Robert van Voren is a Sovietologist by education, a Honorary Fellow of the British Royal College of Psychiatrists and Honorary Member of the Ukrainian Psychiatric Association. He was also Permanent Representative of Ukraine in the Benelux for Humanitarian Affairs in 1994-1997, and in 2005 he was knighted by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands for his work as a human rights activist. He is currently Professor of Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies at Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas (Lithuania) and Ilia State University in Tbilisi (Georgia).