Call for Applications – Management of Social Transformation (UNESCO MOST) Winter School in Kőszeg at iASK
Intercultural Heritage and the Complexity of Sustainability: A Future-Oriented Central European Approach
MOST Schools are capacity-building activities focused on strengthening competencies for evidence-informed decision-making. They help develop the capacity of researchers and decision-makers to translate knowledge into action. Their primary goal is to support long-term sustainable development in contexts where capacity gaps constrain translating research into action. The central issue this Winter School addresses is the relationship and interaction, between environmental change and social processes, smaller and larger scale social transformations. The MOST Winter School approaches sustainability studies as both a distinctive form of knowledge and a specific approach to mobilizing and applying knowledge. In both respects, the social and human sciences make decisive contributions to an improved understanding of complex systems that are driven inter alia by human beliefs, practices and institutions.
The main aim of the Winter School is to introduce the results of a large-scale research project on the preservation of cultural heritage implemented by the Institute of Advanced Study Kőszeg (IASK) in Hungary. The Creative City – Sustainable Region project, acronym: KRAFT, explores the possibility of exploiting the intercultural heritage of historic towns for better longer term economic, political, and social conditions. Most of the case studies are from Western Hungary, Macedonia and Slovakia. New perspectives and new methodologies aimed at measuring creativity and sustainability potential will be introduced in differing geographic, ethnic, social and economic conditions. This includes the application of the KRAFT-INDEX and the Talking Houses Initiative. The latter is an innovative approach to sustainable cultural heritage by retelling local histories. Presentations and workshops will also analyze West European and US experiences in the field. Special attention will be paid to the Kőszeg-Manhattan Project, a unique form of cooperation between students and professors from the City University of New York and their Kőszeg counterparts.
Most of the reading materials will come from iASK publications and from the works of other UNESCO Chairs in the region.
Expenses of this MOST School are to be covered by a modest fee, contributions from the Hungarian National Commission for UNESCO, and the cooperating UNESCO Chairs.
Specific lecture topics:
- Culture and Sustainability: International Politics and Scholarship
- Global Political Aspects of Sustainability: Intercultural Encounters as an Asset and a Liability
- Global Environmental Aspects of Sustainability, Epidemics and Water
- Intraregional Migration in Central Europe: A Neglected Field of Research
- Central European Aspects of Sustainability, the Impact of Migration
- Local Aspects of Sustainability
Lectures are followed by intensive seminars moderated by experienced professors and practitioners. Participants will receive outlines of the lectures in advance and will be requested to react to specific issues of their own expertise. The results of this co-creation process will be integrated into policy proposals for public administrators and recommendations for further research projects.
Participants: Target groups include practitioners and advanced students and researchers.
Fee: 100 Euros. The fee includes school materials, lunches and dinners during the program. Travel and accommodation should be covered by participants or their sending institutions. Organizers will assist with visa applications, where necessary.
This opportunity has expired. It was originally published here:
https://iask.hu/en/management-of-social-transformation-most-school-in-koszeg/