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At the Doctoral Forum of March 6, 2019 Nana Khetsuriani, participant of the Carl Friedrich Lehman-Haupt International Doctoral Program, presented her research project “Economic costs of the August 2008 war between Georgia and Russia”. Nana briefly introduced her research topic and its relevance whereby specific focus was put on the findings relating to how armed conflicts affect economy in general, through what main channels the welfare of the population is affected and what direct and indirect costs are accrued due to a war. In terms of the research methodology to be applied Nana explained that her work will contain both qualitative and quantitative research, including in-depth interviews with field experts as well as various calculations and forecasts on how the economy would have developed in the event of non-occurence of the 2008 war.

Doctoral students from different disciplines were attending and the audience was, thus, a very diverse one. As the topic itself is very sensitive, participants followed the presentation with great interest and their questions led to a vivid discussion afterwards. Their main interest lay in the potential outcomes of the research and the research design, in particular, how some non-economic costs, such as human loss, could be evaluated and expressed in a monetary form, and why economy faces capital flight as well as portfolio adjustments and other related losses.

The Doctoral Forum is a monthly event which gives PhD students at ISU the opportunity of presenting and exchanging about their research projects within their peer group. The open approach of the Doctoral Forum allows for debating and sharing points of views from very diverse perspectives and scientific backgrounds.