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Conference of the European Encyclopedia Network in Tbilisi

06 November 2026

On the occasion of the 60^th anniversary of the founding of the Main Scientific Editorial Office of the Georgian Encyclopedia at the Georgian National Academy of Sciences, the fifth Annual Conference of the European Encyclopedia Network (EEN) was held in Tbilisi from 29 to 31 October, bringing together editors and publishers from 15 countries. The Miroslav Krleža Institute of Lexicography was represented by its director general and editor-in-chief of the Croatian Encyclopedia, Dr Bruno Kragić, and assistant director for research and inter-institutional cooperation, Dr Nataša Jermen.

The first conference of European encyclopedias was held in Brussels in 2019, organised by the Great Norwegian Encyclopedia, the European Parliamentary Research Service, and the Norwegian Mission to the European Union. The second conference, during which the EEN was founded, was held in 2022 in Zagreb, organised by the Institute of Lexicography. The third conference took place in 2024 in Oslo, organised by the Great Norwegian Encyclopedia; and the fourth conference in 2025 in Rome, organised by Institute of the Italian Encyclopedia Treccani.

Following opening addresses by the Georgian Minister of Education, Science and Youth, Givi Mikanadze, the editor-in-chief of the Georgian Encyclopedia, Zurab Abashidze, and Dr Kragić, the chairman of the EEN (2022–26), Dr Jermen gave a talk on “Encyclopedias in the Research Assessment Systems”, pointing out the need for appropriate acknowledgement of encyclopedias in the scholarly publishing ecosystem.

This was followed by presentations by invited speakers, representatives of the Georgian academic community, on the importance of documenting historical and cultural monuments as a means of preserving national identity, and on the integration of artificial intelligence into encyclopedic work.

Representatives of national and general encyclopedias and biographical lexicons from Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain (Catalonia), Sweden, and Ukraine exchanged experiences and discussed the current state of their encyclopedias and lexicons in an era of rapid technological change. Although these institutions have different histories and traditions, they share a common mission: to preserve and advance knowledge and make it available to society. Invited guests from the USA, Azerbaijan, and Armenia also took part in the event.

Presided over by Dr Kragić, the EEN also held its assembly, during which elections for the organisation’s new leadership took place. Dr Valters Ščerbinskis (Latvian National Encyclopedia) was elected as the new EEN chairman, while Erik Bolstad (Great Norwegian Encyclopedia) and Dr Jermen were elected as vice-chairpersons.

As part of the conference programme, the guests visited the National Museum of Georgia as well as the historic town of Mtskheta, including the Jvari and Svetitskhoveli monasteries.