GEOFIN: Western Banks in Eastern Europe: New Geographies of Financialisation (ERC Project 683197, 2016-2021) Led by Dr Martin Sokol, GEOFIN is funded by the European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant (1.8m EUR). This 5-year project examines the way in which Western banks conquered Eastern Europe following the collapse of communism. East-Central Europe is being used as a laboratory to understand how finance penetrates every nook and cranny of post-communist economies that were previously built on completely opposite principles. The project will open up new horizons in studies of finance, its geography and its future role in society. Financialisation, or the growing power of finance over societies and economies, is increasingly recognised as the key feature of contemporary capitalism. However, significant gaps in our understanding of this process remain. GEOFIN will pilot a novel approach based on the concept of ‘financial chains’ which are understood both as channels of value transfer and as social relations that shape socio-economic processes and attendant economic geographies. GEOFIN Team: Principal Investigator: Dr Martin Sokol - Email: sokolm@tcd.ie Research Project Officer: Mr Dimitrios Paraskevas - Email: paraskd@tcd.ie Research Fellow (Financialisation of banks; Financial Futures): Dr Leonardo Pataccini - Email: pataccil@tcd.ie Research Fellow (Financial Futures): Dr Zsuzsanna Pósfai - Email: psfaiz@tcd.ie Research Fellow (Financial Futures): Dr Rodrigo Fernandez - Email: r.fernandez@somo.nl PhD researcher: Ms Sara Benceković - Email: bencekos@tcd.ie