Programme for 2013 (archive)

“Academia in Public Discourse” is a project initiated by the «Artes Liberales Institute» Foundation (FIAL) and the University of Warsaw’s Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies “Artes Liberales” (IBI AL) as a continuation of these institutions’ experiences with reforming the system of higher education in Poland and Central-Eastern Europe, and with building relationships and jointly searching for a place for academia in the contemporary world.

In particular, the project aims to build lasting bridges between the Polish and Russian academic communities in the course of intensive dialogue with other participants of the public debate. We are convinced that such a dialogue can contribute to cooperation that will last and springs from a genuine need.

The project will begin with the pilot programme “Opening the Window: Poland-Russia”, involving three Polish-Russian meetings of participants from Poland and Russia, held in turn in Poland and Russia. Each meeting will comprise a 3-day debate featuring leading specialists from both countries and workshops enabling the participants to hold discussions and share their reflections inspired by the two nations’ historical and cultural experience.

Between meetings, seminars on the topics of successive debates will be held at IBI AL, the hosts being from Poland and Russia.

The initiative’s further development depends on the quality of the dialogue we manage to activate and on whether we reach people who will get involved in the project wholeheartedly and out of a genuine need.