On Wednesday, October 29, 2025, the defence of Vasilis Alexiadis’ doctoral thesis, on Prophecy and Power: The politics of popular eschatology in Contemporary Greece, took place at the University of Amsterdam. Vasilis Alexiadis received a scholarship from the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation, in the context of the operation of the Marilena Laskaridis Chair of Modern Greek Studies, which the Foundation supports, and completed his dissertation in three years, with excellent reviews.
The support ceremony was attended by the supervisors Prof. dr. Maria Boletsi, Marilena Laskaridis Endowed Professor of Modern Greek Studies, University of Amsterdam & Associate Professor in Literary Studies, Leiden University and dr. Boris Noordenbos, Associate Professor of Literary and Cultural Analysis, University of Amsterdam.
Also the members of the Committee:
Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Kirtsoglou, Professor in Anthropology, Durham University
Prof. Dr. Dimitris Dalakoglou, Chair of Social Anthropology and Sociology of Development, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Prof. Dr. Barnita Bagchi, Chair and Professor in World Literatures in English at the University of Amsterdam.
Prof. Dr. Yolande Jansen, Endowed Professor at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Chair in “Humanism in relation to religion and secularity” & Associate Professor of Social and Political Philosophy, University of Amsterdam
Dr. Tatiana Markaki, Assistant Professor in Cultural Heritage and Language, University of Amsterdam
Dr. Jaron Harambam, Assistant Professor of Media, Truth Politics and Digitalization at the Sociology Department of the University of Amsterdam.
On behalf of the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation, the ceremony was attended by the philologist Sophia Levanti.
In support of the operation of the Marilena Laskaridis Chair of Modern Greek Studies, the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation annually offers scholarships to visiting researchers at the University of Amsterdam, with the aim of promoting research in the field of Modern Greek Studies.
