Staff Profiles

I am Professor of Modern European History at the School of History, Classics and Archaeology. I am interested in all aspects of famines; birth control, abortion and fertility in historical populations; popular and modern Medicine in modern Greece; family history; women’s work; identities and experiences of exile of Pontic Greeks from the former USSR; and, more recently, experiences of being a refugee. My research is interdisciplinary, transcending the fields of Demography, Sociology, Human Geography and History. In all my work I have employed Oral History, tackling ‘difficult’ subjects, ranging from abortion, birth control and famine-memory in Greece to identity and exile in the Soviet Union. I am keen to extend the impact of my research to society, especially my research on family history. This is why I have created the Greek Family History website offering detailed guidance on how to undertake family history with Greek sources. I have held the Stanley J. Seeger Visiting Fellowship in Hellenic Studies at Princeton University, the George Papaioannou Fellowship at The Gennadius Library of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens and the Lewis-Gibson Fellowship at Cambridge Centre for Greek Studies, Cambridge University. My research is published in elite peer reviewed journals, such as: Medical History, Population Studies, Journal of Refugee Studies, Journal of Contemporary History, Journal of the Social History of Medicine, Europe-Asia Studies, The History of the Family. An International Quarterly and Contemporary European History.

Areas of Expertise

Modern Greek History, Historical Demography, History of Medicine, Oral History, Abortion and Contraception, Famines, Family History, Pontic Greeks.

Qualifications

• BSc Mathematics (Athens, Greece)
• MSc Operational Research (Athens, Greece)
• MSc Demography (London School of Economics)
• PhD Geography (University of Liverpool)

Previous Positions

• Senior Lecturer in Modern European History, School of History, Classics and Archaeology, Newcastle University, 2009-2020
• Lecturer in Modern European History, School of Historical Studies, Newcastle University, 2005-9
• Visiting lecturer, MSc in Historical Demography, History Department, Ionian University, Greece, 2005
• Lecturer in Social Statistics, Department of Sociology, University of Crete, Greece, 2004
• Senior Post-doctoral Research Fellow, Department of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Southampton, 1999-2002
• Lecturer, Department of Social Statistics, University of Southampton, 1995-98
• Research Fellow, Department of Geography, University of Liverpool, 1993-95

Professional Memberships

• Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, UK
• British Society of Population Studies, UK
• Modern Greek Studies Association, USA
• European Society of Historical Demography
• Society for Modern Greek Studies
• Greek Oral History Association (EPI)

Administrative Roles and Responsibilities

• Deputy Chair of the NU-Carers Advisory Group, 2020-
• Member of the University Ethics Committee, 2019-2022
• Head of History 2015-18
• Deputy Head of School HCA 2016-18
• PGR Selector, History, 2016-18
• PDR Reviewer, History, 2015-18
• Shortlisting Committees and Interview Panels for RA, Lecturers and Senior Lecturers in History 2015-18
• Shortlisting Committees and Interview Panels for Chairs in History 2015-2018
• Member of the Research Committee of the School of History, Classics and Archaeology 2017-18
• Member of the Executive Committee of the School of History, Classics and Archaeology 2015-18
• Chair of the Board of Examiners, History, 2006-7, 2015-18
• Library Representative 2014-15
• MOF Officer for the School of History, Classics and Archaeology 2009-15
• Degree Programme Director for History 2006-7
• Academic advisor and personal tutor for 30-40 students annually, 2005-
• Managed Research Assistants in 7 projects.

Languages

• Greek
• English
• Basic French
• Basic Russian

Research Interests

• Contraception, abortion and reproduction
• Famines
• Family History
• Medicine in Modern Greece
• Pontic Greeks

Reviews of my latest monograph

• Garrett, E. Review of Abortion and Contraception in Modern Greece, 1830–1967: Medicine, Sexuality and Popular Culture (London: Palgrave Macmillan 2020), by Violetta Hionidou. Continuity and Change, 36(2) (2021): 257-259. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0268416021000163
• Alain Touwaide, Doody's Book Reviews, August 28, 2020
• Georges, Eugenia. Review of Abortion and Contraception in Modern Greece, 1830–1967: Medicine, Sexuality and Popular Culture (London: Palgrave Macmillan 2020), by Violetta Hionidou. Journal of Modern Greek Studies, 39(2) (2021): 469-473. doi:10.1353/mgs.2021.0033
• Theodorou, Vasiliki. Review of Abortion and Contraception in Modern Greece, 1830–1967: Medicine, Sexuality and Popular Culture (London: Palgrave Macmillan 2020), by Violetta Hionidou. European journal for the history of medicine and health, 79(2) (2022): 454–456.
• Bartosz Ogórek. Review of Abortion and Contraception in Modern Greece, 1830–1967: Medicine, Sexuality and Popular Culture (London: Palgrave Macmillan 2020), by Violetta Hionidou. Przeszłość Demograficzna Polski – Poland’s Demographic Past, 45 (2023): 195–99.
• Andrew, Hinde. Review of Abortion and Contraception in Modern Greece, 1830–1967: Medicine, Sexuality and Popular Culture (London: Palgrave Macmillan 2020), by Violetta Hionidou. Social History of Medicine, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1093/shm/hkab011

Funded Research Projects

• Stanley J. Seeger Visiting Fellowship in Hellenic Studies, Princeton University, ‘Population movements in Occupied Greece: migration, displacement and their effects, 1941-1946’, £9,138.40, https://hellenic.princeton.edu/people/violetta-hionidou
• ‘Greek Family History: Digital resources and Experiential Learning’, ESRC Impact Acceleration Account, £9,751.92 (2016-9), https://apps.ncl.ac.uk/GreekFamilyHistory
• ‘Creation of a Chair, Research Hub and a Digital Archive in Oral History’, Research Investment Fund, Newcastle University, £665,313 (2015-7)
• ‘Inputting nineteenth century Greek nominal Census records’, School of HCA funding, £3,000 (2015).
• Wellcome Trust [082800/B/07/LS/HH (Strategic Award in History of Medicine)] awarded to the Northern Centre for the History of Medicine, £800 for the transcription of 11 interviews conducted in 2011 (2014)
• ‘Conscripts, heights and famines: anthropometric history in Modern Greece’, Faculty Research Fund, Newcastle University, £3,825 (2011)           
• ‘Household formation patterns and the welfare of the elderly in eighteenth and nineteenth century Kythira’, Faculty Research Fund, Newcastle University, £3,783 (2008)
• ‘Pontic Greeks in former USSR: The experience of exile and 'return to homeland' through an oral history approach’, British Academy small research grant, £4,900 (2007)
• ‘Public health and population dynamics during the 1941-42 Greek famine’, Wellcome Trust, £110,696 for three years, Personal post-doctoral Research Fellowship (advisor: Bernard Harris, University of Southampton) (1998-2001)
• ‘Household Structure of a Nineteenth-century Greek Urban Population: Comparisons over time and across space’, The Nuffield Foundation, £5,000 for three months (1996)
• ‘The Integration of Socio-economic and Demographic Development of Mediterranean Islands’, European Community, 94,757 ECU for 22 months, Human Capital and Mobility Personal Post-doctoral Research Fellowship, (Advisor: Robert Woods, University of Liverpool) (1994-1996)

Esteem Indicators

• Winner of the ESHD 2022 Tamara K. Hareven award for best book in Historical Demography/Family History for the monograph Abortion and Contraception in Modern Greece, 1830–1967: Medicine, Sexuality and Popular Culture (London: Palgrave Macmillan 2020) 
• Co-winner of the 2007 Edmund Keely book award, Modern Greek Studies Association, USA for the book Famine and Death in Occupied Greece, 1941-44. Cambridge Studies in Population, Economy, and Society in Past Times Series, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006).
• Member of the AHRC Peer Review College 2022-
• Council Member of the British School at Athens 2022-
• Member of the Editorial Board, Journal of Contemporary History, https://journals.sagepub.com/home/jch
• Member of the British School at Athens Committee for Society, Arts and Letters 2022- 
• Member of the Executive Committee of The Society for Modern Greek Studies 2020- 
• George Papaioannou Fellowship at American School of Classical Studies at Athens (2020)
• Visiting Research Fellow at Princeton University, Seeger Centre for Hellenic Studies (2019)  
• Assessor for the Greek Research Council ΓΓΕΤ
• Reviewer for over 15 Journals: Continuity and Change; Demography; Demographic Research; History of the Family; Journal of Biosocial Science; Journal of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies; Journal of Contemporary History; Journal of Family History; Journal of Modern Greek Studies; Journal of Population Research; Journal of Religious History; Journal of the History of Sexuality; Population Studies; Social History of Medicine; Social History; Southern European Society and Politics; War in History; AMHA - Acta Medico-Historica Adriatica, The Historical Journal.
• Book proposal reviewer: Berghahn Books, Blackwell, Bloomsbury, Cambridge University Press, Harvard University Press, Palgrave Macmillan
• Research proposal reviewer: Irish Research Council, Wellcome Trust History of Medicine panel, National Science Center, Poland (PRELUDIUM project)
• External examiner (PhD: Volos University (2013); Southampton University (2008-11))
• Invited speaker/public lectures (selection): ESSHC Belfast (2018), EFACIS conference A Coruna (2017), University of Crete (2016), Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales Paris (2016), Kulturwissenschaftliches Institut Essen (2015), Mosaic Conference Budapest (2012), Max-Planck-Institute for Demographic Research Rostock (2010), University of Peloponnese, Greece (2010), Modern Greek Studies Seminars Oxford (2009), Greek Association Seminars Sydney Australia (2009), International Conference on Modern World Famines, University of Melbourne Australia (2009), Fondation des Treilles, Nice France (2003), Oxford (2003)
• Organiser of the Historical Demography strand, BSPS Conference, 1998, 2010 and 2011; Co-organiser of the Recovering Voice Conference with Jennifer Richards and Helen Shaddock, funded by NUHRI, 1^st of June 2017; Co-organiser of Newcastle University European History Seminar seminars, 2018; Co-organiser of the Civil Wars workshop led by Professor Stathis Kalyvas 2018; co-organiser with Dr Eilidh Garrett of the online workshop, Abortion, contraception and family building practices across the First Demographic Transition: new views from Europe, June 2022, BSPS; co-organiser with Dr Dimitris Skleparis of the international conference Greece, Turkey and the past and present of forced migrations, September 2022, Newcastle University, supported by BSA, BIIA, GPSG, TPSG and The Society for Modern Greek Studies.

Teaching Roles

Degree Programme Director for History, 2006-7.

Undergraduate Teaching

• HIS1029: Varieties in History (Module Leader)
• HIS1103: History Lab II
• HIS2083: Hunger, disease and death: Famines in History (Module Leader)
• HIS2128: Modern Greece (with a field-trip to Athens) (Module Leader)
• HIS2306: Famines in History
• HIS3221: The history of birth control in the 19^th and 20^th centuries (Module Leader)
• HIS3008: Reading history
• HIS3020: Writing history
• HIS3101: Health and death: Mortality in the 19^th and 20^th centuries (Module Leader)
• POL1000: Study skills for politics and history
• HIS3030: History and Society
• HIS2240 Greece from Ancient times to the 21^st century: Interdisciplinary approaches to the study of the past (Module Leader)
• Migration (Module Leader)
• Population Analysis I (Module Leader)
• Introduction to Demography
• Fertility, Biology and Behaviour
• Social Statistics (Module Leader)

Postgraduate Teaching

• HIS8061: The Practice of History (Module Leader)
• HSS8026: The History of Birth Control in the 19^th and 20^th centuries (Module Leader)
• HIS8052: Conflict in European History 
• HIS8053: Conflict in European History: case studies
• HIS8098: Research Skills and Dissertation Training
• HIS8107 Independent Study Project
• SHS8127 The Patient in History
• SHS8128 Diseases in History
• Historical Demography

PhD Supervision

• Hannah Reynolds (2022–)
• Rob Granger (2019–)
• Michail Raftakis (Self-Funded, awarded 2019), Researcher, Department of Economics and Business, University of Sassari
• John Burke (Self-Funded, awarded 2015), Researcher, Commonwealth War Graves Commission

PhD Examinations

• Newcastle (Geography)
• Newcastle (History)
• Newcastle (History of Medicine)
• Volos, Greece (Historical Demography)

• Articles

  • Hionidou V. ‘Remembering’ the early 1940s Greek famine: fiction and collective memory, 1950–2019. Contemporary European History 2024. In Press.
  • Hionidou V. ‘If we hadn’t left … we would have all died’: Escaping Famine on the Greek Island of Chios, 1941–44. Journal of Refugee Studies 2021, 34(1), 1101-1120.
  • Hionidou V. Popular medicine and empirics in Greece, 1900-1950: An oral history approach. Medical History 2016, 60(4), 492-513.
  • Hionidou V. Relief and Politics in Occupied Greece, 1941–4. Journal of Contemporary History 2013, 48(4), 761-783.
  • Hionidou V. ‘‘Abroad I was Greek and in Greece I am a Foreigner”: Pontic Greeks from former Soviet Union in Greece. Journal of Modern Greek Studies 2012, 30(1), 103-127.
  • Hionidou V. What do starving people eat? The case of Greece through Oral History. Continuity and Change 2011, 26(1), 113-134.
  • Hionidou V. Independence and inter-dependence: Household formation patterns in eighteenth century Kythera, Greece. The History of the Family 2011, 16(3), 217-234.
  • Hionidou V, Saunders D. Exiles and pioneers: Oral Histories of Greeks deported from the Caucasus to Kazakhstan in 1949. Europe-Asia Studies 2010, 62(9), 1479-1501.
  • Hionidou V. 'It was a bridge from life to death': Hospitals during the Food Crisis, Greece 1941-1944. Social History of Medicine 2009, 22(2), 361-385.
  • Hionidou V. Domestic service on three Greek islands in the later 19th and early 20th centuries. History of the Family 2005, 10(4), 473-489.
  • Hionidou V. Black market, hyperinflation and hunger, Greece 1941-1944. Food and Foodways 2004, 12(2-3), 81-106.
  • Hionidou V. Why do people die in famines? Evidence from three island populations. Population Studies 2002, 56(1), 65-80.
  • Hionidou V. "They used to go and come." A century of circular migration from a Greek Island, Mykonos 1850 to 1950. Annales de Demographie Historique 2002, 2002(2 no. 104), 51-77.
  • Hionidou V. Nineteenth-century urban Greek households: the case of Hermoupolis, 1861-1879. Continuity and Change 1999, 14(3), 403-427.
  • Hionidou V. The adoption of fertility control on Mykonos 1879-1959: Stopping, spacing or both?. Population Studies 1998, 52(1), 67-83.
  • Hionidou V. Historical Critical Review of Fertility in Greece. The case of Mykonos 1859-1959 (in Greek). Greek Review of Social Research 1997, 92-93, 31-62.
  • Hionidou V. The demography of a Greek famine: Mykonos 1941-1942. Continuity and Change 1995, 10(2), 279-299.
  • Hionidou V. The demographic system of a Mediterranean island: Mykonos, Greece 1859-1959. International Journal of Population Geography 1995, 1(2), 125-146.
  • Hionidou V. Nuptiality patterns and household structure on the Greek island of Mykonos, 1849-1959. Journal of Family History 1995, 20(1), 67-102.

• Authored Books

  • Hionidou V. H Κατοχική Πείνα μέσα από Προφορικές Μαρτυρίες. Η περίπτωση της Χίου, της Σύρου και της Μυκόνου (The Greek Famine of the 1940s through Oral Histories. The cases of Hios, Syros and Mykonos). Athens, Greece: Patakis Publications, 2020.
  • Hionidou V. Abortion and Contraception in Modern Greece, 1830-1967: Medicine, Sexuality and Popular Culture. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020.
  • Hionidou V. ΛΙΜΟΣ ΚΑΙ ΘΑΝΑΤΟΣ ΣΤΗΝ ΚΑΤΟΧΙΚΗ ΕΛΛΑΔΑ, 1941–1944. Athens, Greece: Hestia Publishers, 2011.
  • Hionidou V. Famine and Death in Occupied Greece, 1941-1944. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.

• Book Chapters

  • Hionidou Violetta. ‘Ο κατοχικός λιμός και οι ανθρώπινες απώλειές του’ (The occupation famine and its human losses). In: Stratos Dordanas, Menelaos Charalambides, ed. Ανθρώπινες απώλειες και υλικές καταστροφές στην Ελλάδα κατά τη διάρκεια της τριπλής κατοχής (Γερμανικής, Ιταλικής, Βουλγαρικής), 1941-1944 (Human and material losses in Greece during the tripartite occupation (German, Italian, Bulgarian), 1941-1944). Alexandreia, 2025. In Press.
  • Hionidou Violetta. ‘“The Italians wanted beautiful girls”: Remembering the Italian Occupation and the Famine’. In: Filippo Focardi, Despoina Konstantinakou, ed. Greece and Italy after World War II: History, Perceptions, Memory. Oxford: Peter Lang, 2025. In Press.
  • Hionidou V. "We went through a lot that ... cannot be discussed, cannot be written": Remembering the Greek Famine of the early 1940s. In: Marguérite Corporaal & Ingrid de Zwarte, ed. Famines and the Making of Heritage. Abingdon: Routledge, 2024, pp.115-133.
  • Hionidou V. Greek Sources. In: Tönsmeyer T; Haslinger P, ed. Fighting Hunger, Dealing with Shortage. Everyday Life under Occupation in World War II Europe: A Source Edition. Leiden: Brill, 2021.
  • Hionidou V. “‘Αν δε φεύγαμε εμείς, θα πεθαίναμε όλοι μαζί”: Διαφυγή από τον λιμό, Χίος 1941-44’ (“‘If we hadn’t left … we would have all died”: Escaping famine from the Greek island of Chios, 1941-44’). In: Alexandros Lamprou, ed. Πρόσφυγες από την Ελλάδα και τα Δωδεκάνησα στην Τουρκία, τη Μέση Ανατολή και την Αφρική στον Β Παγκόσμιο πόλεμο (Refugees from Greece and the Dodecanese to Turkey, the Middle East and Africa during World War Two). Athens: Epikentro, 2021, pp.59-84.
  • Hionidou V. «Υπηρέτριες στην Ελλάδα, 19ος-20ός αιώνας: μορφές και σχέσεις εργασίας» ('Female servants in Greece: 19th-20th centuries'). In: Παναγιώτα Μήνη, Άννα Σταυρακοπούλου, Κωνσταντίνα Γεωργιάδη, Ιουλία Πιπινιά, ed. Υπηρέτριες και υπηρέτες: ιστορικά υποκείμενα και καλλιτεχνικές αναπαραστάσεις στον ελληνόφωνο χώρο (19ος-21ος αιώνας) (Female and male servants: Historical subjects and artistic representations in the Greek-speaking world (19th-21st centuries)). Athens: Papazisis Publishers, 2020, pp.75-95.
  • Hionidou V. « ‘Ποιός έφταιγε; Ποιός; Άραγε, μόνο οι Γερμανοί;’: Η επισιτιστικη κατασταση της Ελλαδας, Οκτωβριος 1940-Απριλιος 1941» ("‘Who was to blame? Who? Was it only the Germans?’ The food situation in Greece, October 1940-April 1941"). In: Dordanas S; Papanastasiou N, ed. Ο «μακρύς» ελληνογερμανικός εικοστός αιώνας: Οι μαύρες σκιές στην ιστορία των διμερών σχέσεων (The ‘long’ Greek-German twentieth century: The black shadows in the history of the bilateral relationships). Thessaloniki: Epikentro, 2019, pp.199-226.
  • Hionidou V. 'Choosing' Between Children and the Elderly in the Greek Famine (1941-1944). In: Tatjana Tönsmeyer, Peter Haslinger and Agnes Laba (eds), ed. Coping with Hunger and Shortage under German Occupation in World War II. Palgrave Macmillan, 2018, pp.203-222.
  • Hionidou V. Historical demography of Greek populations. In: Fauve-Chamoux, A; Bolovan, I; Sogner, S, ed. A Global History of Historical Demography: Half a Century of Interdisciplinarity. Bern: Peter Lang, 2016, pp.291-300.
  • Hionidou V. From modernity to tradition: Households on Kythera in the early nineteenth century. In: Sovic S; Thane P; Viazzo P, ed. The History of Families and Households: Comparative European Dimensions. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2016, pp.47-68.
  • Hionidou V. ‘Καλά που ήρθες Μάριε, να τα επιβεβαιώνεις, γιατί δεν θα τα πίστευε’: Μνήμη, Λήθη και τραύματα του κατοχικού Λιμού. In: Demertzis, N., Paschaloudi, E., Antoniou, G, ed. Εμφύλιος. Πολιτισμικό Τραύμα. Athens: Alexandreia, 2013, pp.289-322.
  • Hionidou V. Marriage, inheritance and household formation on a Greek island, Mykonos (mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth century). In: Head-König, A.L. in collaboration with P. Pozsgai, ed. Inheritance practices, marriage strategies and household formation in European rural societies. Turnhout: Brepols, 2012, pp.261-282.
  • Hionidou V. Famine in occupied Greece: Causes and Consequences. In: Richard Clogg, ed. Bearing Gifts to Greeks: Humanitarian aid to Greece in the 1940s. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007, pp.14-38.
  • Hionidou V. Demographic dimensions in nineteenth century Greece. In: Kostas, K; Petmezas, S, ed. The Greek economy in the 19th century (1830-1914) (in Greek). Athens, Greece: Alexandreia, 2006.
  • Hionidou V. The position of the elderly in Greece prior to World War Two. Evidence from three island populations. In: Kreager, P; Schroeder-Butterfill, E, ed. Ageing Without Children: European and Asian Perspectives on Elderly Access to Support Networks. Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2004, pp.244-267.
  • Hionidou V. ‘Send us either food or coffins’: The 1941-43 famine on the Aegean island of Syros. In: Dyson, T; O’Gráda, C, ed. Famine Demography: Perspectives from the Past and Present. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002, pp.181-203.
  • Hionidou V. Infant mortality in Greece, 1859-1959: Problems and research perspectives. In: Corsini, CA; Viazzo, PP, ed. The Decline of Infant and Child Mortality: The European Experience, 1750-1990. Netherlands: Unicef, 1997, pp.155-172.
  • Hionidou V. The Greek famine of 1941-42: An overview. In: Gentileschi, ML; King, R, ed. Questioni di Popolazione in Europa: Una prospettiva Geographica. Bologna: Patron, 1996, pp.245-254.

• Online Publication

  • Hionidou Violetta. Greece: History Repeating Itself?. 2012. Available at: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:xKLffD5MXaMJ:www.historyworkshop.org.uk/greece-history-repeating-itself/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk.

• Reviews

  • Hionidou V. Review of the films: Marios Polyzogopoulos and Dimitris Pliagkos, directors, Shadow on the Soul, 2016; Vassilis Loules, director, Kisses to the Children, 2012; Kostas Kalantzis, director, Dowsing the Past: Materialities of Civil War Memories, 2014; Stavroula Toska, director, Beneath the Lemon Tree, 2013. Journal of Modern Greek Studies 2018, 36(1), 226-232.
  • Hionidou V. Food and War in Twentieth Century Europe by Zweiniger-Bargielowska, I., Duffett, R., Drouard, A. [Book review]. Cultural and Social History 2014, 11(1), 140-142.
  • Hionidou V. Blood and Oranges: Immigrant Labor and European Markets in Rural Greece. Labour History Review 2010, 75(1), 132.
  • Hionidou V. Population exchange in Greek Macedonia: The rural settlement of refugees 1922-1930. Kontogiorgi, E. American Historical Review 2007, 112(5), 1644-1645.
  • Hionidou V. Black ’47 and beyond: The Great Irish famine in History, Economy, and Memory. By Cormac O’ Gráda. Population Studies 2000, 54(1), 123.
  • Hionidou V. A new social atlas of Britain. By D. Dorling. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A 1997, 160(1), 157-8.
  • Hionidou V. The making of the Modern Greek family: Marriage and exchange in nineteenth-century Athens. By P. Sant Cassia with C. Bada. History and Computing 1992, 4(3), 228-229.