Gardikas - Katsiadakis Helen

Studies
BA History and Archaeology at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Athens (1967-1972).
Postgraduate studies at Birkbeck College and King's College, London University. PhD in History (1988).

Professional career
From June 1975 until May 1979 she worked at the Research Centre for the Study of Modern Greek History of the Academy of Athens. Under the supervision of the Director Eleftherios Prevelakis she compiled a descriptive list of documents of the correspondence of the Foreign Office with the British Embassy in Constantinople and the British Consular authorities in the Ottoman Empire, which covers the period 1820-1833. The work was completed in 2005 with the publication of the Correspondence between the Foreign Office and the British Embassy and Consulates in the Ottoman Empire 1821-1832. A Descriptive List. Compiled by Eleftherios Prevelakis and Helen Gardikas- Katsiadakis Volume 1, Athens 2003, Volume 2, Athens 2005. The section of the series selected, volumes 97-221, covers the period 1820-1833 and is of particular interest for the Greek history, because the largest part of the material concerns the Greek Revolution and events related to it. This material highlights the leading role of Great Britain mainly in the political, but also in the economic and strategic developments related to one of the most crucial phases of the Eastern Question. It also sheds light on important aspects of internal and international developements of the Greek Revolution and of the policy of the Porte toward the Greek rebels and the other provinces of Empire. Finally, it provides valuable information on the social conditions of the period. Important details emerge respecting not only the extensively researched political aspects of the Eastern Question, but also respecting social, technological and economic issues, information on institutions and mentalities etc.
-    In October 1981 she was appointed researcher at KEINE, and from September 2006 she assumed the Direction of the Centre.  She retired in December 2016.
-    Between 1981 and 1989 she compiled a Descriptive list of the series of documents FRANCE. MINISTERE DES AFFAIRES ETRANGERES. CORRESPONDANCE POLITIQUE. GRECE, which consists mainly of the diplomatic correspondence between the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the French Embassy in Greece over the period 1828 – 1896, a total of 136 volumes. Until 1989 when the project was temporarily abandoned, a total of 4500 documents (volumes 1- 43), were indexed.
-    She is also responsible for the following research projects:
1.    Ionian Prosopography 19th - 20th century.
2.    The Diary of James Skene
3.    Society of Information Program, Call 172
-    Since 2000 she acts as academic adviser of the National Research Foundation Eleftherios K. Venizelos. In this capacity she is responsible for the following research projects:
1.    Cretan Prosopography 1864-1963 (funded by the General Secretariat of Research and Technology).
2.    Documentation and Digitisation of the Personal Archives of Eleytherios Venizelos - Electronic publication on the subject “the Cretan State and Eleytherios Venizelos”, funded by the Society of Information Program, Call 65.

Research interests
Lately, she devotes most of her time to initiatives for the promotion of digital research infrastructure for the humanities. However, her continuing research interests involve aspects of early 19th century political history (Greek Revolution) and pre- World War I political and diplomatic history. Her particular areas of research focus on the suppression of slavery and slave trade during the Greek Revolution and on her long term project, which is the preparation of a biography of Ioannis Valaoritis. Material for both these subjects will soon become available on this web page.  

Follow her on twitter at @hkatsiad.gr