Russian and East European Studies - University of Oxford

09/06/2026

📢 How the Baltic States Fit into Contemporary European History

📅 Thursday, 11 June
🕐 17:00-19:00
📍 Room 20.402 History Hub, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter

This talk discusses how political developments in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania from 1918 to 2022 are integrated into or diverge from the common narrative of European history, focusing on significant turning points such as the Second World War, the collapse of the Soviet system, and the enlargement of the EU and NATO. The talk will feature Professor Andres Kasekamp (University of Toronto).

👥 Organiser: Paul Betts
🔗

Upcoming university events.

03/06/2026

🎼 Wind from the East – Theremin and Piano Concert

📅 Friday, 5 June
🕐 19:00
📍 Holywell Music Room

Join for a unique musical experience featuring globally renowned theremin player Lydia Kavina and pianist Maki Sekiya. The programme showcases Russian and Japanese music from the 20th and 21st centuries.

The theremin is a rare electronic instrument played without touch, producing a distinctive, voice-like sound — a performance opportunity rarely experienced live.

🎟 Tickets: https://fixr.co/event/wind-from-the-east-theremin-and-piano-concert-tickets-109410289?lang=en-US
👤 Organized by the Oxford New Russian Society

Buy tickets to Wind from the East - Theremin and Piano concert on Friday, Jun 5 at Holywell Music Room | FIXR

02/06/2026

📢 Ukraine Hub & History Faculty Workshop

📅 Friday, 5 June
🕐 10:30–16:30
📍 Ertegun House, 37a St Giles’, Oxford (Hybrid)

Please join us for the workshop “Between a Catastrophe and Transition: Chornobyl and Ukraine in the 1980s and 1990s”, organised by the Oxford Ukraine Hub. The day will explore Ukraine’s post-independence transitions alongside historical reflections on Chornobyl, marking 40 years since the disaster.

Schedule:
10:30–13:00 | After Independence: Ukraine in Transitions of the 1990s
Speakers: Dr Nataliya Kibita (Oxford), Professor Vlad Mykhnenko (Oxford), Professor Kataryna Wolczuk (Birmingham)

14:30–16:30 | Chornobyl, 40 Years After: Historical Reflections
Speakers: Professor David Marples (Alberta), Dr Tetiana Perga (TU Berlin)

👥 Organisers: Katerina Szylo and Yevhen Yashchuk (Oxford Ukraine Hub)

🎟 Registration:

02/06/2026

📢 Lecture: War and Displacement of Ukrainian Scholars

📅 Thursday, 4 June
🕐 17:00
📍 Tanner Room, Linacre College

Please join us for a lecture on “War and Displacement of Ukrainian Scholars: Rebuilding Disrupted Knowledge Exchange Flows.”

This talk examines how Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has disrupted established systems of knowledge production and circulation. It explores war and displacement not only as the loss of physical academic spaces, but as a deeper reconfiguration of academic freedom, institutional identity, and scholarly connectivity.

Focusing on the responses of Ukrainian scholars and institutions, the lecture highlights efforts to rebuild these networks through emergency-driven reforms, new collaborative models, and international partnerships, offering broader insights into resilience and the future of higher education in times of geopolitical upheaval.

This lecture examines how Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has disrupted established flows of knowledge production and circulation. It conceptualizes war and displacement not only as the loss of physical academic spaces, but as a deep reconfiguration of academic freedom, institutional ident...

01/06/2026

📢 Week 6 RESC Monday Seminar

📅 Monday, 1 June
🕐 17:00
📍 Nissan Lecture Theatre, St Antony’s College

Please join us for the sixth and final RESC Monday Seminar of the Trinity Term series, featuring Ada Wordsworth (University College London), presenting ‘(re)building culture and nation in the Ukrainian House of Culture’.

This is an in-person event only – all welcome!

👥 Convenor: Dr Panayiotis Xenophontos (St Antony’s)

25/05/2026

🇬🇪 Fifth Annual Oxford-Georgia Forum

📅 27 May 2026
🕤 9:30–18:30
📍 Investcorp Lecture Theatre, St Antony’s College

We are pleased to announce the Fifth Annual Oxford-Georgia Forum, taking place at St Antony’s College on 27 May 2026.

The Fifth Annual Oxford-Georgia Forum will take place at St Antony's College on 27 May 2026. The annual forum serves as a dynamic platform for exchanging knowledge about Georgia, bringing together scholars, practitioners, and students to share insights, foster dialogue, and deepen understanding of the country’s political, social, and cultural developments.

This year’s programme will focus on:
- The current political climate in Georgia
- The evolving geopolitical landscape in the region
- Georgian cultural and literary studies

Full agenda: https://events.ox.ac.uk/oxford_event/e46cf45b-5828-f111-88b3-7ced8d9a5614

Registration form: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=G96VzPWXk0-0uv5ouFLPkZAS6SwCcXJItVPgmn5Sb4pUNjBPQ1EySTcxMDM4QlVPU1gzWTZJSFFCQy4u&route=shorturl

If you have any questions, please contact Megi Kartsivadze at
[email protected]

25/05/2026

📢 Week 5 RESC Monday Seminar

📅 Monday, 25 May
🕔 17:00
📍 Nissan Lecture Theatre, St Antony’s College

This evening, join Michael Khodarkovsky (Loyola University Chicago) for his presentation ‘The steppe and its empires. The Russian empire and its Eurasian counterpart’.

This is a free event, all are welcome.

👤 Convened by Panayiotis Xenophontos (St Antony’s)

25/05/2026

📢 Vladimir Putin’s War on Russian Culture

📅 Thursday, 28 May
🕠 17:30–19:00
📍 Leonard Wolfson Auditorium, Wolfson College

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, President Putin has clamped down harshly on culture and the media, which have been weaponised to serve nationalist ideology. Many of Russia’s leading intellectuals have fled the new oppression. Bridget Kendall MBE (former BBC Moscow Correspondent and until recently Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge) chairs a discussion of the purging of Russian culture with the playwright Mikhail Durnenkov, known for his work with Teatr.doc and the Liubimovka theatre festival, and the journalist and writer Mikhail Zygar’ (founding editor of the Dozhd’ TV channel) – both of whom are now living in exile.

This event complements the College’s Berlin Lecture series, honouring Sir Isaiah Berlin’s legacy and his deep concern with Russian culture.

This is a free event – no booking required. All are welcome.

18/05/2026

🎹 Giorgi Gigashvili Piano Recital

📅 Tuesday, 19 May
🕐 15:00
📍 Hilda Besse Building, St Antony’s College

Please join us for a piano recital featuring acclaimed Georgian pianist Giorgi Gigashvili.

Organised by St Antony’s College in collaboration with the Oxford Georgian Studies Programme. All are warmly welcome, free entry!@

18/05/2026

📢 Week 4 RESC Monday Seminar

📅 Monday, 18 May
🕐 17:00
📍 Nissan Lecture Theatre, St Antony’s College

Please join us this evening for a seminar featuring Tamar Koplatadze (Christ Church), who will be presenting “Post-Soviet ecopoetics”: exploring the decolonial language of ecocritical solidarity across Central Asia (and beyond).

This is an in-person event only – all welcome!

👥 Convenor: Dr Panayiotis Xenophontos (St Antony’s)