Yanka Kupala
Dapkiunas was born in Minsk in a family related to Yanka Kupala, the foremost Belarusian poet and a symbolic figure in the Belarusian national revival of the early 20th century. He holds a PhD degree in political science from the Belarusian State University (1991) and a graduate degree in languages (English and French) from the Minsk State Institute for Foreign Languages (1985). Alumnus of the London School of Economics and Political Science (Research Fee student, 1989–1990).