I was born in Armenia’s capital Yerevan – a city that, despite my incessant travelling around the world remains my most beloved city of all.

Continuing my family tradition, where everyone starting from my parents, ending with my uncles, cousins and second cousins, I went to the school No.55 named after A.P.Chekhov. Today, although the school has significantly changed since its Soviet days, the legacy of “Chekhovci” remains strong – it is a nation of its own, and I am proud to be a part of it.

At the age of 14 I was selected as an FSA FLEX student and went to the US for an exchange academic year at a US high school. This surely was an incredible experience on many levels, from cultural to social, but in all respects positively constructive for my personality and maturity.

Upon my return, I was admitted to the Russian-Armenian State (Slavonic) University. I majored in Law. After the first year of studies, although scoring high on grades I realized that Law was not my calling and decided to pursue a degree abroad in a different field. I was admitted to the University of Malta and within 3 years received my BA degree in International Relations. I successfully defended my BA thesis titled “Duality of Saudi Arabian Foreign Policy.” The summer and fall of 2004 following my graduation I volunteered at an International Institute of St. Louis in US helping Afghan refugee children adapt to the US lifestyle and keep up with school. This was an incredibly humbling, enriching and rewarding experience.

I then decided to continue my education and pursued an MA degree; I commenced my course in Diplomatic Studies the winter semester of 2005 at the Diplomatic Academy of London, University of Westminster. I was very blessed to be awarded with a Full International Scholarship. I graduated the course with excellence and completed a dissertation titled "From Spouse to Ambassador: Gender as an Emerging Factor in Diplomacy".

In winter of 2006 I began an internship at Chatham House (Royal Institute of International Affairs, UK) working and researching in the department of Russia and Central Asia.

After completing my internship, I returned to Armenia and was employed by the UNDP working on a sustainable development project. Upon the completion of the project I was invited to conduct research at the German Council for Foreign Relations (DGAP) in Berlin. The next year I spent doing research in different research institutions and organizations including Hudson Institute, ICHD, DNAK, Eurasia Foundation, and AIPRG. In winter of 2008 I was awarded a Teaching Fellowship and had an opportunity to teach undergraduate students at Keuktong University, South Korea. I deeply enjoyed the teaching experience and decided that at some point in my life I surely will devote some time to this incredibly rewarding and satisfying vocation.

In summer of 2008 I began working as a Research Analyst at the ISIS Center, in Georgetown University. Although the employment at the Georgetown University was very interesting and along the way I acquired an invaluable amount of knowledge on data gathering and processing, I still longed to pursue a PhD. As I wrote a couple of articles along the way that were published in academic journals, I realized that I absolutely love the challenge that academia offers. I learned of my admission to the University of Cambridge in summer of 2009, and commenced the PhD program at the Department of Politics and International Relations that October.

My doctoral thesis focuses on how the political leadership of post-Soviet Armenia influenced Armenian identity construction and how it was articulated in foreign policy.

My friends sometimes call me a hopeless romantic, for I have a vision of Armenia that is empowered by the knowledgeable, forward looking, creative, environmentally conscious and socially responsible youth, that will take our country to a next level and make it a global center for intellectual, scientific, artistic, sporting and environmental recreation. I am proud and incredibly happy to say that “Luys” serves as one of the first platforms in the country to make this vision a reality. And let me finish here with my favorite quote by Og Mandino: “Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.” Not only my, but the determination of all the “Luys” students to succeed individually and collectively is so strong, that there is no room for failure.