ORAR / TIMETABLE

International Conference: The Future of UNESCO Chapters: IDENTITY AND INTERCULTURAL AWARENESS IN MANAGEMENT. The 3rd Edition – 17.10.2025

de | iul. 9, 2025 | Actualitate, Anunturi, Conferences, Conferinte, UNESCO Chaire

The Future of UNESCO Chapters: IDENTITY AND INTERCULTURAL AWARENESS IN MANAGEMENT

The 3rd Edition

17th of October 2025

Call for papers:

Building upon the success of previous editions—first on Culture as a Global Public Good and then Intercultural Perspectives on Autonomy, Freedom and Independence—this third edition focuses on the critical role of identity and intercultural awareness in contemporary management, with a particular interest for cultural and educational institutions.

Organized under the aegis of the UNESCO Chair in Interculturality, Good Governance and Sustainable Development, at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest, the conference engages multidisciplinary academic communities and practitioners to reflect on how philosophical insights inform and develop leadership, governance, and sustainable development in increasingly diverse organizational contexts.

The UNESCO Chair, active since 1999 and running internationally‑oriented MA programmes in Intercultural Management and Communication, fosters a nexus between interculturality, philosophical grounding, and governance. Responding to UNESCO’s UNITWIN and SDG agendas, this event invites contributions that explore identity not merely as personal or cultural signifier, but as a strategic and ethical dimension within leadership and organizational change.

We welcome theoretical, empirical, and practice-based papers, including those offering rigorous philosophical analysis. Participants who submit papers for evaluation are kindly asked to consider one of the following panels:

Panel 1. Philosophical Foundations of Identity in Management

  • Ontology of identity in leadership;
  • Ethical dimensions of identity negotiation in multicultural teams;
  • Philosophical perspective on intercultural awareness;
  • Intercultural perspectives on identity, alterity and difference within power relationships.

Panel 2. Intercultural Awareness, Governance and Leadership

  • Intercultural competences: genealogy, challenges and philosophical underpinnings;
  • Case studies where identity-informed leadership enhanced good governance in NGOs, public bodies, or corporations;
  • UNESCO`s methods to boost intercultural competences;
  • Raising intercultural awareness on World Heritage.

Panel 3. Intercultural Governance, Identities and Public Goods

  • The role of identity awareness in shaping inclusive policies and sustainable strategies for intercultural environments;
  • Tensions between global governance norms and local identities;
  • Public goods, ethnic diversity and governance of the public sphere.

Panel 4. Digital & Virtual Management Contexts

  • Power effects on real and virtual identities: cultural misunderstandings and conciliations in digital societies
  • Virtual governance and philosophical questions of awareness, representation, and belonging
  • The future of UNESCO`s e-platforms on intercultural dialogue
  • Promoting cultural awareness in the era of A.I.
  • The (Un)Expected impact of A.I. on intercultural management and cultural awareness.

Panel 5. Educational & Training Perspectives

Deadline:

Contributions (including an abstract of 300 words, title and a short professional bio in English) are expected to be submitted by accessing the official form, no later than the 28th of August 2025.

Evaluation results will be communicated to participants before September 5, 2025.

The conference will be held in Bucharest, at the UNESCO Chair in Interculturality, Good Governance and Sustainable Development, Friday, on the 17th of October 2025.

Organizing institutions:

  • Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest, Romania
  • The UNESCO Chair in Interculturality, Good Governance and Sustainable Development, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
  • CCIIF – The Research Center for the History and Circulation of Philosophical Ideas, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania

Organizing Committee

  • Prof. Dr. Viorel Vizureanu – Dean, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest (Romania)
  • Prof. Dr. Thomas Steger – University of Regensburg; Chairman of the Scientific Board for the M.A. Program in Intercultural Management, organized by the UNESCO Chair, University of Bucharest
  • Prof. Dr. Thomas Straub – University of Geneva; Chairman of the Scientific Board for the M.B.A. Program, organized by the UNESCO Chair, University of Bucharest
  • Lecturer Dr. Oana Șerban – Director, Research Center for the History and Circulation of Philosophical Ideas, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest; Manager of SMOC (Sustainable Management in Cultural Organizations)
  • Dr. Lilian Ciachir – Coordinator of the UNESCO Chair, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest
  • PhD. Candidate Andreea Vlad – Doctoral School, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest

 Financial support:

The conference is supported by SMOC – Sustainable Management in Cultural Organizations (project supported by the program of grants developed to increase institutional performance in the University of Bucharest) & FSS GRANTS (University of Bucharest & Ministry of Education).

Financial information:

Coffee breaks and lunch will be provided by the organizers. Participants are encouraged to apply to their institutions for mobility grants, including costs of accommodation. On request, we can provide a limited number of rooms of the Hotel Academica, The Guests House of the University of Bucharest, offered at a preferential fee for the participants to the conference.

International Conference: Understanding Biodiversity. Philosophical Perspectives and Scientific Approaches – 27-28 June 2025

de | iun. 20, 2025 | Actualitate, Anunturi, Conferences, Conferinte, UNESCO Chaire

Understanding Biodiversity

Philosophical Perspectives and Scientific Approaches

27-28 June 2025

Friday, 27 June

Mircea Florian Conference Room; Google Meet Link: meet.google.com/axk-cmai-ufa

9.15-9.45

Registration of participants

Faculty of Philosophy: 206, Splaiul Independenţei St., 1st floor

9.45-10.00

Opening of the conference

10.00-10.30

Nicolae Morar, University of Oregon

Rethinking Biodiversity? The Challenge of Microbial Life

10.30-11.00

Ion Copoeru and David Mândruţ, Babeş-Bolyai University

Co-habitation with Large Wild Animals: A Phenomenological Research Methodology

11.00 – 11.20

Coffee break

11.20 – 12.20

Guido Verstraeten, Satakunta University of Applied Sciences, and Jeannine de Caluwe, GBS Brussels

Ecocentrism, Entropy, Biodiversity. Exploring the Use of Remotely- Sensed Earth’s Entropy Production to Reveal the Ecological Fitness of Forests (Keynote Presentation)

12.20-12.50

Elias Ifeanyi E. Uzoigwe, University of Calabar

Epistemological Foundations of Biodiversity

12.50 – 14.30

Lunch break

14.30 -15.00

Tinni Goswami, St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata

Situating Biodiversity in Sanatan Dharma – Certain Glimpses from the Vedic Literature of

India and its Current Manifestations

15.00-15.30

Ioana Cristina Ciocoiu, University of Bucharest

Nature and Culture: Shaping Sustainability through Contemporary Art

15.30-15.50

Coffee break

15.50 – 16.20

Dina Barcari, Technical University of Moldova

The Anthropocene and the Biodiversity Crisis: Perspectives from Ecological Anthropology

16.20 – 16.50

 Andreea Nechifor, University of Bucharest

Sustainable Agriculture in Java, Indonesia. The Padi-Ikan-Bebek System

16.50 – 17.20

Denis Chiriac, State University of Moldova

The Potential of Cosmist Philosophy in Redefining the Human-Technology-Nature Relationship in the 21st Century

17.20 – 17.50

Aliousseyni Ly, EcoHarvest Senegal

A Study on the Sangomar Marine Protected Area

 

Saturday, 28 June

Mircea Florian Conference Room; Google Meet Link: meet.google.com/axk-cmai-ufa

10.30-11.00

Irakli Brachuli, St. Andrew University, Tbilisi

The Paradigm of Great Texts in the 21st Century

11.00-11.30

Anastasia Zakariadze, Tbilisi State University

Why Biodiversity Is an Ethical Issue?

11.30-12.00

Coffee break

12.00-13.00

Constantin Stoenescu, University of Bucharest

Justice for All… the Members of the Extended Biotic Community (Keynote Presentation)

13.00-13.30

Ihedioha Chimnomso Elsie, Shanghai Jiao Tong University

Communal Democracy, AI, and Law for Biodiversity Conservation in Africa

13.30-15.30

Lunch break

15.30-16.00

Micah Thomas Pimaro Jr., University of Bucharest, and Esther Peter Achagwa, Qatar Airways

Can Biodiversity Thrive in a Risk Society?

16.00-16.30

Gelito Inacio Franco Sululu, Commonwealth Youth Climate Change Network

Combating Human-Wildlife Conflict in Mozambique

16.30-17.00

Coffee break

17.00-17.30

Mari Silagadze, Tbilisi State University

Global Responsibility and Educational Aims

17.30-18.00

Ileana Dascălu, University of Bucharest

Spiritual Traditions and Cultures of Sustainability

18.00-18.30

Brendan Cline, California State University

The Value of Species and Ways that Life Could Be

 

Current environmental and ethical challenges to the preservation and governance of natural resources have generated numerous directions of research, among which: sustainability studies, conservation practices and community-based conservation, socioecological systems, and environmental justice. Despite controversies in the literature about the best suited approach to environmental sciences and ethics – biocentrism, anthropocentrism or ecocentrism – the relation between nature and culture, mediated by our shared values, continues to be the bedrock of research.

The concept of biodiversity, “coined at the intersection of science, applied science, and politics” (Maclaurin and Sterelny 2013, 6) carries within itself the idea of interconnectedness of all living things. Thus, it implies axiological categories guiding practical reasoning: what are the intrinsic and instrumental values we build into our understanding of biodiversity? Can we think of biodiversity itself as having intrinsic value? (Baard 2022) What frameworks would help addressing the pervasive and evolving relations between nature and culture? What challenges do the discourses born in the laboratory of social sciences raise for the scientific work on biodiversity? In addition to the role of communities in establishing practices that reflect respect and care for nature, or the intergenerational transmission of knowledge about the living world, the concept of heritage has also been used to bring together nature and culture and emphasize the dynamics between them. Landscape is such an example of “holistic system in which nature and culture co-evolve” (Wu 2010, 1149), which can also be understood in the light of “biocultural diversity”, with biological, cultural and linguistic dimensions “interrelated within a complex socio-ecological adaptive system.” (Maffi 2005, 602). Considering the in-built relational dimension of biodiversity, the main objective of this conference is to provide a platform for bringing together philosophical perspectives and scientific approaches to concepts and narratives, fostering dialogues between various disciplines.

We invite abstracts (300 words) for 20-minute presentations addressing theoretically- and empirically-oriented topics that enrich our understanding of biodiversity and of the various narratives about it, with a focus on the inter-relation between nature and cultural values. The event is available both online and in-person.

Possible topics include (but are not limited to):

  • Theoretical frameworks, epistemological shifts and conceptual challenges to understanding biodiversity; human-nature relations; the role of scientific models in ecosystem conservation;
  • Conservation and management practices; governance of environmental resources;
  • Integrating approaches to biological diversity and sustainability;
  • Social-ecological systems; the role of communities in managing biodiversity;
  • Contemporary debates on biodiversity in environmental ethics;
  • Values, beliefs and cosmologies of communities in preserving biodiversity; knowledge, skills and practices concerning nature;
  • Nature and experience; phenomenological perspectives on biodiversity;
  • Conceptualizing biodiversity in Eastern and Western philosophies of nature;
  • The interrelation between biodiversity and cultural diversity; cultural landscapes; environmental aesthetics; biodiversity and cultural diversity in the context of sustainable heritage management;
  • The role of communities in maintaining biodiversity; the intergenerational transmission of environmental values; environmental education; biodiversity and democracy.

References:

Baard, Patrik. 2022.Ethics in Biodiversity Conservation. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

Maclaurin, James and Sterelny, Kim. 2013. What Is Biodiversity? The University of Chicago Press.

Maffi, Luisa. 2005. “Linguistic, Cultural and Biological Diversity”. Annual Review of Anthropology. 29:599-617.

Wu, Jianguo. 2010. “Landscape of culture and culture of landscape: does landscape ecology need culture?” Landscape Ecology (2010) 25:1147–1150

300-word abstracts should be sent to biodiversityconference25@gmail.com by 30 April 2025. Please enclose a very short bio (max. 100 words) indicating your name, institutional affiliation and research interests in a separate document. Notifications of acceptance will be sent by 20 May 2025.

Organizers: Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest, UNESCO Chair in Interculturality, Good Governance and Sustainable Development, Professor Constantin Stoenescu, Dr. Ileana Dascălu, Dr. Lilian Ciachir.

Conference format: on-site/hybrid, 20-minute presentations followed by 10 minutes of Q&A.

Conference venue: Faculty of Philosophy, 204, Splaiul Independenţei, 6th district, Bucharest.

Participation fee: There is no participation fee. Certificates of participation can be issued on request after the conference concludes.

Language of the presentations: English.

SPOTLIGHT Summer School – Conceptual Seminar, 29 September 2025, Cinetic UNATC, Bucharest

de | iun. 11, 2025 | Actualitate, Anunturi, Conferences, Conferinte

SPOTLIGHT Summer School – Conceptual Seminar

29 September 2025

Cinetic UNATC, Bucharest

Partners

  • University of St. Gallen
  • New Europe College
  • Free University of Bozen-Bolzano
  • University of Exeter
  • UNESCO Chair in Interculturality, Good Governance and Sustainable Development

II SPOTLIGHT Seminar
More-than-humans in the semi-peripheries
A SPOTLIGHT Summer School seminar
on ways of seeing and being-seen-as other species

29 September 2025, Bucharest, Romania
Venue: Cinetic, UNATC (I. L. Caragiale National University of Theatre and Film)
Organizers: UNATC & University of Opole
Contact persons: Dr. Michał Wanke, UO, Dr. Anna Vlad, UNATC

Background:

The fourth edition of SPOTLIGHT – Summer school on documentary filmmaking in social sciences will be held in Bucharest on 21 – 28 September 2025.
The summer school is funded by the University of St. Gallen and co-hosted by New Europe College – Institute for Advanced Study (NEC), Bucharest and “I. L. Caragiale” National University of Theatre and Film (UNATC), Bucharest.

This edition deals with audiovisual capturing of social phenomena in urban spaces in Central and Eastern Europe, such as identity of place (Opole, Poland in 2022), migration and diversity (Józsefváros, Budapest, Hungary in 2023) and architecture and city dwelling (Bucharest, Romania in 2024) or more-than-human relations (Bucharest, Romania in 2025). Co-organized interdisciplinarily between visual anthropology, human geography, sociology and documentary filmmaking, it offers an immersive experience for the participating students from all over Europe.

For the second time, the summer school will conclude with a conceptual seminar held at UNATC on Monday, 29 September 2025. We plan to publish an edited volume as a result of the seminars. The deadline for submitting chapters is 3 November 2025.

Call for Papers:
More-than-humans in the semi-peripheries. On ways of seeing and being-seen-as other species

Semiperipheral status of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) creates path dependencies and renders knowledge produced in the region in an epistemologically handicapped position, further marginalizing the vulnerable voices, and especially those whose intersectionalities systematically drag them away from public vision or recognition. If humans of the non-dominant genders, races, ethnicities or classes are out of sight, then the non-human actors tend to be rendered invisible, or acutely misrepresented. Similar arguments and distinctions – nature vs culture, humanity vs animality – have been used to dominate others – both human and non-human (Mullin 1999) and can be said to have contributed to the climate crises we find ourselves in (De Castro and Danowski 2018). Other species’ relationships to humans, the ultimately dominant group is defi ned by neglect, coercion or exploitation. Also, their presence is often romanticized or aestheticized, depriving them of agency, let alone dignity.

Scholars argue for a transformative approach to urban studies that incorporates multispecies justice, which acknowledges the rights and needs of both human and non-human residents in the city (Wang 2024). The right to the city, traditionally focused on humanresidents, is also being reevaluated through a multispecies lens. Current research seeks to explore non-human placemaking in cities enabling the planning of multispecies-friendly urban policies (Van Patter 2022) and address the rights of non-human urban residents, advocating for their access to urban spaces (Singhe 2022).

Some multispecies encounters are undesirable, creating unintended, feral (Tsing 2015) effects of human activity – colonialism, segregation, hyper-inequalities. These agents are making their own agency known in a way that evokes disgust or detest. Another group of non-humans is anthropomorphised and enclosed in apartments whereas others appear only as already processed meat or fur. Proposing that human and more-than-human interests are not at odds, but can benefit from being considered together, through the lens of multispecies justice (Chao et al. 2022), we look for proposals on city dwelling, planning and inhabiting which serve multispecies interests analysis of multispecies marginalisations.

This seminar delves into multilayered epistemological injustice against non-human actors of the social life in the CEE. We seek contributions accounting for the years of neglect of non-human actors who have been under attack in the region, but also those under threat due to the populist backlash throughout the region.

Submission and timeline:

-Abstracts for the seminar are due on July 21, 2025;
-Submit 300-500 word abstract to michal.wanke@uni.opole.pl together with keywords and authors’ short bio;
-Notification of acceptance by July 28, 2025;
-Selected papers (ca 8000 words) are due on Nov 3, 2025;
-Expected publication in the series Interdisciplinary Studies on Spatial Dynamics and Marginalization in Central and Eastern Europe by Lexington Books is in late 2026;

There is no participation fee. Organizers do not provide catering or other services.

References:
Chao, S., Bolender, K., Kirksey, E. (eds. 2022): The Promise of Multispecies Justice. Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478023524

Castro, Eduardo Viveiros de and Danowski, Déborah. “6. HUMANS AND TERRANS IN THE GAIA WAR”. A World of Many Worlds, edited by Marisol de la Cadena and Mario Blaser, New York, USA: Duke University Press, 2018, pp. 172-204. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781478004318-008

Mullin, H. (1999): Mirrors and Windows: Sociocultural Studies of Human-Animal Relationships. Annual Review of Anthropology, 28, 201-224. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.28.1.201

Shingne, M. C. (2020). The more-than-human right to the city: A multispecies reevaluation. Journal of Urban Affairs, 44(2), 137–155. https://doi.org/10.1080/07352166.2020.1734014

Tsing, A. L. (2015) The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins. 2015. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. 331.

Van Patter, L. E. (2022). Toward a More-Than-Human Everyday Urbanism: Rhythms and Sensoria in the Multispecies City. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 113(4), 913–932. https://doi-org.libproxy.unibz.it/10.1080/24694452.2022.2134838

Wang, J. (2024): Reimagining the More-Than-Human City: Stories from Singapore. MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/15189.001.0001

Download the call as PDF.

Colegii noștri, Prof. Cristian Iftode și Lect. Paul Sandu, prezenți la cea de-a V-a ediție a Nopții Filosofiei, Timișoara, 13 și 14 iunie 2025

de | iun. 10, 2025 | Actualitate, Anunturi, Conferences, Conferinte

A V-a ediție a Nopții Filosofiei

Timișoara

13 și 14 iunie 2025

Ajunsă la a 5-a ediție, Noaptea Filosofiei revine la Timișoara cu o temă mai actuală ca niciodată: starea fragilă a democrației în fața conflictelor, populismului, manipulării informaționale și exploziei tehnologice.

În 13 și 14 iunie, timp de o noapte întreagă (și o dimineață), filosofi, istorici, artiști, sociologi, cercetători în AI și invitați internaționali de marcă vor deschide conversații provocatoare și lucide despre prezentul nostru democratic.

Peste 20 de invitați internaționali și români vor susține prelegeri, mese rotunde și conversații publice, desfășurate simultan în mai multe spații din Timișoara.

Detalii suplimentare și programul sunt disponibile aici https://institutfrancais.ro/timisoara/program-5/?fbclid=IwY2xjawK00glleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHoldQmzkXmiyhyq2oPw1s_T08Cvess7CFsOUtSGua_6f_HMQpEjYfjSGASz-_aem_5hqS5jFRs_acr41civyAnQ#/ 

Workshopul „Filosofie și societate în România și China: contexte și raportări istorice, particularități și interferențe culturale” la Facultatea de Filosofie

de | iun. 9, 2025 | Actualitate, Anunturi, Conferences, Conferinte

Filosofie și societate în România și China: contexte și raportări istorice, particularități și interferențe culturale

18 iunie 2025, în intervalul 14.00-17.00

Facultatea de Filosofie

În ziua de 18 iunie 2025, în intervalul 14.00-17.00, va avea loc la Facultatea de Filosofie, Workshopul bilateral „Filosofie și societate în România și China: contexte și raportări istorice, particularități și interferențe culturale” (Philosophy and society in Romania and China: historical contexts and understanding, cultural particularities and interferences). Workshopul, care se va desfășura în limba engleză, este prilejuit de vizita la Facultatea de Filosofie a unei importante delegații de filosofi din Republica Populară Chineză, condusă de Prof. WANG Binglin, de la Beijing Normal University.

Din delegație mai fac parte profesorii FENG Liujian, XU Bin, WANG Feng, WANG Guanzhong, LI Juan (Beijing Normal University), LI Mengyun (Dean), XIA Jinmei, LIU Yan, YAO Lixing (Zhejiang Gongshang University). În cursul workshopului exploratoriu vor fi abordate subiecte incitante precum căderea comunismului în România și Europa de Est, înțelegerea socialismului din China, raportarea la perioada socialistă și la prezentul capitalist al României, percepția colaborării dintre China și Europa de Est în România.

Seminar cercetare DFT  „A functionalist boost to perspectivism on the DEKI playground”

de | iun. 1, 2025 | Actualitate, Anunturi, Avizier studenti, Conferences, Conferinte, Seminar cercetare DFT

Următoarea prezentare din cadrul seriei de seminare de cercetare ale Departamentului de Filosofie Teoretică în parteneriat cu CELFIS aparține  prof. Ioan Muntean (University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley & University of Illinois Urbana Champaign). Titlul prezentării sale faţă în faţă este „A functionalist boost to perspectivism on the DEKI playground„. Iată un rezumat:
”This paper proposes a functional approach to ‘perspectival realism’—especially in its most recent form, developed by M. Massimi (Massimi 2016; 2018; 2019; Massimi and McCoy 2020) and P. Teller (Teller 2018; 2020)—by providing a functional role of perspectives in the ‘representational success’ of scientific models. The paper promotes a probabilistic account of the role perspectives play in the representational function of models and, as part of the argument, addresses two issues: (a) the convergence of models based on different perspectives and (b) the role of perspectives in the scientific entailment from ensembles of models. We offer an example inspired by a computational model. In general, this paper connects better perspectives to the representational function of models and promotes perspectival realism as a promising framework for discussing computational models within a scientific realism framework.”
 
Şi câteva referinţe bibliografice cheie: 
Massimi, Michela. 2016. “Three Tales of Scientific Success.” Philosophy of Science 83 (5): 757–67. https://doi.org/10.1086/687861.———. 2018. “Perspectival Modeling.” Philosophy of Science 85 (3): 335–59.
———. 2019. “Two Kinds of Exploratory Models.” Philosophy of Science 86 (5): 869–81. https://doi.org/10.1086/705494.
Massimi, Michela, and Casey D. McCoy, eds. 2020. Understanding Perspectivism: Scientific Challenges and Methodological Prospects. 1st ed. Routledge Studies in the Philosophy of Science ; 20. New York : Taylor & Francis, 2019: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315145198.
Teller, Paul. 2018. “Referential and Perspectival Realism.” Spontaneous Generations: A Journal for the History and Philosophy of Science 9 (1): 151–64.https://doi.org/10.4245/sponge.v9i1.26990.———. 2020. “What Is Perspectivism, and Does It Count as Realism?” In Understanding Perspectivism: Scientific Challenges and Methodological Prospects, edited by Michela Massimi and Casey D. McCoy, 1 edition, 49–64. Routledge.

Comunicarea acestuia este parte dintr-un ciclu de conferințe asociat programului masteral „Analytic Philosophy„. Aceste evenimente sunt deschise studenților în filosofie, psihologie, antropologie, științe politice, jurnalism, sociologie, lingvistică, digital humanities, științele comunicării, și multe altele. Detaliile programului sunt disponibile aici: https://filosofie.unibuc.ro/master-of-arts-in-analytic-philosophy/

Prezentarea se va desfășura marţi, 3 iunie 2025, orele 17.00-18.00, în sala Noica de la etajul 1 al Facultății de Filosofie din Splaiul Independenței nr. 204, București 060024.