Atiner Conferences New Bulgarian University An idea of how academic communities are created and how they function

Overview - The Atiner Institute ➲ Athens Institute for Education and Research ➲ established in 1995 ➲ an independent academic organization ➲ the mission: to become a forum where academics and researchers from all over the world could meet in Athens and exchange ideas on their research and discuss the future developments of their discipline.

Activities ➲ Conferences & Symposiums ➲ Publications ➲ Academic Village

Members ➲ Voting members (500 Euro per annum)‏ ➲ Academic members (50 Euro)‏ ➲ Lifetime members (2 000 Euro) Mainly Greek Researchers based in other countries

Conferences ➲ 26 conferences between May and August 2009 ➲ On a range of topics: economics, law, languages and literature, statistics and mathematics etc. ➲ Each with its website ➲ Held in different luxury hotels in Athens

Publications ➲ On a range of topics ➲ Two media – hard copy and electronic book ➲ Prices – between 40 and 200 Euro

Academic Village ➲ A village to house academics ➲ Homes, a hotel, sports complex ➲ Facilities and infrastructure ➲ Fully financed by Atiner

The conference ➲ Attended by graduate students mainly ➲ A rich cultural programme ➲ Great opportunities to connect ➲ Participants invited to edit contributions for the publication (free of charge)‏

Conclusion: ➲ A good idea – to create a community of Bulgarian researchers based in Universities outside the country ➲ To get together academics interested in a common topic through an established structure, such as the Atiner institute, rather than through as hoc organisations ➲ Combine the interest in the academic field with the interest in the country as a tourist destination