The Institute of Oriental Studies was founded in 1960 on the initiative of Academician Giorgi Tsereteli and was named after him in 1973.
In 2010, the institute became affiliated with the Ilia State University. Renowned scholars working at the Institute at different times included Giorgi Tsereteli, Sergy Jikia, Giorgi Akhvlediani, Simon Kaukhchishvili, Konstantine Tsereteli, Vladimer Puturidze, Valerian Gabashvili, Otar Gigineishvili, Aleksandre Gvakharia, Magali Todua, Vladimer Akhvlediani, Mzia Andronikashvili, Otar Tskitishvili, Zurab Sharashenidze, Vazha Gvakharia, Mikheil Chkheidze, Mikheil Svanidze, Teo Chkheidze, Nodar Lomouri, Karlo Kutsia, Jemshid Giunashvili, Olga Tedeev, Levan Nadiradze etc. The Honorary President of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences Academician Thomas V. Gamkrelidze is the Head of the Scientific Council of the Institute.
The following are the key areas of research done at the Institute of Oriental Studies: oriental linguistics; history, literature and contemporary culture of Oriental peoples; Georgia’s centuries-old cultural relations with Eastern countries; current political, social, economic, cultural and religious processes in the countries of the Near East and the Middle East; study of Islam and inter-confessional relations; geopolitical problems in the Middle East; Caucasus and Central Asia in the regional and global contexts.
Organizational Structure of the Institute:
Department of Ancient Oriental Languages;
Department of Semitic Studies;
Department of the Indo-Iranian Languages;
Department of Persian Philology;
Department of Turkish Studies;
Department of Byzantine Studies;
Department of Modern and Contemporary History of the Middle East;
Department of Medieval History of the Middle East;
Japan Center;
Centre for Yezidi Studies;
Rich Library of scholarly literature and Periodicals.
Past and Current Periodicals published by the Institute:
The Near East and Georgia
The Middle East Today (e-journal)
Philologia orientalis
Oriental Records on Georgian History
Modern and Contemporary History of the Middle East
Semitic Studies
Typological Investigations
Persian-Georgian Studies
Jevanmardi
Orientalist
Perspective – XXI
The academic staff of the Institute of Oriental Studies has produced numerous important monographs and scientific articles published in different countries.
The Institute closely collaborates with leading foreign universities and research centres, including the University of California, Berkeley; the National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilizations, France; Research Unity " Iranian and Indian worlds" (France); Ca ' Foscari University of Venice; the International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam; the Hokkaido and Tokyo Metropolitan University (Japan); the University of Gottingen; The Ibero-American University (Mexico); the Universities of Tehran, Isfahan and Guilan (Iran); Pembroke College of the Cambridge University, French Institute of Anatolian Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (Korea), Institute of Iranian Studies of the Academy of Sciences of Austria, the universities and institutes of oriental studies of Yerevan, Baku, Moscow and St. Petersburg. The researchers of the Institute have collaborated with foreign colleagues under numerous joint projects and are members of various international societies.
The Institute has hosted a large number of international conferences. Among the International conferences organized by the Institute in recent years, it can be cited: ‘" Great Game" and Georgia: East-West Political, Cultural and Economic Interactions during the first half of the 19th c.’ (with Pembroke College of the Cambridge University) (2015); “Looking Back and Ahead: An Insight of the Iranian Influence in the Caucasus’ (with French Institute of Anatolian Studies) (2015); 6th International Conference of the European Association for the Study of Iranian Languages (2016); 8th International Conference on Popular Cultures of the Middle East and North Africa’s Popular Cultures Between Site and Flow’ (with Al Akhawayn University (Morocco) and University of Vienna) (2017); 8th Biennial Convention of the Association for the Study of Persianate Societies (2018); ‘East and West: Linguistic, Cultural, Historical Interactions’ (dedicated to the 90th anniversary of Academician Thomas V. Gamkrelidze) (2019).
Researchers of the Institute lead the Program of Oriental Studies and the module of the Middle Eastern Studies of the Program of International Relations of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at BA level, deliver courses on all levels, and supervise MA and PhD students.
The Institute currently has fifty-three researchers.