About

The Romanian Association of Baltic and Nordic Studies (Asociația Românã pentru Studii Baltice și Nordice – ARSBN) is the leading Romanian organization involved in the advancement of Scandinavian studies in Romania. ARSBN organizes, starting with 2009, a yearly international conference of Baltic and Nordic Studies, publishes the bi-annual peer-reviewed Journal of Baltic and Nordic Studies, edits monographs, volumes of documents, translates Scandinavian and Baltic authors into Romanian, coordinates the Summer School of Baltic and Nordic Studies in Romania. It also organizes various events, exhibitions, conferences, meetings and book presentations with subjects related to Nordic area studies. It offers grants and prizes in order to encourage the development of Scandinavian research in Romania. It has also set up a small library of Baltic and Nordic studies which is continuously enhanced. Thus, ARSBN has an extensive web of partners within research institutions and universities in Scandinavia and around the Baltic Sea area, which it seeks to develop by networking and engaging in common ventures. The current project draws on the expertise of our specialists in both Scandinavian and Romanian cultural and memory studies and aims, inter alia, at bolstering our long-term relationship with our Scandinavian partners, which is a pillar of the strategy of our Association, developing the research potential of our senior and junior fellows, shedding light on research topics of high contemporary relevance, bringing Norway and Romania closer together by unveiling some traits and areas of cooperation in which the two countries have been engaged in the modern and recent past. ARSBN has been involved in facilitating the study and enhancing the knowledge of Scandinavian history, culture and institutions in Romania.
The Romanian Association for Baltic and Nordic Studies has achieved already a large number of research and educative projects in the field of Scandinavian and Norwegian Studies. ARSBN has so far organized five editions of the Annual International Conference of Nordic and Baltic Studies (2010-2014): 
– http://arsbn.ro/annual-conference-2010.htm
– http://arsbn.ro/annual-conference-2011.htm
– http://arsbn.ro/annual-conference-2012.htm
– http://arsbn.ro/annual-conference-2013.htm
– http://arsbn.ro/annual-conference-2014.htm
It has also organized two sessions of the Nordic and Baltic Summer School whereby 50 students from Romania and Republic and Moldova have been taught Scandinavian, Finnic, and Baltic languages, history, culture, the latter session being funded from the EEA Grants
– http://arsbn.ro/coolpeace.htm
ARSBN published the biannual respected journal entitled The Romanian Journal of Baltic and Nordic Studies (since 2009), which is included in numerous international databases.
ARSBN has been successful in achieving finance for projects dealing with Romania’s relations with Nordic and Baltic countries and has the most valuable expertise in this field. The result of its researches have been twice chosen as the Book of the Month by the Romanian Foreign Ministry and once by the Latvian Foreign Ministry and have been presented in the Gafencu Hall in this prestigious state institution:
– http://www.mae.ro/node/12161
– http://www.mae.ro/node/17530
– http://www.mfa.gov.lv/en/news/press-releases/2013/may/31-1/
Accomplished research projects in this respect are the volumes dedicated to the Romanian-Lithuanian relations, Romanian-Latvian relations, the histories of Finland and Lithuania, the diaries of Marshal Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim and General Titus Garbea etc.
ARSBN has also organized a large number of conferences, seminars and exhibitions dedicated to Romania’s relations with Nordic and Baltic nations and cultures. For instance, it is highly relevant that ARSBN has cooperated in the celebration of playwright Henrik Ibsen (http://arsbn.ro/celebrare-henrik-ibsen.htm), Edvard Munch (http://arsbn.ro/edvard-munch-150-de-ani-de-la-nastere-2.htm) and has organized the Norwegian Culture and History Week in 2013 (http://arsbn.ro/saptamana-culturii-si-istoriei-norvegiene-2013.htm). New art and photo exhibitions have been recently organized with the occasion of the third session of the Summer School of Nordic and Baltic Studies. 
Furthermore, the ARSBN was a partner in a project designed by the Romanian Embassy in Oslo to mark the 50th anniversary of the opening of diplomatic relations at the embassy level between Romania and Norway, having been entrusted the tasks of organizing the project, selecting the speakers for the project, co-chairing and co-organizing the conference.
The Association is now achieving a project financed through the Bilateral Relations Fund, entitled Historical memory, the politics of memory and cultural identity: Romania, Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea Region in comparison (http://arsbn.ro/annual-conference-2015.htm).