According to her, the project aims to present Ilia’s works and activities in all their glory. Writers’ personal encyclopaedias are vital for integrating their work into a valuable collection, making their achievements immortal and to preserve a country’s cultural heritage. For these reasons famous literary figures’ personal encyclopaedias have been published, for example those of Dante, Shakespeare, Burns, Dickens, Goethe, Schiller, Pushkin, Lermontov and others. Such works are welcomed worldwide. We do not have many similar literary works in our culture (the only one, the Ivane Javakhishvili Encyclopaedic Dictionary, was published in 2002).

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, many reports were published worldwide on issues of transition from totalitarianism to democracy. However, in the second half of the 1990s, along with democratization, corruption and organized crime increased, and in Georgia these began to threaten the security of the country at all levels. Political scientists evoked the specter of a “failed state”. In 2002 a research program was launched with an initial focus on problems of corruption and organized crime, and in 2003 anti-corruption and anti-criminal reforms in Georgia began.

What is the role Facebook and other social networks play in Georgian political parties? How do political parties’ online activities determine their success? Which social networks are most popular with political parties?

Unlike the world’s leading countries, these issues started to arise in Georgia only a few years ago. Research on “The Role of Social Networks in Georgian Party Politics” is a social scientific study on the use of social networks in Georgian political processes, conducted in 2011-2013 and financed by the Academic Swiss Caucasus Net (ASCN) with Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University and Ilia State University as implementing partners. ASCN is a five-year program to develop humanitarian and social sciences in the South Caucasus.

Although gender balance is a concept often evoked today, in Georgia there is still a strict division of male and female duties and activities. Indeed, 86% of men and 72% of women are happy with their duties according to results of a study “Men and gender relations in Georgia”, carried out by the Institute of Social Studies and Analysis (ISSA) with the support of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in 2013. The Project Supervisor, Professor Iago Kachkachishvili pointed out that the aim of the project was to learn women’s and men’s attitudes towards gender equality--their experience and engagement in domestic chores and social practices that require coexistence and shared experience with their spouse or partner.

The 21st century has seen new media developing rapidly, including blogs, social networks, online encyclopedias, various forums and many other Internet resources that imply maximum involvement and interaction between users. Social media research is new in Georgia and TSU scientists have begun a project through support of the Academic Swiss Caucasus Net (ASCN). This is the largest project prepared on this topic in Georgia, which discusses almost all the aspects of social media development.

Culture has a significant impact on the personality and on the development of an individual’s perceptions. How does culture impact modern science? Do specific features of traditional culture affect the lives of individuals in today’s society? TSU Professor Lali Surmanidze answers some of these questions from her research from the last 20 years in the interdisciplinary fields of psychology and anthropology.