Born: 1962

Hometown: Moscow, Russia Education: Ph.D. in Linguistics

Occupation: Professor of Linguistics Expeditions: Various places in Siberia – from the Urals in the West to the Kolyma in the East and from the Polar Circle in the North to the Ussuri taiga in the South

Favorite Place: The Taiga Forest

Achievement: Proof of the relationship between the Uralic and Yukaghir languages

Favorite Items In The Field: A tape recorder and mosquito repellant

Personal Heroes: Vladimir Jochelson, a 19th-century Russian linguist and anthropologist, and others who documented endangered languages without tape recorders

Hobbies: Tennis, reading, cooking

Website: www.soas.ac.uk/staff/staff31522.php

Advice: Take action every day and don’t let negative thoughts hold you back.

Published work: