About the Great State Mural: Mongolia Portrayed
“The Great State Mural - Mongolia Portrayed” is a project pursued by Anand, Dolgion and Julian since June 2025.
Listen to Episode 2, “Who we are and why this podcast” (June 18 2025) to find out, well, who we are and why this podcast.
The name
When Anand and Julian were first thinking more concretely about a podcast in the Spring of 2025, the question of a name arose immediately. There would have to be some kind of pun, but the title would have to be informative enough to be findable. Thus we arrived at Great State Mural, a take on the State Great Khural, or parliament, of course. Maybe we’ll find a better name in the long run, but it works for now.
Who we are and who we think you are
Briefly, we think of ourselves as Mongolia analysts. We come at our analysis from different angles. Dolgion and Julian rely on their background as sociologists, for example, while Anand draws on his professional experience as a journalist. But we are aiming to offer interesting analysis and discussion of all kinds of topics around contemporary Mongolia.
We think of our audiences as interested Mongolians in Mongolia and across the world, and as international audiences who are or have been posted to Mongolia at some point, or maintain a strong specific interest.
Note that the podcast is a not-for-profit venture. When we ask for your monetary support that is to buy some podcasting equipment and ideally hire a producer at some point.
How to Support the Podcast
Help us paint this mural!
If your are enjoying our podcast and/or find it useful, please consider supporting our efforts through Buy me Coffee! Occasionally, for now, we will also add some bonus content there. We’ve had some freer conversations following after some episode recordings and are offering those to supporters.
Future plans include the podcast-usual, i.e. merch and live shows? We are very open to requests for custom-episodes/series and other ideas.
While we do enjoy an occasional coffee, we would actually invest any donations we received into more professional production, i.e. equipment or perhaps some editing help.
Our Hosts
Dolgion Aldar
Dolgion Aldar is a Mongolian sociologist and development practitioner working at the intersection of research, governance, and institutional reform across Asia and the Pacific.
She is passionate about Mongolia’s long-term development, evidence-informed decision-making, and strengthening accountable and effective public institutions.
She previously served as CEO of the Independent Research Institute of Mongolia (IRIM), one of Mongolia’s leading research organisations, and continues to engage in Mongolia’s research and policy community through advisory and board roles.
Dolgion worked as a socio-economic policy expert in Timor-Leste during COVID-19 and in the aftermath of Cyclone Seroja, contributing to analysis that informed recovery and resilience efforts. She is currently based in Cambodia, where she works to strengthen the bridge between research, dialogue, and public decision-making.
Dolgion's active on LinkedIn (in English) and X (in Mongolian).
Julian Dierkes has focused a lot of his research attention on Mongolia since 2005. He continues to run the Mongolia Focus blog where he also regularly writes. He has also published extensively on Mongolia in the academic literature.
Julian was trained as a sociologist at the Univ of California at Berkeley (BA) and Princeton University (MA and PhD). He also studied at Sophia University (Tokyo), the Free University of Berlin and the University of Tokyo. He was focused on contemporary Japan and in particular contemporary Japanese education for the early part of his research career before turning his attention to contemporary Mongolia.
Julian currently serves as Dean of Social Science at the University of Mannheim. From 2002 to 2024 Julian taught at the University of British Columbia, first in the Institute of Asian Research then in the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs.
In addition to his research activities, Julian is active in policy analysis and policy-making, regularly speaks to journalists about Mongolia and has written for numerous media outlets. He is also a founding co-director of the Mongolian Institute for Innovative Policies where he maintains a consulting practice. Julian was awarded Mongolia’s Friendship Medal in November 2023.
After many years of being very active on Twitter, Julian cannot stand X and instead posts on BlueSky (the natural home for all Mongolians), Mastodon and LinkedIn.
Julian Dierkes
Anand Tumurtogoo
Anand Tumurtogoo is a journalist based in Mongolia and has been covering Mongolia to a global audience since 2017.
Anand has written features and produced video for leading international outlets including Al Jazeera, AFP, Foreign Policy, and ProPublica. He is a Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Media Fellow and received a SOPA awards in 2024 for best feature writing. He is driven by a single purpose: telling Mongolia's stories to the world — on Mongolia's own terms.
Anand tries to be active on these social media platforms: BlueSky, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook
Contact: Anand.dairtan@protonmail.com