Reference by scientific supervisor  for Giovanni Pigni, 2-year, Master program 'Global communication and international journalism'  I have first got to know Giovanni Pigni when he was an applicant to this Master program. He had troubles logging in to our intranet to upload the documents, and I decided to call to Italy to talk to him and help. Within ten minutes of our talk, we twice shifted the language - it was first Italina, than English, and then Russian.   Giovanni kept impressing me during his studies when he started to write as a journalist in Russian. His pieces are already published by Russian-speaking news outlets.  He also impressed me when he was selecting the topic of his future Master thesis. Being a journalist, he wanted to explore a topic related to PR and branding, which I would never expect; but this was not just branding but nation branding - the concept which caused our heated discussions, but the one he, to my viewpoint, managed not only to use but also to expand theoretically.  To collect the data and do in-depth interviews, Giovanni went to Chechnya; so, now he is acquainted with what field research feels like. This impressed me even more.   The work upon the text of Master thesis on Giovanni's part was systemic; he had power to insist on his theoretical views, that I respect, and was able to conduct a lot of work on self-standing basis. What he needed was only ideas, not guiding by hand. His reliance on his logic, his indepencence, his strong will to do what he considers right - guess what, impresses me even more.  All in all, it was always Giovanni who initiated our consultations. He was for many months inside the topic, and he really wanted to unite historical and sociological research methodlogy within one work. I am fully satisfied with how he worked upon his dissertation project.  Prof. Dr Svetlana S. Bodrunova