Richard Schmidt has been co-editor of the Central Asian Analytical Digest at ZOiS since 1 January 2020. He studies Central Asian Studies (M.A.) at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. His research interests include regional Soviet history and social processes in the context of post-Soviet transformation. In addition to many research stays in the region, from 2016 to 2017 he completed a voluntary social year at the information centre of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan. In 2018, he did a placement in the area of public relations for an NGO active in the agricultural sector in Jalalabad, Kyrgyzstan. From November 2018 to February 2020, he worked as research assistant in the ZOiS project Transformation of Urban Spaces and Religious Pluralisation in the Caucasus.