Our Work

BASEES elects an Executive Committee to guide its activities. The main activity of the association is the annual conference, held normally in Cambridge at the end of March, with about 600-700 participants drawn predominantly from the UK but with many others from continental Europe, North America, and Asia. 

The conference provides an opportunity for scholars (including postgraduates) to present and listen to papers on recent developments in research, and to meet others with similar interests. The annual conference also has a publishers' exhibition at which new publications can be previewed. Attendance at the conference is open to non-members, and postgraduates can apply to the association for assistance towards their registration and accommodation (but not their travel) costs. A member of the Committee has particular responsibility for relations with postgraduates.

BASEES publishes a Newsletter, issued three times a year. Its publication series is produced by Routledge.  BASEES nominates the members of the National Advisory Board of Europe-Asia Studies, published by the University of Glasgow. 

A prize in honour of the late Alec Nove was established in 1995 and is awarded annually for 'scholarly work of high quality in Russian, Soviet and post-Soviet studies'.  In 2006 BASEES established a prize in recognition of the outstanding contribution to its field of study made by the late George Blazyca.

A large part of BASEES's activity takes place through committees of various kinds, and study groups. The study groups, which were already well established within BUAS, often organise their own, rather smaller conferences.  

The Association of Heads of Russian (AHR), formed in 1999 to represent the interests of Russian Departments in UK Universities, was a sub-group of BASEES that is no longer active. 

BASEES is active on behalf of its members in dealings with government, with other associations and with individual universities. We were involved, for instance, in the discussions that led to a series of new HEFCE-sponsored appointments in 1995; we work with other area studies associations in the Co-ordinating Council for Area Studies Associations; and we belong to the Academy of Learned Societies for the Social Sciences. BASEES was a formal nominating body for subpanel members and chairs in previous RAE exercises and REF exercises. It is a member of UKCASA (UK Council of Area Studies Associations) and A-HUG (The Arts and Humanities User Group) and it liaises actively and frequently with the two major research funding councils the AHRC and the ESRC. It contributes regularly to discussions within the British Academy and the Academy of Social Sciences, to which it also nominates Fellows. BASEES is always glad to intervene, on request, when the position of any of its members is under threat at their own institutions.

The BASEES site provides information about the activities of the organisation and links to related professional organisations. BASEES publishes a newsletter three times per year, in January, May and November. 

BASEES does not offer access to its membership list to third parties. However, publishers and academic-related companies may wish to include information about publications in the newsletter. For further information please contact the Information Officer.