Scientific Council

Chairman of the Scientific Council

Emil Constantinescu
Emeritus Professor, Honorary President of the Senate of the University of Bucharest
Member of the Board of Trustees of the World Academy of Art and Science, and of the Board of Directors of the World University Consortium
President of the Academy for Cultural Diplomacy in Berlin, 2011 – 2017
Founder and President of the Romanian Academic Forum, 2008 - present
Rector of the University of Bucharest, President the National Council of Rectors, 1992-1996

         Member and honorary member of several international academic fora: Bibliotheca  Alexandrina, Permanent Council of the International Organisation of La Francophonie, "National Geographic" Society , geological and mineralogical societies in US, UK, Japan, France, Greece and Germany.  He has delivered conferences of natural sciences  and humanities  at Oxford, Cambridge, Berkeley, Stanford, Harvard, Georgetown, Bloomington and New York (SUA), Tübingen, Augsburg, Munich and Karlsruhe (Germany), Sorbonne (France), Turku (Finland),  Carolina University  (Czech Republic),  Patras (Greece), Beijing (China),  Rio de Janeiro (Brasilia),  Catholic (Argentina), Sydney and Monash (Australia), Cairo and Alexandria (Egypt), Zagreb and Maribor (Croatia),  Warsaw and Krakow (Poland), Amsterdam and Maastricht (Netherlands), Nobel Institute (Norway) He has promoted the Initiative “Levant for Global Peace”, launched in May 2013 at Bucharest, in many valued international conferences and reunions: UN: “Global Summit” (New York, March 2014) UNESCO: „Global Summit (Paris, July 2014), „The World Alliance of Religions for Peace”, (Seul, September 2014), „ The Role of Inter-religious and Inter-cultural Dialogue in Today’s World” (Iran, May 2016), „International Symposium on Cultural Diplomacy in Arab World  - Political, Economic and Cultural Dimension” (Berlin, iulie 2016), UN:  „International Symposium on Cultural Diplomacy in the UN: Utilising Cultural Diplomacy to unite the World’s Cultures before Hard Power takes the Lead” (New York, Septembrie 2017).

Rightful members of the Scientific Council in accordance with Law no. 117/2017 governing the establishment of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Levant Culture and Civilization

Romanian members of the World Academy of Art and Science

Remus Pricopie
Rector of the National University of Political Studies and Public Administration
Minister of Education, 2012 – 2014
Member of the World Academy of Art and Science (WAAS)
President of The World University Consortium (WUC)

         Professor Remus Pricopieis a graduate of Advanced Studies in International Educational Politics at the “George Washington” University in Washington, D.C. Five years after his graduation, in 2009, he was awarded the Fulbright Alumni Prize for the month of March from the US State Department, a recognition of notable recipients of Fulbright scholarships that went on to achieve exceptional results. He was also awarded a Certificate of Management and Leadership in Education from Harvard University.
Professor Pricopie is the President of the Fulbright Commission Board in Romania, and of the Task Force on Fostering and Building Human Capital (FBHC) of the Regional Cooperation Council in Vienna; a member of the International Advisory Council of the South-Eastern European Research Centre; of the Administrative Council of Sheffield University, UK; of the Futures Commission of the Romanian Academy; of the Leadership Council of the Initiative for Educational Reform in South-Eastern Europe (Belgrade, Serbia);of the Intergovernmental Council of the International Programme for Communications Development (UNESCO, Paris); the Cooperation Council (Vienna); and is the Romanian representative to the European Quality Assurance Registrar – EQAR (Brussels, Belgium).
With a rich experience in the educational sector, prior to being appointed National Minister for Education professor Pricopie was a Senior Advisor to the Minister for Education (January-October 2009; December 2001 – June 2003); Minister-Adjunct for Education (Secretary of State for Higher Education, International Relations and the Formation of Teaching Staff, November 2007 – December 2008); Interim Minister for Education (May 2008); Secretary General (May– September 2001); Press Secretary of the Ministry of Education and Director of Public Communications (January – May 2001; July – October 1997); Head Expert, Department of Communications (October 1998 – January 2001); Expert at the Department for Higher Education and Research (February 1996 – July 1996).

Mircea Maliţa
Member of the Romanian Academy
Minister of Education 1970 – 1972
Founding President of the Black Sea University Foundation

         A mathematician and philosopher, an essayist, a specialist in art history, political scientist and diplomat, Mircea Malița can be regarded as a noteworthy proponent of interdisciplinary research. He was the first Romanian member of the Club of Madrid, and the co-founder of the European Cultural Centre. The Black Sea University Foundation he founded in 1992 falls under the aegis of the Romanian Academy and has set itself ambitious projects, with the primary goal of promoting, clarifying and studying the economies, societies, educational and governance systems within the Black Sea region. For Romania, the Black Sea is of multifaceted geostrategic, political and economic importance.

Ionel Haiduc
President of the Romanian Academy 2006 - 2014
Rector of the Babes- Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, 1990 – 1993

           Acad. Ionel Haiduc is a pioneer in the field of organometallic  chemistry, but his scientific activity is much larger and is best described as an interface between chemistry, biology and physics. His contributions in the fields of supra-molecular chemistry, the chemistry of inorganic cycles, biological activity of metal compounds (including anti-tumour activity), in the denomination and systematization of terms in inorganic chemistry are of paramount importance and can be found in the tens of books and hundreds of articles published in Romania and abroad.  He is a honorary member of The Moldavian and Hungarian Academies of Sciences, of the Academia Europaea, of the International Council of Main Group Chemists and Alliance of the Universities for Democracy and was visiting professor in USA, Brasil, Spain, Germany Mexico and Singapore.

Mugur Isărescu
Governor of the National Back of Romania
President of the Department of Economics, Sociology and Legal Sciences at the Romanian Academy

         Prior to becoming the Governor of the National Bank of Romania in September 1990, Mugur Isărescu had been a scientific researcher at the Institute of International Economics for 19 years. He is a member of the Club of Rome, an international organization comprised of scientists, economists, businesspeople, current and former heads of state. He is the President of the Romanian Association of the Club of Rome, as well as an associate member of the Royal Academy of Economics and Financial Sciences in Spain.

Ionel Valentin Vlad
President of the Romanian Academy 2014 – 2017

        Academician Ionel Valentin Vlad devised the first solid active medium laser in Romania, and founded the Holographics Laboratory at the Bucharest Institute of Atomic Physics. The results of his research in the field of holographics, the optical processing of information, non-linear optics, quantum optics, nanophotonics and laser measurement instruments have been presented across hundreds of scientific works, and gained three invention patents of which one was awarded in the United States. Ionel Valentin Vlad established the Romanian Academy’s School of Advanced Studies (SCOSAAR), whose organizational structure is compatible with European doctoral schools. He coordinated the evaluation of the Academy’s research institutes, and helped elaborate the Academy’s overall Research Strategy, in close correlation with the National Strategy for Research, Development and Innovation and with the “Horizon 2020” European research programme. An associate professor of the Faculty of Physics at the University of Bucharest, Ionel Valentin Vlad was a visiting professor and lecturer in universities across Europe, the United States, Japan and Latin America. He was a member of the American Optics Society, the European Optics Society, the International Society of Optical Engineering (SPIE – United States). The loss of such a remarkable personality in December 2017 constitutes an irredeemable loss for Romanian culture and science.

Adrian Curaj
Minister of Education 2016
General Director of the Executive Unit for Financing Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation (UEFISCDI)

          A Professor at the Faculty of Automatic Control and Computers of the Polytechnic University of Bucharest, Adrian Curaj is a member of the Romanian National Commission for UNESCO, a member of ARCOR (the Romanian Association of the Club of Rome), a member of the Board of the US Fulbright Commission in Romania, as well as the Romanian representative to the Bologna Follow-Up Group. Adrian Curaj is, moreover, a project coordinator, expert and/or consultant in various research and development projects financed by the World Bank, UNESCO, UNIDO, the European Training Foundation (ETF) and the European Commission for Higher Education.

Members of the World Academy of Art and Science, nominated by the World Academy’s Board of Trustees

Garry Jacobs
CEO at World Academy of Art and Science

         A writer, researcher and consultant in the fields of business management, socioeconomic development and global governance, Garry Jacobs is the Executive Director of the International Centre for Peace and Development in Napa, California, and a member of the Club of Rome. Before his appointment as CEO of the World Academy of Art and Science, he coordinated the WAAS’ project on the Global Employment Challenge. In collaboration with Ivo Šlaus, he developed the Human Economic Welfare Index, an alternative measurement to GDP.

Alberto Zucconi
Chairman of the World Academy’s Board of Trustees
President of the Institute for a Person-Centred Approace (IPCA), Italy

         Alberto Zucconi has worked as a trainer, lecturer and consultant for public and private organizations at the international level, and is currently a Postgraduate Professor at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Siena (Italy). He has authored several articles and volumes on psychology, psychotherapy and the promotion of health, and initiated and led numerous research projects. Dr. Zucconi is a Fellow of the International Leadership Forum (ILF).

Nebojša Nešković
Secretary General of the World Academy of Art and Science 2013-2018
Head of the TESLA Project 1997-2007
Chairman of the Serbian Association of the Club of Rome

         Professor Nebojša Nešković specializes in the field of particle accelerator technologies. His undergraduate studies in physical engineering and his PhD in theoretical physics from the University of Belgrade were enhanced by postdoctoral studies at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, United States. He has held various positions within the Vinča Institute for Nuclear Sciences in Belgrade. The TESLA project he coordinated represents an innovation in the field of accelerator technology, essential to both the general sciences and, in particular, to medicine. The TESLA Scientific Centre brought together 15 educational and scientific institutions in Central and South-Eastern Europe under Professor Nešković’s leadership.
Alongside his professional experience, Professor Nešković also cultivated an impressive academic career, becoming a member of the Serbian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, and of the Scientific Council of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia.

Thomas Reuter
University of Melbourne
Member of the Board of Trustees of the World Academy of Art and Science (WAAS)

         Professor Reuter is an anthropologist at the University of Melbourne, whose research focuses on transformative social changes and sustainability in Asia and beyond. He is a member of the World Academy’s Board of Trustees, the former chair of the Global Council of Antropological Associations and a former executive member of the International Scientific Council. A frequent advisor to international organisations and national governments, Professor Reuter has published 15 books as well as over 150 articles.

Fadwa El Guindi
Member of the Board of Trustees of the World Academy of Art and Science (WAAS)

           Professor Fadwa El Guindi, UCLA, is a former Distinguished Professor at University of Qatar. She holds a PhD in 4-field anthropology from the University of Austin, Texas (1972). El Guindi joined the Social Research Center (AUC) and its research team on the Nubian Research Project, financed by the Ford Foundation. She resigned her position with the SRC in order to accept her first faculty position at UCLA. Her fieldwork experience spans three cultural regions: Nubia, the Zapotec, and the Arabian Gulf. She has published 8 academic volumes, 3 award-winning visual ethnographies and over than 140 research articles, many in prestigious scientific journals. Her expertise on the Middle East brought her to the Clinton White House, and she frequently gave lectures to diplomats assigned to the Middle East at the Foreign Service Institute of the US State Department. Professor El Guindi has received many awards and honors for her research activity.

President of the Romanian Academy

Ioan Aurel Pop
Professor at the Department of Medieval, Pre-Modern and Art History at the University of Bucharest

         Specializing in medieval history, medieval institutions and Latin palaeography, Professor Ioan Aurel Pop is the director and member of several collective national and international research projects, the coordinator and organizer of multiple international conferences and editorial projects involving tens of researchers from Romania and abroad, the editor of the Transylvanian Review publication and the author of several seminal scientific works on the history, reality and myths of the Romanian people.

The Rector of the University of Bucharest

Marian Preda
Dean of the Faculty of Sociology and Social Services (2008-2015)
Chairman of the Romanian Society of Sociologists (2010-2012)
Director of the Human Resources, Management and Marketing Research Centre (2008-present)
Chairman of the Presidential Commission for Social and Demographic Risk Analysis (2009-2010)

         A university professor and sociologist, since 1990 Marian Preda has worked closely with the University of Bucharest. He entered the leadership body of the University’s Faculty of Sociology and Social Services first as pro-dean (2000-2008) and later as dean (2008-2015). He was the President of the University Senate between 2015-2019. Marian Preda is part of the first cohort of sociology students to graduate after the Romanian Revolution of 1989, and holds two Masters degrees – one, in social policies, from the University of Bucharest, and the other, in Business Administration, from Tiffin University, United States, in 2006. He has undertaken several professional formation courses abroad, including at the Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge and a Fulbright scholarship at the George Washington University.
In the past 25 years, in parallel with his academic career, Marian Preda has acted as manager, consultant or expert in numerous nationally and internationally-funded projects, collaborating with organizations such as the United Nations – in particular, with UNICEF and UNDP –, the World Bank, Bernard Brunhes International (BBI) and the European Commission, through the PHARE and POS-DRU programmes. He was the Chair of the Presidential Commission for Social and Demographic Risk Analysis (2009-2010), the Chair of the Romanian Society of Sociologists (2010-2012), of the National Statistics Council at the National Institute for Statistics (2016-2018, 2018-2020). The author or co-author of 26 volumes (of which two as sole author, and five as principal author or coordinator), Marian Preda has also published numerous scientific articles in respected journals.
He was elected Rector of the University of Bucharest in December 2019.

The Rector of the “Babeș-Bolyai” University of Cluj-Napoca

Daniel David
Professor of Clinical Cognitive Sciences at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences
Vice-president of the National Council for Scientific Research and Higher Education
President and Executive Director of the International Institute for the Advanced Studies of Psychotherapy and Applied Mental Health, a centre of excellence in research at the “Babeș-Bolyai” University of Cluj-Napoca
Chairman of the Romanian Association of Psychologists
Professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, USA
Director of Research at the Albert Ellis Institute, New York, USA

         With a PhD in psychology earned in 1999 and numerous postdoctoral programmes and professional development projects in clinical psychology and psychotherapy at the University of Tennessee and New York State University, Daniel David became a university professor at 34, introducing a series of modern disciplines and concepts to the repertoire of Romanian psychology, such as psychodiagnostics and scientifically-validated psychotherapy, evolutionary psychology and genetic counselling.
In 2009, Daniel David founded the Journal of Cognitive and Behavioural Psychotherapies, and has been an associate editor of the Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, the journal of the Albert Ellis Institute, since 2013. He is also an associate editor of the American Psychologists’ Association’s Psychology of Constiousness: Theory, Research and Practice journal, and of the Journal of Articles in Support of the Null Hypothesis.
Since 2009, Daniel David has been Romania’s representative to the European Foundation for Science, as a member of its Humanities and Social Sciences Board. For exceptional merit in research, he was awarded the „In Hoc Signo Vinces” award by the National Council of Scientific Research in Higher Education in Romania, as well as the Henry Guze Award for best research in the clinical field in 2003, from the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, USA. He is decorated with the Romanian National Order of Merit to the rank of Knight.
Professor Daniel David was elected the Rector of the “Babeș-Bolyai” University in Cluj-Napoca in May of 2020.

The Rector of the “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași

Tudorel Toader
Professor, Faculty of Law
Minister of Justice (2017-2019)
Justice of the Constitutional Court of Romania (2006-2016)

         Tudorel Toader graduated with the highest honours in his cohort from the Faculty of Law at the “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University. With a PhD in legal sciences, specializing in penal process law, Tudorel Toader has climbed every rung of the ladder to a university professorship, beginning with his first position as a teaching assistant in 1990. Throughout his career, he has taught criminology, as well as both Romanian and European penal law. The Dean of the Faculty of Law between 2004 and 2016 and the Director of the university’s Doctoral School from 2005 to 2016, Tudorel Toader was elected Rector of the “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași in the latter year.
He is a member of the Scientific Council of the National Magistrate Institute, of the International Association of Penal Law, of the Steering Committee of the Romanian Association of Penal Sciences, the Romanian Association of Constitutional Law, of the Scientific Council of the “Acad. Andrei Rădulescu” Institute for Judicial Research and of the National Agency for Scientific Research. He is, moreover, one of the two Romanian members of the Venice Commission. Tudorel Toader is a member of the editorial boards of numerous legal publications, and has published many authored works on penal law.

Members appointed at the proposal of the President of the Scientific Council

Vlad Nistor
President of the Romanian Institute of Archaeology, Athens, 2016-present
President of the Senate of the University of Bucharest 2012-2016
Dean of the Faculty of History 2004-2012
General Director of the Romanian Diplomatic Institute (2005-2010, 2012)

       Specializing in ancient history and archaeology, Professor Vlad Nistor has given lectures at the French Institute for Oriental Archaeology (Institute Francais d’Archeologie Orientale, Cairo), the Fondation Hardt pour L'Encouragement des Etudes Classiques (the Hardt Foundation for the Encouragement of Classical studies), Vandoeuvres (Geneva), the École Francaise d'Archeologie d'Athene (French School of Archaeology in Athens), the Departament des Sciences de l'Antiquite de l'Universite de Lausanne (Department of Ancient Sciences, University of Lausanne), the Departament for British and Comparative Cultural Studies at the University of Warwick and the Romisch- Germanischen Kommission, Frankfurt-am-Main. He is the author and co-author of 12 books.

Radu Boroianu
President of the Romanian Cultural Institute 2015 - 2017
Secretary of State for the Ministry of Culture 1991 - 1992, 2013 - 2014

       A director and a member of the Romanian Theatrical Association and of UNITER (the Romanian Theatre Union), the honorary President of the Association for the Promotion of Contemporary Visual Arts, Radu Boroianu is the founder of the Romanian Association of Art Dealers (ACOAR) and the co-founder of the ArtMark Auction House and of the Art Society and Point Contemporary Galleries. Radu Boroianu is a member of CINOA, the International Federation of Art Dealer Associations. He was the Secretary of State for the Ministry of Culture between 1991 and 1992, and 2013 – 2014; the Secretary of State for Francophone countries and the official representative of the President of Romania to the OIF Council (2005). Radu Boroianu was also Romania’s Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to the Swiss Confederation (1997-2000) and a Minister-Delegate for Public Information (1997).