The Institute for Russian, Soviet and Central and East European Studies (IRSCEES) was founded at The University of Nottingham in 1986. The Institute brought together specialists from a variety of different departments and was designed to encourage interdisciplinary research. In 1994, Marietta Tourian, a distinguished specialist in Russian Literature and Music from St Petersburg visited the department on a three month IRCEES research fellowship. The institute was renamed NIREES (The Nottingham Institute for Russian and East European Studies) in 2006.