Andrey Mikhaylov holds a doctoral degree in geography and works as a senior researcher at the Center of Geopolitical Studies at the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow, Russia), Lead researcher at the Southern Federal University (Rostov-on-Don, Russia), and a head of the Laboratory for Geography of Innovation at the Institute of Regional and Geopolitical Studies at the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University (Kaliningrad, Russia). In 2020, he was awarded a scholarship from the Russian Geographical Society for research excellence and nominated for a presidential award in 2022.