Research in Central & East European Studies

CEES Seminars & Events 2008-09

West Coast Seminars

Semester 2

Wednesday 20 May 5.30 pm (PLEASE NOTE CHANGE OF DATE)
Paul Lassalle  (University of the West of Scotland)
'Polish Entrepreneurs in Scotland: the Polish community, personal trajectories and business strategies'
University of the West of Scotland (Paisley Campus), Room A407

Wednesday, 27 May 5.30 pm  (PLEASE NOTE CHANGE OF DATE)
Dr Laura Piacentini (University of Strathclyde)
'Women and Imprisonment in Russia'
University of Strathclyde, Graham Hills Building, 40 Great George Street, Room 951

---

Wednesday, 21 January  5.30 pm
Dr Erik Van Ree (University of Amsterdam)
'The Stalinist Self: The Case of Ioseb Jugashvili (the young Stalin, 1892-1907)'
University of Glasgow, CEES seminar room, 8-9 Lilybank Gardens

Wednesday, 4 February  5.30 pm
Co-hosted in collaboration with the Department of Politics, University of Glasgow
and The International Centre for Gender and Women's Studies
Dr Vikki Turbine (University of Glasgow, Department of Politics)
'Women, welfare and legal claims in contemporary Russia: new definitions and approaches to claiming rights?)'
University of Glasgow, CEES seminar room, 8-9 Lilybank Gardens

Wednesday, 11 February  5.30 pm
Robert Porter  (Honorary Professorial Research Fellow, Slavonic Studies, University of Glasgow)
'Understanding Russian Politics through Literature: Valerii Kazakov's novel "Ten' goblina" (2008).' 
University of Glasgow, CEES seminar room, 8-9 Lilybank Gardens

Tuesday 17 February 5.30 pm
SPECIAL GUEST LECTURE
CEES VISITING RESEARCH FELLOW
Dr Anna Maltseva  (Faculty of Sociology, Altai State University, Russia)
'The Altai Region: its culture and sociological science' 
University of Glasgow, CEES seminar room, 8-9 Lilybank Gardens

Wednesday, 18 February 5.30 pm
Dr Umut Korkut  (University of Dublin)
'How to Best Reduce Regional Underdevelopment? Multi-level Collaboration vs Centralised Public Policy Making'
University of the West of Scotland (Paisley Campus)

Wednesday, 4 March  5.30 pm
Dr Martin Kovats  (Birkbeck College, London)
'The Rise and Fall of the EU Roma Strategy'
University of Glasgow, CEES seminar room, 8-9 Lilybank Gardens

Wednesday, 11 March  5.30 pm
Dr Katherine Lebow (University of Virginia)
'The Making of the Polish Working Class: from Stalin to Solidarnosc in Nowa Huta' 
University of Glasgow, CEES seminar room, 8-9 Lilybank Gardens

Wednesday, 18 March 5.30 pm
Dr Katja Mirwaldt (EPRC, University of Strathclyde)
'A Geographical Approach to the  Contact Hypothesis: evidence from the Czech-German border' 
University of Strathclyde, Graham Hills Building, 40 Great George Street, Room 951

Wednesday, 29 April 5.30 pm
Mr Marek Naczyk (University of Oxford)
'Can the Power Resources perspective and the Varieties of Capitalism approach shed more light on institutional change in Central European pension systems?'
University of the West of Scotland (Paisley Campus), Room A407

Thursday 7 May  5.30 pm
Dr Lynne Attwood  (University of Manchester)
'The Housing Crisis as a Theme in Fiction' 
University of Glasgow, CEES seminar room, 8-9 Lilybank Gardens 

---

Semester 1

Tuesday 21 October, 5.30 pm
Dr Arturas Tereskinas (Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania)
"Post-Soviet Masculinities, Shame and the Archives of Social Suffering in Contemporary Lithuania"
University of Glasgow, CEES seminar room, 8-9 Lilybank Gardens

Tuesday 11th November  5.30 pm
Dr Sándor Gallai (Corvinus University, Budapest)
Informal discussion on current Hungarian politics  (No paper)
University of Glasgow, CEES seminar room, 8-9 Lilybank Gardens

Wednesday, 19th November  5.30 pm
Murad Ismaylov (Baku State University and Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy – CEES Visiting Fellow)
“Structure, Agency and Resource Curse: Azerbaijan’s Efforts to Minimise the Curse and Maximise the Blessing”
University of Glasgow, CEES seminar room, 8-9 Lilybank Gardens

Thursday, 27th November 5.30 pm 
Brigita Stroda (Director of Latvian Tourism, London)
Co-hosted in association with the Department of Politics 
 “The Role of Culture in Nation Branding”
University of Glasgow, CEES seminar room, 8-9 Lilybank Gardens

Wednesday 3rd December  5.30 pm
Co-hosted in association with the Department of Sociology, Anthropology & Applied Social Sciences, University of Glasgow and the International Centre for Gender and Women's Studies
Francesca Stella(CEES, University of Glasgow)
“Soviet modernity and the ‘modern homosexual’: Researching lesbian sexuality through an oral history project”
University of Glasgow, CEES seminar room, 8-9 Lilybank Gardens

International Masterclass Seminars

Tuesday 11 November 2008
12.00 - 14.00 Seminar Room 8-9 Lilybank Gardens
Dr Sándor Gallai, Corvinus University Budapest
"Achievements and Failures: an Assessment of Transition in the Visegrad Countries"

Tuesday 18 November 2008
12.00 - 14.00 Seminar Room 8-9 Lilybank Gardens
Alar Kilp, Tartu University Estonia
"Religion, civil society and political mobilization in Baltic States"

Wednesday 26 November 2008
15.00 - 17.00 Seminar Room 8-9 Lilybank Gardens
Sami Moisio, Turku University, Finland
"The constituents of the new political geography of the EU: some notes on the Europeanization of space"

Wednesday 03 December 2008
13.00 - 15.00 Seminar Room 8-9 Lilybank Gardens
Dr Katarzyna Zielinska, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
"Gender Identity and Role Construction Under Communism and After in Poland"

Visiting Research Seminars

17 February 2009: Dr Anna Maltseva  (Faculty of Sociology, Altai State University, Russia)
'The Altai Region: its culture and sociological science' 
Dr Anna Maltseva is from the Faculty of Sociology at Altai State University, Barnaul, Russia where she is Head of the laboratory of statistical support of sociological and psychological researches and Associate Professor of the chair of mathematical methods in social sciences.  Her current area of interest is education, in particular the role of social identity of modern student youth and its influence of the decision making process. 
Dr Maltseva will give an introduction to and overview of the region, followed by discussion about sociological research trends at the Faculty of Sociology at the Altai State University. She will welcome the opportunity to meet new colleagues and share ideas.


19th November 2008:  Murad Ismaylov (Baku State University and Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy)
“Structure, Agency and Resource Curse: Azerbaijan’s Efforts to Minimise the Curse and Maximise the Blessing”
Murad Ismayilov is in the final year of his PhD at the Baku State University (Azerbaijan) and in the second year of an MSt at the University of Cambridge.  He is also a research fellow and projects coordinator (research and publications) at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy.   His research interests include international relations theory (especially constructivist and post-structuralist approaches), political theory, energy security, issues related to national identity and civil society of Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan’s national security, Euro-Atlantic security, and sociology and security of the Middle East.

21 October 2008:  Dr Arturas Tereskinas (Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania)
"Post-Soviet Masculinities, Shame and the Archives of Social Suffering in Contemporary Lithuania"
Arturas Tereškinas is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania.  His current research examines how Lithuanian men construct their masculinity in relation to work, family, fatherhood, citizenship, sexuality, health, disability and cultural representation - tracing changes in male practices and perceptions of masculinity from 1990- 2008.

Work in Progress

Wednesday 27 May 2009, 1.00
CEES Seminar Room, 8-9 Lilybank Gardens

‘EU-Russia Energy Relations: Differing Conceptions of Energy Relations'

Thursday 07 May 2009, 12.00
CEES Seminar Room, 8-9 Lilybank Gardens
Alistair Wright
"The Allied Landings in North Russia and the Karelian reaction, March-April 1918"

Wednesday 14 January 2009, 3.00
CEES Seminar Room, 8-9 Lilybank Gardens
Tatsiana Biletskaya
"The Role of European Union Partnership and Cooperation Agreements (PCAs) in the Legal Reform Process and Economic Growth of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)"

Tatsiana is a visiting doctoral student  from The Interuniversity Centre for the Comparative Analysis of:
Law and Economics, Economics of Law, Economics of Institutions at the University of Turin.

 

Events 2008-2009

Estonian Film Series
CEES hosts a short series of Estonian Films from 9th - 11th March at Gilmorehill G12.  
http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/gilmorehillg12/whatson/?action=details&id=4623  
Estonian films

Postgraduate Conference: Social Integration and Cohesion in Post-Communist Europe
in association with CEES/CRCEES/University of Newcastle
supported by Roberts Funds University of GlasgowSocial Cohesion and Integration conference programme 2008 .
17, 18 October 2008
CEES Seminar Room, 8-9 Lilybank Gardens, University of Glasgow

CRCEES Winter Festival
Staff from Central and East European Studies are widely involved in the CRCEES Winter Festival, a major festival of arts and cultural events.
The season includes major academic conferences on Hungary and Latvia and a special symposium entitled 'Inter-cultural Crossings'; where speakers from many European countries will bear witness to the powerful 'crossings' of other cultures into their own.
Throughout the Festival there will be films, exhibitions of visual arts, literary readings, musical events, dramatic performances, 'taster' days for some of the more 'unusual' languages offered by CRCEES and many other events. These events will seek to attract the widest possible public engagement.
The season will end with two major Conferences: in February we will examine good practice in the teaching of the languages and cultures we offer and the season will conclude with the annual CRCEES Research Forum, to be held in Glasgow in April 2009.
Please see the CRCEES website for a full  programme of events. Winter Festival Programme.

Conference Workshop: Climate Change Post-Kyoto: Insights from BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China)
in association with CEES/CRCEES/Scottish Centre for Chinese Social Science Research.
Supported by Roberts Fund, University of Glasgow.Climate Change conference programme
19 September 2008
Seminar Room 217B, Gilmorehill Centre, University Avenue, University of Glasgow

Dr Francesca Stella awarded Carnegie Trust research grant

Female homosexualities and actually existing socialism: an oral history project of ‘lesbian’ relations in Soviet Russia
“The social history of homosexuality in Soviet Russia is, to this day, very sparsely documented. Existing literature focuses on medical and legal discourses on homosexuality; however, the lived experience of individuals involved in same-sex relations largely remains to be uncovered.  The project aims to explore how female same-sex relations were experienced and negotiated in the late Soviet period through oral history interviews. The study will also addresses women’s identifications and subcultural practices, and the creation of forms of collective agency through informal ‘lesbian’ spaces and networks. Empirical data will be contextualised within dominant discourses on gender, femininity and sexuality in the late Soviet period. Data collection will be conducted in Moscow in Spring 2010; potential participants will be contacted with the help of local LGBT community organizations and snowballing techniques.”

Events shaping society since the moon landing:1989 Fall of the Berlin Wall

The Apollo 11 moon landing on 20 July 1969 was a landmark event, witnessed by an unprecedented percentage of the global population and changing our perceptions of the world.  The Summer 2009 issue of the ESRC publication Society Now runs a feature on "Leaving a Mark" in which a panel of commentators looks at major events and developments which have shaped and changed society since then.  Professor Richard Berry contributed an article on The Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the impact of the emerging 'New Europe' following the collapse of communism. 

"The year 1989 will be seen as a watershed in world history in the same vein as 1789 and 1848.  However, it was not 'the end of history' and the simple triumph of liberal democracy and capitalism over the one-party state and the socialist economy.  In effect, 1989 was the culmination of a long process of economic decay and moral bankruptcy."

Read the full article  (Society Now Summer 2009 Issue 4, p 10)
1989 Fall of the Berlin Wall (Society Now, Issue 4, 2009) (pdf version)

 

International Masters awards Double Degrees with European partners

The Department has received confirmation from Senate that from September 2009 students enrolling on our 18-month International Masters programme will be awarded a double degree with one of our European partner institutions.

Students will receive an International Masters in Russian, Central and East European Studies degree from the University of Glasgow and a degree from one of the following:

Jagiellonian University - MA in European Studies [Magister Europeistyki]

University of Turku - Master’s Degree Programme in Baltic Sea Region Studies (FM) [Filosofian maisterin tutkinto]

Corvinus University of Budapest - MA in Political Science [Politikatudomány MA]

University of Tartu - Master of Arts in Social Sciences (Baltic Studies) [Sotsiaalteaduse Magister (Balti Õpingud)].

CEES project selected as example of impact from AHRC-funded research

Professor David Smith recently completed an AHRC research project (53K in total over 5 years) on minority rights in Central and Eastern Europe. Following a recent evaluation, this has now been selected by the AHRC as one of six case studies of how AHRC-funded research can have a major economic and political impact and inform public policy.   The Research Councils define impact as the demonstrable contribution that excellent research makes to society and the economy.

Extract and details of the project. AHRC Project recognition

Full details of the project are available on the AHRC website  http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/FundedResearch/Documents/Examples%20of%20Impact%20from%20projects.pdf  ( www.ahrc.ac.uk).  It also appears on each of the Funding Opportunity web pages for Research applications, and will also be linked to the AHRC part of the Je-S website.

Congratulations to CEES class of 2009

CEES is delighted to extend congratulations to our current cohort of senior honours students who celebrated their graduation on 25th June.  We wish them all every success in their future activities, which include a return to postgraduate study with us,  a local council graduate programme, social work and a placement with the British Embassy in Moscow.  We hope they will all keep in touch and perhaps consider further study with us in due course.  MSc scholarships will be available for session 2010-1011 - details will be available on our website early in the new year.

New ESRC CASE 4-year PhD scholarship announced

ESRC CASE  studentship in collaboration with Glasgow City Council (1+3 years)
"Negotiations of social security welfare and risk among migrant populations from former socialist countries residing in Glasgow"

Applications are invited for an MRes + PhD scholarship funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) under its CASE collaborative awards scheme. The studentship will run from September 2009-September 2013.

The PhD research will complement and further existing local studies of migration to Scotland and interactions between migrants and key service providers by focussing specifically on issues concerning social security and welfare provision.  It will explore the complex ways in which migrants from Central and Eastern Europe/former Soviet Union residing in and around Glasgow manage uncertainties and construct securities with respect to daily welfare concerns.

Further details about the award and how to apply.
ESRC CASE Studentship April 2009

New Postdoctoral Research Fellow appointed

Dr Vytautas Petronis will join the department on 01 April as postdoctoral research fellow, working on the ESRC funded project “Constructing Lithuania: Ethnic Mapping in Tsarist Russia, ca 1800-1914’.  Dr Petronis joins us from Södertörns University College, Stockholm, where he defended his PhD in December 2007.  He previously graduated with an MA in Baltic Sea Region Studies from the University of Turku, Finland, which is one of our partners on our new International Masters programme.

RAE 2008

The Department was delighted with its performance in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise which confirmed its leading position amongst departments engaged in Central and East European Studies in the UK. Submitting twice the number of staff as in 2001, including new entrants to the profession, 85% of its work was rated “international”, “internationally excellent” or “world leading”; in its unit of assessment the department was ranked first in Scotland and fifth equal in the UK.

New Professorships

The Department is delighted to announce two staff promotions to Personal Professorship.
Richard Berry is Professor of Political Economy of Central and Eastern Europe and David Smith is Professor of Baltic History and Politics.  Congratulations to both.

Dr Jonathan Oldfield awarded ESRC research grant

The USSR and its contribution to global environmental scientific understanding and policy prescription, 1945-1991,January 2010-December 2012. In collaboration with Dr Denis Shaw (University of Birmingham).
This project aims to explore the nature and character of Russian/Soviet conceptualisations of society-nature interaction and its contribution to global environmental scientific understanding during the period 1945-1991 with particular reference to input from geographical and cognate environmental science disciplines. This will be achieved via a critical exploration of the available secondary and archival literature (Russian and English language) in addition to discussions with relevant academics.

More specifically, the research will involve an examination of the multiple influences on the development of understanding related to nature-society interaction in the Soviet Union/Russia including the work and ideas of influential scientists, wider disciplinary debates, specific scientific practices, state policies and political priorities, foreign intellectual stimuli and associated understandings, as well as broader ideological, cultural, philosophical, and religious factors particular to Russia/Soviet Union. A further key element of the research will involve an exploration of the nature of Soviet intellectual and practical contributions to international scientific endeavour with respect to contemporaneous international discussions and conceptions concerning the global environment.

Dr Zsuzsanna Varga awarded CRF/RSE European Visiting Research Fellowship

Dr Zsuzsanna Varga has been awarded the Royal Society of Edinburgh 2009 CRF/RSE European Visiting Research Fellowship which will allow her to travel to the National Szechenyi Library and Eotvos Loran University in Budapest and the University of Szeged from June 2009 for three months.

New Premises

Having been split over two sites for the best part of two years, the Department finally completed its move to Lilybank Gardens in May 2008.  We're sure that students will also benefit from our having our own 'front door' and in-house facilities.

Professor Rebecca Kay awarded British Academy research grant

Social Security, Care and the 'Withdrawing State' in Rural Russia: a case study from Altai Krai
The project aims to explore the processes by which rural people in 'Losevo' village, Altai Krai negotiate insecurity and produce social security drawing on a range of state/non-state, formal/informal, material and emotional resources. The study will incorporate a feminist analysis of care and explore the ways in which caring relationships, integral to the production of physical and emotional securities, are shaped by gender, generation, ethnicity and class. The project will contribute to more nuanced understandings of: (i) local experiences of and responses to neoliberal reforms and reconfigurations of welfare and care; (ii) the complex and multi-layered nature of the Russian state; (iii) the agency of state and non-state actors in defining need, providing care and producing social security in a rural Russian context. As well as contributing to academic debate, the project aims to generate practical insight into ways to improve access to locally appropriate forms of care and support.

Vinogradar International Youth Festival of Social Advertisement 2008

, and , postgraduate students from Central and East European Studies, presented papers at this festival hosted by our international research partners at Region Research Centre, Ul’ianovsk State University, Russia.
20 November 2008
Further Details and post-conference views from the participants. 

European Voice February 2009: EU Studies in a Globalised World

Dr Eamonn Butler has been interviewed and quoted in an article in European Voice.  Dr Butler emphasises the relevance of CEES taught programmes to the current changing international environment.  Courses today must be flexible and respond to developments particularly in relation to the transformation of political processes and societies in the new EU member states (often referred to as Europeanisation).  You can read the article here.  EU Studies in a Globalised World

New AHRC 3-year PhD Scholarship announced

AHRC-funded PhD scholarship (3 year)
Russia’s environmental science community during the late tsarist and early Soviet periods

Applications are invited for a 3 year PhD project scholarship funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). The studentship will run from September 2009-September 2012.

The studentship is associated with an AHRC-funded research project: ‘The Landscape Concept in Russian Scientific Thought, c1880s – 1991’ which is led by Dr Jonathan Oldfield (University of Glasgow) and Dr Denis Shaw (University of Birmingham).

Further details about the award and how to apply.
AHRC PhD Scholarship March 2009

Dr Jonathan Oldfield awarded AHRC research grant

The Landscape Concept in Russian scientific thought c1880s - 1991, September 2009-August 2012. In collaboration with Dr Denis Shaw (University of Birmingham).
Recent studies in the geography and sociology of scientific knowledge have suggested that the conceptual understandings and practices of science vary spatially and across a range of scales. This research aims to extend this literature by means of a detailed empirical study of the historical development and evolution of a key environmental science concept, namely that of 'landscape', within an understudied national context, that of Russia. The research will argue that differences in scientific understanding arise not only from the particularities of disciplinary debate but also from distinctive traditions of scientific thought specific to different countries. Through a detailed study of Russia, the research will seek to show how the landscape concept was received, interpreted and contested in that particular country, whilst remaining sensitive to the many ways in which such understandings were influenced by events and ideas in the wider world.