Writing as a representative of an ARISC institutional member, ARISC has been an amazing support for our students, faculty, and staff. The representatives in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia have expertly conducted research and supplied invaluable information about institutions and resources in their respective countries, facilitating study and research abroad for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as researchers. In addition ARISC's research grants have supported graduate and post-PhD research in a field where such funds are rare. Their new initiatives promise to build on this great foundation, building scholarly networks and supporting professionalization over vast distances. I highly recommend ARISC as a resource and support for students, scholars, researchers, and academic professionals.
I have been studying the South Caucasus & conducting fieldwork there for over 30 years. I have had many encounters with ARISC, and participated in conferences organized by ARISC itself or organizations it sponsors (such as the Works-in-Progress lecture series in Tbilisi). I am very impressed by the variety of projects they have had a hand in, and by the energy, resources and expertise they contribute to research on the South Caucasus.
ARISC is an excellent regionally focused research organization, which provides much needed resource funding and support for scholars in the South Caucasus. I am often excited about many of the programs and opportunities that they offer, either directly or through their partners. These are communicated to members through routine communications and newsletters. I have personally benefited from funding from this organization and would not have been able to complete my project without their support. The leadership of the organization, from its executive director to its country representatives, are dedicated and helpful.
ARISC is an essential resource for scholars studying the countries of the South Caucasus region. They provide excellent support and information that I use to co-direct an archaeological field project in Armenia. Specifically, this organization offers fellowships which support research and organizes conferences both in the region as well as in the United States.
Thanks to ARISC we were able to create the online Encyclopedia of Armenian Modernist Architecture. Throughout the project ARISC has been very professional and kind in responding to our multiple questions and requests, providing support and guiding us through the process of paperwork . ARISC is a team of wonderful people and specialists both in the USA and Armenia who have demonstrated efficiency, support and professionalism throughout our one year work.
Hi, I am Lala Soltanli from Azerbaijan. I performed as an intern for ARISC and it was one of the most honorable experiences I have ever had. There are several grounds supporting this idea ranging from professional approach to high level of communication with co-workers. This nonprofit organization values people's time, interests, personality and their goal-oriented feature is so obvious that it makes people see the big picture. I highly appreciate and recommend this experience to all people who look for practical skills.
As an archaeologist who is working on a site in the capital of Armenia, Yerevan, life can get pretty political with government bureaucracies. I had particular problems with one of those bureaucrats. The director of ARISC at the time was of great help in negotiating my way around the worst of my problems.
ARISC has been a continuous source of support and a valuable networking resource throughout my time working in the Caucasus. Recent "Networking Calls" organized through WebEx have been a welcome development--I hope these will continue to happen. In addition, their grants program has been a crucial source of funds for research by students and recent graduates.
I had an excellent experience with ARISC in organization of a Regional Conference "Education in South Caucasus" held in June 2015 in Tbilisi. All preparations, practical informations and support to experts were very well organized. Verily, it is quite rare to witness such level of arrangements and support.
Brilliant team!
Due to ARISC's support it was possible to implement a rarely findable project and save an important piece of Armenian cultural heritage. ARISC provides great support locally and it has been a pleasure to work with them.
ARISC is a model for interdisciplinary, intercultural scholarly work. Their research support far exceeds expectations.
Excellent experience so far. ARISC has provided the much-needed funding and contacts in the south Caucasus (Georgia, in my case) to conduct worthwhile fieldwork. Their personnel, both in the States and host county, are approachable and eager to help.
ARISC has combined expert organization, programming, and extreme dedication to Caucasian studies to bring American-based research to new levels of productivity and innovation. Their funding initiatives, symposia, and public events have been critical to my development as both as an expert researcher and professional scholar. The on-the-ground, "in-country" administrators are both knowledgeable and experienced in the conduct of effective research in their respective countries!
All the members and especially the administration of this non-profit are very helpful in sharing experience and especially logistical help. I also appreciate that they publish notices of fellowship opportunities for residents of South Caucasus countries. Their lectures appear very interesting from the titles and the summaries although unfortunately I have never been able to attend.
As an archaeologists who works in the Southern Caucasus, I have found ARISC to be an indispensable resource. They have done an excellent job at connecting western and local scholars, organizing lectures and conferences.
The grants available through ARISC are some of the few available for research in the SC specifically and many have benefited from these. Their grant for Collaborative Cultural Heritage Management in Armenian is of particular importance, since such grants are quite rare (most grants are meant for conducting original research).
The officers of ARISC and general and their Executive Director in particular, have always been ready and willing to answer both academic and logistical questions related to conducting research in the SC. They are also very proactive in getting their student members involved in various activities, which is tremendously important for young scholars.
They have my outmost support and gratitude.
ARISC is doing great job of connecting Georgian scholars to their counterparts in Caucasus and in USA.
I had meetings in Azerbaijan and Georgia. We were very pleased with the local representatives, their availability & the meeting. Good people and important work, in promoting progress in the Caucasus.
Excellent service; Armenia rep does a great job arranging for talks and organizing translator services for events! Keep up the good work!
They do a great deal with relatively little operating in one of the more difficult regions of the world. The staff and leadership alike are dedicated and helpful. ARISC is a real boon to scholars of the South Caucasus.
ARISC give us an opportunity to start a program the Vayots Dzor Silk Road Survey. Thank you ARISC for it.
We're thankful to ARISC Team for supporting our project. You can learn more about our project here: www.otheryerevan.am
Our international team, several young researchers from the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography in Armenia and Dr. Greene from the University of Stanford, received grant from ARISC to create website for our institute and store electronic data online. That was very urgent necessity for the institute and we are thankful to ARISC for it.
ARISC helped me to complete my doctoral research in archaeology. Their financial support is only part of why I'm grateful to ARISC, though. The effort ARISC officers have made to make a community of scholars in the US, as well as in Georgia and Armenia (my countries of research) has significantly eased my introduction to working in the region.
ARISC support has proven essential to my research in the South Caucasus from my first visit to the region. The in-country representative, who coincidentally shared the same research interests as me, was extremely helpful in arranging meetings and introducing contacts to me. I look forward to working with him more in the future. Several years later, ARISC provided me with a travel grant, which allowed me to develop a new project, and arranged for me to present my research in Georgia. These grants, though relatively modest, are extremely useful to graduate students and recent graduates, since they allow us to obtain pilot data for more substantial grant applications. Moreover, meeting and interacting with others whose research was supported by similar grants had proven beneficial for my research, and provided me with a great community of scholars while I was abroad.
ARISC is a wonderful organization and brings together many people working within the Southern Caucasus. I have benefitted greatly from their advice and sense of community, and have also received funding which has greatly helped move my work in the region forward. ARISC has all of the expertise needed to help researchers gain local knowledge of the Caucasus and for MANY reasons is an invaluable resource!
ARISC is a great resource for scholars who work in the South Caucasus. I have had the most positive experiences in my interactions with ARISC as a recipient of two grants from them. I look forward to seeing this research institute grow and flourish, and hope to interact with it more in the future!
Members of the ARISC were incredibly helpful to me when I was compiling contacts, archives, and university programs for a research project in the Caucus mountains of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia. They put me in touch with international professionals in my field of study. The contacts responded to my requests with full attention and interest in my project.
I would highly recommend you contact Talin Lindsay, Executive Director of the ARISC if you are a student of any subject regarding the South Caucasus region. She went the extra mile to help me formulate a plan of study, find manuscripts, a translator, a photographer and researchers.
This is one of the best academic institutes that will seriously take an interest in your study plans.
