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Batsaikhan Ookhnoi

Dr. Batsaikhan Ookhnoi is one of Mongolia's foremost historians, specialising in the country's modern political and diplomatic history. His scholarly work centres on the period of Mongolia's independence from Qing China (1911), the era of the Bogd Khanate, Soviet-Mongolian relations, and the formation of the Mongolian state in the 20th century.

Born in Ulaanbaatar, he received his undergraduate and graduate education at the National University of Mongolia before completing his doctoral dissertation at the Institute of History and Archaeology of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences. He has held visiting fellowships at Cambridge University, the Australian National University, and Harvard University's Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies.

His research has taken him to archives in Ulaanbaatar, Moscow, Beijing, London, Tokyo, and Washington D.C., where he has unearthed documentary evidence that has significantly reshaped scholarly understanding of Mongolia's path to statehood. He reads and works in Mongolian, Russian, Chinese, and English.

His 2022 book Outer Mongolia and the Great Powers was described by reviewers as "the definitive diplomatic history of early Mongolian statehood" and received the Outstanding Scholarly Book Award from the Mongolia Society. His 2024 biography of Bogd Khan is his most comprehensive work to date.

Academic Positions

• Senior Research Fellow, Institute of History and Archaeology, Mongolian Academy of Sciences (2005–present)
• Professor of Modern History, National University of Mongolia (2010–present)
• Visiting Fellow, Darwin College, University of Cambridge (2013)
• Visiting Scholar, Australian National University (2016)
• Visiting Fellow, Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University (2019)

Education

• Doctor of Historical Sciences (D.Sc.), Mongolian Academy of Sciences, 2004
• Candidate of Historical Sciences (Ph.D.), National University of Mongolia, 1998
• B.A. in History (First Class Honours), National University of Mongolia, 1994

Awards & Recognition

• State Award for Outstanding Contribution to Historical Sciences, Mongolia, 2023
• Outstanding Scholarly Book Award, Mongolia Society, for Outer Mongolia and the Great Powers, 2022
• National Book Award in Historical Sciences, Mongolia, 2018
• Best Academic Publication, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, 2015 and 2019