A meeting of the Scientific Council was held dedicated to the report on the scientific and scientific-organizational activities of the Institute of Folklore of ANAS for 2025. The report meeting was attended by members of the Scientific Council of the Institute, including the Director of the Institute of Architecture and Art, Corresponding Member of ANAS, Doctor of Arts, Professor Ertegin Salamzade and the head of the Human Resources Department of the Presidium of ANAS, Doctor of Philosophy in Philology, Associate Professor Aynur Mahmud. The report was presented by Hikmat Guliyev, Director of the Institute of Folklore of ANAS, Doctor of Sciences in Philology.

Hikmat Guliyev noted that, in accordance with the relevant decision of the Presidium of ANAS, the discussion of the reports of the scientific research departments of the Institute of Folklore for the current year had begun since November. Noting that this year, for the first time, the reports of the departments were heard at expanded meetings of the Scientific Council - in a hybrid format, in the context of joint discussion of the staff of the institute, Hikmat Guliyev presented the final report on scientific and scientific-organizational activities for 2025.

Mentioning that 63 research works covering 9 topics in 4 problem areas were carried out by 12 scientific departments at the Institute of Folklore in 2025, the director presented the work carried out in the current year to implement the decrees and orders of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, decisions of the Cabinet of Ministers and State programs.

The scientist noted that in the reporting year, in accordance with the Decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated December 28, 2025 on declaring 2025 “Year of Constitution and Sovereignty” in the Republic of Azerbaijan, a republican scientific conference was held on the topic “National Statehood and Folklore” and the scientific session was held on the topic “Travelers on the road from Azerbaijan Research and Education Society to ANAS: Azerbaijani folklorists”.

Within the framework of the Decrees of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the celebration of the 190^th  anniversary of Seyid Azim Shirvani, the 100^th anniversary of Bakhtiyar Vahabzade, the 150^th anniversary of the Azerbaijani national press and the 140^th anniversary of the great Azerbaijani composer Uzeyir Hajibeyli, the Institute of Folklore organized scientific sessions on the topics of “Seyid Azim Shirvani: folkloric thought and classical artistic interpretation”, “Folklore context of Bakhtiyar Vahabzade’s creativity”, “National memory and press: from oral word to social concept”, as well as the international scientific symposium “From Ashiq Alasgar to Uzeyir Hajibeyli: Cultural codes of the Turkic world”. The mentioned scientific sessions, conferences and symposiums were held in the context of joint discussion and cooperation among scholars conducting research in the fields of folklore studies, literary studies, art studies, musicology, as well as cultural studies.

At the same time, Hikmat Guliyev noted that in accordance with the Decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev “On Approval of the Concept of Digital Development in the Republic of Azerbaijan” the Department of Digital Folklore and Netnographic Analysis was established at the Institute of Folklore by the decision of the Presidium of ANAS and also this year an event on the topic “Digital Literacy and Application of Artificial Intelligence Technologies in Scientific Research” was held at the Institute with the participation of Professor Douglas Hartman of the University of Michigan and Associate Professor Dilek Altun of the Middle East University.

At the same time, the scientists from the Institute became experts in the “National Flavors” project and the online platform of the same name, developed within the framework of joint cooperation between the Azerbaijan National Culinary Center under the State Tourism Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences.

In the reporting year, in accordance with the “State Program for the Great Return” approved by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Institute of Folklore carried out a number of important works in the field of collecting, researching and publishing the intangible cultural heritage of Karabakh and the Eastern Zangezur.

Hikmat Guliyev also mentioned that the scientific activities of the Institute of Folklore was expanded slightly in 2025. He noted that the employees published 51 books this year, including 31 monographs and 14 of these works were published abroad. In total, it was reported that in 2025, 45 scientific articles were published by the Institute of Folklore employees both in the country and abroad, and a total of 260 scientific articles were published.

Noting the activities in the field of highly qualified personnel training Hikmat Guliyev mentioned that in 2025, 5 people were admitted to the doctoral program of the Institute of Folklore of ANAS under the Doctor of Philosophy training program in the specialty 5719.01 – “Folklore Studies”. This year, 3 employees of the Institute (2 of whom are under 40 years old) were awarded the degree of Doctor of Sciences, 1 was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and 1 was awarded the title of Associate Professor.

At the same time, Hikmat Guliyev, noting that the position of the institute in the field of electronic science had strengthened, said that the scientific metrics of scientific workers had increased in 2025. In total, 151 new articles were published in scientific metrics databases this year and the scientific works of the institute received 3,632 citations and 375 in the current year. About 31 new articles were prepared and posted for Wikipedia this year by scientists from the Institute of Folklore.

Hikmat Guliyev noted that in 2025, a total of 67 students from Baku Slavic University, Sumgayit State University, Baku Eurasian University, Odlar Yurdu University and Khazar University underwent internships at the Institute of Folklore, emphasizing that these relations would also have a positive impact on strengthening the human resources potential in the field of scientific activity in the future.

Then Director of the Institute of Architecture and Art of ANAS, Corresponding Member of ANAS, Ertegin Salamzade made a speech on the report on the scientific and scientific-organizational activities of the Institute of Folklore for 2025. At the end of his speech the scientist highly appreciated the scientific and scientific-organizational activities of the ANAS Institute of Folklore for 2025 and expressed his belief that this development would continue in the future.

PhD, associate professor Aynur Mahmud, Doctor of Sciences in Philology Safa Garayev, Doctor of Sciences in Philology Fuzuli Bayat, PhD, associate professor Rza Khalilov, Deputy Director for Scientific Affairs of the Institute of Folklore, Doctor of Philosophy in Philology, Associate Professor Afag Ramazanova also spoke and estimated about a number of works carried out at the Institute.

The meeting also provided information on the status of preparations for the II Republican Scientific Conference on “The Western Azerbaijan Folklore: Problems and Prospects”, which will be held jointly by the ANAS Institute of Folklore, Azerbaijan State Pedagogical University and the Western Azerbaijan Community. At the end of the meeting, the TURKSOY Armin Vamberi Medal and certificate were presented to the Head of the Department of Folklore Theory of the Folklore Institute, Doctor of Sciences in Philology, Professor Fuzuli Bayat for his contributions to the culture of the Turkic world.