Public Online Lecture by Professor Andreas Lechner “Typologies of Transformation“
2025-09-30 19:00 - 20:00 (Asia/Dubai)
We are pleased to inform you that the Laboratory for Architecture and Urban Studies at Ilia State University is currently implementing a project entitled “Urban Transformations of Saburtalo.” The project investigates, on the one hand, the processes of urban transformation in Saburtalo from the late nineteenth century through the 1990s, and, on the other hand, the architectural characteristics and particularities of housing construction.
A key focus of the research team is the examination of how residential building types have evolved in parallel with the spatial transformation of the neighborhood, how different typologies have been established, and how these have undergone change over time.
Within the framework of the project, four international seminars are planned, bringing together scholars engaged with this field of research. The first seminar will take place on 30 October of this year and will be led by Professor Andreas Lechner of the Faculty of Architecture at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz). The theme of the seminar will be Typologies of Transformation.
In contemporary architectural discourse, the imperative to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle—encompassing adaptive reuse, continual transformation, and building upon the built—fundamentally challenges inherited notions of architectural production and authorial invention. In this lecture, Andreas Lechner examines the evolving relationship between architectural type, typology, and strategies of transformation, drawing on his recent publication Architectural Affordances – Typologies of Umbau (2025). Here, the concept of Umbau (German for “transformation”) reframes architectural reasoning and practice—extending beyond maintenance, technical renovation, or adaptive reuse. It proposes a more nuanced dialogue with typology, historical continuity, and material articulation, that started with his 2021 „Thinking Design – Blueprint for an Architecture of Typology“ (Park Books: Zurich 2021).
Structured around theoretical inquiry, typological analysis, and drawing-based research, the talk invites to discern the latent spatial potentials—architectural affordances—embedded in existing structures.These affordances, understood as both ecological and cultural prompts, offer new ways of engaging with the resilience, adaptability, and social intelligence of the built environment, ultimately repositioning „Umbau” not as a niche activity but as architecture’s disciplinary core—at once critical praxis and artistic endeavour.
Andreas Lechner is an architect, educator, and writer whose practice is rooted in contextually sensitive, research-driven design. He holds a PhD and a Master of Architecture from TU Graz, where he currently serves as Associate Professor at the Faculty of Architecture. Before founding Studio Andreas Lechner, he studied and worked with Pritzker Architecture Prize–winning architects, drawing on formative experiences in Los Angeles, Berlin, Vienna, and Tokyo. He is the author of the award-winning, based on his habilitation, and has held postdoctoral research positions at Università Iuav di Venezia and Royal Danish Academy in Copenhagen. Lechner lectures and teaches internationally, serves as a visiting professor at Politecnico di Milano, and leads the research group “Counterintuitive Typologies” supported by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency. He is also co-editor of GAM – Graz Architecture Magazine and of a forthcoming special issue of The Journal of Architecture.

Harutyun Khudanyan’s lecture “The Origin and the Process of Formation of the Armenian People in the Light of Recent Studies”
2025-10-02 16:00 - 17:00
Harutyun Khudanyan, a researcher at the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia, will deliver a lecture “The Origin and the Process of Formation of the Armenian People in the Light of Recent Studies” within the permanent seminar of the Institute in the 201/202 meeting hall of Building S of Ilia State University on October 2.
Lecture annotation
The speaker presents views on the origins of the Armenian people, taking into account the latest genetic research. Modern Armenians represent a distinct, enduring lineage shaped in antiquity and preserved through history.
About the speaker
Harutyun Khudanyan is a researcher at the Department of Ancient History of the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia. His academic interests focus on Oriental and ancient sources, Armenian-Georgian relations, the ancient history of the Armenian people and the region, particularly the history and culture of Urartu. Among his publications, it is worth citing: “New Unpublished Materials from the Personal Funds of Georgian Prominent Urartologist Giorgi Melikishvili: G. Melikishvili and Armenology.” Scientia (Tbilisi), No. 2 (2021), “From the History of Armenian-Georgian Academic Relations: A Newly Discovered Letter by A. Kalantari from the Personal Fonds of L. Mushkelishvili.” Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, 2022), “The Urartian Collection of the Georgian National Museum.” In: Museum and Globalization, Materials from the International Conference (2021).
Working language: English
Time: October 2, 16:00
Location: Ilia State University, 201/202 meeting hall of Building S, G. Tsereteli Street N3
Attendance is free.
2025

International Conference The Black Sea as a Literary and Cultural Space (3): Ruins (Ancient and Modern) and Mobilities
2025-11-21 08:00 - 2025-11-22 17:00
On November 20-21, 2025, the international research conference Black Sea as a Literary and Cultural Space (3): Ruins (Ancient and Modern) and Mobilities will be held at the Ovidius University of Constanța, Romania.
The conference is the next gathering of the network of researchers studying the literature and culture of the Black Sea countries. Research Cooperation was launched in 2018, with the first international conference, The Black Sea as a Literary and Cultural Space, held in November 2018 at Ilia State University, organized by the Research Center Intercompréhension romane. Dialogue intertextuel and the Institute of Comparative Literature.
The following professors and teachers of Literature, Romance Studies, and Ethnology of Ilia State University will present their papers at the conference: Mzago Dokhturishili (member of the conference scientific committee), Tsira Kilanava, Salome Lapachishvili, Nino Abakelia, and Bela Tsipuria (member of the scientific committee). Their papers will address Georgian literary experience in the research context of the Black Sea’s literary and cultural space. The Constanța conference is co-organized by the Institute of Comparative Literature of Ilia State University.
See Programme

Title of the Conference: “Georgia’s Economic Potential and Korea–Georgia Economic Cooperation”
2025-11-25 10:30 - 12:00
This international academic forum aims to explore Georgia’s economic potential and identify promising areas for industrial cooperation between Korea and Georgia.
It will bring together scholars, students, and business representatives to exchange insights on bilateral economic relations, development strategies, and future collaboration opportunities.
Please find the draft program below for your reference.
International Academic Forum: “Georgia’s Economic Potential and Korea–Georgia Economic Cooperation”
Date: Tuesday, November 25, 2025
Time: 10:30–12:00 (followed by light reception)
Venue: Auditorium G106, Ilia State University (1 Giorgi Tsereteli Exit, Tbilisi)

The Blood Donation Day
2025-11-25 11:00 - 15:00
The Blood Donation Day will be held in the buildings A and T of Iliauni on November 25, it will be organized by the Department of Student Affairs of Ilia State University.
As part of the campaign, the mobile teams of the “Natalia Kvantaliani Central Blood Bank” and “Sicockhle” organizations, staffed by professional, experienced doctors, will offer those who wish to selflessly donate blood and thus show their support for people who need help.
Any person between the ages of 18 and 65 can become a blood donor if:

your weight is 50 kg or more;
you have not been infected with viral hepatitis B and C;
syphilis, tuberculosis;
you are not infected with HIV;
you do not have blood or oncological diseases;
you are not a drug user;
you have not undergone a surgical operation, you have not been vaccinated against tetanus and rabies in the last 1 year;
you have not gotten a tattoo in the last 6 months;
you have not had contact with other people’s blood;
you have not been pregnant in the last 6 months;
the donor must be practically healthy on the day of donation – must not have a fever, runny nose, catarrh, or other flu-like symptoms.

Those who participate in the charity event will receive the following research results free of charge:

Group, rhesus, phenotype
Hepatitis B and C, syphilis, cytomegalovirus and AIDS virus

A person who is going to donate should know the following:

Blood donation is an easy, safe and painless process;
When donating blood, only disposable material is used and the donor is protected from infection;
Donating blood is absolutely safe for health;
Blood donation is recommended in the first half of the day;
It is better to eat lightly and drink sweet tea in the morning on the day of blood donation. You should refrain from taking tobacco and analgesics;
Blood can be donated again after 2 months;

Bring a proof of identity card with you.
Time: 11:00-16:00
Location:

Natalia Kvantaliani Central Blood Bank – Building A of Iliauni. Student space, I. Chavchavadze Ave. N32
“Sicockhle” blood bank – Building T of Iliauni, student space, Cholokashvili Ave. N3/5

International Workshop Jewishness in Georgian and European Literatures
2025-11-28 16:00 - 17:00
Ilia State University, Institute of Comparative Literature
Vrije Universiteit Brussel
International Workshop
Jewishness in Georgian and European Literatures
Friday, 28 November 2025
Book Store Ligamus
Ilia State University
Ilia Chavcahvadze av. 32, Tbilisi, Georgia
The objective of the workshop is to examine the literary representations of Jewishness in Georgian and European literatures from 1850 until the present. Drawing upon a transnational and intermedial perspective, the aim is to explore artistic, literary, musical and cinematographic examples in the context of the politico-racial anti-Semitism that emerged during the 19th century: the Dreyfus Affair and its resonance in Western, Central and Eastern Europe, followed by the rise of fascisms, Nazism and the rupture introduced by the Shoah, as well as the state anti-Semitism of the Soviet Stalinist regime.
The fundamental question that this workshop seeks to address pertains to the manner in which literature, in its broadest sense, encompassing its manifold forms of representation, portrays Jewishness within diverse social and national contexts. This raises the question of the response or capability of writing to respond to the rise of anti-Semitism through diverse historical circumstances, including our contemporary world. The objective of this workshop is to (re)examine questions on a vast subject that is still very under-explored in certain areas and from particular perspectives, such as minor literature and forgotten writers.
The primary research topics encompass, but are not limited to, the following:

Jewishness in literary history: an examination of both national and transnational contexts;
The body in the marginalised space;
Spaces of exclusion;
Representation of Jewishness in an intermedial perspective;
(Co)inhabiting common spaces;
Examination of alternative forms of exclusion and marginalisation (for example, racial, social and gender-based) and their literary and artistic manifestations.

To participate in the workshop
You are invited to submit your proposal by October 20, 2025. The proposal should include: Title, Abstract of the paper (250 words) and short biography (250 words).
The proposal should be sent: tina_mamatsashvili@iliauni.edu.ge,bela_tsipuria@iliauni.edu.ge
Working Languages: Georgian, English, French
Format: Hybrid
Organising committee

Ilia State University: Atinati Mamatsashvili, Bela Tsipuria
Vrije Universiteit Brussel: Arvi Sepp

Scientific committee

Mzaro Dokhtourishvili (Ilia State University)
Atinati Mamatsashvili (Ilia State University)
Arvi Sepp (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)
Nino Pirtskhalava (Ilia State University)
Bela Tsipuria (Ilia State University)

2025

My Socialist Home” – Film screening and discussion
2025-12-02 18:00 - 19:00
My Socialist Home (Iulia Statica and Adrian Catu, 2021) is a documentary that captures the lived experiences and memories of five women who lived in Bucharest’s socialist housing blocks during the communist era in Romania, and who continue to live in these apartments today. The film examines the historical significance and contemporary relevance of two major reforms initiated under Nicolae Ceaușescu’s regime (1965-1989): one aimed at demographic growth through the control of reproduction, the other focused on unprecedented mass housing construction involving extensive demolitions. Although set in the contemporary postsocialist context, the film reflects on these historical reforms by presenting the everyday lives and stories of its subjects. In doing this, it reveals the contradictions, subtleties, and the gendered nature of life under communism, foregrounding the prismatic role of architecture in the constitution and afterlife of socialism.
Iulia Statica is a Mellon Fellow in Democracy and Landscape at Harvard University’s Dumbarton Oaks Institute in Washington, DC and a Lecturer at the School of Architecture and Landscape at the University of Sheffield, UK. She previously held postdoctoral positions at The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, and Cornell University. Her research focuses on the legacies of socialist-built environments in Eastern Europe, particularly mass housing, and the gendered experiences of these spaces. She investigates experiences of domesticity, infrastructure, and feminized migration in the wider context of Cold War and imperial histories, and their influence on contemporary postsocialist practices. She is the author of Urban Phantasmagorias: Domesticity, Production, and the Politics of Modernity in Communist Bucharest.
Time: 2 December, 18:00
Format: Online
Join Zoom Meeting https://iliauni-edu-ge.zoom.us/j/81858419018?pwd=[REDACTED]

Public Discussion: Sustainable Design in the Era of Climate Crisis – The Georgian Experience
2025-12-05 19:00 - 20:00
On 5th December at 7:00 pm, a public discussion organised by the Architecture Programme at Ilia University will be held on the topic: Sustainable Design in the Era of Climate Crisis – Georgia’s Experience.
Climate change remains a key global challenge today. As Earth’s temperatures continue to rise quickly, the frequency and severity of natural disasters such as floods, droughts, and wildfires are also expected to increase. These events threaten human life, health, and essential resources and lead to substantial infrastructural damage. Countries and cities are working on developing approaches and strategies to reduce climate change impacts, respond effectively, and support adaptation. Urban planning and architecture can significantly contribute to these efforts.
During the public discussion, we will address the current situation in Georgia related to this topic and examine the experience gained in urban planning and architecture.
Speakers:
Kakha Bakhtadze – Environmental Protection Specialist
Salome Dvali – Environmental Protection Specialist
Energy Efficiency Center representative
The discussion is part of the public program of the student architectural workshop “Sustainable Design for Green Spaces,” which will take place at Ilia State University from December 3–7. The workshop aims to deepen knowledge about sustainable solutions and participatory practices in the development of urban green spaces.
The Heinrich Böll Foundation Tbilisi Office supports the event.
Working language: Georgian
Time: 5 December, 7:00 PM
Address: Qaqutsa Cholokashvili Avenue 3/5, Building H, Room 105
Attendance is free.

Public Lecture: Urban transformation and the importance of sustainable and social public spaces
2025-12-05 19:00 - 20:00
On December 3 at 7:00 PM, the Architecture Program at Ilia State University will host a public lecture by Swiss landscape architect Ludger Krabbe. The lecture, “Urban Transformation and the Importance of Sustainable and Social Public Spaces,” will showcase projects by BRYUM, a Basel-based studio. Mr. Krabbe will highlight approaches to open-space urban design that improve residents’ daily lives and benefit the environment.
About the Speaker
Ludger Krabbe is a landscape architect. Since 2015, he has been a member of BRYUM’s executive management. He has 25 years of experience working in both the public and private sectors in Germany and Switzerland. He is also a guest lecturer at the FHNW University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland. His teaching focuses on climate-responsive and cooling-oriented urban spaces.
The lecture is part of the public program of the student architectural workshop “Sustainable Design for Green Spaces,” which will take place at Ilia State University from December 3–7. The workshop aims to deepen knowledge about sustainable solutions and participatory practices in the development of urban green spaces.
The Heinrich Böll Foundation Tbilisi Office supports the event.
Working language: English
Time: 3 December, 7:00 PM
Address: Qaqutsa Cholokashvili Avenue 3/5, Building H, Room 105
Attendance is free.

Public lecture by Dr. Alberto Roper Pol Primordial Magnetic Fields and Gravitational Waves An Overview of Research
2025-12-18 17:00 - 18:00
On December 18 at 5:00 PM, a seminar of Space Research Center will be held at Ilia State University S507. Dr. Alberto Roper Pol will give a presentation on the multi-messenger studies of primordial magnetic fields and gravitational wave backgrounds.
Dr. Alberto Roper Pol is the leader of the Cosmology and Astroparticles Group at the University of Geneva.
Dr. Roper Pol collaborates with Ilia State University professors and researchers on issues related to cosmological gravitational waves, and they have jointly published articles in leading scientific journals.

Conference "Dictionary Day"
2025-12-20 10:00 - 19:30
On December 20, 2025, the Centre for Lexicography and Language Technologies at Ilia State University will host Dictionary Day, dedicated to the 70th anniversary of Professor Tinatin Margalitadze’s birth. This year, Dictionary Day will be held as a conference, featuring contributions from Tinatin Margalitadze, Giorgi Meladze, and students of the Master’s and PhD programmes in Lexicography.
Working language: Georgian
Time: December 20, 10:00 AM – 7:30 PM
Venue: Ilia State University, Hall G106, G. Tsereteli Entrance N 1-3
Conference program available at the link.
Attendance is free.

Mohammad Golshan’s Lecture JUDEO-PERSIAN IN THE HISTORY OF IRAN AND AS A LANGUAGE OF RECOMPILING MEDICINE
2025-12-25 16:00 - 17:00
About the Presenter
Mohammad Golshan is currently pursuing a joint double-program PhD in Iranian Studies at the University of Göttingen in Germany and in Terrains, textes, interdisciplinarité (2TI) at EHESS in France. His main focus is on the history of medical science in the early modern global history. Currently, He is working on the feminine body in Indo-Persian medical and occult texts of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Along with Judeo-Persian codicology, he is also interested in Judeo-Persian medical writings, folk medicine, divination, and magic in Iran and Central Asia, specifically in texts from the 15th to the 19th century in Iran and Bukhara.
Annotation
The medical texts that were recompiled in Judeo-Persian are among the sources that have not received the attention they truly merit. A significant collection of Judeo-Persian medical manuscripts, which are recompilations of medieval Persian medical texts, is housed in the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. While there may be similarities in their codicological features, it is essential to examine them as discrete cases. This lecture proposes a general examination of one of these sources in The Library of JTS, Kifāyat-i Manṣūrī, along with a practice of reading some excerpts of the text as an interactive learning endeavor. This lecture will encompass two primary components as well: an exposition of the sources stored in the Library of JTS and a historical background of writing in Judeo-Persian in Persianate world context.
Working language: English
Time: December 25, 16:00
Location: Ilia State University, 201/202 meeting hall of Building S, Acad. G. Tsereteli Street N3
Attendance is free.

Studying and Living in Korea: International Student Experience
2026-02-04 16:00 - 17:00
Are you considering studying or living in South Korea?
Many prospective students form their expectations of life in Korea through K-dramas and social media. This workshop offers a more realistic and informed perspective on what it truly means to study and live in South Korea.
The session will be led by Zarina Nurillaeva, who has been studying in South Korea at the University of Inha for the past three years. Drawing on first-hand experience, the workshop aims to present the realities of academic and everyday life beyond dramatized images.
The workshop will cover the following topics:

The reality of Korean university life
Academic culture, examinations, and student responsibilities
Housing options, living expenses, and part-time employment
Cultural differences and adaptation challenges
Useful information for students who want to study in Korea, including scholarship opportunities

Additional highlight:
The session will include short quiz activities, with small prizes for participants.
Join us to explore the real side of studying and living in Korea.
Working Language: English
Venue: G 106 Hall, G. Tsereteli 1
Time: 4 February 2026, 16:00

Iliauni Turns 20! Unite for Iliauni!
2026-02-15 18:00 - 20:00
Twenty years of learning loud.
Twenty years of thinking free.
Twenty years of research, courage, and building something together that matters.
For two decades, we’ve been creating more than a university.
We’ve been creating an academic free space for questions, for ideas, for science that has power.
Because a university is not just walls and classrooms.
It is our responsibility.
To society.
To the country.
To the future.
We stand together to defend our university.
To defend education.
To defend the belief that a better future is built only on knowledge.
We stand together to face challenges head-on and say clearly:
This path is ours. And no one will rewrite it for us.
“Only science can fight ignorance.”
“Where there is no knowledge, there is no person; where there is no person, there is no society; and where there is no society, there is no nation.” – Ilia Chavchavadze
On February 15, at 6:00 PM, students, alumni, professors – all of us – gather at Ilia State University’s A Building to stand for 20 years of continuous building, growing, and believing.
Side by side.
Stronger together.
The journey continues.
With us: Lexo Ratiani & LOUDspeakers
Ligamus – Iliauni unites us
Time: February 15, 6:00 PM
Location: Ilia State University, Building A Courtyard, 32 Ilia Chavchavadze Avenue

Workshop - Academic Writing and Publishing in the Postplagiarism Era
2026-03-19 08:00 - 17:00
This workshop is part of the project “Addressing Academic Misconduct and Integrity in Georgia,” funded with the support of the Center for Governance and Culture in Europe (GCE-HSG) at the University of St.Gallen, Switzerland.
This workshop is designed for early-career researchers and doctoral students and focuses on academic integrity, generative AI, and scholarly writing and publishing in the digital age. It explores how AI tools are reshaping research practices, authorship, and scholarly responsibility, with particular attention to ethical use, transparency, and integrity. Participants will engage in practical discussions on responsible AI-supported writing, avoiding academic misconduct and navigating emerging institutional and journal policies. The workshop also provides guidance on developing a strong academic voice and maintaining rigor while working with digital tools. Through interactive sessions and real-world examples, participants will gain concrete strategies for ethical, confident, and future-oriented academic practice, including insights into publishing in leading international journals.
The workshop will be led by PD Dr. Elena Denisova-Schmidt, Privatdozentin at the University of St. Gallen (HSG) and Research Fellow at the Boston College Center for International Higher Education, and Dr. Tatiana Sitchinava, Assistant Researcher at the Institute of Demography and Sociology, Ilia State University.
The workshop will be held on 25 May 2026 at 11:00, at Ilia State University.
The working language of the workshop is English.
For submission, please fill in the Google Form: Blank Quiz – Google Forms
The deadline for submission is 30 April 2026.
Selected candidates will be contacted by email in early May.

Nana Iashvili's online lecture “Collateralized lives”: Home, debt, and financialization in the Republic of Georgia
2026-03-24 17:00 - 18:00
Tuesday, 24 March at 17:00 PM Nana Iashvili will deliver an online lecture “Collateralized lives”: Home, debt, and financialization in the Republic of Georgia.
In this talk, Nana will present framework and preliminary findings for her PhD project that investigates credit-debt arrangements in Georgia where individuals use their homes to borrow large sums of money. Examining the roles of creditors ranging from banks to informal moneylenders, to ‘Giravnoba’, her work delves into the transformation of housing into a financial asset, subsequent displacements and dispossessions and how these processes affect households and people’s daily lives.
Nana holds an MA in Sociology and Social Anthropology from Central European University. Currently, at the Social and Cultural Anthropology department at the University of Vienna, Nana’s PhD research centers on housing-related debts in Georgia. Nana is a member of the Landscapes of Extraction: Capital, Violence and City team and a fellow at the Challenge of the Urban Futures Platform.
Working language: English
Format: online — for details contact mariam.darchiashvili@iliauni.edu.ge
Time: 24 March 2026, 17:00 Tbilisi time
Free to attend.

The Agency and Materiality of Sacred Texts in Armenian Christianity
2026-03-31 17:00 - 18:00
The Anthropology Research Center of Ilia State University, together with the PhD Program in Social and Cultural Anthropology, invites you to a seminar by Konrad Siekierski on March 31 at 17:00: “The Agency and Materiality of Sacred Texts in Armenian Christianity”.
The seminar will take place at Ilia State University, Room A103 32 Ilia Chavchavadze Avenue.
This lecture will discuss the social lives of Armenian Christian books and scrolls, which act as sacred thing-beings endowed with supernatural power and agency, having life histories and personalities. Drawing on literature on material religion and ethnographic examples from my research, I will ask what these texts are, what they do, and how they relate to people. To respond to these questions, I will examine the phenomenon of ‘home saints’ venerated in unoﬃcial shrines across several regions of Armenia and in Armenian-populated parts of Georgia, where they aﬀord the Armenian Christians the experience of a ‘radical presence or realness’ (Orsi 2008: 14) of the sacred. Then, I will turn to the Matenadaran (the Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts) in Yerevan. In this state repository, research centre, and museum, Armenian religious texts have been protected, renovated, studied, and displayed as precious pieces of tangible national heritage. However, some of these manuscripts have resisted secularisation while preserving the traditional roles of powerful thing-beings which/who attract not only visitors but also pilgrims to the Matenadaran.
Konrad Siekierski holds a PhD in social anthropology from the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, King’s College London. Konrad is a co-editor of Armenia: A Modern Culture from an Anthropological Perspective (2014), Armenians in Post-Socialist Europe (2016), and a special issue of the Entangled Religions journal on “Religion and Pandemic” (2022).

The Ecology of Everyday Life: Local Food Practices in the Face of Environmental Threats in the Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti Region
2026-04-07 17:00 - 18:00
On April 7 at 17:00, the Anthropology Research Centre and the Doctoral Programme in Social and Cultural Anthropology invite you to an online seminar by Dr. Natallia Paulovich: “The Ecology of Everyday Life: Local Food Practices in the Face of Environmental Threats in the Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti Region.”

Abstract:
This presentation outlines the conceptual foundations of the emerging research project “The ecology of everyday life: Local food practices in the face of environmental threats in the Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti region”. The future study will investigate how communities living in an arsenic-affected area of northern Georgia navigate environmental uncertainty in their daily lives, with particular attention to food sourcing, preparation, and consumption. Although geological, environmental and medical researchers have extensively documented arsenic contamination stemming from abandoned processing facilities, the social dimensions of this ecological crisis remain largely unexamined. Little is known about how residents understand contamination, how risk knowledge circulates within households and communities, or how longstanding culinary traditions are re-interpreted in light of perceived threats. Building on Mary Douglas’s insight that purity and pollution operate as both symbolic and social classifications, the project approaches toxicity not only as a measurable chemical hazard but also as a lived condition embedded in everyday practices. The presentation maps the conceptual terrain that guides this ethnographic inquiry, drawing on scholarship in environmental anthropology and studies of foodways under conditions of degradation, and comparative research on community responses to industrial pollution. It introduces the proposed methodological framework—long-term participant observation, semi-structured interviews, household food mapping, and interdisciplinary collaboration with environmental scientists—designed to trace the interplay between ecological risk and domestic life. By outlining the theoretical rationale and research design, this presentation sets the stage for a broader investigation into how rural communities in Georgia interpret, negotiate, and accommodate environmental threats in their everyday ecologies. The goal is to articulate the analytical questions that will drive the fieldwork and to situate the project within ongoing environmental debates.
Bio
Dr. Natallia Paulovich is an Assistant Professor at The Maria Grzegorzewska University in Warsaw, Poland, specialising in gender studies, food anthropology sociology, and Eastern European studies. She earned her Ph.D. in Sociology from the Polish Academy of Sciences in 2018, and holds a master’s degree in History. Dr. Paulovich has conducted extensive fieldwork in Georgia and Belarus, focusing on issues of gender, social identity, and post-Soviet transformations. Her work has been published in journals such as Slavic Review and Anthropology of the Contemporary Middle East and Central Eurasia. Her first book called ‘The Taste of Agency: Cooking, Gender, and Social Change in Georgia’ appeared in 2025 in Palgrave MacMillan.

Meet the Austrians, meet the Georgians: Business, Communication and Culture – what are we talking about? An interactive Workshop
2026-04-17 19:00 - 21:00
About the workshop

What characterizes business today in Austria and Georgia?
Which impacts do international settings have on business?
How is business affected by cultural differences?
What has to be considered when engaging in intercultural exchange in a corporate context?
What’s an Austrian working style, what do young professionals think in Georgia?

Interactive Workshop
About the speakers
Alexander Burka, Prof. PhD. M.A
Professor for international Business Communication at the University of Applied Sciences Burgenland, Austria. Courses on international competencies, intercultural management and Russian as foreign language.
More than 25 years professional experience in various fields of activity in more than 60 countries worldwide for international organisations and enterprises.
Nina Trinkl, Prof. MMag.
Programme Director of the Master’s program in International Business Relations at the University of Applied Sciences Burgenland, Austria. Courses in strategic management, international marketing and research methods.
More than 15 years professional experience in higher education as well as consumer marketing in FMCG and telecommunications industry.
Date: April 17, 2026
Venue: E207, 45 Ilia Chavchavadze Avenue, Tbilisi, 0179, Georgia
