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An international team of researchers is investigating three centuries of scientific progress and the spread of knowledge in Europe and the Black Sea region. The project aims to promote research and knowledge exchange as a way to bring Europe and the Black Sea region closer, highlight the advantages of cooperation and generate positive spillover effects for academia and society
Through academic secondments between the partner academic institutions, the work is also expected to provide fertile ground to establish new pathways for interdisciplinary research activities between the countries involved: Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine.
The KEAC-BSR project, supported by the EU’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research and Innovation Staff Exchange programme, brings together researchers from these countries for a series of conferences, events and multidisciplinary studies.
Studies will begin with the 18th-century Enlightenment that led to rapid advances in science and philosophy. At that time, the Black Sea region – spanning from the Balkans to the Caucuses – was not considered a part of Europe, but by the 19th century, the exchange of knowledge and scientific insights had begun to intensify. There was an interlude in the mid-20th century when many Black Sea region countries came within the Soviet Union’s sphere of influence, resulting in a divergence of academic cultures until the end of the Cold War.
Since then, academic bridges have been built and there have been considerable efforts to strengthen ties, not least through the European Research Area, coinciding with broader globalisation of knowledge and scientific exchange.
That progress will be advanced by work conducted in KEAC-BSR, which will analyse the historical sharing of knowledge not only between Europe and the Black Sea region, but also within the region itself, looking at factors as diverse as migration, religion and the actions of imperial powers.