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This is the official website of the Athens Institute. Established in 1995, the Athens Institute is an independent, worldwide, member-based association of academics and researchers. Athens was chosen as the meeting place due to its rich history and culture. The Athens Institute’s mission is to serve as a forum where academics and researchers from around the world can come together to exchange ideas on their research and discuss the future developments in their respective fields. As stated in its mission, the Athens Institute is a nonprofit, non-governmental, and nonpartisan association of academics and researchers. It is 100% self-funded by its members and friends. Donations can be made via bank transfer and credit card. Approximately 3000 years ago, Homer was the first to refer to such gatherings as symposiums, a term now widely used in many languages to describe academic meetings. In Classical Athens of the 5th Century BCE, these academic gatherings reached their zenith of excellence, particularly those involving Socrates. Plato’s epic work, ‘Symposium,’ can be regarded as an archival record (book proceedings) of just one of the many such academic meetings.

The Athens Institute aims to revive Athens’ long historical tradition by organizing and hosting small academic meetings while also promoting research and producing publications. Since 1995, the Athens Institute has organized over 1000 such academic events, attended by scholars from nearly a thousand universities and other academic institutions in 120 different countries around the world. A guide to the Athens Institute’s academic events is available here. Additionally, the organization has published more than 200 books. In 2012, the Association launched a series of conference paper publications (click here) featuring close to 1500 papers on various subjects. In 2014, they introduced a series of e-journals (click here).

Academically, the association is organized into seven Divisions and thirty-seven Units. Each Unit organizes at least one Annual International Conference and undertakes various small and large research projects. The Athens Institute encourages other institutions to participate as joint members in these research projects.

Membership in the Athens Institute is open to all academics and researchers from around the world. The current list of members is available on the academic members page. Currently, the Athens Institute has 2438 members from 118 different countries. Members are invited to participate in various academic activities. If you would like to become a member, please download the relevant membership form. For more information on how to join, please send an email to info@atiner.gr. Please note that the Athens Institute does not bear any responsibility for the actions or opinions expressed by its academic members. Opinions or actions that do not align with the Athens Institute’s mission and policy are strictly personal.

The Athens Institute’s academic meetings are classified into four types: Microsymposiums: These are similar to Plato’s symposium, with fewer than 10 speakers. They include special sessions, roundtable discussions, and similar formats. Macrosymposiums: These consist of at least 6 microsymposiums and are what we call small conferences or symposiums, typically involving between 18 and 50 participants. Parallel Symposiums: These involve two or more macrosymposiums of different broad disciplines taking place simultaneously in different lecture rooms. Megasymposiums: These conferences are organized in Athens as part of other academic associations’ rotating academic activities. They are non-periodical and do not serve the mission of the Athens Institute, being organized under different policies.