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research

CEELBAS has developed multi-disciplinary, language-based research capacity around a number of key research themes through a programme of conferences, workshops and language projects, postgraduate scholarships, postdoctoral fellowships, mid-career training, as well as engagement with the user community and international networks.

The Centre integrates the scholarly capacities of the universities involved in order to generate a sustainable flow of highly trained area expertise. Its objectives are to set the research agenda for the study of its region and to inform policy making, nationally and internationally. The Centre gives the UK a leading global presence in the study of Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, and neighbouring regions.

Publications Workshops & Language Projects
Research Themes
Postdoctoral Research
Postgraduate Research
Area Methods Virtual Tour
Knowledge Exchange
CEELBAS Region

Publications

Over 230 research outputs have been produced as a result of the Centre’s activities – with many more planned or forthcoming – ranging from specific workshops and conferences to monographs, edited collections, peer-reviewed articles, journal special issues, electronic journals, interactive language learning websites and policy papers. A selection of these outputs is available at www.ceelbas.ac.uk/research/publications.

A full list of publications and other academic outputs is available on the ESRC Society Today website


Research Workshops and Language Projects

The Centre has now organised, across its Network, some 50 workshops and conferences to take forward the research agenda and engage with the user community. These events have brought together representatives from over 100 different UK and international institutions, including non-area specialists, up-and-coming academics and doctoral students, as well as established academic experts on the region and representatives from over 150 different business, public, private and third sector organizations.

CEELBAS Network Workshops

In addition, the Centre has funded over 20 projects to develop teaching materials and study resources across a wide range of Slavonic and East European languages. These have now been made available for the long term through the open-access CEELBAS Language Repository.


Research themes

The key research priorities identified by the Centre and examined through its activities have included the following: 

  • Cities (e.g. urban development and urban experiences)
  • Health, Wealth, Welfare and Demography
  • Migration and Diasporic Citizenship
  • New Dimensions of Social Inequality
  • Contemporary Cultural Processes (e.g. film, mass media and cultural consumption, youth cultures)
  • Polish Foreign Policy
  • Knowledge-based Economies and Societies (e.g. R&D, E-government)
  • International Relations, Security and Energy Politics
  • Identities and Solidarities (e.g. regional, national and transnational, religion, gender, ethnicity, sexualities, the dynamics of trust)
  • Political and Economic Processes (e.g. democratisation and integration)

The Centre encourages:

  • Disciplinary, interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and comparative research
  • Contemporary as well as historical approaches to the above themes
  • Strong international participation and close engagement with policy making communities

International Conferences at UCL:


Postdoctoral research

Seven Postdoctoral Fellowships were appointed by the Centre to develop key research themes. A specific focus of these Fellowships has been the development of, and reflection on, new approaches across and between disciplines. Thus, these Fellows have advanced the Centre’s specific research objectives and, just as importantly, have contributed to the development of multi- and interdisciplinary area studies in general. These appointments covered the following themes:

UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies:

University of Oxford, Russian and East European Studies:

University of Birmingham, Centre for Russian and East European Studies:

Society, Culture and Politics of Eastern Europe Conference
A joint conference was organised by the first five CEELBAS Postdoctoral Fellows in December 2008 at the University of Oxford, desinged to to take forward the Centre’s agenda and create new research synergies. View podcasts and further details.

A selection of postdoctoral research posters were produced for the Centre's international conference Research without Frontiers in June 2011 and are available below (click to enlarge):

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Postgraduate research

The Centre has provided 38 M.Res / M. Phil and 32 PhD / D.Phil studentships to fund research relating to its key research themes, or combinations thereof, as they relate to the region.

View list of CEELBAS Studentship holders and their research topics

The CEELBAS postgraduate research and training programme has also included a series of workshops on research ethics and an annual Russian Archives Training Scheme.

A selection of postgraduate research posters are available below (click to enlarge):

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harrison small ionescu small jackson small saostek small

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Area Methods Virtual Tour: Reflections on Fieldwork In Eastern Europe and Russia

An online guide has been produced by CEELBAS Postdoctoral Fellows to assist postgraduate students in their research projects on Central and Eastern Europe and Russia. This is a Learning Space in which the Fellows draw on their own experiences to offer ideas and possible approaches to some of the common challenges encountered during the research process in the CEELBAS region. Sections cover: Accessing the ‘field’, Generating qualitative data, Ethics and power relations, and Language in cross-cultural research.


Knowledge Exchange Partnerships and Events

CEELBAS has Knowledge Exchange Partnerships in place with:

BEARR BPCC Chatham House EBRD RBCC Russian Media House Wider Europe Network

The BEARR Trust (NGO supporting health and welfare in Russia and Eurasia)
The British-Polish Chamber of Commerce
Chatham House (The Royal Institute of International Affairs)
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
The Russo-British Chamber of Commerce
Russian Media House (the UK’s largest Russian publishing company)
The Wider Europe Network (forum for discussion on European Neighbourhood Policy)

Together we organise various user-focused roundtables and conferences to share and disseminate CEELBAS expertise and to cross the boundaries between academic research and the economic and public policy fields. In addition, CEELBAS-supported workshops and academic events have involved representatives from over 150 different business, public, private and third sector organizations.

View full overview of the CEELBAS Knowledge Exchange programme


Region

The area studied by the Centre has covered the countries and regions of Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, and Eurasia. Inter-regional research has also been encouraged through collaborations the other Language-Based Area Studies Centres.


Arts & Humanities Research Council
Economic & Social Research Council
Higher Education Funding Council for England

CEELBAS logo lefthand column

CEELBAS is a partnership of UCL, University of Oxford and University of Birmingham with a network of partners at the Universities of Bath, Cambridge, Kent, Manchester, Sheffield, Warwick and SOAS

CEELBAS International Partners