An evening dedicated to good books, Anglo-Hellenic friendship relations, and an incisive lecture.

Co-hosted with the Anglo-Hellenic League. The Runciman Award and Ceremony are generously sponsored by the A.G. Leventis Foundation and the Athanasios C. Laskaridis Charitable Foundation.

Speaker: Professor Elias Papaioannou, on ‘Uprootedness, Human Capital, and Anatolia Imprints’

For online attendance via Zoom, pursue the links via the AHL website: anglohellenicleague.org/events

Abstract: The abrupt exodus of nearly a million Christian Orthodox from Anatolia over a century ago reshaped Greece’s social and demographic fabric. Today, four in ten Greeks trace their lineage to these refugees—yet the long-term effects of their displacement on Greece’s human capital remain largely underexplored. How did forced migration influence educational trajectories across generations? Did refugees adapt by investing in portable skills, or did they struggle to catch up with the autochthonous population?

Using large data on refugee origins, settlements, and education over three generations, strong evidence emerges for an ‘uprootedness hypothesis’: while initially lagging behind, refugees in rural areas surpassed locals in educational attainment, favouring degrees with global mobility—engineering and medicine—while locals leaned toward law and other home-biased fields. Beyond history, the case offers timely lessons for today’s migration crises and demographic deficits. Displacement, if properly supported, can drive long-term resilience and economic growth.