On September 22, 2016, Dr. Kourova presented her book, Picturing Russia: Research Guide to Russian Culture, in Washington, D.C. at the Embassy of the Russian Federation to the USA. She met with the head of the Russian Cultural Center and the first secretary of the Embassy of the Russian Federation to the USA, Oleg Zhiganov. Along with the presentation of her book, Kourova and Zhiganov took part in a discussion regarding future collaboration between the University of Central Florida and the Russian Culture Center of the Embassy of the Russian Federation.
During past weekend Kourova, together with her student, Irina Pidberejna, also presented at the 34th ACM International Conference on the Design of Communication. The topic of the presentation was on "From Orlando to Russia: Cross-Cultural Communication through Gamemaking." The research was completed through collaboration with Anastasia Salter, Rudy McDaniel, and UCF students. The topic generated great interest and intensive discussion at the conference, reflecting well on the international work at the College of Arts and Humanities at UCF.