Field of research: Finance
Tornike Surguladze
Tornike Surguladze is a senior researcher at the Macroeconomic Policy Center of the ISET Policy Institute and joined the center in September 2023. Tornike holds a Master’s Degree in Economics from the International School of Economics (ISET 2021), as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Tbilisi State University (TSU 2019).
Before joining the ISET Policy Institute, Tornike worked as a chief specialist at the National Bank of Georgia. Also, he was a teaching assistant for Master’s degree students at ISET, teaching Microeconomics modules I & II, III, IV, and Introductory Finance. Along with ISET-PI, he works as an invited lecturer at International Black Sea University and as a teaching assistant at ISET for BA teaching Microeconomics and Econometrics.
Benjamin Hilgenstock
Benjamin Hilgenstock is a Senior Economist at the Kyiv School of Economics’ think tank, KSE Institute, focusing on international sanctions on Russia, in particular in the areas of energy, trade, finance, and export controls. Benjamin is also an Associate Fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) and a member of the International Working Group on Russian Sanctions. He has written extensively on the topic of sanctions, including enforcement challenges of the G7 oil price cap regime as well as Russia’s continued access to Western technology.
Previously, Benjamin worked for the Institute of International Finance in Washington, DC (2018-2022) on the macroeconomic analysis of emerging markets, specifically those in Central and Eastern Europe and including Russia and Ukraine. Benjamin also spent several years with the International Monetary Fund’s (2016-2018) research department working on the publication of the World Economic Outlook.
He holds a Master of Arts in political science, macroeconomics, and German constitutional law from Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz (2008) and studied abroad at American University in Washington, DC and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
(Last updated March 2024)
Erekle Shubitidze
Erekle Shubitidze is a Senior Researcher at the ISET Policy Institute, having joined in October 2020. Erekle holds a BA in Mathematics from the University of Georgia. In 2020, he received an MA in Economics from ISET, with his Master’s project focusing on social preferences in a variant of economic games.
Prior to his position at the ISET Policy Institute, he served as a teaching assistant for Master’s degree students at ISET, teaching modules in Macroeconomics I & II, Game Theory, and Introductory Finance.
[Last updated March 2024]