The University of Bradford's Research Unit in South East European Studies celebrates its official 40th anniversary tomorrow.

A display of the unit's work will be exhibited in the atrium of the University's JB Priestley Library.

The Unit, formerly the Postgraduate School of Yugoslav Studies, now sits within the University's Department of Peace Studies.

It can trace its roots back to 1963, when 150 staff and students from the Bradford Institute of Technology (which became the University of Bradford in 1966) responded to the Skopje earthquake by taking aid to the former Yugoslavia and helping with reconstruction work.

The head of geography, Fred Singleton, went on to develop Yugoslav Studies at Bradford in 1965 with Professor of History Paul Coles. A team of three from the University went on a three-week visit to Yugoslavia in March 1967, to investigate the possibility of co-operation with Yugoslav institutions.

A research assistant from Skopje then visited Bradford in the summer, and the Unit was born.

Dr John Allcock, Head of the Research Unit in South East European Studies from 1981 to 2001, said: "In an age when many people in higher education find themselves pressed into chasing short-term targets, and their horizons reduced to pursuit of the next research grant, we need to remember the importance of sustained commitment to the development of our expertise, and to recognise the value of that consistent effort.

"Bradford has a truly international reputation in this area, which we now have an opportunity to celebrate. This is indeed an occasion of which we can all be proud."

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