Dr. Arshak Balayan, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Yerevan State University, will be speaking at the Armenian Library and Museum of America (ALMA) about his research into the re-population of Shahumyan (better known as Karvachar) and Kashatagh Regions of Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh).

These areas were outside the Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast of the former Soviet Union and thus many people believe that these areas are under greater threat of being re-annexed to Azerbaijan. In spite of its uncertain political status, twelve to thirteen thousand people have already moved to these areas, both under-populated and with poorly developed infrastructure, ALMA says in a press release.

With two colleagues, Dr. Balayan has conducted in-depth interviews with many families from over ten villages and towns to determine their motivations for moving to these areas, what problems they face and the potential for developing these areas, ALMA says.

Currently a visiting scholar at Harvard University, his third consecutive annual five-month sojourn there, Dr. Balayan's research is supported by the Open Society Institute, funded by George Soros. He has been involved in a number of educational, social initiative and research projects and teaches courses at Yerevan State University on topics such as "Communication Ethics", "Christian Ethics", "Philosophy of Science" and others.