Resilience in the Times of Uncertainty: Building Peace through Culture and Education

20th – 24th February 2023

Veszprém, Hungary

Organized by the UNESCO Chair for Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainability, Institute of Advanced Studies Kőszeg (iASK), the University of Pannonia and the Institute for Social & European Studies (ISES).

 All events, discussions, lectures will be held in English!

The 5th UNESCO MOST Winter School offers insight into the transformations of the complex, diverse, contested and changing notions of culture. Panels focus on deconstructing and reimagining the future while offering artistic visualisations of possible scenarios and analysis related to war, environmental crisis, migrations, and the rapid development of digital technologies. The main questions revolve around the anticipated consequences of the armed conflict in Ukraine, new definitions of soft power and cultural diplomacy, transculturalism and the fluidity of borders, stakeholder responsibilities in global crises, and the shift towards post-humanism exacerbated by the expansion of algorithmic systems. 

The Winter School, organised by iASK, University of Pannonia and ISES, will take place from the 20th to 24th of February 2023 in Veszprém (Hungary) – the next European Capital of Culture – with a week of cultural events and roundtable discussions. We welcome applications from master and doctoral students, junior and senior scholars, as well as professionals and activists from governmental and non-governmental organisations. Each year, the UNESCO MOST Winter School attracts top scholars from across Europe and the world because it fosters education for the future, unorthodox thinking, and the dynamic exchange of ideas through transdisciplinary and transcultural dialogue.

The discussions at the 5th UNESCO MOST Winter School will revolve around the following topics:

• Imagining Post-War Futures: Dimensions of Security and the Culture of Peace 
• Transnationalism, Cultural Heritage and Soft Power: Cultural Diplomacy in Times of War and Climate Emergency 
• Social Media and Algorithmic World Order: Living in the Age of Digital Production, Simulation and Cyber Wars
• Post-War Memories: Central European Transcultural Perspectives
• Video Games as a New Form of Social Interaction: Inclusive Spaces, Trauma and Representations of War
• Ecology and Ecologies: Glocal Communities and Responsibilities 
• At the Digital Frontlines: Artificial and/or Augmented Intelligence and the Future of the Cyber Ecosystem

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Program:

5^th UNESCO MOST Winter School

20^th – 24^th February 2023 Veszprém, Hungary

Resilience in the Age of Uncertainty: Building Peace Through Culture and Education

 

Monday, 20^th February 2023

Venue: Hangvilla, 8200 Veszprém, Brusznyai u. 2.

 

9:00 am – 10:00 am Registration and participant Introductions

10:00 am – 11:00 am Opening ceremony

Miklos Réthelyi, President of the Hungarian National Commission for UNESCO

András Gelencsér, Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Rector of the University of Pannonia

Ernesto Ottone-Ramirez, Assistant Director-General for Culture of UNESCO (video address)

Xiaomeng Shen, Vice-Rector in Europe & Director of UNU-EHS (video
address)

Ferenc Miszlivetz, Director of iASK

 

12:00 am – 1:00 pm Lunch Break

 

1:00 pm – 2:20 pm Panel: Imagining Post-War Futures: Dimensions of Security and the Culture of Peace

Contemplating on the possible scenarios for the end of the war in Ukraine, this panel investigates various alternative scenarios and explores political, economic, ecological and cultural consequences of the conflict. Why has the war started and how it will end? How to redefine European security architecture and is it possible to establish a new global peace order?

Chair: Jody Jensen (USA and Hungary) Director of the Polanyi Centre at iASK

Keynote: Sir Richard Shirreff (UK) military expert and former NATO’s Deputy Supreme Commander Europe, honorary fellow at Exeter College, Oxford, UK

Emil Brix (Austria) Former ambassador, Director of the Vienna School of International Studies, Austria

Sean Cleary (South Africa) Member of the iASK International Advisory Board and Executive and Vice-Chair of the Future of the World Foundation, South Africa

Ferenc Miszlivetz (Hungary) Director of iASK, Jean Monet professor at the University of Pannonia, UNESCO Chairholder for Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainability, Hungary

2:20 pm – 2:30 pm Coffee break

2:30 pm – 3:45 Roundtable Discussion

Moderator: András Szöllösi-Nagy (Hungary) Professor at the National University of Public Service (NUPS) and former Secretary of UNESCO’s International Hydrological Programme (IHP)

3:45 pm – 4:00 Coffee break

4:00 pm – 6:00 pm Panel: Ecology and Ecologies: Glocal Communities and Responsibilities

As the world faces both small and large-scale natural disasters caused by climate change and human intervention in the environment, no holistic solution to the interlinked challenges has emerged. Should we talk about ecology or ecologies? This roundtable strives to foster intergenerational dialogue about the environment and the questions of global and local responsibilities.

Chair: János Bogárdi (Germany) Research Fellow at iASK, Professor at University of Bonn (Chair)

Keynote: Zita Sebesvári (Germany) Deputy Director of UNU-EHS, Head of Section – Environmental Vulnerability and Ecosystem Services

András Gelencsér (Hungary) Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Rector of the University of Pannonia

Zsófia Szonja Illés (Hungary) Research Fellow at iASK and MOME, Budapest

Sanja Tepavcevic (Hungary) Associate Research Fellow at iASK

 

Tuesday, 21. February 2023

Venue: University of Pannonia, 8200 Veszprém, Egyetem u. 10, Buildin B, 2nd floor, Conference Room

 

10:00 am – 12:00 am Panel: Transnationalism, Cultural Heritage and Soft Power: Cultural Diplomacy in Times of War and Climate Emergency

 In light of the environmental crises and war in Ukraine, the importance of global and regional cooperation is being emphasised among scholars, policymakers and diplomats. But while the networked and globalised world is increasingly connected online and through various transnational ties, the pandemic, armed conflict and energy crisis are imposing new challenges to establishing and maintaining intercultural dialogue. This panel investigates how cultural diplomacy as a type of soft power can contribute to building bridges between nations and producing reconciliatory narratives.

Anikó Magasházi (Hungary) Research Fellow at iASK, Hungary (Chair)

Daniela Angelina Jelinčić (Croatia) Senior Research Adviser at the Culture and Communications Department of the Institute for Development and International Relations in Zagreb, Croatia

Jean-Luc Soulé (France) President at MEC’ENE/Mécénat & Entreprise, senior lecturer at Sciences Po Paris (1999-2019), Director of the French Institute in Hungary 1994-1998, France

Klaus Wölfer (Austria) Former Ambassador, head of the Austrian Cultural Institute in Rome between 1996 and 2002, Austria

Tamás Fejérdy (Hungary) Senior Academic Advisor at iASK, Member of the Icomos Hungarian National Committee, Hungary

Moshe Caine (Israel) Senior Lecturer at the Photographic Communications Department at Hadassah Academic College, Israel

 

12:00 – 12:30 pm Roundtable discussion with participants

12:30 pm – 1:30 pm: Lunch Break

2:00 pm – 4:00 pm Visit to the Benedictine Abbey of Tihany

5:00 pm – 7:00 pm: Scientific Wine Tasting with Tamás Hermann, Research Fellow at iASK

 

Wednesday, 22. February 2023

Venue: University of Pannonia, 8200 Veszprém, Egyetem u. 10, Buildin B, 2nd floor, Conference Room

 

10:00 am – 12:00 am Sensory Methods for Place-Engagement – talk and workshop with Zsofia Szonja Illes, Researcher at iASK and MOME, Budapest

12:00 am – 1:30 pm Lunch Break

3:30 pm – 5:30 pm Panel: Social Media and Algorithmic World Order: Living in the Age of Digital Production, Simulation and Cyber Wars

As human activities are increasingly monitored, measured, and fed into AI systems, the algorithms that organize political, economic, cultural and private spheres have become more refined and capable of making increasingly precise calculations. What is the future of artificial intelligence at the intersection of surveillance capitalism and digital wellbeing?

Anna Menyhért (Hungary) Professor at the University of Jewish Studies and iASK (Chair)

Ivana Stepanović (Serbia) Research Fellow at iASK

Juan Carmach (France) Project Officer of the Partnership for the Advancement of Digital Anthropology at UNESCO

Katalin Fehér (Hungary) Associate Professor and science strategy expert at the University of Public Service

Mykola Makhortykh (Ukraine) Alfred Landecker lecturer at the Institute of Communication and Media Science at University of Bern, Switzerland

 

7:00 pm 8:00 pm Cultural Program: Piano Concert by Károly Binder

 

Thursday, 23^th February 2023

Venue: University of Pannonia, 8200 Veszprém, Egyetem u. 10, Buildin B, 2nd floor, Conference Room

 

10:00 am – 12:00 am Panel: Post-War Memories: Central European Transcultural Perspectives

An increasing interest in multivocal spaces, dialogue, and interconnectivity of war memories in transnational and transcultural contact zones, and the growing attention to the circulation of memory in medial forms, especially through digital media, have brought the transdisciplinary challenge of “memory in motion” into focus. This panel will integrate the key concepts of travelling memory (Astrid Erll), multidirectional memory (Michael Rothberg), as well as postmemory or connected memory (Marianne Hirsch). The assumption is that memories of war experiences travel across geographical and cultural borders. They are transmitted in different cultural forms and different media enable the trans-generational travel through private or public sites commemorating the past. How can people understand the past through emotions with others’ traumatic memories, artifacts, or landscapes. What are the possibilities of interpreting the affective politics of war memories, and how do individual, familial or collective memories intersect across cultures and national borders?

Izabella Agárdi (Hungary) Research Fellow at iASK (Chair)

Erzsébet Hosszu (Hungary) Research Fellow at iASK and MOME, Budapest

Tímea Jablonczay (Hungary) Research Fellow at iASK and Associate Professor at Milton Friedman University, Budapest

Zala Pavšič (Slovenia) Research Fellow at CEU Democracy Institute, Budapest

 

12:00 am – 1:30 pm: Lunch Break

 

1:30 pm – 3:30 pm Panel and Workshop: Video Games as a New Form of Social Interaction: Inclusive Spaces, Trauma and Representations of War

 Video games are increasingly becoming new virtual places of social interaction and digital production, but they also have a significant role in education and conveying historical knowledge. This panel aims to explore the various roles of video games and map the ways in which they can shape young people’s perception of culture and the impact of the past in the times of crises. It will explore the issues of inclusivity, trauma and representations of war.

Ivana Stepanović (Serbia) Research Fellow at iASK (Chair)

Anna Menyhért (Hungary) Research Fellow at iASK and Professor at the University of Jewish Studies

Lobna Hassan (Finland) Associate Professor of Sociotechnical Transitions in Services at Lappeenranta University of Technology, Lahti campus

Kat Schrier (USA) Associate Professor and Director of Games and Emerging Media at Marist College, USA

Vit Sisler (Czech Republic) Assistant Professor at the Charles University’s Faculty of Arts in Prague

 

 

Friday, 24^th February 2023

Venue: University of Pannonia, 8200 Veszprém, Egyetem u. 10, Buildin B, 2nd floor, Conference Room

 

09:30 am – 11:30 am Panel: At the Digital Frontlines: Artificial and/or Augmented Intelligence and the Future of Cyber Ecosystem

Amid the proliferation of the dystopian narratives about the AI, this panel explores the alternative future scenarios and different roles of algorithms, sensors, robots, and advanced artificial intelligence solutions. Is it time to talk and think about Humanistic AI or AI for social good and what are the prospects and directions of future AI-governance?

Keynote: George Tilesch (USA) President at the PHI Institute for Augmented Intelligence in California

László Karvalics (Hungary) Research Fellow at iASK and professor at the University of Szeged (Chair)

Árpád Rab (Hungary) Senior Researcher at Óbudai Egyetem

Mihály Héder (Hungary) Research Fellow at SZTAKI (Institute for Computer Science and Control), Budapest

 

11:30 am – 12:30 pm Roundtable discussion with participants

 

12:30 pm – 1:00 pm Concluding remarks

 

Speakers

 

Izabella Agárdi, Hungary 

Research Fellow at iASK

Izabella Agárdi (Hungary) is a historian and holds a Ph.D. from Utrecht University, The Netherlands, an MA in Gender Studies from Central European University, Hungary and an MA in English Studies from the University of Szeged, Hungary. Her research interests are oral history, gender studies, rural women’s history, contemporary historiography and literary theory. She focuses on the intersections of personal and public narratives, practices of periodization and tropes of narrating 20th-century history in Central Europe. She is interested in how individuals understand historical transformations – including localized forms of understanding and narrating Central-European-type state socialism in a larger context of changes and continuities. She has also published on the material culture and political rhetoric of former socialist countries. She is a former member of European research networks of excellence (Cliohres, Athena, ATGENDER). She is the author of the book On the Verge of History: Women’s History Telling in Central Europe after the 20th Century.

 

János Bogárdi, Hungary 

Research Fellow at iASK, Professor at University of Bonn

János Bogárdi is a senior academic advisor at iASK. His professional activities took him as scientific staff to the Federal Institute for Hydraulic Engineering in Karlsruhe, and the University of Karlsruhe. He alternated these posts with expert assignments for German consulting engineers in Darmstadt and Essen. Subsequently, he became professor for Hydraulics and General Hydrology at the Agricultural University of Wageningen, The Netherlands. His trajectory at the UN started at the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris, France, as Senior Program Specialist and then Chief of the Section on Sustainable Water Resources and Management. He was appointed Director of the United Nations Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) in Bonn and assigned Vice-Rector of the United Nations University in Europe. He was executive director of the international Global Water System Project. He holds a professorship in water resources management at the Faculty of Agriculture of the University Bonn.

 

Emil Brix, Austria 

Ambassador, Director of the Diplomatic Academy Vienna

Emil Brix is an Austrian diplomat and historian. Starting in 1982, he worked for the Foreign Service of the Republic of Austria. He was a Secretary in the Austrian Parliament for the parliamentary group of the “People’s Party” (ÖVP) and later Head of the Cabinet of the Austrian Minister of Science. After 1989 Brix was the first Austrian Counsel General in Cracow/Poland. From 2010 onwards he was the Austrian ambassador in London and later in Moscow. He became the director of the Diplomatische Akademie Wien – Vienna School of International Studies in 2017.

 

Moshe Caine, Israel

Chair of R&D, Senior Lecturer at HAC

Professor Moshe Caine is a Senior Lecturer at the Photographic Communications Department at Hadassah Academic College, Israel. His work encompasses digital imaging and the preservation of tangible cultural heritage. He has specialized in a wide variety of fields, and he is one of the pioneers of the multimedia industry in Israel. In 1989 he founded the multimedia company Icons in Jerusalem, which he managed for 20 years. Since 1981 he has been teaching in Israel’s academia, in undergraduate and graduate degree programs, including the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design (1981-2009), Haifa University (2011-2015), Emunah College (1982-2019), and the Hadassah Academic College (since 1984). He is a member of various committees in the college and outside and strives to promote international academic collaborations with different countries.

 

Juan Carmach, Chile

Project Officer of the Partnership for the Advancement of Digital Anthropology at UNESCO

Juan Carmach is the Project Officer of the Partnership for the Advancement of Digital Anthropology at UNESCO. He is a Tech-policy specialist and has contributed to developing digital skills programs and led the implementation of the digital transformation strategy for the Chilean Government. In addition, he has worked as a consultant for the Inter-American Development Bank, UNESCO and private-sector companies. Juan is an industrial engineer and holds a Master of Public Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

 

Sean Cleary, South Africa 

Executive Vice-Chair of the Future of the World Foundation and member of the Advisory Board of iASK

Sean Cleary is Chairman of Strategic Concepts (Pty) Ltd., Managing Director of the Centre for Advanced Governance, Founder and Executive Vice Chair of the FutureWorld Foundation, Chairman of Atlantic Holdings (Pty) Ltd and member of the Advisory Board of iASK. He lectures on global corporate strategy at the Graduate School of Business at the University of the Witwatersrand, the Henley Management College, the Gordon Institute of Business Science at the University of Pretoria, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and Stellenbosch University. He also lectures on conflict resolution, the challenges of globalization and development economics at several U.S. and European universities and institutes.

 

Katalin Fehér, Hungary

Associate Professor and science strategy expert at the University of Public Service

Katalin Feher Ph.D. habil. is a recent Fulbright Research Scholar at Drexel University in Philadelphia, a Bolyai Postdoc at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, a Bolyai+ Scholar of the New National Excellence Program of the Ministry for Innovation and Technology, Founder and PI of AI Media research, a visiting professor at the Masaryk University, a member of the University of Southern California MASTS, Coalition for Independent Technology Research and the editorial board of KOME. She received a habilitation in philosophy and a doctorate in communication and media studies. Her broad interest is in socio-cultural AI and she is an expert in AI media.

 

Tamás Fejérdy, Hungary 

Research Fellow at iASK, Professor at CEU, President of the ICOMOS Hungarian National Committee

Tamás Fejérdy is a Hungarian architect. He is a lecturer at several universities in Hungary, where he teaches, among other things, about World Heritage and the legal and institutional protection of cultural heritage. A member of ICOMOS since 1983, he was vice-president between 2005 and 2008. He was also head of the International Committee of Historic Towns and Villages (CIVVIH) from 1992 to 2002. He led several evaluation missions for sites nominated for inscription on the World Heritage List (Kutna Hora, Weimar, Graz, Kazan, Gjirocastra). He acts as Professor in the Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development Postgraduate Programme (ISES Foundation, Kőszeg, Hungary) and in other courses. He has also been a member of working groups of the Council of Europe; participant of Nara International Conferences (1994, 2004); Chairperson of the UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee (2002/2003); member of the Council of Europa Nostra; developed considerable professional expertise in connection with World Heritage nominations and reactive monitoring missions.

 

András Gelencsér, Hungary  

Rector of the University of Pannonia, Member of the Hungaian Academy of Sciences

András Gelencsér became Doctor of Sciences at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 2002 and has been the head of the Air Chemistry Research Group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences since 2005. He became full time professor at the University of Pannonia and Vice Dean for Economic Affairs of the Faculty of Engineering in 2006. In 2015 he became the rector of the University of Pannonia. His main research area is atmospheric chemistry, in particular atmospheric aerosol chemistry related to air pollution and climate change. He was the first to recognize the process of humus formation in the atmosphere. He first established the importance of biomass burning related coloured particles (brown carbon) in the absorption of sunlight in the global atmosphere. For his scientific achievements he was awarded an Order of Merit of the Hungarian Republic in 2014, Prima Primissima Award in 2016 and the Award of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 2017. He was elected corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 2019.

 

Lobna Hassan, Finland 

Associate Professor at Lappeenranta University of Technology

Lobna Hassan is Associate Professor of Sociotechnical Transitions in Services (Tenure.track) at Lappeenranta University of Technology,  Lahti campus.She is also a member of Council of Europe’s digital game culture workgroup and one of 2020’s international women influencing Finland. Dr. Hassan leads the research group, SIA Lab, where they research the  Sustainability, Inclusivity and Accessibility of games. She also works in cooperation with various business and societal actors internationally. Her interest are diverse and include: game accessibility, inclusion in the game industry, gamification, storification, and civic engagement. Her research has received funding from various organisations, notably: the Finnish Foundation for Economic Education (Liikesivistysrahasto) and the Finnish cultural foundation (Suomen Kulttuurirahasto). Her work and publications can be found at https://lobnahassan.com and the work of SIA Lab at https://sia-lab.com

 

Mihály Héder, Hungary

Research Fellow at SZTAKI

Mihály Héder is a Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Network Security and Internet Technologies at the Institute for Computer Science and Control (SZTAKI) in Budapest, Hungary. His activities include research on the theoretical limits of artificial intelligence, the impact mechanisms of Engineering Science and development of AAI systems. With his background in philosophy and history of science, his expertise covers evolution of AI and ethical considerations. He is the author of many influential academic papers published by the renowned journals in the field such as AI and Society: The Journal of Human-Centred Systems and Machine Intelligence.

 

Tamás Herman  

Research Fellow at iASK

Tamás Hermann is graduated as an agronomist at the University of Pannonia Georgikon Faculty in 2002 and later defended his Ph.D. doctoral theses in the field of soil quality assessment. Parallel with his Ph.D. studies he participated first in soil science and later in a geoinformatics postgraduate course. Between 2006 – 2012 he involved in various land evaluation research projects as a research assistant at the University of Pannonia Georgikon Faculty, then between 2012 – 2015 he worked at the European Commission’s Joint Research Center (EC DG-JRC) in Italy on the topic of the assessment of Member States’ methodology for the identification of areas with significant natural constraints and he worked on the development and analysis of environmental databases. Between 2015 – 2020, he played a leading role in several domestic and international H2020 projects on topics of land qualification and precision management first as an assistant professor and then as an associate professor. In addition to software developments, he also had a key role in providing social feedback on projects. Since 2016, he has been dealing with the evaluation of wine growing areas, terroir research, as well as wine education, specializing in the Balaton Wine Region and organizing wine-tasting events

 

Erzsébet Hosszu, Hungary

Research Fellow at iASK and MOME

Erzsébet graduated from Moholy-Nagy University of Arts and Design as an architect, in 2020 she started her doctoral research at MOME. Since the beginning of her studies, architecture intertwined with civil activism: from 2013, Erzsébet started working with refugees at the association of Útilapu Hálózat, where with graphic designer Ágnes Jekli, they founded the Open Doors working group. Later they opened their intercultural community space in Budapest. Open Doors is a diverse community open to anyone who is committed to an open society and intercultural dialogue. Their goal is to create space for intercultural dialogue using the tools of participatory design. Over the past 10 years, she has facilitated countless creative projects and design camps with refugees and their disadvantaged Hungarian peers. In her research, Erzsébet compares her field experiences with her literature and interview research to understand how design can support processing the trauma caused by forced migration.

 

Zsófia Szonja Illés, Hungary 

Research Fellow at iASK, Design Researcher at MOME

 

Zsófia Szonja Illés is a researcher at the Institute of Advanced Studies Koszeg (iASK) and Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (MOME) with a Collaborative Doctoral Scholarship (KDP). She is a multidisciplinary artist and designer with an environmentally and socially engaged practice. She has been a visiting lecturer at The Glasgow School of Art on Design Innovation and Environmental Design since 2020 and at KISD University of Design in Cologne on Integrated Design since 2022.

As a land researcher at MOME, Zsófia Illés leads the ‘Landscape Futuring’ research lab with Ferenc Jordán network ecologist to model and speculate the Balaton Lake region’s future landscape and help local farmers adapt to the changing climate.

She is currently completing her PhD in ‘More-than-human Placemaking’ with a case study focusing ont he Middle-Tisza floodmeadows and traditional ecological knowledge. Her work and research challenges human-centered notions of design to explore ways in which notions such as ‘having a voice’ can go beyond the metaphorical to mobilise alternative voices and experiences of the landscape.

 

Tímea Jablonczay, Hungary 

Research Fellow at iASK and Associate Professor at the University of Milton Friedman, iASK

Tímea Jablonczay is a research fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies in Kőszeg (iASK) in Central-Europe and the V4, „Historical and Cultural Heritage in Central Europe” Project, and an associate professor at the University of Milton Friedman at the Department of Media and Cultural Studies. She teaches Gender Issues in Media, Identity-discourses, Visual, Intercultural Communication, and Critical Cultural Studies in different levels (BA and MA). Her works focus on questions of representational practices of different identities, diasporic experiences, and multidirectional memorial practices in literary and non-literary texts from transcultural and transnational perspectives. Her specific areas of research are Hungarian female Holocaust testimonies, the “Hungarian minority” literary field related to the issue of remembering and forgetting of the traumatic past, and the work of transcultural memory.

 

László Z. Karvalics, Hungary

Senior research Fellow at iASK

László Z. Karvalics (DSc, PhD, Hab). MA in History, Literature and Linguistics from ELTE, Budapest. He is a founding director, BME-UNESCO Information Society and Trend Research Institute, associate professor, former Head, Department of Cultural Heritage and Human Information Science, Faculty of Arts, University of Szeged. He was a Fulbright Research Scholar, George Washington University, Center of International Science and Technology Policy (2006), Georgetown University, Department of History (2007). Teaching and research on information society, social impacts of information technology, comparative analysis of national information strategies, information history, press history, education in the information age and knowledge management theory and practice, smart cities, cultural microheritage. Latest books in English: Informatorium. Word Guide to Contemporary Information Culture Tinta, 2020, Research 2.0. and the Future of Information Literacy (with: Koltay Tibor, Sonja Spiranec) Chandos Publishing, 2016, Information History of the first World War (Ed.) L’Harmattan, 2015.

 

Mykola Makhortykh, Ukraine

Alfred Landecker Lecturer, Institute of Communication and Media Studies, University of Bern

Mykola Makhortykh is an Alfred Landecker lecturer at the Institute of Communication and Media Science, where he studies the impact of algorithmic systems and AI on Holocaust memory transmission. Mykola worked as postdoctoral researcher on the project “Populist radical-right attitudes and political information behaviour. A longitudinal study of attitude development in high-choice information environments” at the University of Bern & University Koblenz-Landau. He also worked as a postdoctoral researcher in Data Science at the Amsterdam School of Communication Science for the FairNews project, where he studied algorithmic (un)fairness in news personalization systems. In his research, Mykola focuses on politics- and history-centred information behaviour in online environments and how it is affected by the information retrieval systems, such as search engines and recommender systems. His other research interests include trauma and memory studies, armed conflict reporting, disinformation and computational propaganda research, cybersecurity and critical security studies, and bias in information retrieval systems.

 

Anna Menyhért, Hungary 

Research Fellow at iASK, Professor at Budapest University of Jewish Studies

Anna Menyhért is a researcher at iASK and a Professor of Trauma Studies at the Budapest University of Jewish Studies. She was a Research Fellow at The Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies in Vienna (2020–2021), a visiting professor at the University of Florence (2020), a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Research Fellow at the University of Amsterdam (TRAPRODIG project, 2016–2018), and an EHRI Fellow at London’s King College (2016). She led the Trauma and Gender in Literature and Culture Research Group at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, and was the PI of the project ‘Twentieth-Century Women Writers on the Net’ (2012–2015).  Previously she was the Vice President of the European Writers’ Council, the President of József Attila Kör, the Literary Union of Young Hungarian Writers, and the Head of the Hungarian Studies Department at the Balassi Insititute in Budapest. She has been working on interdisciplinary field development in trauma studies since 2016, aiming at reconnecting cultural and psychological trauma research.

 

Ferenc Miszlivetz, Hungary 

Director of iASK

Ferenc Miszlivetz is the Director, iASK and full professor at the University of Pannonia Kőszeg Campus. He is the founder and director of the Institute of Advanced Studies Kőszeg (iASK), a Jean Monnet professor and full professor at the University of Pannonia. He has taught and conducted research at various universities in Europe and the United States, including the University of Bologna, and Columbia University in New York. He is the founder and director of the board of the Institute for Social and European Studies Foundation (a Jean Monnet European Centre of Excellence). Since 2012 he has served as the president of the Social Sciences unit of the Hungarian UNESCO Committee and holds a UNESCO Chair in Cultural Heritage and Sustainability in Kőszeg. He has received numerous awards, including the Knight’s Cross of the Hungarian Republic (2005).

 

Ernesto Ottone R, Chile

Assistant Director-General for Culture UNESCO

Mr Ernesto Ottone R. is the Assistant Director-General for Culture of UNESCO. Prior to this position, Mr Ottone R. served as Chile’s first Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage from 2015 to 2018. As Minister of Culture, he created a Department of First Peoples, a Migrants Unit and strengthened copyright laws and heritage protections. During this time, he also chaired the Regional Centre for the Promotion of Books in Latin America and the Caribbean (2016 – 2017). From 2011 to 2015, Mr Ottone R. served as Director-General of the Artistic and Cultural Extension Center of the University of Chile, which manages the National Symphony Orchestra of Chile, the Chilean National Ballet (BANCH), the Chile Symphony Choir and the Vocal Camerata. From 2001 to 2010, he held the position of Executive Director at the Matucana 100 Cultural Center in Santiago. Mr Ottone R. holds a Master’s degree in Management of Cultural Institutions and Policies from the University of Paris IX Dauphine (1998) and a Bachelor of Arts in theatre from the University of Chile (1995).

 

Árpád Rab, Hungary

Senior Research Fellow, Research Institute for the Information Society, National University of Public Service, NMHH Presidential Advisor

Dr. Árpád Rab, digital culture expert, futurologist, Senior Research Fellow at the Information Society Research Institute of the National Academy of Sciences, Budapest. He has been researching the relationship between digital technologies and society for two decades, trying to understand important trends of the present, future scenarios and intelligent preparation in society and work, aiming to improve the situation of society through technology. Currently, it is most concerned with artificial intelligence and e-health. He is a committed science communicator: he presents at nearly 100 conferences a year and is a regular contributor to various media outlets. In addition to his theoretical research, he works as a digital transformation and strategy consultant for companies, taking on 4-6 major projects per year.

 

Miklós Réthelyi, Hungary 

Chair of the Hungarian National Commission for UNESCO

Miklós Réthelyi is emeritus Professor at the Semmelweis University, former minister of the Human Resources Ministry and chair of the Hungarian National Committee of UNESCO since 2012. He held an adjunct professorship (1974-1988) in Edward Perl’s laboratory at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He served as the chair of the Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology (1994-2004) at Semmelweis University, founded the Health Sciences Management Institute, was elected and appointed Rector of the Semmelweis University for two terms (1991-1995), served as director of the János Szentágothai Neuroscience Postgraduate School (2002-2009), was elected as member of the Szent István Academy of Sciences (2010) and served as the minister of the Humans Resources Ministry including health care, education, social care, culture and sport departments (2010-2012).

 

Kat Schrier, USA

Associate Professor, Director of the Play Innovation Lab, and Director of the Games and Emerging Media program at Marist College

Kat Schrier is an Associate Professor, Director of the Play Innovation Lab, and Director of the Games and Emerging Media program at Marist College. She is the author/editor of over 100 published works, such as We the Gamers: How Games Teach Ethics & Civics (Oxford University Press, 2021) and Knowledge Games (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016). She has previously edited two book series, Ethics and Game Design and Learning, Education, & Games. She was a Belfer Fellow with the ADL’s Center for Technology & Society, and she is co-PI for a Templeton Grant on designing VR games for empathy. Prior to joining the Marist College faculty, she worked as a media producer at Scholastic, Nickelodeon, and BrainPOP. She is currently consulting with the World Health Organization (WHO) as a game designer. She has a doctorate from Columbia University, a master’s from MIT, and a bachelor’s from Amherst College.

 

Zita Sebesvári, Hungary and Germany 

Deputy Director of UNU-EHS

Zita Sebesvari is the Deputy Director of UNU Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) and the head of the UNU-EHS Department Risk and Adaptation. She is an internationally recognized expert in the fields of social-ecological risk assessments, ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction (Eco-DRR), and ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA), with a focus on low-lying coastal areas, such as river deltas. An ecologist by training, Dr. Sebesvari holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Science from the Carl von Ossietzky University in Oldenburg, Germany. She also holds a Diploma in History, and has a great interest in inter- and transdisciplinary research design and project implementation. She is member of the European Commission expert group Mission Board for Adaptation to Climate Change including Societal Transformation since September 2022 and the Science Committee of the World Adaptation Science Program (WASP). She lectures in the UNU-EHS – University of Bonn Joint M.Sc. Programme “Geography of Environmental Risks and Human Security and serves as UNU focal point to the science-policy networks Partnership for Environment and Disaster Risk Reduction (PEDRR) and the Friends of Ecosystem-based Adaptation (FEBA).

 

Sir Richard Shirreff, UK

Military expert and former NATO Commander, honorary fellow of Exeter College, Oxford

Sir Richard Shirreff was born in Kenya in 1955 where he spent his early years. Educated in England, he graduated from Exeter College, Oxford (Modern History) before being commissioned into the British Army from Sandhurst. In his 37-year career, he commanded soldiers on operations at every level from platoon to division. This has included combat in the Gulf War of 1991 as a tank squadron leader and again in Iraq as a divisional commander, together with other operations in Northern Ireland, Kosovo and Bosnia. In addition, he had extensive staff experience at brigade, Army HQ and in the Ministry of Defence. He commanded NATO’s Allied Rapid Reaction Corps and his final military assignment was NATO’s 4 Star Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe (DSACEUR). In February 2016 he co-founded Strategia Worldwide Ltd, a global risk advisory company, which has since built up a sizeable portfolio of clients across different sectors. In 2016 his novel ‘2017: War with Russia’ was published in the UK, USA and Poland. It became a best seller and has been translated into eight languages. He is an honorary fellow of Exeter College, Oxford.

 

Jean-Luc Soulé, France 

President at MEC’ENE/Mécénat & Entreprise, senior lecturer at Sciences Po Paris (1999-2019), Director of the French Institute in Hungary (1994-1998), founder of the musical Festival of Périgord Noir

Jean-Luc Soulé created MEC’ENE/Mécénat & Entreprise in January 2004. He is also the founder and president of the Festival du Périgord Noir (41st edition in Summer 2023, “Wien, Welthauptstadt der Musik”) as well as an audio-visual production company. Parallelly, he carried the adventure of the Vidéothèque de Paris/Forum des Images at its beginnings (created by Jacques Chirac, Mayor of Paris), then directed the French Institute of Hungary in Budapest in the 90s. He started his professional life, working for the French Ministry of Defence then Ministry of Interior. He has mastered many important issues in international cultural relations, having been Cultural Attaché in Muscat/Sultanate of Oman, cultural diplomat posted in Hungary then artistic director of the Academy of France in Rome-Villa Medici. He has taught at the ENA of Tunis and was, for 20 years (1999-2019), a lecturer at the IEP-Sciences Po Paris, where he was leading various seminars, mainly related to the cultural development of European territories. He is invited in France and all over Europe, Turkey, Gulf countries as a prominent expert for geopolitics and cultural matters. He has written different articles (in newspapers, magazines, guides, reviews) and a reference book, “Art of living in Hungary” (Flammarion). He has been the founder and co-owner of a vineyard property in Tokaj (Hungary) for 25 years. He has been appointed in 2011 as a French Air Force reserve Colonel. Jean-Luc Soulé is Knight of different French Orders (National Order of the Légion d’Honneur, National Order of Merit, Order of the Arts & Lettres, Order of Agricultural Merit) and Officer of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary, Decorated with the Commemorative Order of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.

 

Xiaomeng Shen, China 

UNU Vice-Rector in Europe and Director of the UNU-EHS

Shen Xiaomeng is the UNU Vice-Rector in Europe (UNU-ViE) and Director of the UNU Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS). She facilitates collaboration between UNU and stakeholders in and outside of the United Nations; contributes to high-level policy development with other United Nations entities and regional/national bodies. As the Director of UNU-EHS, she is the chief academic and administrative officer of the Institute and oversees its direction, organization and programmes. Xiaomeng Shen holds a PhD in Geography from the University of Bonn. From 2011 onwards, she worked with the then International Bureau of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research at the Project Management Agency of the German Aerospace Center  (DLR-PL) where she started as Senior Scientific Officer (2011‒2012), with a focus on multilateral science and technology development in Asia and Oceania. From 2013, she served as Deputy Head of the Department for Cooperation with Asia and Oceania; Head of the Cooperation with East Asia and Oceania Unit; and as Coordinator of the European Commission’s EURAXESS Worldwide initiative facilitating the mobility of scientists.

 

Ivana Stepanović, Serbia 

Research Fellow at iASK

Ivana Stepanović is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies Koszeg. She holds a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Belgrade, MA in Human Rights and Democracy in South-East Europe from the University of Sarajevo and University of Bologna and BA in Philosophy from the University of Belgrade. Her research focuses on issues concerning privacy and security on the internet, the role of new media in political, cultural and economic changes, particularly in South-East Europe, the role of algorithms in policing the internet and the impact of digital surveillance on everyday life. She is also interested in topics concerning the role of digital technologies in the transformation of labour.

 

Vít Šisler

Assistant Professor of New Media Studies at the Institute of Information Studies and Librarianship at Charles University’s Faculty of Arts in Prague

Vit Šisler is an Assistant Professor of New Media Studies at the Institute of Information Studies and Librarianship at Charles University’s Faculty of Arts in Prague. He was a visiting Fulbright scholar at the Buffett Center for International and Comparative Studies at Northwestern University during 2008-2009. His research addresses critical approaches to the intersection of culture and digital media; namely the internet, social media, video games, the networked public sphere, and online communities. Vit Sisler has published extensively on issues related to media, communications and digital culture. His work has appeared in Communication Yearbook; European Journal of Cultural Studies; Information, Communication & Society; Global Media Journal; Multimedia Systems; Lecture Notes in Computer Science and many others. He has spoken as a guest lecturer at leading US and European universities and is associate editor of CyberOrient, a peer-reviewed journal of the virtual Middle East published by the American Anthropological Association and member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture.

 

Sanja Tepavcevic, Hungary 

Associate Research Fellow at iASK

Sanja Tepavcevic is Associated Research Fellow at Institute of Advanced Studies Kőszeg and the Lecturer at International Studies MA Program of the University of Pannonia. Previously she held various academic and administrative positions at Central European University, Budapest, and faculty positions at Budapest Business University and Eötvös Lóránd University. Sanja is a member of the Budapest-based non-governmental organization Dialogue. In 2016-2019 she joined the Croatia-based Institute of European and Globalization Studies as a Head of Eurasia Department. Dr. Tepavcevic holds a Russian Diploma in Journalism from Moscow State University, an MA in International Relations and European Studies, and a PhD in Political Science from the Central European University. Her research expertise includes Russian foreign policy and foreign direct investments of Russian companies, post-Soviet migrations and immigrant entrepreneurship, and migration and foreign economic policies of former Yugoslav states and countries of the Visegrad 4 Group.

 

George A. Tilesch, USA 

President, PHI Institute for Augmented Intelligence, California

Dr. George Tilesch is an expert in artificial intelligence (A.I.), senior executive, and consultant, working primarily in the transatlantic space across sectors and industries, specializing in AI Strategy, Ethics, Impact, Policy, and Governance. He is Founder and President of PHI Institute for Augmented Intelligence with the mission of putting machine intelligence in the service of enhancing the human condition for all. As a global senior executive and strategy consultant, Dr. Tilesch has worked for 25 years with a wide array of actors: government leaders on all continents (EU, the White House,  the U.S. Navy, NASA, Dubai, New-Zealand); for corporations (Microsoft, Ipsos, and other companies from the Fortune 50 Tech list); international organizations and global think tanks (World Economic Forum, Club de Madrid); startups, scaleups and global social innovation leaders. He is the co-author of the 2022 World Economic Forum AI C-Suite Toolkit that is read and implemented worldwide by big enterprise CEOs. Dr. Tilesch is also the co-author of the book, BetweenBrains: Taking Back our AI Future, published in 2020, Dr. Tilesch has American and Hungarian citizenship and is based in Silicon Valley.

 

Klaus Wölfer, Austria 

Former ambassador, Austrian Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs

After graduating with a Doctorate in Laws of the University of Vienna and the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna he joined the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1981. He served as a diplomat in the Austrian Embassies in Rome / Italy, Belgrade / Yugoslavia and Budapest / Hungary and headed the Austrian Cultural Institute in Rome between 1996 and 2002 and 2002. Director General for the federal funding for the arts at the Prime Minister’s office 2002-2006. In 2006 he organized the conference ”The Sound of Europe“ in Salzburg as a prelude to the Austrian Presidency. He was ambassador to Indonesia, Singapore, Timor-Leste and ASEAN 2006-11 and ambassador to Turkey 2012-2017. After mid-2017 he was the head of Austrian MFA’s South East Europe unit in Vienna, Deputy Political Director and Special Envoy for the Western Balkans. He retired from public office in May 2021 and has since been senior counsel for geopolitical and diplomatic questions, supporting various companies. He writes and lectures on foreign policy issues.