Summer Session of the International PhD Programme for Belarus in Warsaw

From 8 to 18 July 2013, an off-site session of doctoral students of the International PhD Programme for
Belarus, administered by the Political Sphere Institute, took place. The session was held at the University of Warsaw in cooperation with the Centre for East European Studies of the University of Warsaw (Studium Europy Wschodniej, Uniwersytet Warszawski).

During the session, the results and concepts of the doctoral students’ research were discussed, and a number of specialised lectures and seminars were held.

Programme participants attended lectures by well-known Polish scholars: Leszek Zasztowt, Andrzej Mencwel, Zofia Zielińska, Jan Jacek Bruski, Zbigniew Kruszewski, and Andrzej Sulima-Kamiński.

With the participation of Aleksandra Hnatiuk and John Micgiel, individual discussions of the doctoral students’ research projects and research concepts were held.

On 13 July, the doctoral students from Belarus visited the Warsaw Uprising Museum.

To integrate into the regional expert and academic community, programme participants had the opportunity to attend the Tenth International Academic Conference of the Centre for East European Studies.

In total, 10 representatives of the Belarusian academic community took part in the session. The programme participants are working on topics related to the study of history, politics and social relations. The research discussed during the session included:

• Official Discourses on the Construction of Women’s Reproductive Bodies in Post-Soviet Belarus
• Family and Social Traditions of Afghans in Belarus, Late 20th – Early 21st Century
• The Opposition of the Belarusian Popular Front (BPF) in the Supreme Soviet of the 12th Convocation: Ideology and Activity (1990-1995)
• The Figure of Francysk Skaryna as a Cultural Hero in Intellectual Traditions of the 19th – Early 21st Centuries
• Socio-Political Ideas of the Belarusian Intelligentsia during Perestroika (1985-1991)
• Evangelical Christian Baptists (ECB) in the BSSR (1944-1969)