Biography

Nikolai (Niko) Javakhishvili was born on September 12, 1972, in the city of Telavi, Georgia, in the family of Doctor of Sciences in Philology (Dr. hab.), Professor Giorgi Javakhishvili and secondary school teacher Mariam Gogbaidze.

Dr. hab. Javakhishvili Graduated with honours from the Faculty of History of Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University in 1995. Between 1993-1995 he was the President of the League of Students of Historians of Georgia.

He served in the Georgian Army and between 1996-1998 he was a Chief Researcher, Officer of the Military History Department of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Ministry of Defense of Georgia. He was awarded the Certificate of Honor of the Ministry of Defense of Georgia (23. V. 1997) "for the exemplary performance of military duty and success in military training."

From September 1, 1994, to this day he has been working at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University. At various times, he worked as a laboratory assistant, junior researcher, researcher and senior researcher at the Research Center for the History of Georgian State and People's Diplomacy at Tbilisi State University (1994-2006).

He defended his Ph.D. thesis on the topic: "Georgian Phaleristics (orders and award studies)" (2. VI. 1997), and his doctoral dissertation (Dr. hab.) on the topic: "Georgian Bonistics" (7. IV. 2003).

From September 1, 1997, to this day he has been teaching at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University.

"For active scientific work and significant results" he was awarded a presidential scholarship established for young scientists in Georgia (for 1997-2000).

On December 25, 2000, the Council of Professors of the Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University awarded him the scientific and pedagogical degree of associate professor in the speciality “source study and historiography of the history of Georgia”.

"For fruitful scientific activity" he became the first laureate of the "Tsinandali" award (in the humanities), established for young scientists and creative figures of Georgia (February 8, 2001).

Currently Dr. Hab. Javakhishvili is: Chief Research Fellow at the Department of Modern and Contemporary History at the Institute of History and Ethnology named after Ivane Javakhishvili (since 2006), Associate Professor at the Institute of History of Georgia at the Faculty of Humanities of Tbilisi State University named after Ivane Javakhishvili (since 2009), Member of the Permanent Commission on Heraldry at the State Heraldic Council under the Parliament of Georgia (since 2008), Member of the Council for Accreditation of Educational Programs of Higher and Secondary Educational Institutions of Georgia (2018-2019), Member of the Academic Council of the Ivane Javakhishvili Institute of History and Ethnology, Member of the Academic Council of the Institute of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (Kaunas), Honorary Member of the Latvian Society of Georgia "Ave Sol!" (since 2015), a member of the editorial board and the Academic Council of some scientific collections published in Georgia and abroad.

As a specialist in the field of auxiliary historical disciplines (including phaleristics, bonistics, numismatics, genealogy, heraldry, vexillology, etc.), he is directly involved in the development of the state symbols of Georgia. He was a member of the jury for the establishment of the state emblem of Georgia (19 May 2004) and a member of the commission of the National Bank of Georgia to develop the appearance of the modern Georgian national currency (both banknotes and coins), as well as commemorative coins (2005-2009).

The State Council of Heraldry under the Parliament of Georgia awarded N. Javakhishvili with the medal "State Symbols of Georgia - 1918-2018" (No. 006) "for the contribution to the development of the state heraldry of Georgia" (May 26, 2018).

Dr. hab. N. Javakhishvili studies the issues of the history of Georgia, the Caucasus, as well as the relationship of Georgia with different countries. He is the author of over 260 scientific papers (including 22 books) published in Georgian, English, German, Polish, Russian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Turkish, Armenian and Arabic languages.

For the monographic study of the history of Georgian-Baltic relations and the deepening of cooperation between research and higher pedagogical centers of Georgia and the Baltic countries, he was awarded Certificates of Honor (listed in chronological order): by the Academic Library of the University of Latvia (December 19, 2015), by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia (May 16, 2016), by the Institute of Economics of the Latvian Academy of Sciences (June 23, 2016), by the Institute of History of Latvia of the University of Latvia (July 11, 2016) and by the Institute of History of Lithuania (December 19, 2016).  

The Senate of the Latvian Academy of Sciences awarded him the title of Honorary Doctor (Doctor honoris causa) in the field of history (June 10, 2014). The Latvian Academy of Sciences elected him as a foreign member in the field of history (November 24, 2022).

The Association of Organizations for the Memory of the Heritage of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (Vilnius) awarded Dr. hab. Javakhishvili the Order of Commander (No. 033) “for merits in popularizing the historical and cultural heritage of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania” (July 19, 2017).

Pomeranian University in Słupsk (Poland) awarded Prof. N. Javakhishvili the Honorary medal “in recognition of his contributions to Pomeranian University in Słupsk” (July 9, 2024).

Dr. hab. Niko Javakhishvili has a wife and two children - Giorgi (born in 2000) and Nina (born in 2003) Javakhishvili.

The full biography and the list of Dr. hab. Niko Javakhishvili's works and publications as well as participation in scientific conferences and forums are found here