Rico Isaacs is an associate professor of politics at the University of Lincoln where he teaches courses in politics, nationalism, and Central Asia. His research interest concentrates on the political sociology of authoritarianism with an emphasis on the post-Soviet space focusing on Central Asia. Isaacs is the author and/or editor of five books and has published in world-leading peer-reviewed academic journals, including Europe-Asia Studies, Third World Quarterly, Contemporary Politics, Problems of Post-Communism, Nationalities Papers, and Electoral Studies, among many others. Isaacs has extensive fieldwork experience in the Central Asian region and has received funding from the European Union, the British Academy, the Leverhulme Trust, and the British Council. He has provided consultancy for international research projects and political risk companies and has provided commentary on political developments in the region to various international media outlets. He has been serving as the editor of Central Asian Survey since 2019.