The internationally-renowned, multi-disciplinary Centre for Russian, European and Eurasian Studies (CREES) has been at the forefront of the study of the region for five decades. Established in 1963 as the Centre for Russian and East European Studies, the Centre celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2013 and marked the occasion with a special series of seminars and a larger than usual annual conference.

The wide-ranging research programme of the Centre includes studies of Russian, Ukrainian, Caucasian, Central Asian and European history, politics, security, economics, society and culture. CREES is one of the core institutions in the national strategy for developing language based area studies through the Centre for East European Language Based Area Studies (CEELBAS) initiative.

Members of CREES are actively involved in the policy process, with long-established relations with the UK government (especially the Foreign and Commonwealth Office), other national governments (such as the US Department of State), international organizations (such as the EU, OECD and EBRD), the business community, the media and countless organisations based in the region. We are actively seeking to strengthen and develop links with more of the user-end community.

We offer a warm welcome to scholars wishing to spend time at CREES to undertake research, meet with colleagues and make use of the University's Baykov Collection, which is one of the most important European research collections in the field of Russian, Eurasian and East European studies.