Georgia

University professor Oliver Reisner, born 1964 in Hannover, Germany. Studied Eastern European, Middle and Modern History and Slavic Studies in Göttingen. Doctorate in Eastern European History for Education in Georgia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Research associate at the Humboldt University Central Asia Seminar as coordinator of the post-graduate program “Central Asia-Caucasus” (2000-2003). Research stays in Tbilisi, Georgia. Head of Human Rights Program of World Vision Georgia (2003-2005) and Project Manager at the Delegation of the European Union in Georgia (2005-2015) in charge of education, research and culture. Since 2015 Professor of European and Caucasian Studies, since October 2016 Jean Monnet Professor at the University of Ilia University. Publications on the history and presence of Georgia and the Caucasus among others on interethnic relationships, social and cultural history such as on remembering and forgetting or how to deal with the Soviet past in Georgia, the forms and consequences of Europeanization in the Caucasus, and the history of Caucasian research between science and politics. Since 2015 he is the president of the non-governmental “Association for the preservation of German cultural heritage in the Caucasus” implementing several projects with German and Georgian authorities to preserve material cultural heritage.