The Annual Georgian Programme Conference of Oxford’s Russian and East European Studies (REES)

This year’s Georgian Programme conference was opened by Her Excellency the Ambassador of the Republic of Georgia Tamar Beruchashvili, who celebrated the Programme’s achievements in showcasing Georgian studies at Oxford. With the support of Georgia’s Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation, REES’s Georgian Programme hosts three post-doctoral fellows from the Republic for a year of research and study in Oxford, based in REES. This year the Georgian Programme also begins hosting Georgian Language training for the first time.

The visiting fellows for 2019 presented introductions to their research projects: Irina Lobzhanidze (Ilia State University) will digitise texts from the Bodleian Library’s ‘Wardrop Collections’; Ana Kirvaladze (Ilia State University) is investigating social cohesion in multi-ethnic Georgia; and David Maziashvili (Tbilisi State University) will explore Shakespeare in Soviet and post-Soviet Georgia. Visiting scholars commenting on the work of these scholars included sociologist Dr Gavin Slade (Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan) and Shakespeare scholar Professor Mark Burnett (Queens University Belfast). The audience included the Director of the Rustaveli Foundation, Dr Zviad Gabisonia, many members of the scholarly ‘Georgian community’ in Oxford and beyond, as well as members of the British-Georgian Society.

During the conference the Directors of the Rustaveli Foundation and REES signed a new agreement extending the programme into 2020 and discussed means of deepening the cooperation and securing the partnership beyond 2020.

Her Excellency the Ambassador of the Republic of Georgia, Tamar Beruchashvili

Dr Zviad Gabisonia,Director of the Rustaveli Foundation, and Prof Chris Gerry, Director of REES

Georgian Language Class with Lia Chokoshvili