters’ thesis is about the role of media in the formation of public opinion. Nino has done post-graduate studies in both Greece and Cyprus.