The 11th HO PhD Symposium on Contemporary Greece and Cyprus

The Hellenic Observatory Centre for Research on Contemporary Greece & Cyprus will host its 11th Biennial PhD Symposium on Contemporary Greece and Cyprus on Thursday 29 May 2025. In line with the Centre's mission, the core objective of the PhD symposium is to facilitate the exchange of knowledge between young researchers and to promote innovative and cutting-edge research on political, social and economic issues in Greece and Cyprus.

The PhD Symposium brings together international PhD research from across the globe covering a broad range of fields within the social sciences. Students whose research is linked by the regional and national thematic focus on contemporary Greece and Cyprus will present their work and receive comments and feedback from an interdisciplinary audience comprising peers and experts.

The 11th Hellenic Observatory PhD Symposium became possible with the generous financial support of the A.G. Leventis Foundation.

The Centre welcomes contributions from research students (current and recent) across any field of the social sciences whose PhD focuses explicitly on contemporary Greece or Cyprus.

The Call for submission of abstracts closed on 23 February 2025.

Abstracts should be related to papers deriving from the applicant’s doctoral research and will be reviewed by a panel of academic experts comprising Hellenic Observatory Centre scholars. Successful applicants will be notified by 24 March 2025 and will be invited to submit a longer paper (approx. 8000 words) by 30 April 2025.

For further information please email us at: hellenicobservatory.phd@lse.ac.uk

The Symposium will be organised into parallel panel discussions based on disciplinary focus. Each panel will bring together 3 or 4 presentations linked together by thematic relevance. The panels will be chaired by a senior academic expert with extensive research and supervising experience at PhD level.

Students will be allocated to panels based on the topic of their research and will be invited to give presentations lasting approximately 10-15 minutes. The presentations will be followed by a discussion with the chair and a Q&A with the participants. Presenters will receive feedback from peers and academics whilst being exposed to new concepts, methods and content brought by the other participants.

Updates to the day’s proceedings will be added to the website as the Programme develops and nearer to the actual event date. The detailed programme of the PhD Symposium will be announced in May 2025.

The 11th Hellenic Observatory PhD Symposium on contemporary Greece and Cyprus features two outstanding plenary sessions.

We are excited to announce the keynote speaker of the 11^th Hellenic Observatory PhD symposium is Professor Elias Dinas, Director of Research, Department of Political and Social Sciences, European University Institute.The PhD Research Plenary Session explores questions of methodology and planning in the delivery of a PhD thesis, with specific reference to social science research on Greece & Cyprus.

While an integral part of the day’s proceedings, the PhD symposium plenary sessions are Public Events, and we welcome participation by members of the public and interested researchers and students who are not presenters at the Symposium. More information about the venue, time and registration for the plenary sessions will be announced in April.

Elias Dinas holds the Swiss Chair in Federalism, Democracy and International Governance. He holds a PhD in Political Science from the European University Institute (2010) and his research interests include the dynamics of political socialization, the downstream effects of institutional interventions and the legacy of authoritarian rule on the ideological predispositions of citizens in new democracies. He has also a keen interest in research methodology. His work has been published, among others, in the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, and Political Analysis and mentioned in The Economist, the Atlantic and the New York Times.

How to write a PhD (on Greece & Cyprus)

Vassilis Monastiriotis, Director, Hellenic Observatory Centre; Eleftherios Venizelos Chair of Contemporary Greek Studies, Professor of Political Economy, European Institute, LSE.

Completing a PhD is both a challenge and a journey. In this hallmark PhD symposium lecture, Professor Vassilis Monastiriotis draws on his extensive experience as a researcher, supervisor, and policy expert to offer essential guidance on completing a PhD, covering the key stages of research design, development, and writing. With a focus on the complexities of social science research, particularly in Greece and Cyprus, this session provides PhD candidates with the tools to refine their research approach and strengthen their academic contribution.

Successful students will receive a PhD symposium bursary as contribution to travel and accommodations expenses. The amount of the bursary will depend on the geographical location of the applicant’s University. More information can be found here.

The Hellenic Observatory PhD Symposium has been organised biennially since 2003 for students pursuing social sciences research on Greece and Cyprus. The aims of the symposia are to promote the exchange of knowledge between young researchers and to offer students a first opportunity to present their work and gain valuable feedback and critiques from an international audience comprising peers and experts. Over the years the Symposium has become an established educational forum, and we are proud that many of its participants who went on to pursue successful careers consider their experience from the Symposium an important milestone in their development.

The PhD Symposia offer students a unique opportunity to test their ideas and findings with a wider international audience, and to establish new collaborative links across disciplines. Additionally, it enables young researchers to engage with the academic community of the LSE, and several other distinguished scholars who participate as discussants at the Symposium. The Hellenic Observatory PhD symposia are unique in their thematic focus on Greece and Cyprus which allows the exploration of research questions from several social science field perspectives. They provide an exceptional foundation for the development of innovative ideas.

About the Award

The Nicos Mouzelis Award for Best Paper was inaugurated in 2017 at the 8th Hellenic Observatory PhD Symposium. The Award was established in recognition of Professor Mouzelis’ contribution to the education and development of young researchers and to the study of contemporary Greece. Professor Nicos Mouzelis has long established links with the Hellenic Observatory and was one its founding members. During the 90’s he campaigned along with other LSE academics for the establishment of an LSE research unit that would devote itself to the furtherment of research on Greek political, social, and economic issues the promotion of international academic collaborations. The Hellenic Observatory was established as a result of these efforts and Professor Nicos Mouzelis served as a member of its Advisory Board until 2015 contributing invaluably to its development as a premier research centre on contemporary Greece and Cyprus.

Today, Nicos Mouzelis is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics and continues to write and publish, adding to his already rich record of contributions to the fields of sociology, sociology of organizations, sociology of development and social theory (visit his personal website for a full list of publications). Professor Mouzelis remains a close friend and supporter of the Hellenic Observatory Centre.

The Nicos Mouzelis Award for Best Paper is offered on the day of the Symposium, to one of the PhD students presenting, in recognition of outstanding research potential and in honour of Professor Mouzelis’ long standing academic contribution and support of the Hellenic Observatory Centre.