The Centre’s research projects today cover all aspects of Greek antiquity, from prehistory to the end of antiquity in the seventh century A.D. Special emphasis is placed on:

the revival and renewal of the infrastructure of classical studies through the systematic collection and editing in computerised databases of source materials, including literary texts, but with particular attention to inscriptions and coins (including squeezes and casts made from them), photographs, plans, maps, aerial photographs and topographical diagrams;

the publication of these materials in collections (‘corpora’);

the production of monographs, articles and other studies based on the data collected;

the training of young scholars (provision of scholarships and supervision of theses);

the development of collaborative research programmes with Greek and foreign scholars, foundations and organizations, through scholarly exchanges and the organisation of conferences etc.

Study of the philological and epigraphical sources is supplemented through systematic surface surveys of both the urban and the rural areas of ancient cities.

The Centre has assigned high priority to areas on the geographical peripheries of Hellenism, and to relatively early and late periods which have in the past been neglected. Six geographically defined programmes have been set up:

Current programmes

Macedonia
Thrace
Palestine
Southern Greece
The Hellenistic and Roman East
Early Balkan peoples and cultures

These programmes also cover various thematic projects on institutions, religion, historical geography, linguistics, prosopography, onomastics, numismatics etc., usually based on the KERA ’s own substantial archival holdings:

1. publications archive covering the history and archaeology of ancient Macedonia, Thrace, Epirus and Thessaly, together with the Peloponnese and the Aegean islands in the Roman period;

2. archive of the Greek and Latin inscriptions of Macedonia and Thrace;

3. numismatic archive of Macedonia, Achaea and the Aegean islands;

4. archive of the Greek and Latin inscriptions of southern Greece, principally the Peloponnese;

5. archive of the archaeological sites of Achaea and Kea.

Studies based on these archives are normally published in the Centre’s own series, MELETIMATA, which now contains 22 volumes.

Other activities of the Centre include:

the production of doctoral theses by young scholars, often with scholarships from the National Research Foundation;

smaller thematic projects, which are communicated at conferences or published in international scholarly journals;

the organisation of scholarly conferences and other meetings.

Much of the KERA ’s research is conducted in collaboration with Greek organisations such as the Antiquities and Restorations Service of the Ministry of Culture or the Ionian University, and foreign organisations such as the foreign archaeological schools in Athens, the French CNRS or various European and American universities.

Some of the Institute’s research projects have been incorporated in programmes funded by the European Union, and employ a small number of external collaborators, who in this way obtain some further training.

The European Union has also funded the progressive establishment of a computer network and the production of programmes which have facilitated the transfer of archives into electronic format, and the application of technology to the Institute’s research and publishing activities.

The KERA possesses a small specialist library which concentrates on areas covered by current research programmes.

The Centre’s staff includes 15 researchers, a small number of scholarship-holders and scholarly collaborators, three research associates and two secretaries.