Belarusian Researchers in Lithuania Discuss Professional Opportunities and Challenges

More than 20 qualified Belarusian researchers and history lecturers are currently in Lithuania, continuing to work in their profession or seeking opportunities to pursue research and teaching in Belarusian history. These and other issues were discussed during the roundtable “Belarusian Researchers and Research on Belarus in Lithuania: Opportunities and Challenges,” held online on 5 March 2026.

The roundtable was organized as part of the Community Building Initiatives of the European Union’s EU4BELARUS: Support to Advanced Learning and Training (SALT II) programme. It brought together 26 Belarusian and Lithuanian researchers, as well as experts from other countries. This was the second roundtable held as part of the initiative. The first was devoted to Belarusian researchers and research on Belarus in Poland.

The co-organizers were the Forum for Historical Studies of Belarus of the German Association for the Study of Eastern Europe (Berlin), the Association “Astafey Vałovič Belarusian Research University” (Warsaw), and the Belarusian Association of Education and Science (Vilnius). The discussion was moderated by Professor Viktar Shadurski. Key presentations were delivered by Dr Siapan Zakharkevich and Dr Tomasz Blaszczyk, followed by a discussion of current challenges facing the development of Belarus-centred research in Lithuania, carried out by both Belarusian and Lithuanian researchers.

Key conclusions of the discussion

• Lithuania ranks second after Poland in terms of the number of Belarusians who were forced to emigrate after 2020. Today, around 20–30 qualified historians — researchers and lecturers — are in Lithuania. If representatives of other humanities and social science disciplines are included, their number may be two or three times higher. Given the continuing repression by the authoritarian regime against Belarusians both inside the country and abroad, this number is constantly increasing, and it is currently impossible to determine precisely how many representatives of a particular profession have ended up in exile.
• The European Humanities University remains the umbrella institution for a significant number of Belarusian researchers from various academic disciplines in Lithuania. The university offers several bachelor’s and master’s programmes, including a bachelor’s programme in History. These programmes bring together Belarusian researchers and lecturers as well as specialists from Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, the United States, and other countries. Several academic journals are affiliated with EHU, providing opportunities to publish research findings, including those of Belarusian researchers in exile. Since 2000, the university has published Topos, a journal devoted to cultural studies that is indexed in Scopus. EHU’s publications also include the annual CTRL+C, devoted to reflections on heritage, and the Zeitschrift annual, published from 2011 to 2023 and devoted to Jewish studies. Several other publications are also supported by EHU.
• At the same time, some participants in the discussion noted a decline in EHU’s activity in the field of historical research. Examples mentioned included publications that were previously issued by the university: Belarusian Historical Review, the annual Homo Historicus (2008–2012), and the journal Perekrestki (2004–2019). The bachelor’s programme in History at EHU did not receive sufficient support and will be closed.
• An important space for professional development and self-realization for Belarusian researchers in Lithuania remains the non-governmental sector and the media, which also implement research, educational, and outreach projects for Belarusians and on Belarusian-related topics. Some researchers have found opportunities to work as experts.
• As for obtaining permanent or temporary positions at Lithuanian research and educational institutions, this generally requires knowledge of the Lithuanian language. At present, this remains a significant barrier. Under these circumstances, grant support — particularly the EU SALT programme — becomes especially important for enabling Belarusian researchers to remain in their profession.
• At the same time, compared with Poland, Lithuania has significantly fewer organizations and research institutions capable of supporting researchers. As one of the roundtable speakers emphasized, the constant search for grants and projects can lead to a decline in ethical and research standards, negatively affecting competitiveness in Western academia in the long term. As a result, a significant proportion of Belarusian researchers in exile have found themselves in a situation of strategic uncertainty.
• Participants also drew attention to the almost complete absence of professional links between Lithuanian researchers and colleagues working in Belarus. This situation inevitably leads to divergent approaches to interpreting important events and figures in the shared history of the two nations. Thus, this is not only a challenge of the present but also a serious problem for the future.

Participants’ proposals

1. As during previous discussions, participants identified strengthening coordination within the Belarusian research community abroad as an important priority. The successful activity of the English-language H-Belarus platform was highlighted. At the same time, the issue of creating a similar electronic platform in Belarusian remains unresolved. Such a platform could be created from scratch, but participants considered it more practical to identify an existing organization that already has some experience and infrastructure in this area and then provide it with broad informational support.
2. Expanding the range of research topics and publications was identified as another important priority. Foreign colleagues expect Belarusian scholars to propose more modern and relevant research projects, including analyses of historical and contemporary issues in Belarus within broader regional and global contexts, as well as in comparison with other countries, particularly neighbouring states. Publishing research findings in internationally ranked English-language journals also remains a promising direction.
3. Participants also emphasized the potential of preparing comprehensive academic and popular-science works on the history of Belarus, the development of its relations with neighbouring countries — in Belarusian, English, Lithuanian, and other languages — as well as on other topics. Such publications should preferably be prepared jointly with Lithuanian and other foreign scholars and made openly accessible. At the same time, it is important to address a broad audience of Belarusian readers and listeners, especially young people.
4. Given the growing interest among Belarusians in family history and genealogical research, specialists in this field should devote greater attention to preparing methodological and informational materials, as well as developing new online and offline courses on these topics.
5. In expanding academic contacts between Belarusian and Lithuanian researchers, mutual popular histories of Belarus and Lithuania written by scholars from other countries could play an important role. The experience of joint German-French educational history projects could serve as an example.