- Giorgi Sanikidze
George Sanikidze is the Professor at the Ilia State University, the head of the program of Middle Eastern studies and the Director of the G. Tsereteli Institute of Oriental Studies at the same University (Tbilisi, Georgia). His research topics include Medieval and Modern history of Islam, history and politics of the Middle Eastern countries and of the Caucasus, East-West interactions. He teaches different courses concerning middle Eastern and Islamic studies. Several PhD and MA thesis are defended under his supervison.
G. Sanikidze is the author up to 100 publications (books, articles, manuals, dictionary, catalog), which, in addition to Georgia, were published in USA, France, Holland, Turkey, Iran, Russia, Bosnia, Japan, Azerbaijan, Spain, Great Britain. Among his publications related to the topic of the project, it can be cited: Iran and the South Caucasian Countries. Different Realities, Different Opportunities. (2022); “Evolution of the Safavid Policy towards the Eastern Georgia.” In Idea of Iran. Vol. 10. The Second Safavid Century. Ed. by Charles Melville. (London: I.B. Tauris, 2021);“Tbilisi as a Bridge Between Iran and Europe, from the Nineteenth to the Early Twentieth Centuries.” In: Iran and the West: Cultural Perceptions from the Sasanian time to the Islamic Republic. D. Bagot & M. Wiskin eds. (London: I.B.Tauris, 2018);“An Historical Survey of Georgian-Iranian Relations in the Nineteenth Century.” Journal of Persianate Studies, Vol. I, No.2, (Leiden: Brill, 2008);
George Sanikidze has been working as a visiting scholar at Paris-Sorbonne-III and IV Universities, University of California – Berkeley, Universities of Hokkaido and Osaka, Japan. He is the member of a number of international academic associations, member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Institute of Iranian Studies of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.
George Sanikidze has received several grants and stipends – Grant of the Association for study of the Middle East and North Africa (ASMEA), Fulbright stipend (USA), “Diderot” Stipend (France), Grant of ‘Japan Foundation”, Stipend of Central European University, grants of Rustaveli foundation, Eurasia Foundation, etc. In 2012 he Received ‘Farabi International Award’ for the academic achievements in the fields of Islamic and Iranian studies.
- Irine Nachkebia
Doctor of History Irène Nachkebia is a senior researcher and the Head of the Departament of the Modern History of the Middle Eastern Countries at Giorgi Tsereteli Institute of Oriental Studies of Ilia State University. Since 1996, she collaborates with the French Iranian World Research Center (CeRMI). In 1991-2000, she was a visiting professor at the Institute of Africa and Asia and the Faculty of Oriental Studies of Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University. I. Natchkebia participated in the Project “Tbilisi in the 19th century: History and Culture” (2001-2003, supported by INTAS); She was the team leader of the Project “Between East and West: Iranian and French authors about the 19th century Georgia” (2015-2018, supported by the Rustaveli Foundation). She has published many articles in different languages and three monographs: The topic of her research is the study the datas of Europeans traveling to Georgia and Iran in the 19th century (diplomatic relations, personalities, historical geography, social and economic situation).
- Marine Alexidze
Marine Alexidze, PhD, is the associate professor at the Department of Iranian Studies in the Institute of Oriental Studies of Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University.
Her research interests cover various aspects of Iranian-Georgian relations in the Qajar period including the history, culture and everyday life of the Iranian community in Tbilisi, writings of Iranian travelers to Georgia, and literary contacts. Since 2000s, she has been studying Persian historical sources of the history of the Caucasus. She is the author of The Persians and Persian Culture in Nineteenth-Century Georgia (2009), Georgia and the Muslim East in the Nineteenth Century. Studies in the History of Culture, Religion and Life (2011), Georgia in Persian Sources of the Qajar Period: Travelogues and Memoirs (2016) and co-author of Arfa‘ ad-Dowle and Georgia (2017). She is also the author of a manual for students Persian Poetics (2018) and co-author of Reader in Persian Literature, vol. 3 (2006).
Marine Alexidze has patricipated in a number of local and international conferences. She is actively involved in research projects including those supported by the Georgian Academy of Sciences, Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation, the British Academy, RESEARCH SUPPORT SCHEME, INTAS, and FARIG.
- Ketevan otarashvili
Ketevan Otarashvili is Orientalist-Armenologist. She has Many years of work experience in the field of Armenology. She is involved in projects organized by the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia, the National Assessment and Examinations Center and National Center for Educational Quality Enhancement. In 1995-1998 She taught a course in the history of Eastern States at the independent university “Adjara”. In 2004-2008, working at the National Center of Manuscripts, she prepared for publication the „Old Georgian – Old Armenian Documentary Dictionary” compiled by Ilia Abuladze. Since 2009, she works at National Parliamentary Library of Georgia, where she compiled and prepared for publication the bibliographic description of Armenian books and periodicals published in Georgia and Mentioned where issued copies are kept.
- Tamta Bokuchava
Tamta Bokuchava is an Orientalist-Turkologist. She is a research assistant at Ilia State University, G. Tsereteli Institute of Oriental Studies and simultaneously works on her doctoral thesis. The main area of research includes Turkey’s domestic and foreign political courses, its positions in the region, relations with strategic partners, etc.