Belarusian>>>
On 3-5 October 2014 the Fourth International Congress of Belarusian Studies took place in Kaunas (Lithuania).
This year 422 people took part in the Congress, including scholars, experts, journalists, civil and cultural activists from 23 countries (Australia, Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Ukraine, United Kingdom, USA, Uzbekistan, Japan). Around 200 participants took part in the previous Congresses, while the majority visited it for the first time.
Two thirds came from Belarus and represented more than 40 state and non-state institutions: 20 universities and other educational institutions, 5 reseach institutions, 5 think-tanks, 3 museums, a library and an archive.
A number of famous scholars and public figures were present at the Fourth Congress: Ihar Babkoŭ, Mykola Riabchuk, Arnold McMillin, Curt Woolhiser, Iryna Dubianeckaja, Valiancin Akudovič, Kerry Brown, Uladzimir Mackievič and others.
The Congress worked in 15 sections, including economics, social sciences (political institutions, international relations, civil society, gender studies, religious studies), history (history of the GDL, history of the 19th century, Jewish studies, history of the 20 century, borderland studies), humanities (cultural studies, literature studies, linguistics, Bible studies, theology). The results of sections’ work were presented on 5 October at the plenary session. The hottest discussions arose around Ukraine crisis and China relations with Eastern Europe countries.
In the second day of the Congress the annual ceremony of Congress Award for the Best Academic Publication took place. The award was granted in history (monographs and articles), humanities (monographs and articles), and social sciences (articles). Please see more details on the award here.
The work of the Fourth Congress can be generally considered as successful, which is proved by the results of the opinion.
See opening ceremony in youtube.