Robert Fredrick Chestnutt has a BSc from the Dublin Institute of Technology, a Masters in International Relations from Dublin City University and an MLitt in Middle East & Central Asian Security Studies from the University of St. Andrews. Robert’s doctoral research is focused on the elections in the Caspian region, on the country set of Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. The research, specifically, focuses on the cosmetic nature of elections in the region and questions why these regimes choose to have them.
In the past, Robert spent a number of months conducting fieldwork in Central Asia in 2013 examining elite networks and a set of criminalised sports clubs that act as private security to support their power base. In addition, Robert has spent the past number of years working for a London-based emerging markets consultancy firm, contributing to thematic reports and compiling region specific briefs principally focusing on the post-Soviet region and sub-Saharan Africa. Content has included tracking tech start-ups in sub-Saharan Africa, mining trends in the emerging markets, renewable energy developments in east-Africa and Latin America, agri-business, NOC and IOC trends in the regions.