Scientific and Technological Quality of Previous Research

Previous research of Dr. Markin has high scholarly quality. This claim support recent publication of his doctoral dissertation, appearance of his articles in peer reviewed journals, and forthcoming reviews in scholarly periodicals. Of relevance to this research project is the distinction between the qualitative and quantitative criteria of quality. Technology and science favor linear criteria of quality evaluation that correspond to quantitative measurement scales. In contrast, culture and art demand non-linear criteria of evaluation that assign quality in terms of qualitative description. For the twenty-first century, cultural competences are key drivers of future development of modernity. From this point of view, the criteria of quality evaluation have also to accomodate to literary theory, cultural studies, and interdisciplinary expertise. In each of these areas, Dr. Markin has a proven record. For his graduate education, he specialized in European Studies in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His graduate reserarch project on "Ukrainian Contemporary Art: Civil Society, Inernational Organizations and Public Sphere" has won research competitions at the Department of Sociology, the Helmut Kohl Institute for European Studies, and Canadian Institute for Ukrainian Studies, Canada, in years 2001-2003. His graduate thesis has been published by GRIN Verlag, Germany.

Prior to that Dr. Markin has won an international competition for the research grant by Open Society Institute for participation in the Summer Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University, USA, in 1998. Among other research awards Dr. Markin has won, this shows the opinion of international selection committees on the quality of his scholarly work. It is on the strength of his extant academic record that Dr. Markin was accepted to the grauduate course of study at the Hebrew University. Having barely finished his Master's degree, Dr. Markin has been accepted to a unique doctoral program in Modern Languages and Cultural Studies of the University of Alberta, Canada, winning a major recruitment scholarship in 2003 on the strength of his research proposal, publication record, and academic activity. It is these qualities that allowed him to put together an interdisciplinary doctoral supervision committee, successfully pass comprehensive and final doctoral examinations, and publish parts of his output in European peer reviewed journals, such as Kakanien Revisited, and in European academic publishing houses, such as GRIN Verlag. Throughout his doctoral studies, Dr. Markin has taken part in a wide range of research initiatives that ranged from internet platforms for scholarly archives, such as StreetPrint Project, through research involving proficiency in Spanish and Portuguese languages, such as collaboration on encyclopedia of Latin American writers, to work with primary sources in French language, such as content analysis of Cahiers Leon Trotsky.

Overall, the current specialization of Dr. Markin in German Studies comes on the heels of his deep knowledge of both classics of German sociology, such as Georg Simmel and Walter Benjamin, and contemporary German sociological works, such as those authored by Richard Münch and Gerhard Schulze. His book review of a book on communications society by Richard Münch is forthcoming in Space and Culture Journal. It is hard to overestimate the value that his proficiency in English, French, and German languages has for the quality of his research.