Geoffrey Hosking is Emeritus Professor of Russian History at University College London. He first became interested in Russia/the USSR during the Khrushchev ‘thaw’ and has taught at the universities of Essex, Cologne, Wisconsin-Madison and UCL (School of Slavonic and East European Studies). His many publications include Russia: People and Empire (Harper Collins, 1997), Rulers and Victims: the Russians in the Soviet Union (Harvard University Press, 2006) and Trust: Money, Markets and Society (Calcutta and London: Seagull Books, 2010). At SSEES he taught a great variety of courses, covering at one time or another all periods of Russian history, especially the late imperial and Soviet periods, and also aspects of Central and East European history. He is a member of the British Academy and in 2015 he was awarded an OBE for ‘services to higher education and students.’