The 9th HO PhD Symposium on Contemporary Greece and Cyprus

On Saturday 15^th June 2019 the Hellenic Observatory hosted its 9th Biennial PhD Symposium on Contemporary Greece and Cyprus. The core aim of the Symposium was to provide a platform for exchange and to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and ideas between young scholars currently undertaking research on Greece and Cyprus. All applicants accepted to give papers were eligible for travel grants due to the generous support of the A.G. Leventis Foundation.

The Symposium is an initiative that the Hellenic Observatory undertook in 2003 and we are pleased that we have been able to sustain and develop it. Over the years the Symposia have attracted PhD students from many different countries, facilitating their contact and collaboration with their peers. We have also been very grateful to the many academics who have given their time to chair the panels at the Symposia. The PhD Symposium intends to help graduate research students to overcome the academic isolation associated to PhD research, to ‘try’ their ideas and findings on wider audiences, and to establish new collaborative links across disciplines. Additionally, it enables young researchers to engage with a wider academic community, including academic members of staff at the LSE, and a number of other distinguished scholars who participate as discussants at the Symposium.

The Hellenic Observatory opened the Call for contributions from research students (current and recent) across any field of the social sciences and some fields of humanities whose PhD focuses on contemporary Greece and Cyprus.

With a very large number of applications received the HO selection committee chose the successful applicants. The selected registered participants were invited to present a part of their thesis during designated panel sessions, where participants received feedback from peers and academics whilst being exposed to new concepts, methods and content brought by the other participants. The sessions allowed for an exchange of knowledge and develop a creative dialogue, as well as enabling scholars to meet and interact in order to promote ideas with peers and more established scholars in their respective fields from across Europe and beyond.

The Symposium, as with previous years, was organised into panel discussions each with a narrow disciplinary focus, as well as two plenary sessions that seeked to address broader themes relating to Greece or Cyprus, or indeed questions of methodology and planning in the delivery of a PhD thesis. This allowed students the opportunity to gain new tools and fresh ideas which can be carried forward into their remaining years of study.

This year the first plenary session was delivered by Professor Kevin Featherstone, Hellenic Observatory Director, Eleftherios Venizelos Professor of Contemporary Greek Studies & Professor of European Politics, LSE. Professor Featherstone addressed the various stages of the PhD process and offer a detailed guide for students researching Greece and Cyprus. Having the experience of supervising over 35 PhD candidates, Professor Featherstone is in a good position to advise students on multiple issues relating to their current research and their future publications.

The second plenary session was delivered by Professor Dimitris Papadimitriou, Professor of Politics & Director of the Manchester Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence (JMCE) School of Social Sciences (SoSS), University of Manchester. Professor Papadimitriou will talk about “Five things we Don’t Know about the Economic Crisis in Greece”. Professor George Pagoulatos, Professor of European Politics and Economy at the Athens University of Economics and Business, acted as discussant. 

Supporters:

We are grateful for the generous financial support of the A.G. Leventis Foundation which has been crucial in the continuation of the Hellenic Observatory’s PhD Symposia.