Charlie Walker is Associate Professor in the Comparative Sociology of Russia, Eastern Europe and Eurasia at The University of Southampton. He holds a PhD in Russian and Eastern European Studies from the University of Birmingham and was previously postdoctoral fellow at the Russian and Eurasian Studies Centre, St Antony's College, University of Oxford. His work has addressed transformations relating to gender and social class, employment, education, migration, social protection, disability, and youth transitions in Russia and the former Soviet Union. His most recent projects explore contemporary constructions of masculinity and the lives of working-class men in Russia and Ukraine, and the experiences of young people leaving care in Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia and Estonia.