The world post COVID-19 pandemic. A humanist vision for a sustainable development
Emil Constantinescu, Chairman of the Scientific Council
It is my pleasure to welcome you to the international conference on the ”Lessons of the Pandemic”, which is the closing event for 2020, for the online project “The world post COVID-19 pandemic. A humanist vision for a sustainable development”. Throughout this project, that the Institute for Advanced Studies in Levant Culture and Civilization launched in May 2020, the intention was to create a pattern of perspective on the global future in the aftermath of the pandemic.
The goal of the project was to gather contributions from as many fields of activity as possible: education, culture, scientific research, technological progress, natural resources and biodiversity, sociology, psychology, cultural diplomacy, ethics, civic responsibility, and leadership.
Through these contributions, the authors attempted to find answers to the questions that troubled us all – among them: What will our respective fields of activity look like after the end of the pandemic? Will there be a “new normal”? And if so, can we predict how “new” it will really be? What should each of us do to adapt to the new situation after the pandemic?
The contributions received thus far have all attempted to identify the principal issues plaguing every field of activity, seeking to provide solutions and recommendations for the global crisis’ aftermath. However, the pandemic is still ongoing; and our attempt to compile a collection of recommendations and visions on the post-COVID-19 world might, in hindsight, have been slightly rash.
Consequently, the present conference brings together several of the original contributors to the “What will the world look like after the pandemic?” platform, in an attempt to revisit the lessons the pandemic taught us. It is still too early to speak of lessons learned. Instead, we should focus on the problems we identified, and attempt to transform them in the most instructive of lessons.
Joining me today is Dr. Oana Brânda, whom most of you know, as she has been the contact person, and who is the project manager of ”The world post-COVID-19. A humanist vision for a sustainable development” project.
