On February 28, 2018 St. Anthony’s College hosted the Conference on “Georgian Studies Research Programme” of the Russian and East European studies (REES) in SIAS and Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia (SRNSFG).  Leading scientists and students of the University of Oxford and other research universities in the United Kingdom attended the conference.

Worth mentioning, successful, distinguished Georgian researchers together with leading British scientists participated in the programme. Professor Roger Goodman, Head of the St. Antony’s College as well as the Abmassador of Georgia in the United Kingdom, Tamar Beruchashvili and the Head of the Russian and East European Studies, Prof. Dan Healy opened the conference. The Director General of the Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia, Ms. Manana Mikaberidze and the Rector of Ilia State University, Giga Zedania were among the invited guests of the Conference.

It is the third year the Foundation has funded young researchers one-year scientific research at the University of Oxford. New Call for 2019 is also announced and three scholarships will be issued for the following scientific fields: 1 for Social Sciences, 1 for the Faculty of Humanities and 1 for the research of Wardrop Collection of the BodleianLibraryofthe University of Oxford.

Georgian Studies Research programme was launched on October 23, 2015 at the School of Interdisciplinary Area Studies at the University of Oxford. The programme is implemented in the frame of programme “Supporting Georgian studies centers and programmes abroad” administered by SRNSFG and according to the agreement, three research fellows are funded under the programme each year. Funding the Georgian Studies centers and programmes abroad clearly supports enhancement of Georgian Studies and Kartvelology as well as development of the modern interdisciplinary research and its popularization in the international scientific space.

Noteworthy, the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia continues working in this direction and Georgian Studies prorgramme is also planned to be conducted in 7 European Universities from 2018.