Building Bridges 2024

Before attending any meeting or session at the conference, it is essential to complete the registration process.

Building D20, Ground floor

Address:  ul. Janiszewskiego 8, 50-372 Wrocław

Please refer to the Venue section for all the necessary building addresses and location details.

Heritage and Human Sciences Session

Building A1, Room 127

Academia Europaea Board Meeting (closed session)

Building H14,  Dean’s Hall

Registration

Building D20, Ground Floor

Internal Meetings – Block 1

• Class A1 – Humanities, Building D20, Room 10AC
• Class A2 – Social and Related Sciences, Building D20, Room 115
• Class B – Exact Sciences, Building D20, Room 10D
• Class C – Life Sciences, Building D20, Room 10B
• Young Academy of Europe, Building A1, Room 241

The Interdisciplinary Scientific Seminar

Building A1, Aula

Prof. Stephen Evans – “Sustainability: What do We Have to Do Next?

Lunch

Building D20, Ground Floor

Internal Meetings – Block 2

• Class A1 – Humanities, Various locations: please check A1 programme for details
• Class A2 – Social and Related Sciences, Building D20, Room 115
• Class B – Exact Sciences, Building D20, Room 10D
• Class C – Life Sciences, Building D20, Room 10B
• Young Academy of Europe, Building A1, Room 241

Academia Europaea Hubs’ Meeting (closed session)

Building D20, Room 114

Academia Europaea Annual General Meeting 

Building H14, Dean’s Hall

Social Programme

We invite you to join one of the two-hour tours, offering the opportunity to explore some of the most captivating highlights of Wrocław:

• Wrocław’s Four Domes: A Modern Art Experience
• Wrocław: A Charming Polish Gem

Meeting Point: Registration Desk, Building D20, Ground Floor, 16:00 

Check for more  details in the registration form.

Opening of the Conference

Building SKS

• Prof. Marja Makarow –  President of Academia Europea
• Prof. Arkadiusz Wójs – Rector of Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Academic Director of Wroclaw Knowledge Hub

Welcome Reception 

Building SKS

Registration

Building D20, Ground Floor

Exact Sciences Plenary Session

Building D20, Congress Hall

Chair: Prof. Paolo Papale

• Prof. Heino Falcke, Balzan Prize Winner,  MAE – “Towards the Ends of Space and Time – The First Image of a Black Hole”
• Prof. Verena Winiwarter, MAE – “Energy transitions of the past: is there something to learn from history?”
• Prof. Ambrogio Fasoli, MAE -“Fusion energy and the European path to power plants”

Coffee break

Building D20, Congress Hall

• Prof. Monica Bello – “Art & Science” lecture: “Science and art in dialogue, creativity across disciplines”
• Prof. Emmanuelle Charpentier – Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020, MAE – “CRISPR-Cas9: microbiology as a motor for innovations in medicine and agronomy”

André Mischke Young Academy of Europe Prize

Building D20, Congress Hall

• Dr Jacek Kolanowski – “Opportunities and Challenges for Early-and-Mid-Career Researchers in Trans-Sectoral and Community Engagement: A Chemical Biologist’s Methodological Perspective”

Lunch

Building D20, Ground Floor

Opening and Welcome to New Members of Academia Europaea

Building D20, Congress Hall

Coffee break

Life Sciences Plenary Session

Building D20, Congress Hall

Chair: Prof. Éva Kondorosi

• Prof. Eske Willerslev, Balzan Price Winner – “The Genomic History of Western Eurasia, Human History, Ecosystem Change, Disease Susceptibility and Infectious Disease”
• Prof. Yvonne Buckley, MAE – “Biodiversity in a warming world: how climate, climate action and land use shape biodiversity patterns” 
• Prof. Botond Roska, MAE -“Restoring vision”

President’s Dinner

Venue: The Bridge Hotel

Exclusive dinner party for Members of Academia Europaea, held at the prestigious The Bridge Hotel nestled in the heart of historic Wroclaw. Places are strictly limited, required prior registration through the application form below.

Registration

Building D20, Ground Floor

Panel Discussion on Urban Innovations

Building D20, Congress Hall

The panel will explore the scientific foundations supporting the transformation of cities into smart, beautiful, inclusive, climate-neutral, and resilient environments. Experts will discuss advancements in urban infrastructure, green technologies, and smart governance, focusing on case studies and projects aligned with three interlinked top priority initiatives at the EU level: EU Mission Climate Neutral and Smart Cities, EU Mission Adaptation to Climate Change and the New European Bauhaus Facility. Participants will also examine the integration of technology and urban planning to create resilient, future-ready cities. The discussion will also touch on emerging technologies such as digital twins, AI-driven urban management systems, and renewable energy microgrids. This meeting represents a significant step toward establishing the Academia Europaea Excellence Hub Smart & Resilient City Hub acting as a role model for the green transformation in synergies with 5 EU Missions and the New European Bauhaus Pioneer Hub. The panel will emphasize the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, integrating perspectives from urban planning, environmental science, technology, and social policy to ensure holistic solutions.

• Prof. Katarzyna Chojnacka, MAE – Moderator
• Prof. Barbara Widera 
• Dr. Irene Bonvissuto
• Dr. Grzegorz Synowiec
• Dr. Kathrin Golda-Pongratz, MAE 
• Dr Karim Selouane 
• Dr. Magdalena Głogowska
• MSc. Eng. Monika Pec-Święcicka
• Prof. Simon Goldhill, MAE
• MA Joanna Zdanowska

Coffee break

Humanities Plenary Session

Building D20, Congress Hall

Chair: Prof. Poul Holm

• Prof. Rubina Raja, MAE – “Making and breaking cities: the historiography of urban archaeology in the MENA region”
• Prof. Samuel Lieu, MAE – “Between Rome and China – Christianity and Manichaeism on the Silk Road”
• Prof. Shalom Lappin, MAE – “The deep learning revolution in AI”
• Prof. Helen Kennedy, MAE – “What does a good digital society look like?”

Lunch

Building D20, Ground Floor

Social and Related Sciences Plenary Session

Building D20, Congress Hall

Chair: Prof. Björn Wittrock

• Prof. Piotr Sztompka, MAE – “Moral turn in contemporary theory of society”
• Prof. Edyta Roszko – “The importance of global indigenous history in the era of climate change”
• Prof. Michele Lamont – “Seeing Others: How Recognition Works and How it Can Heal a Divided World”
• Prof. Jürgen Kocka, MAE – “The interplay of capitalism, family and inequality in social history”

Coffee break

Class Chairs Panel Discussion – “Sciences and Scholarship in the Face of the Future: Advances and Crossroads”

Building D20, Congress Hall

The concluding session aims to bridge the gap between the sciences and humanities. Rapid advancements in technology and our evolving understanding of society necessitate a holistic approach. By exploring synergies between these disciplines, we seek to address complex global challenges, foster sustainable development, and ensure equitable distribution of scientific benefits. This session will encourage dialogue on how to effectively integrate knowledge from various fields to create a more resilient and adaptable future.

• Prof. Elżbieta Frąckowiak, MAE – Moderator
• Prof. Poul Holm – Humanities
• Prof. Éva Kondorosi – Life Sciences
• Prof. Paolo Papale – Exact Sciences
• Prof. Björn Wittrock – Social and Related Sciences

Closing of the Conference

Building D20, Congress Hall

• Prof. Donald Dingwell –  Vice-President of Academia Europaea
• Prof. Jaume Bertranpetit Busquets – Academic Director of Barcelona Knowledge  Hub
• Prof. Arkadiusz Wójs – Rector of Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Academic Director of Wroclaw Knowledge Hub

Social programme 

Full-Day Tour to Książ Castle: Poland’s Hidden Treasure. Check for more  details in the registration form.

Meeting Point: Registration Desk, Building D20, Ground Floor, 10:00 AM

Building D20, Room 10AC

Welcome and Short Presentations by New Class A1 Members

Prof. Steven Hartman, Founding Executive Director, UNESCO-MOST BRIDGES Coalition, Member of the Governing Council, The Earth-Humanity Coalition and a Fellow World Academy of Art and Science – “UNESCO’s BRIDGES Coalition: reconceiving socio-ecological sustainability in the 21st century with vital knowledge from the Humanities”

Lunch

Building D20, Room 113

New Theoretical Avenues in Communication and Media Studies

• Gabriele Balbi, Università della Svizzera Italiana – “Maintenance in/and Communication and Media Studies: Theory, Research Agendas, Research Paths”
• Barbie Zelizer, University of Pennsylvania – “How the Cold War Broke the News”
• Anne Kaun, Södertörn University – “Automating Welfare: Algorithmic Infrastrctures for Human Flourishing”
• Helena Bilandzic, Universität Augsburg: “Coping with pandemics and climate crises: The role of media for socio-scientific resilience”
• Margreth Lünenborg, Freie Universität Berlin – “The affective infrastructures of networked societies”

Building SKS, Room C

Unraveling Language Development and Communication, Self-Talk and GPT

• Bernhard Hurch – “Hugo Schuchardt’s Data Sourcing Program. The Beginning of Empirical Studies in the 19th Century”
• Aylin Küntay – “The Development of Language and Communication in the Early Years”
• Michael Schulte – “Periodization in Early North Germanic and Germanic”
• Livio Gaeta – “Walser German Minorities in the Italian Alps and Their Place Within the SAE Area”
• Manfred Krifka – “The Syntactic and Semantic Representation of the Self in Self-Talk”
• Janet Pierrehumbert – “Linguistics in the Era of GPTs”

Alternates: 

• Daniel Petit – “Split possession in Albanian”

Building D20, Room 206C

“All Mortals Are Born. Ethics Through the Eyes of Women’s Experiences” -Mihaela Miroiu

Abstract

In canonical philosophy, women’s biological particularities (pregnancy, giving birth, lactation) were treated as deficiencies: biology brings them closer to nature than to spirit. In my view these kinds of experiences are a perspectival advantage that leads to relevant philosophical insights for moral philosophy. All human/beings are born is as universal as All human/beings are mortal. These universals have inspired the ethics of rights and the ethics of care. My proposal is Convenience theory. It is an attempt to overcome the tensions between the ethical constructions based on reason or empathy. One of the advantages of convenience is that, on the one hand, it can be extended as an ethical approach of intergenerational justice, and on the other hand, it extends empathy in relation to the biotic community, not just the human one. Therefore, it includes also non-human beings as moral subjects.

• Prof. Mihaela Miroiu – “All Mortals Are Born. Ethics Through the Eyes of Women’s Experiences”
• Prof. Mircea Dumitru  – Comment on Professor Miroiu’s “All Mortals Are Born. Ethics Through the Eyes of Women’s Experiences”

Building SKS, Room 114

The Section of History and Archaeology aims to pursue a multidisciplinary orientation on the production of science in the field of Humanities, combining it with current societal concerns. Therefore, it has chosen the theme “In Times of War…” for its meeting within the scope of the 35^th Academia Europaea Conference.

Opening addressed by Amélia Polónia, Chairperson of the History & Archaeology Section

Manuel Fernández-Götz,  University of Edinburgh – “The darkest sides of war: Genocide and ethnic cleansing from a deep history perspective”

Bogdan Murgescu, University of Bucharest – “Challenges for the production of historical narratives regarding the experiences of World War I and World War II”

Marcin Wodziński, University of Wroclaw – “World Wars and Hasidism: How War Changes Religion”

Sorin Antohi, Orbis Tertius Association, Bucharest – “War, Heritage, and National Identity: The Changing Mental Maps of Ukraine”

Note: Each 30 minutes include 10 minutes of debate at the end of each presentation, the length of  shall be around 20 minutes

Open debate – Armed conflicts and genocide: how neutral can scholarly research be?

Building SKS, Room 214

Building D20, Room 206 A

Building D21, Room 103

Building D20, Room 115

Introduction of Class A2 and its Sections

Welcome of New Members and short self-presentations by these members

Coffee and tea break

Self-presentations by new members (cont’d)

Lunch Break

• Prof. Stefano Bartolini, Emeritus Professor, Department of Social and  Political Sciences, European University Institute, Florence Former Director, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute –  “Political Institutions: Origins and Rationales”

• Prof. Jean-Louis Fabiani, Professor of Sociology, Central European University, Vienna and Budapest, Emeritus Professor (Directeur d’études), École des hautes études en sciences sociales, EHESS, Paris –
  “Bellah’s Durkheim”

Coffee and Tea Break

Time available for other self-presentations by members of the Class

Building D20, Room 10D

Introduction and Short Presentations by New Class B Members

Prof. Erol Gelenbe – MAE, Fellow of National Academy of Technologies of France, Science Academy of Turkey, Foreign Fellow Royal Academy Belgium, Polish Academy of Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, IITIS Polish Academy of  Sciences, Chair Academia Europaea AI Task Force – “Brief Introduction”

Prof. Leszek Rutkowski –  MAE, Polish Academy of Sciences, AGH University, Kraków, Poland –  “Green Deep Learning: Minimizing Energy Use with Data Stream Techniques”

Prof. Christian Napoli – Sapienza University of Rome, Italy – “Artificial intelligence and large language models: from evaluation to trustworthiness”

Prof. Jerzy Stefanowski –  Polish Academy of Sciences,  Poznań University of Technology, Poland – “«Explaining Machine Learning Models with Prototypes and Counterfactuals»

Panel Discussion – “An European Approach to AI”

• Erol Gelenbe
• Christian Napoli
• Leszek Rutkowski
• Jerzy Stefanowski

Building D20, Room 10B

Introduction of Class C and its sections

Welcome and short introduction of the participting new members

A few selected talks of new members from the different sections:

• 11:00-11:25 –  Louise Vet – “Mother Nature as Economic Mentor”
• 11:25-11:50 – Francis Mojica – “Over Three Decades Devoted to CRISPR”
• 11:50-12:15 – Liliane Schoofs – “The Role of Neuropeptides in Learning and Memory”
• 12:15-12:40 –Luis Blanco  – “New Enzymes and Strategies to Optimize Isothermal Amplification of Nucleic Acids”

Lunch break

Highlights of Class C research:

• 14:00-14:30 –  Heribert Hirt – “PlantACT! – Challenges and Opportunities of Agriculture to Mitigate Climate Change”
• 14:30-15:00 –  Balázs Gulyás – “Maintenance of High Cognitive Performance During Ageing”
• 15:00-15:30 – Péter Hegyi – “Enhancing the Impact of Scientific Research on Policy-Making”
• 15:30-15:50 – Task Force/Working Group Propositions
• 15:50-15:55 – Concluding remarks

Building A1, Room 127

Rationale

The focus on HERITAGE is a recurrent interest of societies in transition and it strongly became from the aftermath of WW2. From both an European and an international perspective, the preservation of heritage became part of a global strategy for peace, structured around the concept of Human Rights and implemented through several tools destined to stress the contemporary cross-cultural dimension of past human achievements. The establishment of a World Heritage List in 1972, i.e., of a list of commitment from national states to preserve some remains in their territories as an inheritance of all humans, and not any single ethnicity, as well as the cultural routes of the Council of Europe since 1987, are examples of such an approach, strongly anchored in the labor of historical and archaeological research.
Societies’ interest on Heritage continues rising every year and all across the world, alongside significant public investments. However, for over two decades now, the axis of such investments gradually moved from an address anchored in the concepts of humanity, history and peace towards a growing prevalence of the concepts of identity, memory and narrative.
This shift has important implications, as a lesser understanding the historical dimension of cultural transformations in the past tends to create the illusion that Heritage is a terrain of broad consensus, while in fact it is structured through multi-layered tensions and conflicts: on its ownership, on disputing interests and identities, on its perception guided by memories rather than history, on its uses, and beyond. Certainly, the overcoming of naïve approaches to history, encompassing diversity of perspectives and involving different segments of societies in the process of heritization, are positive and relevant innovations. But there is room to reason about how those innovations to a certain extent replaced the original concepts, to the point that social perceptions on heritage were, half a century ago, primarily about preserving remains of the past and, today, they are often driven by contemporary economic, local and national, interests.
In the occasion of the 2024 Annual Meeting of Academia Europaea and of the 75th anniversary of the International Council for Philosophy and Human Sciences, together with the International Union of Academies it will be organized a half day round-table to discuss these trends and how researchers in the domain of historical sciences may intervene, namely considering the following themes:

• Conceptualizing Heritage (Who classifies? With which criteria? Which methodologies? etc.)
• Interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity in heritage
• Artificial intelligence and heritage
• Political uses of heritage
•  Shared heritages and ethical uses of heritage
• Heritage, memory and history

The debate will be preceded by brief introductions, followed by an open discussion. The outcome of the debate will contribute towards structuring a larger meeting on this topic, to be held in 2025 in Oporto, conveyed by AE, CIPSH and UAI.

Session Programme:

• 14.00-14.15 – Introductory notes (AE, CIPSH, UAI)
• 14.15-14.35 – Matthias Middell, MAE (H&A), Member of the Ex.Comm. of CIPSH, CISH
• 14.35-14.55 – Luísa Miglioratti, MAE (H&A), Vice-President of CIPSH, UAI
• 14.55-15.35 – Debate
• 15.35-15.45- Pausa
• 15.45-16.05 – Erika Robrahn-González, Vice-President of UISPP
• 16.05-16.25 – Rodrigo Liendo, Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of UNESCO Management of Social Transformations
• 16.25-17.05 – Debate
• 17.05-17.20 – Jens Braarvig, MAE (C&OS), Member of the Ex.Comm. of CIPSH, WPU
• 17.20-18.30 – Final debate, conclusions and recommendations
• 18.30 – End of session

Invited discussants:

• Claudia Rapp, (H&A), MAE, UAI
• Marta Arzarello, (H&A), MAE, UISPP
• Michael Alram, MAE (H&A)
• Nicholas Cronk, MAE (L&TS)
• Nicholas Sims-Williams, MAE (C&OS)
• Olga Spevak, (C&OS), MAE, Deputy treasurer of CIPSH, UAI
• Peter Frankopan, MAE
• Rubina Raja

Organisation:

Amélia Polónia
Luiz Oosterbeek
Poul Holm
Samuel Lieu

Building A1, Room 241

Networking

Presentation of YAE’s latest activities and collaborations, the Arts & Science initiative – Katalin Solymosi (Chair, Young Academy of Europe)

Scientific Talks by YAE Members:

• 10:00 – 10:20 – Prof. Borja Franco Llopis (SH) – “Museums and alterity. The construction of the other in the museum discourses of the 21st century”
• 10:20 – 10:40 – Dr. Philippa Warren (LS) – “Drawing breath after spinal cord injury”
• 10:40 – 11:00 – Alejandro Criado (PE) – “Chemical innovations in graphene for enhanced FET biosensor diagnostics”

Moderator: Anna Kuppuswamy (Selection Committee Vice-Chair, Young Academy of Europe)

Future Directions for the Young Academy of Europe

Moderator – Marc Yeste – (Secretary, Young Academy of Europe)

Lunch break

State-of-the-Art Overview of Early to Mid-Career Researchers’ Organizations in Europe

• 13:00 – 13:20 –  Slawomir Czarnecki  (Chair, Academia Iuvenum) -“Presenting the exemplary development program” – Academia Iuvenum (AIM) of Wroclaw University of Science and Technology
• 13:20 – 13:40 –  Maciej Sałaga (Chair, Polish Young Academy) – “Polish approach of investing in early career researchers”
• 13:40 – 14:00 – Katalin Solymosi (Chair, Young Academy of Europe) – “The mission and activities of the Young Academy of Europe”

Panel on Various Early- to Mid-Career Research Organizations in Europe and Q&A Session

• Steve Evans – Academia Europaea (AE)
• Slawomir Czarnecki –  future vice-chair or chair of AIM (to be determined in October), Academia Iuvenum (AIM) of Wroclaw University of Science and Technology
• Maciej Sałaga, Łukasz Sadowski, Jacek Kolanowski – Polish Young Academy (AMU PAN)
• Katalin Solymosi, Anna Dzimitrowicz – Young Academy of Europe (YAE)