Reference of scientific advisor to the Master’ Thesis in “Global Communication & International Journalism” “The Portrayal of Russia in US Media  Following the 2016 Election Hacking Scandal” by Maike Verlaat I know Maike Verlaat since the fall of 2017 when the work on the Master’ Thesis had began. As a scientific advisor I was really pleased the way Maike Verlaat has treated the work process both in functional and emotional aspects. On the one hand, emotionally our communication was very friendly. On the other hand, the work process went almost flawlessly and very efficient.  Maike Verlaat received her B.A. in Multilingual Communications form Cologne University of Applied Sciences in 2013. So, the topic of the Master’ Thesis in hand was chosen due to the deep Maike’s interest in the fields of inter-cultural communications and the relations between Russia and Western World. Actually, Maike Verlaat was interested in this topic throughout the course of education in the M.A. program. Apparently, her interest in the field was also caused by the working experience. Currently, she works as a freelancer at Deutsche Welle in Berlin for English and German news show which cover newses from Russia considerably. The list of Maike Verlaat’s working positions is as following: Feb. 2017 – Apr 2017: Reporting intern at Deutsche Welle Berlin; Apr. 2016 – Jun 2016: Reporting intern at Deutsche Welle Bonn; Nov. 2014 – Mar. 2016: Online Marketing & Communications Manager at Kyto GmbH, Berlin; Jan. 2014 – Jul. 2014: Economic Development Intern For German government in New York, USA; Sep. 2012 – Feb. 2013: PR intern at ARTE G.E.I.E. Strasbourg, France This working experience highlights personal background which favors to run the study toward cross-national and inter-cultural directions.  Also, I would like to mention the other academic activities by Maike Verlaat such as following: 2018 – Participant of “Mass media in the modern world. Young researchers” conference in St. Petersburg; 2017 - Participant of 2017 German Russian Mediaforum in Stavropol; 2017 - Participant of 2017 Study visit of young journalists to Estonia; 2016 - DAAD Scholarship (German Academic Exchange Service); 2016 - SpbU Scholarship within the ‘Global Communication & International Journalism’ M.A. program. The amount of borrowed text is 3 % according to SafeAssign system report which can be explained by technical problems of the system itself. The content of the study is 100% original in the opinion of scientific advisor.  Thus, the study is a result of independent work of a master student that demonstrated excellent academic and professional skills of Maike Verlaat.  Scientific advisor - assistant professor, Doctor of political science Ilia A. Bykov 27/05/18