The Universities of Manchester and Birmingham, with the gratefully acknowledged support of CEELBAS, are pleased to announce the launch of the CEELBAS Post-Soviet Media Forum. The forum is part of a wider post-Soviet Media Project that aims to further interdisciplinary discussion of approaches to the study of post-Soviet media, and to facilitate original, cutting-edge research and scholar-practitioner exchange in the field. The project is co-ordinated by Stephen Hutchings at Manchester and Natasha Rulyova at Birmingham.

The forum itself offers the possibility to discuss any points raised by forum members, as well as building on 'live' workshops, such as the event in Birmingham on March 28, by offering follow-up discussions. In addition to the discussion forum, the project will host articles and other material of interest, and has begun to collate a catalogue of relevant online resources, which will continue to grow. The working languages of the forum are Russian and English.

Membership of the forum is open to anyone with an academic or professional interest in post-Soviet media. Detailed instructions on how to register can be obtained here. The catalogue of online resources requires no registration; it can be accessed here. Please bear in mind that this catalogue is still in its initial phase, and resources will be added on a regular basis. If you have any questions or problems concerning registration for the forum, please contact the project webmaster Ian Appleby: ian.r.appleby@googlemail.com.

Please feel free to circulate this message further.