Podcast

Irina Safaryan was born in a bunker during the First Karabakh War. Today, she is in Yerevan helping and assisting the women of Artsakh who were forced to flee the war launched by Azerbaijan a month ago. Leaving behind fathers, sons, husbands, brothers and their homes and lives, they are now holding rallies and protests in front of embassies and international organizations in Armenia’s capital demanding to be heard, demanding action, demanding the world’s condemnation. Irina is not only on the front lines with these women, she is one of the organizers.

David Barsamian of Alternative Radio speaks with Noam Chomsky, Institute Professor Emeritus at MIT about the Azerbaijani offensive in Artsakh, how the roots of the conflict stretch back through history when borders were drawn by powers pursuing their own self-interests and the need for international diplomacy. 

In Stepanakert, EVN Report’s Roubina Margossian spoke with Artsakh’s Ombudsman Artak Beglaryan about how the civilian population is being targeted by Azerbaijani forces, recent casualties, local and international journalists coming under fire, human rights violations and atrocities by the adversary and insufficient reaction and silence of the international community.

In Stepanakert, EVN Report's Roubina Margossian spoke with Armine Aleksyan, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh about the implications of Turkey's involvement, the arrival of mercenaries at the gates of Europe, the mandates of international organizations and their inaction and the need to look into history to understand the roots of the conflict.

Դարեր շարունակ գյուղատնտեսությունը եղել է հայ ժողովրդի կյանքի անբաժան մասը։ Երկրագործությամբ և անասնապահությամբ զբաղվող հայերն իրենց կենցաղը, ավանդույթներն ու ծեսերը հյուսել են գյուղատնտեսական առօրյայի շուրջ՝ սերունդներին փոխանցելով ահռելի ազգագրական ժառանգություն։ Մեր նորաստեղծ ամսագրի առաջին փոդքասթը հայ ժողովրդի կյանքում գյուղատնտեսության կարևորության, ավանդույթների և աշխատանքային երգերի մասին է։ Մասնակցությամբ՝ Սուրեն Հոբոսյանի - պատմական գիտությունների թեկնածու, ՀՀ ԳԱԱ հնագիտության և ազգագրության ինստիտուտի հայ ազգագրության բաժնի վարիչ Տորք Դալալյանի - բանասիրական գիտությունների թեկնածու, ՀՀ ԳԱԱ հնագիտության և ազգագրության ինստիտուտի բանահյուսության տեսության և պատմության բաժնի ավագ գիտաշխատող Նունե Աթանասյանի - արվեստագիտության թեկնածու, դոցենտ, Երևանի Կոմիտասի անվան կոնսերվատորիայի հայ երաժշտական ֆոլկլորագիտության ամբիոնի վարիչ։ Փոդքասթում հնչող ստեղծագործություններ՝ 1. Հայրիկ Մուրադյան - Բարի լուսո (Գութանի երգ) 2. Հասմիկ Հարությունյան - Հարի, հարի՛, խնոցի 3. Անուշ Հարությունյան - Հինգ էծ ունեմ (աղբյուրը՝ Հայկական ազգային երաժշտական գանձարան) 4. «Ակունք» ազգագրական համույթ - Սանդի երգ (աղբյուրը՝ Հայկական ազգային երաժշտական գանձարան) 5. Հայրիկ Մուրադյան - Լե լե խլպանե 6. Մարինե Մկրտչյան - Հաց կթխեմ, գարի ա 7. Բամբիռ - Վիշապազուն քուրմը կանչե 8. Լուսինե Ազարյան - Անձրևաբեր երգ (աղբյուրը՝ Հայկական ազգային երաժշտական գանձարան) 9. Ալեքսան Հարությունյան - Կալի երգ (աղբյուրը՝ Հայկական ազգային երաժշտական գանձարան) 10. Արթուր Շահնազարյան - Ձիգ տու, քաշի (աղբյուրը՝ Հայկական ազգային երաժշտական գանձարան) 11. Կարեն Զադիրյան, Կորյուն Հակոբյան- Սահարի (աղբյուրը՝ Հայկական ազգային երաժշտական գանձարան) 12. «Կարին» համույթ - Հորովել 13. Կոմիտաս Վարդապետ - Գութաներգ 14. Լուսիկ Քոշյան - Մաշինեն եկավ 15. Հայկ Մելիքյան - Կոմիտաս Վարդապետ, «Յոթ երգ դաշնամուրի համար» 16. Կոմիտաս Վարդապետ - Հով արեք, սարեր ջան Ձայնագրել և խմբագրել է Արփինե Հարոյանը:

Andre Gumuchdjian, a Belgian-Armenian philanthropist and entrepreneur was determined to eliminate his carbon footprint. That desire turned into My Forest Armenia, an initiative he launched two years ago with the ambitious mission of helping to increase Armenia’s forest cover by planting 400,000 trees a year.

Haik Kazarian, co-CEO and CMO of Smart Apaga, a private waste management service is filling a need in Yerevan - collecting and delivering plastic, paper and glass waste to a number of private recycling companies looking for recyclable material. Over 1000 households and organizations are currently using the services of Smart Apaga, which is also set to launch an app to ensure an even better customer experience and benefits.

Ani Avagyan, Director of the ROCHEMP Center for Cultural Heritage in Armenia spoke about the importance of the preservation of historic districts in contemporary global cities, the importance of properly restoring and preserving tangible cultural heritage and how education is the key.

Mariam Torosyan, Co-founder and CEO of Impact Innovations Institute speaks about an app they have developed called Safe YOU, which seeks to raise awareness, consult and empower women through community. It assists in the battle against gender-based violence in three important ways: prevention, protection and prosecution. 

Kayaneh Madzounian recently moved to Yerevan from Lebanon a few days after the catastrophic explosion at the port of Beirut on August 4. An expert in education, she spoke about being a child of the Civil War, the state of Armenian schools in Lebanon, living with trauma, preserving Western Armenian and more.

In the ensuing hours following the massive explosion in Beirut on August 4, the Howard Karagheusian Primary Health Care Center in Bourj Hammoud, treated 341 people while half the staff was clearing away the rubble and shattered glass from the damaged building. The director of the center, Serop Ohanian says being resilient is not easy but it is the only choice. And while it is anticipated that many people, especially the young, might leave the Armenian communities of the Middle East, Ohanian says the Center will always be there to take care of those left behind.

Gayane Vardanyan, a Yerevan City Councillor from the My Step faction spoke to EVN Report about some of the biggest challenges that city officials have had to deal with since coming to power almost two years ago from waste collection to replacing elevators.

Korioun Khatchadourian, the Managing Director of Children of Armenia Fund (COAF), spoke to EVN Report about their grassroots approach to development, their work in the border regions of Armenia and their COVID-19 response.

Bishop Bagrat Galstanyan, the Primate of the Diocese of Tavush speaks about the strength, patriotism and resilience of the people living in the border villages and towns along the Armenia-Azerbaijan state border. He says the imperative is to develop and strengthen infrastructure and institutions in Tavush and it is the responsibility of the Armenian nation to support them through investments and not only charity.

After Azerbaijani forces began shelling Armenian positions on the international border between the two countries on July 12, Azerbaijani hackers launched cyber attacks on a number of Armenian state and media websites and vice versa. Digital security consultant and co-founder of CyberHub Artur Papyan explains the logic, history and potential danger of this hybrid warfare.

Narek Manukyan, co-founder of Paradigma Educational Foundation speaks to EVN Report about “EdCamp Armenia” the first general education and teaching conference that took place online with the participation of thousands of teachers from across the country.

Dr. Suren Manukyan, Head of the new UNESCO Chair on Education and Prevention of Genocide and Other Atrocity Crimes at Yerevan State University (YSU) speaks about the establishment of the chair, the goals and objectives in raising awareness about genocides and contributing to the formation of global policies aimed at condemning and preventing genocides. Each year, UNESCO selects a number of projects in various countries to establish chairs that promote international inter-university cooperation and networking to enhance institutional capacities through knowledge sharing and collaborative work.  Since 2017, Dr. Manukyan has been the head of the Department of Genocide Studies at YSU, Institute for Armenian Studies, as well as head of the Department of Comparative Genocide Studies of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute (AGMI) since 2018. He served as Deputy Director of AGMI from 2007-2018 and is an adjunct lecturer at the American University of Armenia. 

Dr. Nerses Kopalyan puts the criminal case against Gagik Tsarukyan, leader of the opposition Prosperous Armenia Party into context and says that knowing the scope and depth of the case against him was serious, Tsarukyan went on the offensive by attacking the government so that once charges were filed, he could claim political persecution.

Egor Zaitsev, the World Health Organization Representative in Armenia says that the Armenian government’s decision to implement a lockdown was timely, however, the issue was with enforcement and lifting the lockdown too soon, especially when cases were increasing.

Boris Navasardyan, President of Yerevan Press Club spoke with EVN Report about the current media landscape, the politicization of the media since independence, challenges of misinformation and fake news especially in the midst of a global pandemic, media regulation and self-regulation and more.

Professor Philip Leach is the lead counsel in the ECHR case of Makuchyan and Minasyan v. Hungary and Azerbaijan. He spoke to EVN Report about the May 26 Chamber judgment, which found Azerbaijan in procedural violation of Article 2 (right to life) of the European Convention on Human Rights. The case involved the 2012 extradition to Azerbaijan of Ramil Safarov, who murdered Lt. Gurgen Margaryan in Budapest, Hungary in 2004. Safarov received a hero’s welcome in Baku, was granted a presidential pardon, received an apartment, was promoted to Major and received eight years worth of backpay. Phillip Leach is a professor of Human Rights Law at Middlesex University and the director of the European Human Rights Advocacy Center.

Founder and CEO of WineWorks, Vahe Keushguerian speaks about the impact of COVID-19 on Armenia’s wine industry and how it revealed trends in the consumption of wine. 

EVN Report-ի փոդքասթում խմբագիր Ռուբինա Մարկոսեանը մատենագետ, ազգագրագետ, Հայ մատենագրութեան թուանշանային գրադարանի ծրագրերի ղեկավար Մերուժան Կարապետեանի հետ զրուցում է հայոց լեզվի ուղղագրության, հայ գրականության ժառանգության, դրա արդիականության, թվայնացման կարևորության  և այլնի մասին։

Sara Anjargolian, Chief of Staff of the Office of the High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs spoke to EVN Report about how they are helping to pull in the invaluable resources of the Diaspora to assist local medical professionals battling on the front lines against COVID-19 in Armenia, highlighting the importance of a strong Armenia-Diaspora partnership.

While there might be an increasing appreciation in the world for Soviet modernist architecture and some surviving prominent examples in Armenia, the first in depth, multidisciplinary publication on Soviet Armenian modernism is about the city of Metsamor. A conversation with visual artist Katharina Roters and architect Sarhat Petrosyan about what makes Metsamor distinctive not only in Armenia but also in the world. 

UNDP Resident Representative Dmitry Mariyasin speaks about the 2019 Human Development Report, labor market gaps in Armenia, the importance of data collection in designing policy, how technology is changing the way we live, climate change and much more.

Like the rest of the country , EVN Report’s staff have been in self-quarantine for almost a month. We talk honestly about the challenges of working remotely while in isolation and having to be ready at any time of the day or night to report the news.

Tania Chichmanian, Executive Director of the Armenian Volunteer Corps (AVC), speaks about the work of her organization, how attitudes towards volunteerism are changing in Armenia and the impact volunteerism has on communities.

Մեր փոդքասթները ևս անցել են արտակարգ ռեժիմի ու այս անգամ մենք խնդրել ենք մարդկանց ձայնագրել իրենց ու պատմել, թե ինչո՞վ են զբաղվում տնային ռեժիմում գտնվելու ժամանակ, ի՞նչ են մտածում աշխարհում ու Հայաստանում տիրող իրավիճակի մասին ու ի՞նչն են կարոտում ամենից շատ:

Ruzanna Safaryan, an expert in tech education and ecosystem development and head of the UNDP ImpactAim Accelerator program speaks to EVN Report about tech/IT education, their accelerator programs and about Armenian women in tech.

Egor Zaitsev, World Health Organization Representative in Armenia spoke to EVN Report about the situation of the coronavirus pandemic, what UN agencies in Armenia are doing to assist the government and what we should all be doing as part of our social responsibility to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Karena Avedissian, author of the White Paper, “Retraining Healthcare Professionals: Preventing the Institutionalization of Infants with Disabilities in Armenia” speaks to EVN Report about the necessity of training and working with medical staff in maternity wards to provide them with the proper tools to help parents make informed decisions.

Ժամանակ կար՝ 90-ականների սկզբին, երբ Երևանի «Զվարթնոց» օդանավակայանից երկու կանոնավոր չվերթ էր գործում՝ մեկը դեպի Մոսկվա, մյուսը ռուսական մեկ այլ քաղաք։ Նախորդ դարավերջին սկսված այս գործընթացն արդեն շարունակվում է մոտ երեք տասնամյակ և արդեն աշխարհի բոլոր ուղղություններով։ Մարդիկ հեռանալու տարբեր եղանակներ են որոնել ու գտել  և իրենց պատմությունները պատմել օրագրերին։ Եվ, չնայած դրանց երբեմն չափազաց անձնական բնույթին, մեզ հաջողվել է հավաքել մոտ մեկ տասնյակ օրագրեր, որոնք վավերագրում են Հայաստանը լքողների քողարկված զգացմունքները։  Կարդում է հոդվածի հեղինակ ՝ Արեն Մելիքյանը:

Six women of different generations and backgrounds sit down together and discuss the significance of International Women's Day marked around the world on March 8. And we all work at EVN Report.

EVN Report-ի փոդքասթում խմբագիր Ռուբինա Մարկոսեանը զրուցում է «ԱՐԻ» գրական գործակալության հիմնադիր, գրական գործակալ Արևիկ Աշխարոյանի հետ հայ ժամանակակից գրականության, գրող - գործակալ հարաբերությունների, հայ գրողներին միջազգային ընթերցողին ներկայացնելու և Հայաստանում ընթերցողների համայնքի անհրաժեշտության և այլնի մասին։ 

Armenia’s Minister of Health Arsen Torosyan speaks with EVN Report about actions and measures the Armenian government is taking to inform the population about the coronavirus, what they’re doing to contain the single case of the virus registered in the country and to ensure new cases are prevented.

EVN Report-ի փոդքասթում խմբագիր Ռուբինա Մարկոսեանը զրուցում է պատմական գիտությունների դոկտոր Հասմիկ Խալափյանի հետ՝ Օսմանյան կայսրությունում հայ կանանց գործունեության, դիրքի, ֆեմինիզմի առաջին ալիքի, կանանց կրթության և վճարովի աշխատանքի պահանջի և այլնի մասին։ 

Tsovinar Harutyunyan, the Assistant Representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) spoke to EVN Report about the demographic situation in Armenia, low fertility and high infertility rates, gender-based abortions and much more.

EVN Report-ի փոդքասթում խմբագիր Ռուբինա Մարկոսեանը հնագետ, Հայաստանի գիտությունների ազգային ակադեմիայի վաղ հնագիտության բաժնի գիտաշխատող Բորիս Գասպարյանի հետ զրուցում է Հայաստանում հայտնաբերված աշխարհի ամենահին կոշիկի, վաղ գինեգործական համալիրների, Արենիի քարանձավների չղջիկների, հնագիտության ոլորտում առկա խնդիրների և ապագա ծրագրերի մասին։ 

Maral Mikirditsian is the project manager of TUMO Studios, a free educational program for university-aged students and young professionals with a passion for craftsmanship and design. The innovative program holds educational workshops in fashion, jewelry, embroidery, pottery, printing, product design and the culinary arts.

Architect and planner Sarhat Petrosyan, the former head of the State Cadastre Committee, speaks to EVN Report about the need for reforms in the current model of construction and urban development governance, transparency, corruption risks and more.

Hayk Mkrtchyan of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports speaks about a new initiative to bring residents of different regions together to preserve and promote tangible and intangible cultural heritage, positioning museums in Armenia as centers of learning and much more.

EVN Report-ի փոդքասթում խմբագիր Ռուբինա Մարկոսեանը լրագրող, հրապարակագիր Լուսինե Հովհաննիսյանի հետ զրուցում է 1988-ի Ղարաբաղյան շարժման, հասարակության փոփոխության, ամբոխի և ընդվզման գաղափարների, ինչպես նաև երկրում մշակութային հեղափոխության անհրաժեշտության մասին։

Susanna Safaryan, head of Armenia’s Tourism Committee speaks about the successes, developments and challenges of the tourism sector, the different types of tourism available in the country, the importance of regional development and much more.

Defining Diaspora-Armenia relations and putting in place a mechanism which would be mutually beneficial to both the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian Diaspora has been a challenge since Armenia’s independence. Dr. Nerses Kopalyan’s White Paper, “Changing the Paradigm in Armenia-Diaspora Relations: State-Centered Institutions and Transnational Governance” deals with this very issue and takes a look at who and in what capacity should organize these multilayered relations.

Poghos Shahinyan, head of the National Road Safety Council of Armenia speaks to EVN Report about the increasing number of traffic accidents, lack of road safety knowledge and a new point system for Armenian drivers.

Emil Gevorgyan, who is a regular contributor to EVN Report, speaks about the government’s new agricultural strategy, the importance of the agricultural sector to Armenia’s development and more.

Իսկ Դուք գիտե՞ք կամ հիշու՞մ եք, թե ինչպիսին էր Նոր Տարվա անցուդարձը 1990-ականների մութ, ցուրտ, բայց մարդկային անսպառ ջերմությամբ լի Հայաստանում։ Մեր ամանօրյա հատուկ փոդքասթը նորանկախ Հայաստանի անլույս, անգազ ու անջուր առօրյայի, ամանօրյա պատրաստությունների, Ֆուջիկա վառարանների, մայրաքաղաքային աղցանի, դրսից եկած նվերվերի, և իհարկե մանդարինի մասին։

EVN Report speaks with lawmakers about the challenges and successes parliament has registered this past year. Member of Parliament Maria Karapetyan of the ruling My Step faction reflects on transparency and accountability, reforms and the need for a cultural transformation.

EVN Report speaks with lawmakers about the challenges and successes parliament has registered this past year. Member of Parliament Mane Tandilyan of the Bright Armenia faction reflects on a parliament struggling with lack of experience, the impact of social media and the critical role women are playing.

Information security expert and co-founder of civicert.am Samvel Martirosyan speaks about a new bill that if adopted would oblige all Internet Service providers in Armenia to collect and store data on their subscribers and more.

Ashot Sargsyan, the co-author of EVN Report's White Paper "Volunteering in Armenia: Key Issues and Challenges" speaks about the potential of volunteerism as a community building tool, a force capable of bringing about change and sustaining developmental goals when the country is short of manpower. Sargsyan also speaks about the need to promote volunteerism and establish regulations that will protect the volunteer and acknowledge his/her input. 

Tuomas Tuure is the Advocacy Officer of the Abilis Foundation, a Finnish organization working on development aid for people with disabilities. Tuure, who has worked on international disability rights for over a decade, spoke with EVN Report about self-advocacy for people with disabilities and the need for a holistic approach by all state institutions to ensure accessibility and inclusivity.

A special podcast series featuring ordinary people walking through the streets of Armenia’s capital city Yerevan. In this final episode of the EVN Walks series, your host is Isabella Sargsyan.

Melissa Bilal, an ethnomusicologist and assistant professor at the American University of Armenia spoke to EVN Report about Armenian feminists from the 19th and 20th centuries in the Ottoman Empire. Bilal is an author, co-author and editor of a number of books and publications on Armenian feminist writers. Together with Professor Lerna Ekmekcioglu of MIT, Bilal launched the Annual Feminist Armenian Studies Workshop and founded the Feminist Armenian Research Collective (FemArc).

A special podcast series featuring ordinary people walking through the streets of Armenia’s capital city Yerevan. This week’s host is linguist Rafik Santrosyan.

Philanthropist and entrepreneur James Tufenkian speaks about his work in Armenia since the early days of independence, life after the Velvet Revolution, being active in a democracy and his new project in Armenia’s wine country.

A special podcast series featuring ordinary people walking through the streets of Armenia’s capital city Yerevan. This week’s host is Roubina Margossian, the Managing Editor of EVN Report.

Shushan Doydoyan, president of the Freedom of Information Center talks to EVN Report about the polarized media landscape in Armenia and the need for transparency of media ownership and ethical journalism.

A special podcast series featuring ordinary people walking through the streets of Armenia’s capital city Yerevan. This week’s host is Arthur Ispirian, a musician and Director of Archives of Armenia’s Public Radio. Ispirian walks through the neighborhoods of his childhood, reminiscing and singing along the way.

For his PhD thesis at Oxford, Hrag Papazian looked into the understanding of Armenian identity and Armenianness in Turkey, namely the Christian Armenians, the migrant community from the Republic of Armenia and the Muslim and Alevi Armenians. Papazian says the constructs of identity between these three Armenian communities do not coincide and can often be contradictory.

A special podcast series featuring ordinary people walking through the streets of Armenia’s capital city Yerevan. This week’s host is Lucy Varetvanian.

Armen Grigoryan, Secretary of Armenia's Security Council spoke to EVN Report about the ongoing Turkish military operation in northeastern Syria, the situation of the Armenians in the affected area including the humanitarian mission composed of Armenian doctors and deminers and the responsibility of the state. 

A special podcast series featuring ordinary people walking through the streets of Armenia’s capital city Yerevan. This week’s host is architect Movses Hrayr Der Kevorkian.

Singer/songwriter Alin Demirdjian came to Armenia from Argentina with a mission - to record one song in each province, including the provinces of Artsakh. Alin speaks to EVN Report about her journey.

A special podcast series featuring ordinary people walking through the streets of Armenia’s capital city Yerevan. This week’s host is AUA Professor Lucyann Kerry.

Anoush Baghdassarian, the co-creator of Rerooted, a digital archive that preserves testimonies of Syrian-Armenians who fled the conflict in Syria, speaks to EVN Report in this week’s podcast.

A special podcast series featuring ordinary people walking through the streets of Armenia’s capital city Yerevan. This week’s host is Susanna Ghazoyan, a resident of Gyumri, currently a Masters student in Yerevan who considers herself to be a pretty funny person.

Dr. Fernando Casal Bertoa, Associate Professor at the School of Politics and International Relations at the University of Nottingham, an expert in political party regulations and Hamazasp Danielyan, Member of Parliament, who is coordinating the Electoral Reform Working Group in parliament speak to EVN Report about political party financing, Electoral Code reform and more.

A special podcast series featuring ordinary people walking through the streets of Armenia’s capital city Yerevan. This week’s host is Maria Titizian, founding Editor of EVN Report and lecturer at the American University of Armenia.

Hasmik Movsisian had the idea to create an online space that would bring together Armenian musicians and musicians who perform Armenian music or play traditional Armenian instruments. However, the initiative soon grew out of its original concept and now Music of Armenia has gone from organizing festivals, to becoming a production company to joining UNESCO’s International Music Council.

A special podcast series featuring ordinary people walking through the streets of Armenia’s capital city Yerevan. This week’s host is Hovhannes Nazaretyan, a university student, activist and journalist.

Varant Meguerditchian, the Executive Director of the Mining Legislation Reform Institute spoke to EVN Report about the weak laws regulating mining in the country, the impacts on communities and the environment and the critical need to reform the Armenian mining sector through legislation.

Talin Hitik, a lawyer based in Chicago recently established the Armenia Center for Dispute Resolution, the mission of which is to build capacity in alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in Armenia and establish a state-of-the art ADR hearing center in Yerevan. She and Nayiri Boghossian, partner in Al Owais, an arbitration and commercial dispute law firm based in Dubai speak to EVN Report about the necessity of ADR as a response to the deficiencies in the current functioning of Armenia's judicial system.

Nairi Krafian is the Founder of Oknooshoon (from the Armenian for “help” and “dog”) an organization that has set out to not only challenge the way animals are viewed in Armenia but also help people struggling with different challenges to get the opportunity to benefit from dog therapy. Oknooshoon's mission is also to set the gold standard for therapy dogs that other countries would want to model; Krafian believes the concept of “good enough for Armenia” is not an acceptable approach any longer.

Lusine Saghumyan, the author of EVN Report's White Paper "Future Prospects for Foster Care for Children With Disabilities" speaks about the need to develop policies and mechanisms aimed at providing specialized foster care for abandoned children with disabilities.

A newly released audit report about the Amulsar gold mine sparked protests in Armenia. Anna Shahnazaryan, a member of the Environmental Front Civic Initiative, who took part in the protest in Yerevan today, spoke to EVN Report about their concerns regarding the potential detrimental impact of the mine on Armenia's ecology.

Areg Gevorgyan, CEO of Innovative Solutions and Technology Center (ISTC) speaks to EVN Report about their mission in identifying problems in higher education, modernizing IT curricula and working with different universities to cover the gaps in the technology ecosystem in Armenia. The center also works on challenges facing the IT/High-Tech workforce in Armenia, the creation of viable IT startups and how to transition Armenia into a regional IT/High-Tech center of excellence.

To understand the threats to Armenia’s forests and issues that need to be managed and understood if Armenia wants to rapidly increase its forest cover, EVN Report spoke with Alen Amirkhanian, the director of the Acopian Center for the Environment about policy failures, conservation and protection, reforestation, afforestation and the potential role of protected areas in the development of tourism in Armenia.

Archaeologist Dr. Lori Khatchadourian spoke with EVN Report about her current archaeological and ethnographic research in Armenia that focuses on the afterlife of socialist modernity, focusing on the forces shaping industrial ruination. Khatchadourian is an Associate Professor in the Department of Near Eastern Studies at Cornell University, the co-director of a long-term field project in Armenia called the Project for the Archaeology and Geography of Ancient Transcaucasian Societies (Project ArAGATS), co-director of Cornell's Landscapes and Objects Laboratory and co-founder and co-director of the Aragats Foundation.

Armenia has a waste management crisis. Harutyun Alpetyan, the lead expert for the AUA Acopian Center for the Environment’s Waste Governance in Armenia program, spoke to EVN Report about the development of a national solid waste governance policy, strategy and roadmap based on the principles of a circular economy.

World renowned violinist Sergey Khachatryan and his spouse Angela Garcia Lopez talk to EVN Report about their shared passion for music and Armenia, the need for a change in mentality, education, work ethic and much more.

There are a host of problems and challenges with the healthcare sector in Armenia. Some of those include the double burden of disease, a surplus of doctors and surgeons (including more MRI machines in Yerevan than in some European cities) on the one hand, but poor health outcomes on the other; issues with health infrastructure, human resources, public health, medical education and the fact that less than 1.5 percent of GDP is spent on healthcare in the country. Pediatric surgeon and Assistant Professor of Surgery at UCLA, Dr. Shant Shekherdimian speaks with EVN Report's Maria Titizian about some of these issues and more.

EVN Report editorial board member Sara Anjargolian speaks to Nermine Mitry, a former diplomat turned visual storyteller & food writer about the healing power of food and her experience working with the Syrian-Armenian community in Armenia. Check out Nermine's food blog to learn more.

The first Workshop on Graphs, Combinatorics and Probability took place in Armenia. Mathematicians from all over the world participated in the workshop the purpose of which was to collaborate on solving open problems in mathematics, in particular, in the area of combinatorics and graph theory. EVN Report’s Maria Titizian spoke with two of the organizers, Liana Yepremyan, Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Oxford and Perouz Taslakian, Applied Research Scientist at Element AI and former Chair of Computational Sciences Program at the American University of Armenia.

Board member of the National Democratic Institute and former DNC Chairman Governor Howard Dean speaks with EVN Report's Maria Titizian about the need for idealism in politics, the role of women and the importance of an engaged populace.

Author of EVN Report's White Paper "Transitional Justice Agenda for the Republic of Armenia," Dr. Nerses Kopalyan speaks about the imperative of transitional justice to help heal Armenian society and restore trust and faith in institutions.

 Lab Lead for Armenia National SDG Innovation Lab Stepan Margaryan speaks with EVN Report's Maria Titizian. Created in 2016, the National SDG Innovation Lab is a joint venture of the Armenian Government and the UN Office in Armenia, supported by the UNDP with the mission to accelerate the implementation of the UN's sustainable development goals.