UCL SSEES Library

A portrait of Helen Sharman. Credit: Thomas Angus, Imperial College Text below: In 1989 though the Berlin Wall was down, the USSR was still shut. Gorbachev decided to offer astronaut training for hard currency to Western countries. Helen applied to the British company set up to manage the mission. There were around 5,500 qualified applicants and the final two were selected live on British TV, and given 4 days' notice to go to Zvezdnyi gorodok, then a military facility with 3,500 inhabitants. Helen spent 8 days in space in May 1991 conducting a range of experiments.

💡 Did you know the first Briton in space, Dr Helen Sharman, studied at SSEES? Helen did her MA in Central and South-East European Studies, which allowed her to develop her interest in the East European languages she had encountered in the USSR.

#InternationalWomensDay #IWD2026 #WomensHistoryMonth

An old monochrome picture postcard showing a formal London square, with trees, pigeons and deckchairs. Behind the trees can be seen a row of solid Victorian town houses

Here's a #HigherEducationPostcard of Russell Square

The houses visible behind the trees used, I think, to house the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, now part of @ucl.ac.uk @uclsseeslibrary.bsky.social

If you like this image, please repost it - remember, BlueSky has #NoAlgorithm

Display of new books at the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies Library. Ten volumes arranged on a stand. The featured books are: Modern and Radical: Politics, Culture, and Socialization of Jewish Youth in Interwar Poland, by Kamil Kijek; Danube: Recipes and Stories from Eastern Europe, by Irina Georgescu; Jews in Galicia: Studies in Culture, History, and Religion, edited by Michał Galas, Karolina Koprowska and Wacław Wierzbieniec; Beyond Irrepresentability: Exploring Images from Nazi Camps, Ghettos, and the Holocaust, edited by Verena Krieger and Ella Falldorf; The Closing of the Russian Mind: How Putin's Ideology Took the Nation Hostage, by Andrei Kolesnikov; Black Earth City: A Year in the Heart of Russia, by Charlotte Hobson; The Essential Anna Politkovskaya: Investigative Journalism from Putin’s Fiercest Critic; In Siberia, by Colin Thubron; A Thousand Miracles: From Surviving the Holocaust to Judging Genocide, by Theodor Meron; 0.10, Ivan Puni: Works from the Collection Herman Berninger, Zurich and Photographs of the Russian Revolution from the Collection Ruth and Peter Herzog, Basel : 12 April to 28 September 2003

We've updated our #NewBooks display. 📚📚📚 See something you would like to borrow? Find these and other new books on the Ground Floor of the Library, by the self-service machine.

"The West and all that it holds" OBL project and exhibition Join the PLEJ session exploring a student-led project using object-based learning to engage with multilingual SSEES Library collections.

There is still time to book a place for tomorrow’s PLEJ session, which will explore the possibilities and outcomes of object-based learning in student-led projects involving SSEES Library and its holdings: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-west-a...

A display of documents, images and books arranged over three bays of grey library shelving.

A close-up shot of a shelf featuring a display related to the Hungarian journal Nyugat. Two cover pages of the journal are featured, and a couple of pages of printed text mounted on a background of green card.

A photograph featuring a bay of grey library shleving. A display is arranged over four shelves, featuring several open volumes of the Hungarian journal Nyugat. The volumes are arranged in chronological order from 1908 to 1941.

An image of a shelf featuring a display of four or five language primers. The books date from the mid 19th century and the languages featured include Romanian, Polish, Yiddish and Hungarian.

Join the Platform for Linguistic and Epistemic Justice for a session showcasing a student-led project using object-based learning to explore the multilingual SSEES Library collections.

📅 Wed 4 March
⏰ 4–5 pm
📍 Room 432, SSEES
☕ Followed by refreshments
🎟️ To book: www.eventbrite.com/e/the-west-a...

200 years ago, UCL was founded on a radical idea: education for all.

To mark our bicentenary, the Two Centuries Here Exhibition explores UCL’s past, present, and future across our Bloomsbury campus.

The exhibition is open from 18 Feb 2026 to 31 July 2027.
#UCL200

Event poster for 'Literature and identities in Moldova, Romania and the diaspora with Tatiana Țîbuleac' with images of book covers by Tatiana Țîbuleac. In-person and online.

Join us for an evening talk with bestselling author and EU Prize for Literature winner Tatiana Țîbuleac, who will discuss how #Moldovan, #Romanian and diasporic history and identities reflect throughout her writing.

🗓️ 13 March at 5pm
📍 In-person & online
➡️ www.ucl.ac.uk/arts-humanit...

People at the Student Centre. There is a curated display on the wall and a large banner with text which reads, "UCL200. Two Centuries Here.".

Students looking at the display part of the Two Centuries Here exhibition.

Visitors looking into Two Centuries Here display cases at the Octagon Gallery.

A student writing on a card in response to the question on the wall which reads, "What do you hope for the future of UCL?".

Two Centuries Here is a multi-space exhibition in the heart of central London, tracing @ucl.ac.uk’s origins and exploring 200 years of ground-breaking research, innovation, education and impact. Find out more here: www.ucl.ac.uk/about/events... #UCL200

Event poster for the SSEES Film festival with film posters.

🎬 SSEES Film Festival Vol 1: "Resistance"

The festival forms part of our UCL200 programme of events to celebrate UCL’s bicentenary.

The film screenings are free but ticketed.

Book here: www.ucl.ac.uk/arts-humanit...

@artshumsucl.bsky.social

A display of documents, images and books arranged over three bays of grey library shelving.

A close-up shot of a shelf featuring a display related to the Hungarian journal Nyugat. Two cover pages of the journal are featured, and a couple of pages of printed text mounted on a background of green card.

A photograph featuring a bay of grey library shleving. A display is arranged over four shelves, featuring several open volumes of the Hungarian journal Nyugat. The volumes are arranged in chronological order from 1908 to 1941.

An image of a shelf featuring a display of four or five language primers. The books date from the mid 19th century and the languages featured include Romanian, Polish, Yiddish and Hungarian.

Join the Platform for Linguistic and Epistemic Justice for a session showcasing a student-led project using object-based learning to explore the multilingual SSEES Library collections.

📅 Wed 4 March
⏰ 4–5 pm
📍 Room 432, SSEES
☕ Followed by refreshments
🎟️ To book: www.eventbrite.com/e/the-west-a...

Students smiling while on a rooftop deck with UCL’s portico in the background.

Understanding copyright helps you respect others’ creativity and protect your own. Find out more about available resources and support. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/library/learning-teaching-support/ucl-copyright-advice

Event poster for 'Literature and identities in Moldova, Romania and the diaspora with Tatiana Țîbuleac' with images of book covers by Tatiana Țîbuleac. In-person and online.

We are pleased to invite you to an evening talk with bestselling author and EU Prize for Literature winner Tatiana Țîbuleac, who will discuss how #Moldovan, #Romanian and diasporic history and identities reflect throughout her writing.

🗓️ 13 March at 5pm
➡️ www.ucl.ac.uk/arts-humanit...

Display of new books at the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies Library. Ten volumes arranged on a stand. The featured books are: History Writing and Historians in Hungary of the Árpáds, by László Veszprémy; The interpreters: British internationalism and empire in southeastern Europe, 1870-1930, by Georgios Giannakopoulos; The Oak and The Larch: A New Forest History of Russia and its Empires, by Sophie Pinkham; AIDS in Soviet Russia: A Story of Deception, Despair and Hope, by Rustam Alexander; Hungarian “Gypsy-Band” Music in Vienna, 1850-1914: The Csárdás Craze, by Jon Banks; Modernizing Europe’s Imperial Monarchies: Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia in the Nineteenth Century, by Heidi Hein-Kircher and Frederik Frank Sterkenburgh; Nabokov and the Russian Diaspora: In the Margins of Totalitarianism, by Bryan Karetnyk; The Holodomor in Global Perspective: How the Famine in Ukraine Shaped the World, by John Vsetecka and Daria Mattingly; Carpathia: Food from the Heart of Romania, by Irina Georgescu; The Balkan Kitchen: Recipes and Stories from the Heart of the Balkans, by Irina Janakievska

Here are just a few of the #NewBooks we have added to the Library recently. 📚📚📚

UCL's portico building at night.

Visitors are invited to explore @ucl.ac.uk’s ground-breaking 200-year history through an expansive new exhibition hosted in multiple spaces across the Bloomsbury campus. Read more here: www.ucl.ac.uk/museums-coll... #UCL200

Event poster for ‘Lithuania’ and ‘Poland’ in Adam Mickiewicz’s Pan Tadeusz, with an image of Grzybobranie (Mushroom picking) painting by Franciszek Kostrzewski (1826–1911), cca 1860. Wikimedia Commons.

Why does the most famous poem in the #Polish language open with the invocation ‘Lithuania! My Fatherland!’?

Please join us for Prof. Richard Butterwick-Pawlikowski's Inaugural Lecture to find out more.

🗓️ 11 March at 6.30pm
📍 Gustave Tuck LT
➡️ www.ucl.ac.uk/arts-humanit...

Students with laptops in a lecture theatre.

Using artificial intelligence in research and education raises many questions around copyright. Join us on 4 March for an interactive workshop on copyright and GenAI with guest speaker, Ben White. https://library-calendars.ucl.ac.uk/event/4430020

Peter J.S. Duncan (1953-2026) We are deeply saddened to announce the death of Dr Peter Duncan.

It is with great sadness that we announce the death of our dear colleague and friend, Dr Peter Duncan. Professor Simon Dixon pays tribute to him here: www.ucl.ac.uk/arts-humanit...

Event poster for 'After Empire: National Questions and the making of International Order in Southeastern Europe' with an image of the book cover. In-person event.

Join us for this seminar with Dr Georgios Giannakopoulos to hear more about his book 'The Interpreters' which offers a new interpretation of the cultural and intellectual exchanges between Britain and southeastern Europe in an age of imperial transformation.

🗓️ 3 March at 6pm
➡️ buff.ly/3FH0K8u

Book launch of “Happiness” by Yuri Felsen, with Bryan Karetnyk, Matthew Janney and Maria Rubins Book Launch: Book launch of “Happiness” by Yuri Felsen, with Bryan Karetnyk, Matthew Janney and Maria Rubins

Book launch of “Happiness” Tues 10 March, 7-8.30pm
Join Professor Maria Rubins and Dr Bryan Karetnyk at the launch of 'Happiness' by Yuri Felsen, a leading modernist writer of the interwar Russian diaspora. Takes place at Pushkin House, register at: www.pushkinhouse.org/whats-on/eve...

Students studying in the library.

Make the best use of our libraries and resources. Find out more about our guides and training to develop your library and information literacy skills. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/library/learning-teaching-support

Today, UCL turns 200. 🎉 For two centuries, our community has opened doors, challenged convention and pushed the boundaries of knowledge across every discipline. Thank you to everyone who’s been part of the UCL story, here’s to the next century. ✨

#UCL200 #LoveUCL

Event poster for ‘Lithuania’ and ‘Poland’ in Adam Mickiewicz’s Pan Tadeusz, with an image of Grzybobranie (Mushroom picking) painting by Franciszek Kostrzewski (1826–1911), cca 1860. Wikimedia Commons.

Why does the most famous poem in the #Polish language open with the invocation ‘Lithuania! My Fatherland!’?

Please join us for Prof. Richard Butterwick-Pawlikowski's Inaugural Lecture to find out more.

🗓️ 11 March at 6.30pm
📍 Gustave Tuck LT
➡️ www.ucl.ac.uk/arts-humanit...

Display of new books at the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies Library. Ten volumes arranged on a stand. The titles featured are: Civic and Uncivic Values in Hungary: Value Transformation, Politics, and Religion, edited by Sabrina P. Ramet and László Kürti Music in Fifteenth-Century Bohemia: Between Reform and Identity Building, by Hana Vlhová-Wörner and Jan Ciglbauer. Reading War, Making Memory: Remembering the Bosnian War Across Europe, by Tea Sindbæk Andersen, Jessica Ortner and Fedja Wierød Borčak. The Successor: Boris Nemtsov, Vladimir Putin and the Decline of Modern Russia, by Mikhail Fishman and Michele A. Berdy. Gendarmes, Bureaucrats, and Jews: A Documentary History of the Destruction of Hungary’s Jews, Spring-Summer 1944, edited by Judit Fejes Schulmann, David Alan Rich and Judit Molnár. Three Years On Fire: The Destruction of Ukraine, by Andrey Kurkov. Hidden in Plain Sight: A Family Memoir and the Untold Story of the Holocaust in Serbia, by Julie Brill. Red Flags: A Reckoning with Communism for the Future of the Left, by David Camfield. Olga de Lebedeff - A Life Across Empires, by Carina Hamilton. Lost Prestige: Hungary's Changing Image in Britain 1894-1918 by Geza Jeszenszky

Check out our #NewBooks display on the Ground Floor of the Library! 📚📚📚😊

Afternoon Talk: In Search of Amnesia Artist Talk with Barry Falk - The Wiener Holocaust Library In Search of Amnesia is a documentary project looking into the Jewish narrative in Poland and Ukraine. Retracing the history of the Jewish narrative in Eastern Europe, Falk traced both his own…

📣 Forthcoming free afternoon talk!

18 February, 3 - 4:30pm

In Search of Amnesia is a documentary project looking into the Jewish narrative in Poland and Ukraine. Through this new book Falk traced both his own personal family history and the collective loss

Tickets 🔗

🔊 We are seeking an outstanding academic leader to join us as Director (Head of Department) of UCL SSEES.

📍 Location: London (hybrid)
🗓 Closing date: 15 February 2026
🗣️ Interviews: 9–10 March 2026
➡️ Apply here: www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...

🔊 There’s still time to register today!

🔊 There’s still time to register today!

A student reading a book in the library.

Trying to access books, journals or electronic resources in our libraries? Find out more about available guidance here. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/library/finding-resources

Three bays of bookshelves featuring roughly thirty books displayed on bookstands with their covers facing forwards.

A QR code

A bay of bookshelves with a number of books displayed on bookstands, with their covers facing forwards.

A bay of bookshelves with a number of books displayed on bookstands, with their covers facing forwards.

📚 UCL SSEES Library Academic Book Display — International Day of Education 2026 📚
Celebrating learning and area studies at SSEES with titles across history, politics, culture, language, and more.
📱 Scan the QR code to explore UCL Press e-books by SSEES academic staff.

Event poster for 'Eating the Balkans: Language, Cuisine, and Cultural Meaning in the Balkans' with an image of Balkan food.

🔊 Due to high demand, this event will now be livestreamed online

Join us for an exploration of how food vocabulary in the #Balkans encodes millennia of indigenous evolution, alongside contact, borrowing, and contested belonging.

🗓️ 3 February at 5pm
➡️ www.ucl.ac.uk/arts-humanit...