The Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies is pleased to announce that Isabelle DeSisto has been awarded the 2025-2026 Dissertation Grant for Graduate Students.
AABS awards grants of up to $4,000 to support doctoral dissertation research and write-up in any field of Baltic Studies. Funds may be used for travel to research site, equipment, duplication or other needs as specified.
Proposals are evaluated according to the scholarly potential of the applicant, and the quality and scholarly importance of the proposed work, especially to the development of Baltic Studies. Applicants must currently be enrolled in a PhD or MA program and have completed all requirements for a PhD/MA except the dissertation. Applicants must be members of the AABS at the time of submitting their application.
The 2025 applications were evaluated by the AABS 2025-2026 Grants and Awards Committee consisting of AABS VP for Professional Development Dr. Kaarel Piirimäe, AABS President Dr. Jörg Hackmann, and AABS Director-at-Large Dr. Dovilė Budrytė. Learn about the other 2025-2026 recipients here.
Isabelle DeSisto is a PhD candidate in Politics at Princeton University. She studies comparative politics with a regional focus on Eastern Europe. DeSisto’s dissertation examines the long-term effects of Soviet-era repression on contemporary political behavior in the region. In other research projects, she studies public opinion and propaganda in Russia, local governance in Ukraine, and the role of political exiles in revolutions.
Project Overview
DeSisto’s dissertation examines the long-term effects of political violence on voting and protest in Eastern Europe. She explores how the mass repressions of the Stalinist period continue to shape political behavior generations later. In particular, DeSisto is interested in how differences in political transitions and transitional justice policies enacted after communism have shaped both the way people remember the past and the channels through which victims’ families engage with the political system today. DeSisto’s research is mixed-methods, combining observational and experimental survey data with qualitative interviews conducted in Moldova, Kazakhstan, and Estonia. She plans to use the AABS Dissertation Grant to field a public opinion survey in Estonia to learn more about respondents’ family histories and political beliefs.