The consequences of the Middle East conflicts put the impact of the astonishing figures of war and hunger refugees in evidence in the international agenda, with no similar situation in history.

The theme leads to the discussion of the principle of hospitality, defined by philosopher Jacques Derrida as the ability to receive the other as different, but essentially the same. It also raises a comparative analysis of the European and Brazilian reaction to the issue. The Challenge of Hospitality: Migrants and Refugees is the title of the debate to be held by the IEA on October 22, at 2.30 pm, in the Institute's Events Room.

This will be the second meeting of the Laboratory of Global Megatrends and Challenges to Democracy. The conference will have the coordination of Portuguese political scientist Álvaro de Vasconcelos, an assistant professor at the USP's Institute of International Relations (IRI), and the participation of Geraldo Adriano Godoy de Campos, a professor at the ESPM's course of international relations, and Sylvia Dantas, coordinator of the IEA's Intercultural Dialogues research group. The laboratory was started in June this year with the debate The Challenge of Identity-Based Nationalism.

"We have watched the drama of those who hoped to find refuge and hospitality and ended up finding walls, barbed wire, violence and mistrust in many countries that have 'fear of the other', especially Muslims and those who come from the Middle East," says Vasconcelos.

The war in Syria has forced four million people to leave the country and eight million to move internally. In addition to them there are war refugees from Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, Eritrea and Somalia. Thus, the number of refugees in the world in 2014 reached 59.5 million according to estimates by the UN Refugee Agency.

The event will be broadcast live over the web.

Studies in this area, especially in the UK, Australia, the United States and sub-Saharan Africa, show that there is a diversity of social policies evolving to support these unpaid young care providers. However, it remains a hidden world which lacks global visibility and more knowledge on the theme.

Professor Saul Becker, Pro-Vice-Chancellor at the University of Birmingham and a specialist in this line of research, will address the theme at the conference Children Who Care – Global Perspectives on Children’s Hidden Care-Giving Roles within their Families, that will take place on October 21, in the IEA's Events Room, from 9.30 am to 12 pm. Ana Lydia Sawaya, coordinator of the IEA's Nutrition and Poverty Research Group and a professor at UNIFESP, will participate as a debater.

Becker's work has influenced the academic debate and the implementation of public policies and practices that are designed to meet the needs of young carers. In his speech, he will explore the hidden worlds of children who provide assistance and care to adults, showing how and why some countries have identified and legislated this role as that of a specific group that requires support and intervention. In most countries, these children and young people remain hidden, invisible and isolated, with negative consequences for their lives, families and society as a whole.

Studies in the area suggest that the informal care provided by the young in developed and developing nations can be located along a continuous flow of care. They also show that these young people have much in common, regardless of where they live or how the social security systems of their countries are developed. Thus, there is a global need for these young people to get recognized, identified, analyzed and assisted as a distinct group of "vulnerable children".

Through its Institute of Advanced Studies, the University of Birmingham is linked to the University-Based Institute of Advanced Studies (UBIAS), a network that brings together 34 institutes for advanced studies of the whole world. Created in 2010, it aims to promote the scientific exchange between generations, disciplines and cultures.

Researchers may come from areas such as Law, Political Science, Sociology, Political Theory, History, Philosophy, Computer Science, Education, Cultural Studies, Literary Studies, Biology or Biogenetics. Participants must have reached the final phase of their PhD or post-doctoral work, and be fluent in English.

Candidates must present a cover letter on how they may contribute to the project, an updated résumé, and a letter of recommendation from an institute of advanced studies of the UBIAS network. In addition, they should provide a document summarizing their interest in the subject matter and their expectations for the project. Submissions should be made by e-mail (ica_iea@usp.br) by August 23.

As the main member of the Ubias network in Latin America, the IEA-USP will be in charge of receiving the applications from the regional candidates and hold a pre-selection before sending the approved candidates to a final selection process by the host institutes.

Fifteen participants will be selected at the end of the process. Part of the costs of accommodation and travel will be reimbursed.

Human dignity

Human dignity is the object of several research studies, in various disciplines, and will involve a debate on international terrorism, torture, civil war, data protection, poverty reduction and social security, minorities, and history of human rights, among others. During the conferences in Israel and Germany, participants will attend master classes with eminent scholars from these fields. Some lectures have already been defined: “The constitutional right to human dignity,” “Dignity as the core of human rights,” “Recognizing human dignity after its denial” and “Human dignity in religion.”

Confirmed speakers include:

• Aleida Assmann, a professor of English Literature at the University of Konstanz;
• Lynn A. Hunt, a research professor and Eugen Weber endowed chair-holder in Modern European History at the University of California;
• Gertrude Lübbe-Wolff, a professor of Public Law at Bielefeld University and former justice of the German Federal Constitutional Court;
• Ralf Poscher, a professor of Constitutional Law and Legal Philosophy at the University of Freiburg;
• Mordechai Kremnitzer, the Bruce W. Wayne professor of International Law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and vice-president of research at the Israel Democracy Institute;
• Aharon Barak, a professor of Law at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya;
• Bernadette Brooten, a researcher of American Religion and Kraft-Hiatt professor of Christian Studies at Brandeis University;
• Marcus Düwell, who holds a chair in Philosophy Ethics at Utrecht University;
• Moshe Halbertal, a senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute of Jerusalem, and a professor of Jewish Thinking and Philosophy at the;
• and Christine Hayes, Robert F. and Patricia Ross Weis professor of Religious Studies at Yale University and president of the Departament of Religious Studies.

The Intercontinental Academia is an initiative of the UBIAS network, an international association that connects 34 university-based institutes for advanced study from 19 countries, and aims to promote networked research and develop new leaders. The first edition of the Academia, which discussed “Time,” is being organized by the Institute of Advanced Studies of the University of São Paulo (IEA-USP) and the Institute for Advanced Research at the Nagoya University. The first part was held in São Paulo from April 17 through 29 and the second is scheduled for March 2016, in Nagoya. Read about the São Paulo conferences here. Learn more about the project at http://intercontinental-academia.ubias.net/.

The second edition of the Intercontinental Academia has already defined subject matter, dates and venues. The project, in two stages, will study human dignity: the first stage, from March 6 through 20, 2016, will take place in Jerusalem; the second, from August 1 through 12, in Bielefeld. The event will be organized by the Israel Institute for Advanced Studies of the Hebrew University Jerusalem (IIAS) and the Zentrum für interdisziplinäre Forschung (Center for Interdisciplinary Research) at Bielefeld University.

Human dignity is the object of several research studies, in various disciplines, and will involve a debate on international terrorism, torture, civil war, data protection, poverty reduction and social security, minorities, and history of human rights, among others. During the conferences in Israel and Germany, participants will attend master classes with eminent scholars from these fields. Some lectures have already been defined: “The constitutional right to human dignity,” “Dignity as the core of human rights,” “Recognizing human dignity after its denial” and “Human dignity in religion.”

Confirmed speakers include Aleida Assmann, professor of English Literature at the University of Konstanz; Lynn A. Hunt, research professor and Eugen Weber endowed chair in Modern European History at the University of California; Gertrude Lübbe-Wolff, professor of Public Law at Bielefeld University and former justice of the German Federal Constitutional Court; Ralf Poscher, professor of Constitutional Law and Legal Philosophy at the University of Freiburg; and Mordechai Kremnitzer, the Bruce W. Wayne professor of International Law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and vice-president of research at the Israel Democracy Institute.

The Intercontinental Academia is an initiative of the UBIAS network, an international association that connects 34 university-based institutes for advanced study from 19 countries, and aims to promote networked research and develop new leaders. The first edition of the Academia, which discussed “Time,” is being organized by the Institute of Advanced Studies of the University of São Paulo (IEA-USP) and the Institute for Advanced Research at the Nagoya University. The first part was held in São Paulo from April 17 through 29 and the second is scheduled for March 2016, in Nagoya. Read about the São Paulo conferences here. Learn more about the project at <http://intercontinental-academia.ubias.net/>.

Registration

Young researchers wishing to take part in the Intercontinental Academia conferences on human dignity must undergo a careful selection process. Candidates may come from areas such as Law, Political Science, Sociology, Political Theory, History, Philosophy, Computer Science, Education, Cultural Studies, Literary Studies, Biology or Biogenetics. Participants must have reached the final phase of their PhD or post-doctoral work, and be fluent in English.

Candidates must present a cover letter on how they may contribute to the project, an updated résumé, and a letter of recommendation from an institute of advanced studies of the UBIAS network. In addition, they should provide a document summarizing their interest in the subject matter and their expectations for the project. Submissions should be made by e-mail (ica-jerusalem-bielefeld@uni-bielefeld.de) by August 31.

Fifteen participants will be selected at the end of the process. Part of the costs of accommodation and travel will be reimbursed.

Additional information about the second stage of the project is available at the website of the UBIAS network.

The release of Human Rights Mapping, a digital tool that maps geographic landmarks of the city of São Paulo associated with the trajectory of claims and achievements of human rights, will take place on November 4, at 8 pm, at USP's Maria Antonia Center. The chosen places symbolize the role of social movements and historical moments related to combating racial and gender discrimination; to democratization of access to justice; to the guarantee of freedom of expression; to the mobilization for the rights of workers, among other struggles.

Besides demarcating symbolically valuable places, the platform suggests itineraries of sightseeing by theme and region, matching each of the catalogued spots with texts, images and testimonials of journalists, and activists who have witnessed or were part of the fight in favor of human rights. The event will also include the opening of the Photography and Literature Festival, which will expose the work produced in art workshops promoted by the project.

The launch of the digital platform will be attended by Martin Grossmann, director of the IEA-USP; Moacyr Novaes, professor of USP's Faculty of Philosophy, Letters and Human Sciences (FFLCH) and associate provost for culture and universitary extension of USP; Pedro Barbosa Pereira Neto, chief prosecutor of the Federal Public Ministry (MPF); Rossana Rocha Reis, board member of the UNESCO Chair, professor at FFLCH and general coordinator of the project; and Sergio Adorno, coordinator of the UNESCO Chair and director of FFLCH.

Activities will continue with six roundtables on Memory, Art and Human Rights Education, which will take place on November 6 and 7, from 10 am to 6.30 pm at IEA's Event Room. During the debates, experts in literature, film, visual arts and museums will discuss the educational potential of artistic expression in the context of human rights.

Alongside the launch of the digital platform and roundtables, the UNESCO Chair will conduct the International Art-Memory Workshop from November 3 to 5 at USP's Maria Antonia Center. The exhibitors will be artists Horst Hoheisel and Andreas Knitz, known by their joint works on the memory of the Holocaust, victims of military regime, and political and etchnic minorities persecution.

PROJECT

Conceived by Rossana Rocha Reis and proposed by the UNESCO Chair in partnership with USP's Maria Antonia Center, the project aims to restore the history of the struggle for rights in São Paulo and arouse the interest of society for the issue through discussions, workshops and art activities.

The project was awarded by USP's Dean of Culture and Universitary Extension (PRCEU) in the category Dissemination, and Cultural and Scientific Interexchange in 2013 and has the support of the Federal Public Ministry and the Legislative Assembly of the State of São Paulo.

The event will be broadcast live on the web.