Balta Εvangelia

Εvangelia Balta was born in Kavala in 1955. She studied in the History Department of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (1973-1977) and, thanks to a scholarship from the Alexandros S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation, went on to study at the Sorbonne (Paris I-Sorbonne) and the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes IV Section in Paris (1980-1983). She received her doctorate in Ottoman History in 1983. She worked in the Historical Archive of Macedonia (Thessaloniki, 1979), at the Centre for Asia Minor Studies (1978, 1984-1987) and taught at the Ionian University during the first two years after its foundation (Corfu, 1985-1987). Since 1987 she has worked at the National Hellenic Foundation for Scientific Research.

Her interests revolve around subjects related to economic and social history during the Ottoman period, as well on the history of Hellenism in Asia Minor. In addition to her commitment to various programs at the National Hellenic Research Foundation, she has also served as a scholarly advisor for the Museum of the Olive and Greek Olive Oil in Sparta, the Museum of Industrial Olive-Oil Production in Lesvos, and the Museums of Wine at the Ktima Hatzimichalis and the Ktima Gerovassiliou (Epanomi). She was academic supervisor for the restoration of the Kayakapi neighborhood (Project Kayakapı) in Ürgüp, Turkey (2003-2008). She has been invited to teach seminars for groups of graduate students by universities in Greece and abroad. Since 2011 she has taught at the Intensive Ottoman and Turkish Summer School held by Harvard University's Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations (Cunda Adası-Ayvalik). She is a founding member of the planning committee of ΟΙΝΟΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΩ (History of Wine), a scholarly group which has organized seven conferences on subjects related to wine and wine production (2000-2008). Since 2008 she has organized Ιnternational Conferences on Karamanlidika Studies. She is a member of editorial committees in historical journals in both Greece and Turkey.