On December 26, 2008, the defence of the PhD dissertation by Dorji G. Kukeev took place at the Dissertation Council of the IOM. The dissertation is entitled The History of the Oirats by the Creation of Jungar Khanate, from the 13th to the 16th Century [История ойратов до создания Джунгарского ханства (XIII-XVI вв.)]. Since the work is supervised by Dr E.I.Kychanov, who is the head of the Dissertation Council, the defence was headed by Dr I.Popova, the deputy head of the Council.

The synopsis of the Dissertation got positive reviews from:

- Dr Olga A. Jagaeva, Professor at the Kalmyk State University;

- Dr Vladimir P. Sanchirov, leading researcher at the Kalmyk Institute for Humanities of the Russian Academy of Sciences;

- Dr Dmitry V. Rukhlyadev, researcher at the Department of Turkic and Mongolian Studies, the IOM RAS.

At the defence the two official opponents delivered their opinions:

- Dr Boris N. Melnichenko, Professor at the Department of the History of Far Eastern Countries, Faculty of Oriental Studies, St Petersburg University;

- Dr Irina V. Kulganek, senior at the Department of Turkic and Mongolian Studies, the IOM RAS.

In discussion that followed Dr Serguei G. Klyashtornij, the head of the Department of Turkic and Mongolian Studies, the IOM RAS, also delivered his opnion

D.G.Kukeev was granted doctoral degree.