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The Academy of Romanian Scientists: clarifications in the name of truth and political correctness

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The Academy of Romanian Scientists: clarifications in the name of truth and political correctness

The Academy of Romanian Scientists has become the target of undignified attitudes and attacks from some media and political forces, aimed at discrediting the institution in the public environment, distorting its image and undermining its status. All this is based, on the one hand, on a gross lack of information, on the other hand, on opinions circulated in the tabloid press, and seems to express a political project. A political project not dedicated to the development of science and education in Romania, but focused strictly on a single goal: the abolition of the Academy of Romanian Scientists. At the same time, our institution is facing a new wave of slander and denigration carried out by some publications or websites, aimed at misinforming, misleading and manipulating public opinion.

The image of the AOSR constantly promoted by certain media is structured around a few false aspects and biased “value” judgements, obsessively repeated. Unfortunately, these elements of the “institutional portrait” are also taken uncritically, in a hasty and superficial way, from which bad faith cannot be excluded, by some representatives of some political forces. The public image of the AOSR promoted by these media is a rudimentary one of poisoned definitions and fake news: “phantom institution”, “phantom Academy of Scientists”, Academy that overlaps with the Romanian Academy, that undermines the role and status of the Romanian Academy, whose members illegally bear the title of “academician”, Academy affiliated to a certain party, without personalities, lacking scientific value, without activity and results, consuming budget money, etc. etc.

This profoundly untrue and unfair image for the identity, history, activity and outstanding results of the Academy of Romanian Scientists, offensive to its members, formed the necessary and sufficient framework for the recent political decision to cut the budget of the institution for the second consecutive year. Following this political act, with a zero budget, the institution receives a decisive blow, which can only lead to one result: its closure. The question, more or less rhetorical, is: what are the causes of this attitude against an institution with a history of almost a century, which has brought together and brings together leading personalities of Romanian science and research?

In the name of respect for the truth and putting the campaign unleashed against the AOSR solely on the account of insufficient information, we return with a series of necessary clarifications.

  1. The Academy of Romanian Scientists is not a “ghost” institution. It was founded on 29 March 1935 as the Romanian Academy of Sciences – out of the need to include the values of Romanian research and science in a wider academic framework – by the great liberal minister of public instruction, Dr. Constantin Angelescu, eminent surgeon, founder of the school of surgery, together with a group of Romanian scientists. The communist regime abolished the Academy in 1948, along with the other existing academies, establishing the Academy of the Romanian People’s Republic. Although it operated for a relatively short period, the ASR has gained significant national and international prestige, with 8 Nobel Prize winners as honorary members. After a series of transformations, the Academy was re-established under its current title by another great professor and surgeon, a pioneer of the school of cardiovascular surgery, General Prof. Dr. Vasile Cândea. The institution operates under Law No. 31 of 15 January 2007 as “successor and sole legatee” of the Romanian Academy of Sciences. It should be noted that this law was voted almost unanimously by the members of the Romanian Parliament at the time and had the opinion of the Romanian Academy.
  1. The Academy of Romanian Scientists has never claimed to be equal to the Romanian Academy, it has never had the intention to compete with it or to replace it. The title of “Academy” cannot and should not lead to the idea of an intention or a “programme” in this respect. There are, in Romania, as in many other countries of the world, several academies established by law, but the attack has been concerted on the AOSR, probably because of its visibility. By Law and by Statute, the Romanian Academy is recognized by the AOSR as the highest forum of science, culture and education of the country. Based on this perspective, the two institutions have traditionally had good collaborative relations, with many members of the Romanian Academy and some of the presidents of the prestigious forum also being members of the AOSR. Also by Statute, the members of the AOSR are not entitled to bear the title of “academician”, this being the exclusive attribute of the full members of the Romanian Academy.
  1. The Academy of Romanian Scientists is not and cannot be politically affiliated. By virtue of its founding law and statute, it is an apolitical organisation. The political involvement of some of its members is purely individual and covers a diversity of ideological affiliations and identities. But the historical truth is that its founder was an illustrious member of the National Liberal Party, the greatest minister of education after Spiru Haret. Since its re-establishment, AOSR has not been and is not the Academy of any party.
  1. The Academy of Romanian Scientists includes in its structures personalities of Romanian higher education and scientific research, university professors, scientists, researchers, some of them with an exceptional scientific and academic status. The scientific portfolio of many AOSR members is remarkable, in terms of scientific activity, papers (books, treatises, studies, research, articles), ISI publications, Hirsch index, presence in BDI and citations. At central level and through its sections and branches, the AOSR carries out a complex research activity, materialised in studies, research and projects, with results disseminated in prestigious publications. Traditionally, the AOSR organises and runs an annual Research and Development Programme, which funds a number of projects on a competitive basis, particularly encouraging young PhD researchers. In 2019, the Research and Development Programme resulted in 23 projects, over 40 ISI or BDI indexed articles. It was also the last year that the institution was able to organise the programme, given the budget cuts. AOSR subordinates all its scientific research activity to the process of developing and modernising the country through education, science and research.
  1. In terms of international recognition of AOSR’s scientific activity, the prestigious SCIMAGO-Elsevier international ranking, which evaluates and ranks the performance of the world’s universities and research institutes, ranks the Academy of Romanian Scientists 8th among Romanian research institutions. In the first 800 places, there are only two academic presences from Romania: Romanian Academy, ranked 676th, and the Academy of Romanian Scientists, ranked 794th. This is an undeniable performance, in any case, but especially in the context where the AOSR has consistently received only between 1 and 1.5% of the total funds allocated from the state budget to finance the academies established by law. With a zero budget (last year and this year), by the political will of today’s leaders, the road to performance of an institution dedicated by vocation and mission to research, science and education is closed.

We make all these clarifications in the name of truth and political correctness, out of our duty to a prestigious institution of the country, which has covered a good part of Romania’s contemporary history, with its dramas and tragedies, and which participated with all its strength and resources in the progress of the country, both in times of hardship and in times of return to normality. We hope, through this approach, that superficial judgments against the AOSR, based on rumours, slander and manipulation, will be replaced by value judgments based on factual data and substantive analysis and that, following fair assessments, The Academy of Romanian Scientists to be treated politically based on objectivity and fairness.

Scientific Council of the Academy of Romanian Scientists

The Academy of Romanian Scientists strongly condemns the lies, denigration and manipulation directed against it and the Romanian academic movement

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The Academy of Romanian Scientists strongly condemns the lies, denigration and manipulation directed against it and the Romanian academic movement

Lately, some articles have appeared in the media denigrating the Academy of Romanian Scientists. Clearly designed to denigrate, slander and discredit, they convey false or truncated information, which has the effect of misleading and manipulating public opinion. In addition to the contempt for the truth, the texts stand out for their low, degrading approach, objectified by terms unworthy of the intellectual level, rather typical of the tabloid press. The articles in question exert their slander not only against the Academy of Romanian Scientists, but against the entire academic movement in Romania, which includes, above all, the Romanian Academy and the branch academies. One of them launches a series of deeply unfounded, unfair and slanderous “value” judgments against the Romanian Academy. In view of these materials, the Scientific Presidium of the Academy of Romanian Scientists makes a series of specific clarifications for the correct information of public opinion.

The institution that today bears the name The Academy of Romanian Scientists was founded in 1935, on March 29, by a group of scientists, headed by the illustrious professor and minister of public instruction, surgeon and founder of the medical school, Dr. Constantin Angelescu, under the name of Romanian Academy of Sciences (ASR). ASR was established not as an alternative to the Romanian Academy, but as a complementary institution, from the objective need to create a more comprehensive space for scientific research, given the fixed structure, limited in numbers of the Romanian Academy. Moreover, the structures of the ASR included members of the Romanian Academy and other personalities of Romanian science and culture, including prominent writers, scholars, university professors, etc. Among the honorary members of the ASR, seven Nobel Prize winners in fundamental fields of science have been honoured. After a series of transformations in the course of a difficult history, during the half century of communist regime, the institution was redefined in the 1990s, it functioned as the Academy of Romanian Scientists, its new legal status being enshrined in Law No. 31 of 15 January 2007.

A fundamental clarification: in line with its primary mission, defined by its interwar founders, the Academy of Romanian Scientists has never proposed and does not propose to be an alternative to the Romanian Academy or to replace it. As stated in the founding law and in the Statute, the Romanian Academy is recognized by the AOSR as the highest forum of science and culture in Romania. The meaning of the existence of the AOSR, in the continuity of the ASR, as “continuator and sole legatee” (according to the Law), and of a tradition of almost a century, is to constitute a complementary academic space of scientific creation, intended for top scientific research, university professors and scientists. The term “Academy” in the title expresses the belonging to the Romanian academic and research space, and not any aspiration of institutional substitution. Moreover, in the good tradition of the Romanian Academy of Sciences since the 1930s, the AOSR also includes in its current structure members of the Romanian Academy, which expresses a collaborative and complementary academic relationship. It should be mentioned that all the presidents of the major branch academies (Romanian Academy of Technical Sciences – ASTR, Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences – ASAS, Academy of Medical Sciences – ASM) are members of AOSR. The Presidents of the Romanian Academy Radu Voinea and Valentin-Ionel Vlad were also members of the AOSR.

Another necessary clarification: under the law establishing the AOSR, its members cannot bear the title of “academician”, as falsely reported in some press materials, but that of “member of the AOSR”. It is yet another proof, on the one hand, of the correct positioning of AOSR towards the Romanian Academy – the guardian forum of Romanian academism, a fundamental institution that built modern Romania culturally and scientifically – and, on the other hand, of the misinformation and manipulation of public opinion by certain authors and certain media.

Access to the Academy of Romanian Scientists is achieved through a rigorous selection process based on candidates meeting demanding scientific criteria. This policy of selection on the basis of individual merit and value, practised since the establishment of the institution, ensures a high standard of quality of the institution through the value of its members. Among the members of the AOSR, in the 13 scientific sections, there are prestigious scientific personalities with outstanding achievements, recognized nationally and internationally. The value and recognition of AOSR members are also certified by the number of ISI papers, presence in international databases, citations and the Hirsch index.

The Academy of Romanian Scientists is an institution dedicated, by mission, by law and by statute, to elite scientific research, science and education. The institution dedicates its entire activity to this mission, which consists of an annual research and development programme, spring and autumn scientific conferences, scientific research projects, studies, research and scientific communications presented at national or international events, editorial projects, debates, actions and initiatives to encourage young people to become more oriented towards the fields of science and innovation. The 2019 AOSR R&D programme consisted of 23 research projects carried out by the sections, which resulted in more than 40 ISI-listed articles or articles indexed in other international scientific databases.

Regarding the value and recognition of the scientific activity under the aegis of the Academy of Romanian Scientists, the prestigious SCIMAGO-Elsevier international ranking – which evaluates universities and research institutes worldwide – ranks AOSR 8th among research institutions in Romania. It should be mentioned that in this international ranking, in the first 800 positions in the world, of our academic structures, only the Romanian Academy (676th place) and the AOSR (794th place) appear, although the AOSR has only received every year between 2-3% of the total funds allocated from the state budget to finance the academies established by law, and this year it has no budgetary funding.

In addition to scientific work, more than 150 members of the AOSR, through the positions to which they have been elected by their peers (rectors, prorectors, presidents, directors of departments or doctoral schools, directors of institutes or other research structures), have made an important contribution to the development of higher education and scientific research in Romania.

One last point: the so-called “political affiliation” of the Academy of Romanian Scientists, namely its proximity to certain political parties, is aberrantly reiterated. It is still an obsessive and crass form of contempt for the truth and manipulation of public opinion. By its mission, by its founding law and by its statutes, the AOSR is an apolitical institution whose sole purpose (as stated above) is scientific research. This programmatic institutional identity cannot, however, lead to members being constrained from having a political option, including through membership of a political organisation. The prohibition of individual political involvement is unconstitutional and is typical of totalitarian regimes. However, the political affiliation of some AOSR members concerns several political parties, which fundamentally means respect for freedom of conscience and democratic pluralism. Beyond the individual choice, within the institutional framework of the AOSR, there is no politics.

The above is intended to contribute to restoring the truth, by promoting correct information, out of respect for the law, for moral values, for the principles of journalistic deontology and, last but not least, for public opinion. Further, the Academy of Romanian Scientists reserves the right to resort to all legal means to defend the truth and its image.

Scientific Presidium of the Academy of Romanian Scientists

On the role of religion in society

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On the role of religion in society

Prof.dr.eng. Petru ANDEA, Scientific Secretary of the Academy of Romanian Scientists

As spring begins, the Christian world prepares to celebrate one of its greatest feasts: the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is an opportunity to reflect on the role and place of the church in society today.

It is known that society has always been a support for religious faith. The main support was human, believers are citizens of a state, they respect the laws and political regulations, directing part of the income to the Churches.

Education, culture, health, organized and maintained by the state, are of use to religion, churches and religious personnel.

The state offers religion political protection, legality and security. All this because religion also responds to expectations and participates in the fulfilment of society’s needs.

First of all, through believers, religion influences the whole of social life and the subsystems that exist in society: the system of property, production and consumption, the forms of power, the specifics of culture and civilisation, relations between citizens. On the whole, religion is a positive factor in society. But there are also forms of religiosity that express themselves against progress, urge destabilisation, go against the public and legal order, try to eliminate from social life the communities of other religions, challenge the family, degrade the personality of their adherents, etc.

Secondly, we can point out that religion has generally had the role of participating in achieving social stability. The church is often seen as “a rock of order” in the way of the rolling waves of everyday life.

Thirdly, religion is also an important factor of social cohesion. Faith is the spiritual basis that brings people together, integrates them, mobilises them. They depend on each other on the basis of interests and regulations, but mostly on the basis of shared beliefs. When other forms of cohesion (economic, kinship, political, ethnic) weaken, religion replaces them, offering spiritual consolation, pastoral reconciliation, reintegration into activities or social groups, and replacing loneliness or abandonment.

Religion plays an important role in achieving social progress. While showing believers the way to salvation and happiness in eternal life, religion no longer condemns and considers wealth, prosperity and personal development, achieved through honest work, in the spirit of loving and helping others, a sin. Faith and the church mobilise believers to achieve cultural, moral and economic progress, insofar as they are not against God’s will.

The schools and the first universities were located near churches and monasteries, the teachers were theologians, large libraries were preserved in the places of worship. The cognitive role of religion is still controversial today. The question is whether modem man, connected to the most varied forms of information, can still consider religion as a source of knowledge. There are enough who consider religion to be the spiritual way of life of the ignorant, while philosophy and science are the concerns of intellectuals. We can recall the statement of St. Augustine who appreciated that “ignorance is more precious than knowledge, because the former comes from God and the latter comes from men”. We know that for a believer religion is the only true explanation, but also that many scientists do not dispute the role of religion in spiritual life. Einstein said “he who drinks the cup of science halfway will remain an atheist; he who drinks it to the end discovers God”.

Religion has emerged as a field of concern before the legal and even the political, providing a system of rules and criteria useful for social coexistence.

Later, some of these rules were legally regulated: not to kill, not to steal, prohibition of marriage between close relatives, etc. Other criteria remained only in the religious domain: humility, humility, respect for parents, chastity, etc. Between political and religious life there have always been the most active relations, based on the fact that man is both citizen and believer.

Jesus’ teaching is “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s”. But it remains man’s free will and choice what and how much he gives to God and how much to Caesar.

There have been instances of subordination of the state by the church. In such cases, the state was ruled by religious personnel, the oath was religious, education, morality, culture, science were controlled or carried out by the Church.

Subordination of the church by the state has taken various forms. Legislation may recognise certain privileges for the Church. For example, in Romania, the 1923 Constitution stated that the Orthodox Church was “dominant” and the Greek Catholic Church had “primacy”. In Greece, Orthodoxy is the official religion. The state supports and protects religion or certain churches as necessary components of the political system. Priests are paid from the state budget, religious leaders and church statutes are recognised or confirmed by the political authorities. In turn, the Churches recommend obedience to politics, reinforcing its prestige and authority. Often, the state is a referee between churches and cults, to avoid religious conflicts.

Part of the democratic European society, today’s Romanian society is a plural one: people of different ethnicities, different beliefs, different concerns, interests and convictions, alone or gathered around religious, political, cultural or social organizations, have the responsibility to build together both the present and the future.

This is both a personal, individual responsibility and a shared one: citizens and all organisations acting in society that do not belong to the state together make up civil society, the laboratory in which the common good is shaped by bringing together these different identities, interests and concerns.

Exploratory research – an opportunity for science and entrepreneurship

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Exploratory research – an opportunity for science and entrepreneurship

ȊOn 28-29.03.2022, at the “Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu was held the workshop entitled Exploratory Research – Opportunity for Science and Entrepreneurship. The emergence of new models, theories and techniques under the umbrella of Complexity Science and the exponential development of computing technology has stimulated scientific research in all fields. Nanotechnologies, neuroscience and living studies in general have led to the development of new disciplines such as biomimetics, bioelectronics, biosemiotics, biogeophysics, bioinformatics. The whole body of knowledge that has accumulated in recent decades in this context has led to changes in the approach to the study of Nature.

The confinement between fundamental and applied research, exploratory research, by its very vision and mission, becomes the organic link between the university/academic environment and the entrepreneurial environment (interested in identifying niche areas (blue ocean management), new “clean” materials and technologies (inspired by Nature (biomimicry)), new techniques for assessing the quality of the environment, the relationship between Work – Man – Society, the state of individual and collective health.

The workshop was organised under the auspices of the Academy of Romanian Scientists and was attended by master students, PhD students and employers.

AOSR supports the vaccination campaign against COVID-19 and all efforts to fight the pandemic

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AOSR supports the vaccination campaign against COVID-19 and all efforts to fight the pandemic

The Academy of Romanian Scientists strongly supports, both scientifically and civically, the national vaccination campaign against COVID-19. From a scientific point of view, the AOSR bases its position on the analyses and conclusions of the Medical Sciences Section of its structure, which includes personalities in the field, university professors, doctors and researchers, with national and international academic and professional prestige. From a civic perspective, in view of the unprecedented seriousness of the situation generated by the new coronavirus, AOSR intends to show solidarity with the Romanian state institutions on the front line of the fight against the pandemic and to get directly involved in the joint effort made by them to protect public health through all the measures taken and through the vaccination campaign. In this scientific, civic and moral framework, members of the AOSR, leading personalities of Romanian medicine, have already been vaccinated or will be vaccinated in the coming days.

In the next interval, in addition to continuing the vaccination process at the institution, The Academy of Romanian Scientists will organize, through the Section of Medical Sciences, a series of academic events (symposia, round tables in online format) on the topic of the pandemic, scientific and administrative measures to combat it, focusing on the need for large-scale vaccination of the population. In the context of the events, special attention will be given to the COVID-19 vaccines through multidisciplinary approaches that will analyse their mechanisms of functioning, effects, benefits and possible risks.

The Academy of Romanian Scientists considers such involvement in the national effort to fight the pandemic to be its scientific and moral obligation. Such a duty becomes a priority in the face of the diversity of opinions expressed publicly in relation to the pandemic situation, which does not lack fake news, conspiracy theories, coronasceptic positions, clear attitudes against vaccination and protective measures, which lead to thwarting the fight against the pandemic. The AOSR bases its direct involvement in this national process on its institutional mission enshrined in the Statute and in the Law of Functioning, on a history in the service of Romanian science and civilization of almost a century, starting with the founding of the Romanian Academy of Sciences in 1935 by a great physician and Minister of Education, Dr. Constantin Angelescu.

Communication and Public Relations Office of the Academy of Romanian Scientists
(Contact: comunicare.aosr@gmail.com )

Excellence in scientific research awarded by the Academy of Romanian Scientists

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Excellence in scientific research awarded by the Academy of Romanian Scientists

On 24 September 2020, the Academy of Romanian Scientists awarded the annual prizes for the most important achievements in the fields of scientific research. In this edition, following a rigorous selection, the awards for 2018 were presented. The award ceremony took place in the hall of the “Carol I” Central University Library, in the presence of a small audience, made up of award winners and representatives of the AOSR, in compliance with the safety and protection conditions imposed by the state of alert. As in previous editions, the awards were of strictly honorary value, without involving a monetary component, representing an act of recognition and highlighting the value in science and research.

At the beginning of the event, the DIPLOMA OF EXCELLENCE was awarded to Prof. dr. eng. DAN ȘCHIOPU, Full Member of the Academy of Romanian Scientists, as a tribute to his rich scientific and academic activity, on the occasion of his 90th birthday.

In the MILITARY SCIENCES SECTION, two prizes were awarded: the MAREȘAL CONSTANTIN PREZAN Prize to Florian TUCĂ, Cristache GHEORGHE, Eugen SITEANU for the book Monuments and memorial insignia dedicated to the Romanian heroes of the Great War of National Reintegration, Publishing House of the Academy of Romanian Scientists, Bucharest, 2018 and the VALENTIN ARSENIE Award to Gheorghe BOARU, Iulian Marius IORGA for the book Security of military information systems, Carol I National Defence University Publishing House, Bucharest, 2018.
The MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES section awarded the DIMITRIE POMPEIU Prize to Constantin P. NICULESCU and Lars-Erik PERSSON for the book Convex Functions and Their Applications, CMS Books in Mathematics vol. 23, xvii + 415 pp, Springer International Publishing AG, 2018.
In the PHYSICAL SCIENCES SECTION, the ȘERBAN ȚIȚEICA Prize was awarded to Dumitru MIHALACHE, Virgil BĂRAN, Bogdan CONSTANTINESCU, Onuc COZAR, Dan DASCĂLU, Alexandru I. NICOLIN, Aureliu SĂNDULESCU for the paper The Founders of Modern Physics in Romania as Seen from the Archive of Revue Roumaine de Physique, published in Romanian Journal of Physics, vol. 63, 113 (2018), Romanian Academy Publishing House, Bucharest, 2018.
The Technical Sciences Section awarded three prizes: the HERMANN OBERTH Prize to Tudor DEACONESCU for the book Pneumatics Applied, Lux Libris Publishing House, Brasov, 2018, the MARTIN BERCOVICI Prize to Mircea IGNAT for the book Initiation into the Scientific Research, Electra Publishing House, Bucharest, 2018 and the GOGU CONSTANTINESCU Prize to Radu CORNESCU for the book Arh. Victor Ștephănescu between national style and modernism, “Andrei Saguna” Publishing House, Bucharest, 2018.
INFORMATION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY SECTION: the ȘTEFAN ODOBLEJA Award to Ruby SRIVASTAVA (editor) for the book Recent Development in Optoelectronic Devices and to Andreea Rodica STERIAN for the chapter “Nonlinear Dynamics in Optoelectronic Structures with Quantum Well”, IntechOpen Publishing House, 2018.
Two prizes were awarded by the HISTORICAL AND ARCHEOLOGICAL SCIENCES SECTION: the ANDREI OȚETEA Prize to Ioan CRISTESCU, Mireille RĂDOI, Adina BERCIU DRĂGHICESCU for the book Heroines of Great Romania. Destinies from the front line, Publishing House of the National Museum of Romanian Literature, 2018 and the AURELIAN SACERDOȚEANU Prize to Laurențiu-Ștefan SZEMKOVICS for the book Documents from Constantin Brâncoveanu concerning the Brâncoveni Monastery and localities in Olt and Romanați counties (1688-1713), Publishing House of the Diocese of Slatina and Romanaților, Slatina, 2018.
Two prizes were also awarded in the ECONOMIC, LEGAL, SOCIOLOGICAL SCIENCES SECTION: the ANGHEL RUGINĂ, Alina Mihaela DIMA (editor) prize for the book Doing Business in Europe: Economic Integration Processes, Policies, and the Business Environment, Springer International Publishing AG, 2018 and the TUDOR POPESCU Award to Verginia VEDINAȘ for Theoretical and Practical Treatise on Administrative Law, Vol.I-II, Universul Juridic Publishing House, Bucharest, 2018. The CONSTANTIN NOICA Prize of the Philosophy, Theology and Psychology Section was awarded to Adrian GORUN for the book Pedagogy and Pedagogical Doctrines, Universitaria Publishing House, Craiova, 2018.
Three prizes were awarded in the HISTORICAL AND ARCHEOLOGICAL SCIENCES SECTION: the GHEORGHE BUZATU Prize to Valeriu AVRAM, Marius-Adrian NICOARĂ for the book In flight, towards the Great Union, Alpha MDN Publishing House, Buzău, 2018; the GRIGORE GAFENCU Prize to Iulian RUSANOVSCHI for the book The war of monuments. The fate of monuments in Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina and Transnistria from 1918-1944, Cu Drag Publishing House, Chisinau, 2018; DIMITRIE CANTEMIR Prize to Ioan VLAD for the work Brasov and the Great Union, Vol.I-III, Pastel Publishing House, Brasov, 2018.

At the 2020 Awards Gala, Prof. Dr. Eng. Adrian BADEA, AOSR President, said: “The Academy of Romanian Scientists remains consistent with its belief that education, science and culture are the factors of modernization and development of the country, the pillars of its European destiny. This is the fundamental principle of our Academy, which has been the basis of its work since its foundation in 1935 until today. Once again this year, following a selection process based on demanding and objective criteria, the AOSR wanted to reward outstanding results in the fields of scientific research as a way of appreciating the efforts and achievements of researchers. We are convinced that by recognising value, by promoting meritocracy at a broad level in Romanian society, especially by encouraging talented young people in science and research, we will succeed in contributing to the European progress of the country.”

Communication and Public Relations Office of the Academy of Romanian Scientists
(Contact: comunicare.aosr@gmail.com )

The crisis of classical reading versus the crisis of digital reading

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The crisis of classical reading versus the crisis of digital reading

It is already known that EUROSTAT statistics from recent years show that 90% of Romanians do not read even one book a year. The reality in question is known by those involved in education, and the press reflects this fact. In the 2019 Education Tribune it was written “The crisis of reading in school, a problem of education that should not be ignored”, and in 2021 in an article entitled “The crisis of reading” the author asks “Why not read” and “Why we have so much by many functionally illiterate ”. The Education Review – EDICT of August 2018 states that “We are at a point where the reading crisis has taken over most people.”

UNESCO was talking about the reading crisis of 25 years ago. The COVID pandemic deepened this crisis, which merged with the education crisis. On January 22, 2022, on the occasion of the International Day of Education, Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations, said that in the last 2 years, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 31 million young people have been affected by school closures, which means , in fact, a global crisis of education (“a global learning crisis”).

In 1990, at the Faculty of Letters, in the department of Library Science and Information Science, just re-established, Gabriel Ștrempel, then the director of the Academy Library, who taught about the old Romanian Bibliography, told me, who taught Computer Science (Library Automation), very convinced that no matter how much digital information develops, the pleasure of browsing a book cannot be replaced by any computer. I did not dare to contradict him, but I was skeptical and told him that perhaps future generations would not think the same. Professor Ion Stoica, also present, tended to agree with me. Today’s reality shows that this is so! Today’s young people (and not only) prefer information in digital form! If digital information has won, I believe that digital libraries and e-books should be the counterweight to the classic reading crisis.

I remembered that in April 2016, at the Conference “Education and Culture in the Digital Age”, organized by the National Institute for Research and Development in Informatics, professionals in the field launched a manifesto for a national project to build a National Digital Library, as all culturally evolved countries have – USA, England, France, Germany, Russia, Japan, South Korea, etc. Then there were directors of large county libraries, representatives of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, but also foreign experts, including delegates from the National Information Agency in South Korea, who also funded a pilot project for BCU. Mobile Communications magazine reflected the event in the May 2016 edition with pertinent comments on the debated ones.

Since then, over the next five years, many projects on digitizing documents and creating digital collections have been funded, but we cannot say that we have a national digital library in the true sense of the concept.

The events related to the National Reading Day made me reflect on what Gabriel Ștrempel said and I understood that there are other people who think the same, after 25 years, and this feeling of the joy of reading must be transmitted and rebuilt by any means, including declaring a National Reading Day.

It is true that digital reading does not allow you to browse pages written on paper, but you can have other advantages, you can also browse a book in a foreign language and a dictionary, an art album and a bibliography of the author of a painting on which you see it on your computer or tablet. The joy of reading can be the same, and young people can be closer to what they like, digital technology !! I think that we could include digital reading as part, in another form, of reading that can generate the joy of reading!

I know many library directors and absolutely all of them confirmed to me that they organized events on reading day to revive reading! It’s great, but it’s a continuous process, the taste and education for reading is not done in a day! The attraction for reading is the same, whether it’s on a classic or digital medium. And, as they say, education starts in the library, be it digital. Coherent digital library building, with digital books, with open access but well managed, with easy to read and navigate document systems, with the involvement of content providers but also of policy makers can be a solution to the reading and learning crisis, especially in the face of unforeseen undesirable events such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Deep sadness at the passing of Dr. Eng. Ion BASGAN, AOSR Vice-President (2010-2020)

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Deep sadness at the passing of Dr. Eng. Ion BASGAN, AOSR Vice-President (2010-2020)

The Presidium of the AOSR announces with deep sadness that on 6 April 2022, Dr. Eng. Ion BASGAN, Founding Full Member, Vice-President of AOSR (2010-2020).

Born in Bucharest on June 16, 1938, Senator Ion Basgan held executive and management positions in units belonging to the Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications, dealing with specific issues of organization, technical and commercial operation related to domestic and international transport. During this period he contributed to the drafting of instructions and regulations on the organisation and technical and commercial operation of domestic passenger and international freight transport. Certified technical expert since 1969. In 1990, he was elected deputy in the Romanian Parliament, and in the 2004-2008 legislature he was senator. He is the author and initiator, in the Romanian Parliament, of Law 31/2007 on the reorganization and functioning of the AOSR.

His scientific activity in the field of transport and management has resulted in research and determinations on road safety, quality and legality of transport, which were the basis for the development of the Republican Motor Vehicle Maintenance Regulations. His publishing activity materialized in the publication of articles in which he evokes the achievements of his father, the great Romanian inventor and scientist Ion Ștefan Basgan (24 June 1902 – 15 December 1980): The universal dimension of the inventor Ion Șt. Basgan, Focșani, July 2002; One century since the birth of the inventor Ion Șt. Basgan, Economist of 12.02.2007. He is the author/co-author of the following books: General Conditions for the Carriage of Goods in International Traffic – 1975; Evolution of Transport, Means of Transport, Organisation and Management in the European Context – vol. I-II, Conphys Publishing House, Râmnicu Vâlcea, 2002-2003; Wars of the Sons of Light, Monitorul Oficial Publishing House, 2006; Encyclopedia of Universal Freemasonry, ed. 2007, vol. I-II, Alma Publishing House, 2007.

He was a founding member of the General Association of Technical and Accounting Experts of Romania, founding member and president of the “Ion Basgan” Foundation, founding member of the Sustainable Development Forum – Romania Horizon 2020, member of the General Association of Engineers of Romania, member of the Scientific Council of the National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism, founding member of the Romanian Pantheon Foundation, under the aegis of the Romanian Academy.
Our Academy loses a valuable member and a colleague we will always remember.

Sincere condolences to the family! God rest his soul!
Bucharest, 6 April 2022

Problems of Romanian higher education

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Problems of Romanian higher education

Prof. dr. eng. Adrian Badea, President of the Academy of Romanian Scientists

I was very happy when, a few days ago, I learned about the debate organised by the joint Senate and Chamber of Deputies Education Committees on the role of education in Romania’s development.
After more than 53 years of activity in the Polytechnic University of Bucharest, of which 10 years I was head of department, 6 years dean, 6 years pro-rector and more than 5 years director of the doctoral school, I would certainly have a lot to say. As I know that I can only spare 5-7 minutes in the plenary session, I have put together a few pages this weekend, which may interest some colleagues.

  1. Quality of students, level of education
    A systemic problem concerns the decline in quality in pre-university education. As a trend, the quality and efficiency of education decreases as education cycles progress. In high school, there are problems with learning, with the level of assimilation, in the fundamental subjects, especially the hard sciences. Some baccalaureate graduates who become students lack the necessary knowledge and skills for university level. It requires additional training, the recovery of notions that should have been assimilated in high school. The situation causes delay, inconsistency and lack of continuity in the preparation process.
  2. Reduction / Suspension of the selection process for access to higher education

In the case of faculties that have experienced or are still experiencing a decline in the number of students – due to competition between higher education institutions or a decrease in the attractiveness of the fields covered – the lack of a selection process for candidates for access to university, access on the basis of competitive entrance examinations alone, is a problem for higher education. Access to student status for underprepared young people leads to a decrease in the level, quality and efficiency of education. A particular problem is engineering education. In the next 5-10 years there will be an acute shortage of engineers on the labour market across Europe. These years, the last generations to enter the labour market on the basis of assignments are retiring and there will be an acute shortage of specialists. Unfortunately, the economic environment is also to blame because often the level of pay is not the fairest. Their involvement in supporting technical education is also low. When they miss it, they will probably change their policy, but it will take a long time to reach normality, as the inertia of the education system has been there for at least 10 years. Today’s low interest among young people in science and engineering leads to a lack of competition for admissions, a drop in the level of applicants accepted for studies and of course the output will be lower. In order to bring young people closer to science, AOSR, together with the major technical universities, proposes a programme to bring high schools closer to explaining to students the main laws and technologies of science in their own language to show them that science is not ‘hard’, but beautiful and open to new paths.

  1. Licensing – too many programs
    The total number of undergraduate degree programmes in all fields in all Romanian universities is 3389, of which 838 for technical fields. According to ISCO (International Standard Classification of Occupations) there are only about 20 fields/qualifications for higher technical education (The qualification covers a given field of the ISCO core group or a family of occupations in the core group). We have gone from a pre-1989 super-specialisation and standardisation to an exaggerated abundance without international and labour market correspondence. We also did not understand and did not apply correctly the Bologna philosophy, with the 3 cycles: bachelor – basic training, master – specialization, doctorate – specific deepening through research.
    In relation to the undergraduate degree in engineering education, the award of the engineering degree after 4 years (240 ECTS), which I admit I have also taken, means that this degree is not recognised internationally unless the studies are accompanied by a Master’s degree (the international engineering degree requires a minimum of 300 ECTS). The awarding of the engineering diploma after 4 years allows graduates to be employed on the Romanian labour market, which creates a break for master and doctoral studies respectively. Thus master’s studies have in many cases turned into evening or part-time courses. The long duration of the full 6-year engineering studies discourages young people and there is now a growing reluctance. Personally (this is not an AOSR opinion, as our debate on this issue will take place in April) I opt for a form: 3 years bachelor and 2 years master, with the removal from the law of the limitation of 50% of bachelor graduates to master students. This form is also used in most EU countries. At the same time, the number of weekly hours of classroom activity, 26-28 hours/week (regulated by ARACIS), is very high. Up to 40 hours per week leaves 14-12 hours of individual study. We have practically the same, if not more, classroom study time as in the last century, when documentation possibilities were extremely limited and everything was based on the knowledge disseminated at school. Today, information/documentation opportunities are different, and the balance between classroom and individual study has reversed. At MIT – USA it’s basically 15 hours in class and 25 hours of individual study! But this has to be cultivated from elementary/primary/high school in Romania!
    At undergraduate level in particular, dropping out remains an active phenomenon. There are still a large number of students who do not complete their undergraduate studies for various reasons. Among these, one very important one is the lack of career development prospects in the field of specialisation. A priority for the system is to analyse the causes and take measures to reduce drop-out.
  2. Mismatch between curricula and labour market requirements
    There is still a mismatch in university education in terms of the relationship between study content and labour market requirements. There are undergraduate programmes that are run by virtue of inertia, promoting the same content, overtaken by dynamic and rapid developments in the labour market. A process of continuous redefinition and adaptation at curriculum level is needed to ensure that university education meets socio-economic needs, that curricula are in line with these needs, developments and trends. Economic agents must also contribute materially to the cost of training specialists, not only through taxes paid, but also through pre-contracts concluded directly with universities.
  3. Specialist practice sometimes a formal approach
    Specialised practice in the undergraduate cycle is, in many cases, formal. However, the internship is of fundamental importance for the students’ training in the field and their professional integration. There is a need for partnerships between higher education institutions and employers, consortia between universities and companies relevant to the labour market, the development of effective internships and traineeships, and a scholarship scheme for future employment of graduates in the institutions. I remember how hard the management of Politehnica Bucharest managed to impose a 4-month individual internship at the end of the third year. We were afraid we wouldn’t have enough practice places. Today there are hundreds of cooperation protocols with economic agents, who want to receive students for 4 months. I wonder how many people would want it if this internship was for a semester like the Engineering Schools in France. I think this is all down to the university management, some of whom feel that this is a ‘loss’ of teaching standards.
  4. Master’s degree – redundancy compared to bachelor’s degree?
    One problem is the relationship between the bachelor and master cycle. There should be a logical continuity, in the sense of evolution and focus on specific themes, the Master’s being a cycle of specialisation. In many cases, Master’s programmes repeat subjects already studied at undergraduate level. This creates a redundancy that undermines the effectiveness of the Master’s degree as a specialisation and qualification programme, fundamental in the academic and professional preparation of the student. Also, as I pointed out above, the employment of bachelor’s graduates makes the master’s degree no longer really a second cycle of university training, but more a kind of “advanced studies”, which we have abandoned due to their inefficiency.
  5. Avoidance of the teaching profession by graduates
    The teaching profession remains an unattractive prospect for most graduates. This is due to the modest salary conditions offered by the teaching profession, especially in pre-university education. The avoidance of the department affects, in particular, the field of exact sciences, fundamental disciplines such as mathematics, computer science, physics, chemistry, etc. The phenomenon generates a critical situation where these subjects are covered by substitutes, sometimes even unqualified substitutes, throughout the education system, especially in rural areas. There are also such difficulties in Bucharest and other big cities. Substitute filling leads to a decrease in the quality and efficiency of education.
    The situation is no better in university education. Pay levels are also an issue. If for lecturers and especially professors we can perhaps talk about a certain degree of acceptability, at the lower grades, especially assistants, salaries are unacceptable (2500 lei net), which does not encourage graduates with good performance to stay in the university and it will end up what has already happened in pre-university education, where they often hire those who can not find work elsewhere!
  6. Involving technology in education and research
    A major need in education remains the increasingly complex and substantial integration of technology into teaching-learning and research activities. There is still a conservative mentality in many parts of the system, reluctant to embrace the new, to innovate, to involve digital tools in education.
  7. Doctorate in free fall
    A fundamental problem in the current structure of university studies is that of doctoral studies in the Bologna System. It is designed as a continuation of university studies. The reality shows that, for various reasons, in particular because doctoral students are integrated into the labour market, the doctoral internship remains more of a wish, the full-time doctorate being, in fact, a doctorate without attendance. I have more than 25 years of experience as a PhD supervisor, I have supervised 51 PhD students who became PhDs, 14 of them in cotutelle with universities in France and Italy. I was until recently the director of a doctoral school and for more than 15 years I have been a member of the CNADTCU, 4 years as vice-chairman of the Council of this institution, so I hope I am aware of the evolution of this form of education.
    All over the world, PhD students and postdocs are the driving force behind research in universities, provided they work a minimum of 8 hours in research laboratories. Those of us who have worked or had PhD students in these universities know that the working hours are 9-10 hours a day and sometimes also on Saturdays or Sundays in “continuous fire” laboratories. This is only possible if they have a decent scholarship. It has been proven that this was also the case in our country during the period of the POSDRU European scholarships, when PhD students or post-docs had acceptable scholarships for all three years of study. We had 8 PhD students at that time, all of them finished in the best conditions and are now teachers. Unfortunately, this “miracle” did not last long either, as the failure rate of PhD students sometimes exceeds 50%. How can we imagine that a good bachelor and master graduate would want to do a doctorate with frequent, because there is no other form of master, without any scholarship (50%) or with a very small scholarship, compared to his offers of employment or doctorate in a foreign university, this even in the context that research is underfunded and most of the leaders no longer have research topics from which they could fund doctoral students. One solution for very good PhD students would be to employ them, by some artifice, as fixed-term assistants, but the high teaching load, which takes up a lot of their time at the beginning of the course, means that they delay the completion of their thesis.
    In France, PhDs get a government grant of 1450 (20% higher than the minimum wage) or 1800 euros, which is paid half by the government and half by the business sector. The doctoral topic is chosen by mutual agreement between the university and the economic agent, which has the advantage that, on the one hand, it solves a technical problem and, on the other hand, at the end of three years it has a well-trained doctor of science.
    There is only one solution – adequate funding for doctoral fellowships and the relaunch of research.
  8. Teachers – the disappearance of assistants
    Under the provisions of the current education law, which requires a doctoral degree for access to the teaching career, difficulties arise with regard to the position of university assistant. People with a doctorate are of an age at which they aspire to a higher teaching degree. The crisis in the position of academic assistant is causing problems in teaching and research. One solution could be that in France, where there are no longer titles of assistant and lecturer/chief of thesis, and after completing the doctorate a young person is directly employed by national competition as a lecturer, and the post of professor has several grades, with the application, laboratory and project classes being largely held by doctoral students.
  9. The bureaucratisation of education
    Bureaucratisation is not only a feature of education, but those who have had or have had senior positions in education know how many thousands of man-hours are wasted on often useless reporting. Funding and assessment in education is mainly based on numbers/counts, which does not encourage quality. And often these figures do not reflect reality either. For example, the number of places financed by the state budget remains practically unchanged, while the population is decreasing demographically, the number of high school graduates is decreasing, many are going abroad! Why wouldn’t these figures decrease and increase individual funding? This would obviously increase competition, hence quality! Why do we have to report a lot and with questionable quality? ARACIS, for example, requires for accreditation a lot of information, often useless to assess the quality of a study programme by real specialists. The funding system is also unnecessarily complicated, asking for dozens of pieces of data for a funding difference of a few percent. And the system of rules for habilitation and promotion are also riddled with figures, from which we should reveal the quality of candidates. But the evolution over time of those appointed as doctoral supervisors, lecturers or professors shows us that sometimes numbers can be deceiving. How did the teachers of the period between the two world wars, but also our teachers, manage to choose their team of collaborators without analysing too many figures, but by knowing the professional training of the candidates and their ethical and character qualities? Most of the time they were not wrong and so they created great teaching and research schools.
  10. The need for a modern law
    A new education law is needed, a modern, up-to-date, European law that responds to the reality of education and research today, to the demands of quality, efficient and competitive education, to developments in knowledge and technology, to the needs of the socio-economic environment and societal requirements.
  11. Funding education and research
    Education and research remain under-funded areas. The 6% of GDP target set by law, which declares education a national priority, remains a distant horizon. In terms of funding, the worst situation is in research. Research is still an under-funded field, which undermines its chances to develop, to achieve notable results, to become internationally relevant. It is a question of political will and I am convinced that this is the only way Romania can become a country with a competitive economy and a truly European standard of living.
  12. The position of Romanian universities in international rankings
    An important problem of Romanian university education is the low ranking of many Romanian universities in major international rankings. The situation is explained by the insufficient level of scientific research carried out in higher education institutions, research results being an essential criterion in their evaluation and ranking in international rankings. A relatively short-term solution would be to group universities into larger structures. This method has been used by the great schools of Paris or the INSA engineering schools. A Consortium: Wouldn’t the Polytechnic University of Bucharest, the Technical University of Construction, the University of Architecture, the University of Oil and Gas and the University of Medicine and Pharmacy and the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine be in a much better position in the university rankings? I am convinced that it would bring other advantages to these universities without essentially eroding their identity.
  13. Youth migration, loss of human resources
    The exodus of talented young people – students, graduates, PhDs, researchers, professionals – is creating a serious shortage of qualified human resources in academic education, scientific research and professional fields. The brain drain phenomenon, although natural in certain limits, present in other countries, but carried out to a large extent in our country, affects the field of scientific research and, at a broader level, the development of the country. Measures are needed to create an attractive framework for integrating young people with potential into research and professional scenarios in Romania.

AOSR DEBATES – EDITION III – Good governance and resilience to hybrid threats

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AOSR DEBATES – EDITION III – Good governance and resilience to hybrid threats

On 22 November 2017, in the Marble Hall of the National Military Circle, took place the debate “GOOD GOVERNANCE AND RESILIENCE AGAINST HYBRID THREATS – A PRIORITY AT NATIONAL LEVEL”, under the auspices of the Academy of Romanian Scientists. The debate was attended by representatives of the Presidential Administration, the Government and the Romanian Parliament, political leaders and decision-makers, specialists in the field of military science, experts in governance and defence policy, members of the academic world, scientific researchers, representatives of civil society, academics and students. The meeting thus brought together qualified participants with expertise in the fields under discussion, authorities and decision-makers, which created the necessary conditions for an event with a pronounced specialist character. The debate was organised by the Academy of Romanian Scientists through the Military Sciences Section.

Through the debate Good Governance, a way to increase resilience to hybrid threats, AOSR has launched in the public environment, for reflection, analysis and qualified action, a topic of exceptional importance for the Romanian state and for Romanian society as a whole. The importance of the topic is obvious nowadays, against the background of international developments in Europe, the Middle East, the Far East and other regions of the world, in an era marked by tensions, instability, secessionist tendencies, frozen or ongoing conflicts, migration, wars, terrorism and serious threats to the security of states and global peace and security. The means involved in these critical phenomena today involve a great diversity in relation to traditional approaches – this diversity includes the processes of influence, information intoxication, discrediting, manipulation, etc. -, leading to concepts and phrases such as “hybrid warfare”, “hybrid threats”, etc.

New strategies and methods, the variety of means that are used in today’s offensive processes and acts of aggression pose new challenges to states, their national security, international relations and peace. Against the backdrop of all these developments in today’s world, taking into account its geographical location, proximity to conflict zones, points of potential conflict, geo-strategic, historical, political and economic data that define it, Romania must assess its vulnerabilities and external and internal threats in order to increase its resilience to potential risks and ensure national security. Under these circumstances, resilience and national security must be, more than ever, an absolute priority of any governance, which calls for strategies, initiatives and synergistic actions at the level of state institutions.

Within an overall framework of broad thematic coverage, the debate on Good Governance as a way to increase resilience to hybrid threats prioritised the following points:
– Hybrid aggression physiognomy;
– Increasing national resilience to the full spectrum of threats;
– The specific components and directions of good governance;
– The relationship between good governance and national resilience;
– Reducing social system vulnerabilities and increasing resilience;
– The importance of security culture for increasing resilience.

The event was opened by Prof. Dr. Eng. Adrian Badea, President of the Academy of Romanian Scientists and initiator of the “AOSR Debates” project, who revealed the importance of the topic in the current geopolitical framework, defined by tensions and conflicts, in a world marked by violence, military aggression, wars and terrorism. The theme and the realities defined by it, namely hybrid threats, are of particular importance for Romania, which is located in a highly sensitive geographical and geo-political area, with developments that entail a series of risks and vulnerabilities. Resilience and national security, Professor Badea stressed, must therefore be a priority objective of state institutions, a permanent concern of theirs in the context of regional and global instability, the diversification of means of influence and the paradigm shift in the conduct of international relations and conflicts.

The discussions were moderated by Gen. (r) Prof. Teodor Frunzeti, President of the Military Sciences Section of the Academy of Romanian Scientists, who proposed the theme of the debate and coordinated the organization of the event. The debate was structured in alternating sessions of lectures and dialogue between participants, during which questions and opinions were formulated.

The lecture session included a series of substantial presentations by decision-makers in the state apparatus and authority representatives in the fields covered by the theme of the meeting:
– Ion Oprișor, Presidential Adviser, Head of National Security Department – Presidential Administration;
– Roberta Alma Anastase, MP – Vice-Chairwoman of the European Affairs Committee of the Chamber of Deputies;
– Raed Arafat, State Secretary – Ministry of the Interior;
– General Nicolae-Ionel Ciucă, Chief of Defence Staff – Ministry of National Defence;
– Gen. Ionel Sorinel Vasilca, Director – Special Telecommunications Service;
– Chief Superintendent of Police Cristian Stoica, Director, Directorate of Immigration – General Inspectorate for Immigration;
– Alexandru Cumpănașu – President of the National Coalition for the Modernization of Romania;
– Conf. Dr. Adi Mustață – “Carol I” National Defence University (Good governance through evidence-based decisions. The case of behavioural economics);
– Conf. Dr. Aliodor Manolea (Ways to increase resilience to the hybrid threats of Transcendent Warfare – Transpersonal Warfare);
– Gen. Prof. Dr. Constantin Mincu, Full Member of AOSR (Good Governance and Defence of the Country 1990-2017);
– Gen. Prof. Dr. Anghel Andreescu, Full Member of AOSR (Good Governance, the sure solution for progress in Romania);
– Col. Dr. Eugen Siteanu, Corresponding Member AOSR (Good Governance and Countering Hybrid Threats);
– Col. Dr. Anatol Munteanu, AOSR Associate Member (Conflicts and Hybrid War in Transnistria).

The interventions of the participants analysed, from specific positions, the phenomenon of hybrid threats, how they involve Romania’s security and stability, presented the strategies, measures and initiatives implemented to counter the threats and to ensure the country’s security and put forward a series of proposals to address the field, at conceptual, political and practical levels. Beyond the diversity of perspectives in analysing the phenomenon, the opinions expressed were convergent in the idea of the need and priority of increasing resilience to hybrid threats through good governance, itself a national necessity.

By concentrating the participation of decision-makers, experts and specialists in the field, academics from higher education (National Defence University “Carol I”) and scientific researchers, the debate Good governance, a way to increase resilience to hybrid threats was conducted at an academic and highly expert level. The positions, ideas, initiatives and proposals formulated during the debate will be summarised in a final document, which will contain the main conclusions of the meeting and will be submitted to the state institutions. The papers presented will be published in the scientific journal of the Military Section of the Academy of Romanian Scientists.

The event is part of the “AOSR DEBATES” Project, initiated by the Academy of Romanian Scientists in 2017, through which the institution aims to hold a series of meetings and discussions, with the participation of policy makers, decision makers, representatives of academic and educational environments, scientists, researchers, experts, specialists, students, members of civil society, etc., on topics of priority interest for Romania today and for the future of the country. Through the “AOSR Debates” project, the organizing institution intends to constitute an agora of public and academic personalities, of representatives of Romanian society in its diversity, a space for dialogue on major issues, ideas and solutions and, last but not least, a framework for dialogue between generations. The fundamental objective of the Project is to create an academic, scientific, cultural and civic forum in which to identify and promote solutions for the development and affirmation of Romania in the European Union and the world.

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