Take a part in the Twelfth Open Academic Paper Competition for Students and Doctoral Candidates ‘Contemporary Academic Topics’ (‘Russia (the Soviet Union), Poland and Other Countries of Central and Eastern Europe in the 20th Century Global Politics’). The competition is intended to honour the memory of Oleg Ken.

The Polish Institute in St. Petersburg
The St. Petersburg Institute of History, Russian Academy of Sciences
The Centre for Polish-Russian Dialogue and Understanding

are announcing

the Twelfth Open Academic Paper Competition for Students and Doctoral Candidates in 2019
‘Contemporary Academic Topics’

(‘Russia (the Soviet Union), Poland and Other Countries of Central and Eastern Europe in the 20th Century Global Politics’)

The competition is intended to honour the memory of Oleg Ken

The competition is conducted in three research areas:

Russia and Poland (the Soviet Union and Poland) in the 20th century: key issues in mutual relations;
the Soviet Union (Russia), Poland and other countries of Central and Eastern Europe (hereinafter: ‘CEE’) in the system of international relations during the interwar period;
Historical processes reflected in the culture of Russia (the Soviet Union), Poland and other CEE countries in the 20th century.

The competition is open to the following participants:

Students, doctoral candidates and applicants from the Russian Federation (‘RF’), the Republic of Poland (‘RP’) and other countries, taking part in a study programme or in work on a research area, or those independently studying the history of Russia (the Soviet Union), Poland and other CEE countries in the global politics of the 20th century.

Mandatory requirements to be met by competition participants:

status of a student, doctoral candidate or applicant at a university or a research institution;
participants are required to submit the following:

a) personal data (full name, with patronymic, if applicable); for students: the name of the educational institution, department, organisational unit, year of study, group number and student ID number; for doctoral candidates and applicants: the name of the educational or research institution, department, organisational unit (or section, sector), year of study, doctoral ID number);
b) contact data (phone number, e-mail address).

Note 1: Collective participation (co-authorship) in the competition is allowed.

Note 2: The competition is open to individuals who completed their study programme not earlier than five months earlier. Such graduates should provide information about their educational or research institution, date of completion of the educational programme, and the number of student ID or doctoral ID held before completion. Doctoral candidates and applicants should apply for participation in the Competition before presenting a thesis.

Note 3: Laureates of previous years’ competitions (who won 1st, 2nd and 3rd positions) are not allowed to participate in the competition again. However, if laureates have retained the status of students, they are offered the opportunity to take part in the competition on a non-competitive basis, and have the right to publish their work in the subsequent collection of competition papers. The requirements for papers to be submitted by laureates are the same as the mandatory requirements for other competition entries (see below). Overall, each volume of collected papers may contain up to three papers submitted outside the competition.

Mandatory requirements for the papers submitted under the competition:

The topic of the paper should fall within one of the three research areas of the competition;
Volume: from 0.5 to 1 editorial sheet (one editorial sheet equals 40,000 characters with spaces);
Language: Russian or Polish or (for non-speakers of Russian or Polish) English;
Genre: no specific requirements (a research paper, an essay, etc., exceptions: no literature reviews or publications of archival documents are accepted). Please note that excerpts from term papers, theses and chapters of doctoral dissertations that do not exceed the pre-defined volume are accepted;
The work should be submitted electronically to: olegken@mail.ru no later than on 31 October 2019;
At the time of submission and until the decision of the Expert Council has been adopted, the papers should remain unpublished (online publications are not permitted, either). The first publication of the winner’s paper will be in the volume of collected competition papers, and any subsequent publications must contain a reference to the first publication;
Citations: a) citation boundaries must be clearly marked, and b) references to printed and electronic sources of cited works must be provided;
Authors are encouraged to demonstrate their familiarity with Oleg Ken’s research, with archival documents published and analysed by Oleg Ken, and they are also encouraged to develop his ideas (including polemics).

Please note: Submission of a competition paper will be regarded as an application to participate.

Stages of the competition and important dates:

13 March 2019 – the start of the competition is announced online;
13 March to 31 October 2019 – competition papers are accepted;
November 2019 – competition papers are analysed and winners are selected;
1-10 December 2019 – names of winners are announced online and personally notified of their winner status;
11-20 December 2019 – award ceremony with the winners is organised, with the participation of the members of the Expert Council, staff of the co-organising institutions, representatives of the ‘World Club of Petersburgers’ – the sponsor of the special prize, as well as the media and honorary guests. The collected volume of papers authored by winners of the preceding competition will be presented.

Please note: Except for winners, other competition participants will not receive any certificates of participation.

Members of the Expert Council:

Chomik Piotr, Professor at the Institute of History and Political Science, the University of Bialystok.

Gil Andrzej, Professor at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Deputy Director for Scientific Affairs of the Institute of Central and Eastern Europe (Lublin, Poland);

Isayev Sergey, Researcher at the St. Petersburg Institute of History, Russian Academy of Sciences;

Izmozik Vladlen, Professor at the Department of History and Regional Studies, Bonch-Bruevich State University of Telecommunications (St. Petersburg);

Kornat Marek, Professor at the Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and the Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University (Warsaw);

Lomagin Nikita, Professor at the Economics Department, St. Petersburg State University;

Rupasov Alexander, Head of the Expert Council, Researcher at the St. Petersburg Institute of History, Russian Academy of Sciences;

Suprun Mikhail, Head of the Department of National History, Northern (Arctic) Federal University (Arkhangelsk);

Wołos Mariusz, Professor at the Institute of History of the National Education Commission Pedagogical University (Cracow) and the Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences (Warsaw);

Competition coordinator: Vera Ken

Selection of winners and winner awards:

The Expert Council identifies eight winners within the prescribed timeframe (top three prizes, four certificates of appreciation and one special prize from the ‘World Club of Petersburgers’); winners receive their awards during a special ceremony and the top three laureates also receive cash prizes.
The non-residents of St. Petersburg who have taken the first three places are provided with tickets, accommodation and visa assistance in order to travel to the award ceremony in St. Petersburg.
Competition entries which are recognised as the best (up to 11 such entries) will undergo scientific review and editorial work in coordination with their authors, and will be published in a dedicated volume, and on the website of the Polish Institute in St. Petersburg.
Three laureates will be offered the opportunity to participate in the Polish-Russian Summer School held in Poland by the Centre for Polish-Russian Dialogue and Understanding (English language proficiency is required).

Please note: The prize remains unchanged for co-authored papers. The right to take part in the Summer School in Poland is granted only to one co-author (at the choice of the authors’ team).

Information about the competition:

The start of the competition and its rules are announced on Oleg Ken’s personal website (olegken.ru), on the website of the Polish Institute in St. Petersburg (sanktpetersburg.instytutpolski.gov.pl) and its social media profiles, as well as on the website of the St. Petersburg Institute of History, Russian Academy of Sciences (spbiiran.nw.ru), on the website of the Centre for Polish-Russian Dialogue and Understanding (cprdip.pl), in the journals New Eastern Europe (neweasterneurope.eu) and Nowa Europa Wschodnia (new.org.pl). The names of competition winners will be announced on the four aforementioned websites, and the winners will also receive individual notifications and will be invited to the award ceremony.

Additional background information:

Oleg Nikolaevich KEN (1960 in Orsk, the Orenburg Region, USSR – 2007, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation) – holder of an advanced research degree in History, Professor of the Department of Universal History at the Herzen Russian State Pedagogical University (St. Petersburg). Specialist in the field of international relations, the history of Europe (primarily Poland) and the USSR of the 1920s and 1930s.

He considered the following to be his most significant works:

Collective Security or Isolation ?: Soviet Foreign Policy and Poland, 1930-1935. St. Petersburg: Evropeiskiy Dom, 1996.
«Стихи о Неизвестном солдате» и ожидания эпохи [‘Poems about the Unknown Soldier’ and expectations of the era]. Russian Studies. 1998. No. 4.
Между Цезарем и Чингис-ханом: «Наполеон» Е. В. Тарле как литературный памятник общественно-политической борьбы 1930-х годов [Between Caesar and Genghis Khan: E.V. Tarle’s ‘Napoleon’ as a literary monument of the socio-political struggle of the 1930s] // Клио. 1998. No. 3.
‘Alarm wojenny’ wiosną 1930 roku a stosunki sowiecko-polskie [‘War alarm’ in the spring of 1930 and Soviet-Polish relations] // Studia z Dziejów Rosji i Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej. Vol. XXXV (1999).
Политбюро ЦК ВКП(б) и отношения СССР с западными соседними государствами (конец 1920–1930-х гг.): Проблемы. Документы. Опыт комментария. Ч. 1: Декабрь 1928 – июнь 1934 г. [Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of the Bolsheviks and relations between the USSR and its Western Neighbours (late 1920s-1930s): Problems. Documentation. Commentaries. Part 1: December 1928 – June 1934. St. Petersburg]: Европейский дом, 2000 (co-authored by А. Rupasov). 2nd edition, corrected and supplemented: Западное приграничье: Политбюро ЦК ВКП(б) и отношения СССР с западными соседними государствами, 1928–1934 [Western borderland: Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of the Bolsheviks and relations between the USSR and its Western Neighbours, 1928–1934]. Moscow: Лабиринт, 2014.
Мобилизационное планирование и политические решения: Конец 1920 – середина 1930-х гг. [Mobilisation planning and political decisions: Late 1920s to mid-1930s.]. St. Petersburg: Изд-во Европейского ун-та в Санкт-Петербурге, 2002. 2nd edition, reworked. Moscow: ОГИ, 2008.
Карл Радек и Бюро международной информации ЦК ВКП(б), 1932–1934 гг. [Karl Radek and the Bureau of International Information of the the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of the Bolsheviks, 1932-1934] // Cahiers du monde russe, soviétique et post-soviétique. Vol. 44 (2003). No. 1.
Москва и пакт о ненападении с Польшей (1930–1932 гг.). [Moscow and the non-aggression pact with Poland (1930-1932)]. St. Petersburg: Изд-во ПИЯФ РАН, 2003.
Le double aspect de la stratégie soviétique en Europe centrale et orientale 1925-1939 // Communisme. 2003. No. 74/75.
Швеция в политике Москвы, 1930–1950-е годы. М.: «Российская политическая энциклопедия» (РОССПЭН) [Sweden in Moscow’s politics, 1930s–1950s]. Moscow: «Российская политическая энциклопедия» (РОССПЭН) [The Russian Political Encyclopaedia (ROSSPEN)], 2005 (co-authored with L. Samuelson, A. Rupasov, P. Petrov).

These and other works by Oleg Ken are accessible at www.olegken.ru.