The first meeting of the Dissertation Council FD 1.27 operating under the Institute of Folklore of ANAS was held. Opening the meeting with an introductory speech, the Chairman of the Dissertation Council, Doctor of Sciences in Philology Hikmat Guliyev, greeted the participants and provided information about the composition of the newly established Dissertation Council, its areas of activity and the main tasks ahead. The scientist noted that by the order of the Supreme Attestation Commission under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated March 18, 2026, the Dissertation Council FD 1.27 was established under the Institute of Folklore of ANAS to organize the defense of doctoral dissertations in the field of philological sciences in the specialties 5716.01 - “Azerbaijani Literature” and 5719.01 - “Folklore Studies”.

During the meeting the information was provided about the composition of the council and the scientific seminars that would be operate in these specialties. It was noted that the activities of these seminars were of great importance in terms of improving the quality of scientific examination of dissertations and applying modern scientific criteria.

Hikmat Guliyev mentioned during his speech that the Institute of Folklore of ANAS, as the main scientific institution training highly qualified personnel in the field of folklore studies in the country was the only institution where the Dissertation Council operated in this direction. It was noted that this factor places special responsibility on the Institute and the Dissertation Council and necessitated the application of academic criteria in the process of scientific expertise and scientific management.

Hikmat Guliyev noted that in the modern international scientific environment, multidisciplinary theoretical and methodological approaches in the field of folklore studies were expanding and socio-anthropological and socio-cultural approaches were coming to the fore compared to traditional philological models. The scientist noted that taking into account these challenges, socio-anthropological folklore approaches were adopted as one of the priorities in determining the scientific directions and problems of the ANAS Institute of Folklore in 2026.

During the meeting, it was also noted that in modern times scientific expertise had become more complex compared to previous stages. It was noted that identifying cases of misuse of artificial intelligence tools in scientific research activities, revealing the level of authorship in dissertations submitted by applicants and objectively assessing the originality and scientific novelty of the proposed scientific results had become one of the important directions of the expertise process.

One of the issues discussed on the agenda was related to the organization of the defense of doctoral dissertations. It was noted that the pending defenses of doctoral dissertations would be carried out in the One-Time Dissertation Councils to be created on the basis of the new council and a motion would be filed in this regard in the appropriate manner.

The meeting continued with a discussion of current issues.