Timo Aava has been named the 2025/26 Anthony D. Smith Visiting Fellow at LSE IDEAS, The London School of Economics’ foreign policy think tank.
Timo Aava is a historian of modern Europe focusing on the history of political thought and minority rights. He holds a doctoral degree in history from the University of Vienna. He has held research positions at the Jacob Robinson Institute for the History of Individual and Collective Rights at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Austrian Academy of Sciences, the University of Vienna, and the Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies. In addition to the Anthony D. Smith Visiting Fellowship at LSE, in the 2024-2025 academic year, he will hold academic positions at Yale University and Harvard University.
During his fellowship at LSE, Timo Aava is working on a book manuscript on the history of non-territorial autonomy in Europe. Focusing on the case of Estonia in the first half of the twentieth century, the study explores the theory and practice of minority rights, paying particular attention to political debates and the functioning of the Jewish self-government body in the 1920s and 1930s. This monograph will offer a fresh interpretation of the state-building and political thought in interwar Europe and help to historically contextualise contemporary Baltic societies.
Professor Chris Alden, Director at LSE IDEAS, says:
‘’I am very pleased that Dr Timo Aava will be joining us as our Anthony D. Smith fellow in 2025. We remain ever grateful to Dr Diana Smith and Joshua Smith for their generous support for this important intellectual endeavour.’’
Timo Aava, says:
"I am grateful to LSE IDEAS for welcoming me as a visiting researcher and to the generous Anthony D. Smith Fellowship for making this research visit possible. This is a fantastic opportunity to continue working on my book manuscript, discuss my project with distinguished scholars like John Breuilly and John Hutchinson, and connect with other researchers here in London. The visit not only helps me refine the broader framing of my book but also allows me to consult valuable primary sources available in London. And, of course, the city's inspiring academic atmosphere makes working here especially enjoyable."
For more information about the fellowship, organised by the Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism (ASEN) and Nations and Nationalism, hosted by LSE IDEAS, visit: Anthony D. Smith Visiting Fellowship.
If you would like to support LSE IDEAS to provide more fellowships such as this and in many other ways please visit our supporters page here.