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AISEES is delighted to announce the awardees of our 2026 Travel Grant competition. This grant allows southeast European scholars of the Humanities and Social Sciences who reside in SE Europe to present their work at international venues. Congratulations to:

Nevena Manic (Serbia) who will present “From Sacred Messengers to Poaching Victims: Econarratives of Birds in Serbian Folklore and Media” at the International Society for Folk Narrative Research Congress (ISFNR2026) in Reykjavik, Iceland, June 12-17, 2026.

Andrea Pambuku (Albania) who will present “Interaction, Connectivity and Mobility in the Balkans: Diachronic Perspectives on Land Use and Human–Landscape Relationships” at the 32nd Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists (EAA), in Athens, Greece, from 26 to 29 August 2026.

Strahil Panayotov (Bulgaria) who will present “New Discoveries on Phlegm and Sputum: A Common Medicine from Cuneiform to Hippocrates,” in the panel “The Shared World of Ancient Medicine: A Conceptual Framework for Technical Circulation and Exchange in Eurasia and North Africa” at the Joint Meeting of the European Society for the History of Science (ESHS) and the History of Science Society (HSS), to be held in Edinburgh, Scotland, 12–16 July 2026.

AISEES is thrilled to announce our 2026 Fellows!

Lynn Roller Fellows:
• Dr. Michael L. Galaty (University of Michigan Museum of Anthropological Archaeology (USA Fellow) – for archaeological research in Kosovo
• Dr. Edlira Andoni (Institute of Archaeology, Academy of Science in Albania – (SE European Fellow) – for archaeological research in Albania

Graduate and Early Postdoc Fellows:
• Amber Kearns (University of Texas, Austin) – for archaeological research in Serbia
• Bakir Ovcina (Vanderbilt University) – for historical and ethnographic research in Bosnia & Herzegovina
• Olivia Pape (University of California, Irvine) – for research in Serbia and Kosovo on early 20th century Socialist movements

The American Institute for Southeast European Studies (AISEES) is delighted to announce that we have become a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers (CAORC). We are proud to join a distinguished network of 27 peer organizations based in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Western Europe, and Latin America, all working in support of CAORC’s mission. We extend our sincere thanks to CAORC’s Staff and Board of Trustees for their guidance and support throughout this process.

The AISEES Board welcomes two new trustees, Jelena Bogdanovic and Zsuzsanna Magdo. Dr. Bogdanovic is Associate Professor of Classical & Mediterranean Studies at Vanderbilt University and an AISEES “Lynn Roller” Fellow. Dr. Magdo is the Associate Director of University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies. They join Dan Weiss (Chair), Victor Petrov (Vice Chair and Secretary), Lynn Roller (Treasurer), Lauren Earl, Rob Garris and Ioana Muresan.

We hope you enjoy reading the latest AISEES Newsletter (Fall 2025).

AISEES Newsletter - Fall 2025

Each year AISEES offers up to $2500 to scholars based in SE Europe whose scholarship in the Humanities or Social Sciences focuses upon SE Europe. This award is applied to participation in an international conference/workshop and covers the costs of transportation, lodging, and conference fees. We are happy to support:

Dren Gërguri (Journalism, University of Pristina) presented “Hybrid Populism in the Global East: Evidence from Visual Campaigning on
Facebook in the Era of COVID-19” at the ICA Conference in Denver, Colorado in  June 2025.

Zala Pavsic (Central European University, Budapest) presented ” CommYunity: narratives of friendship in the disintegration of Yugoslavia” at the Association for the Study of Nationalism (ASN) World Convention at the Harriman Institute in May 2025.

AISEES is delighted to announce the 2024 Fellows for Graduate Students and early Postdocs. Each year AISEES awards $3000 to each of three scholars based in the USA whose scholarship in the Humanities or Social Sciences focuses upon SE Europe.

Alexey Kotelvas (2025-26 Fellow) – University of Florida. Showing Moldova: Romanian-speaking Tourist Guides as Actors of Identity Politics (1965-1989)

Ermal Hoxha (2025-26 Fellow) – University of Missouri – Columbia. Kosova Youth Lived Experiences: Learning How to Be and Do Across Ethnic Lines in Post/Ongoing-Conflict Kosova

Nicoletta Rousseva (2025-26 Fellow) – Indiana University. Bad Comrades: Art and Answerability after Socialism.

AISEES is pleased to announce the 2025 “Lynn Roller” Fellows. This AISEES fellowship was created to support the work of scholars who are at least 5 years beyond their PhD. Beginning this year, AISEES offers $5000 to a scholar based in the USA and $3000 to a scholar based in SE Europe whose scholarship in the Humanities or Social Sciences focuses upon SE Europe.

Lindita Camaj (2025 Lynn Roller Fellow) – University of Florida, Gainesville. Building Media Trust and Resilience in Albania: The role of news engagement on Instant Messaging Apps

Ehlimana Memisevic (2025 Lynn Roller Fellow) – University of Sarajevo. Fragments of Justice: Wartime Rape and Accountability in Bosnia and Kosovo

AISEES is delighted to announce the 2024 Fellows for Graduate Students and early Postdocs. Each year AISEES awards $3000 to each of three scholars based in the USA whose scholarship in the Humanities or Social Sciences focuses upon SE Europe.

Sarah Craycraft (2024 Fellow) – Harvard University. Vorbe Din Viatsa: Preserving the Vlashki Language in Northwestern Bulgaria

Vladislav Lilic (2024 Fellow) – Vanderbilt University. Laboratory of Statehood: Empire, Law, and International Order in the Balkans, c. 1830-1912

Hannah Quaintance (2024 Fellow) – University at Buffalo, SUNY. Preserving Archaeological and Agricultural Heritage in the Korça Plain, Albania

AISEES is pleased to announce the 2024 “Lynn Roller” Fellows. This AISEES fellowship was created to support the work of scholars who are at least 5 years beyond their PhD. Beginning this year, AISEES offers $5000 to a scholar based in the USA and $3000 to a scholar based in SE Europe whose scholarship in the Humanities or Social Sciences focuses upon SE Europe.

Emil Kerenyi (2024 Lynn Roller Senior Fellow) –United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Violence and the City: Urban Change, Memory, and Forgetting in Novi Sad

Ols Lafe (2024 Lynn Roller Senior Fellow) – Center for the Development of Ancient and Medieval Albanian Heritage. Archaeological Research at Olympe (Mavrovë), Albania