Robert van Voren (1959) is a Sovietologist by education. A graduate of Amsterdam University, he obtained his PhD at the Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas (Lithuania) where he is Professor of Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies. He is also Professor of Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies at Ilia State University in Tbilisi, Georgia and Visiting Professor at the University of Silezia in Katowice (Poland). He is also Executive Director of the Andrei Sakharov Research Center for Democratic Development at Vytautas Magnus University.
Robert van Voren is Chief Executive of the international foundation “Human Rights in Mental Health – Federation Global Initiative on Psychiatry” and holds a number of positions on boards of organizations in the fields of human rights, mental health and prison reform. He is an Honorary Fellow of the British Royal College of Psychiatrists and an Honorary Member of the Ukrainian Psychiatric Association.
Van Voren has written extensively on Soviet issues, the Second World War, and issues related to mental health and human rights. More than a dozen of his books have been published.