"We appreciate the initiative of Professor Constantinescu, the President of the Academy of Cultural Diplomacy of Berlin and member of the World Academy of Art and Science board, of promoting the project of an institute dedicated to the culture and civilisation of the Levant, that could contribute to the a new culture of peace intermediated by a scientific and cultural forum.
The geographic, historical and cultural area of the Levant, i.e. the zone situated on the Eastern Mediterranean shores and of the Black Sea, in the Middle East, the Caucasus and the Balkans constitute an unparalleled space in the distant and more recent past of Eurasia, the place where a multitude of cultural innovations have originated ever since the so-called 'Neolithic Revolution'. It is the birthplace of the great Brahmanic religions as well as of arts; it is the historical place where politics and its corollary – democracy – were invented; the great Assyrian, Babylonian, Egyptian, Byzantine, Greek and Ottoman civilisations came to life and flourished in this part of the world.
The historical interest in the study of this unique space of the past is now associated with the special geopolitical interest it has for our present and immediate future; the peace of the world and the perspective of a peaceful and creative future depend on it.
Therefore, we think that the creation of an intercultural forum of historical reflection and stimulation of cooperation is of utmost importance, now more than ever. Romania is excellently endowed with this vocation as a civilisation situated at the crossroads between the Levant and Europe; Romania has had a long practice of negotiating the raw points between the two large cultural areas but without oppression and conflict on her part that might burden her mission".
February, 2017
Academician Ionel Valentin Vlad
President of the Romanian Academy 2014 – 2017
Member of the World Academy of Art and Science
Acad. Ionel Valentin Vlad is the author of the first solid active medium laser in Romania made in 1968 and the founder of the Holography Laboratory from the Atomics Institute of Bucharest. His results in the research of holography, optical processing of information, non-linear optics, quantum optics, nanophotonics and laser measuring instruments have been presented in hundreds of works, are part of 3 patented inventions, one of which was licensed in the USA. Acad. Ionel Valentin Vlad is the founder of School for Advanced Studies under the auspices of the Romanian Academy (SCOSAAR); the school has a structure compatible with other doctoral schools in Europe. He has also coordinated the evaluation of the academic research institutes and the academic strategy in correlation with the national development within the European programme ”Horison 2020”. As a professor, he was a visiting professor in several universities in Europe and in Latin America as well as in USA and Japan. He is member of the European Society of Physics European Society of Optics, of the International Society of Optical Engineering (SPIE – USA).
Academician Cristian Hera
President ad interim of the Romanian Academy December 2017 - Avril 2018
President of the Department for Agricultural and Silvicultural Sciences, Romania
Acad. Cristian Hera, specialised in agricultural chemistry, Ph.D. in agronomy and sciences is the honorary president of the Academy of Agricultural and Silvicultural Sciences, president of the International Centre for Fertilizers and consultant professor at the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest . One of the fields in which he has essentially contributed is the use of nuclear techniques in agricultural research. As an expert of the International Agency for Atomic Energy of Vienna, Austria (AIEA) , he has coordinated and supervised the activity of specialists in various countries in their research work in soil fertility, plant nutrition and use of fertilizers.
Academician Victor Voicu
Vice-president of the Romanian Academy
President of the Department of Medical Sciences of the Romanian Academy
Acad. Victor Voicu is the founder of the first Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology in the Romanian medical school, at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy ”Carol Davila” in Bucharest and the founder of a new discipline, psycho-pharmacology. His research work has been particularly in experimental and clinical pharmacology of antihypertensive and anti-arrhythmic drugs, a field in which he has obtained remarkable results and several patents. Acad. Victor Voicu has had an essential part in the formation of medical staff specialised in treating drug addiction and in the working out the drug legislation in Romania.
Academician 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.
Academician Eugen Simion
President of the Romanian Academy 1998 - 2006
President of the Department of Literature and Philology of the Romanian Academy
President of the National Foundation for Science and Arts
A prolific critic and consummate literature historian, professor at the Faculty of Letters in the University of Bucharest, coordinator of the General Dictionary of Romanian Literature, Acad. Eugen Simion is a member of the Romanian Writers’ Union, an honorary member of the Moldavian Academy of Sciences, of the Royal Academy of Sciences in Denmark, a corresponding member of the Academy of Moral Sciences and Politics in France.
Academician Mircea Dumitru
Minister of education 2016
Rector of the University in Bucharest
President of the European Society for Analytical Philosophy 2011 – 2014
Acad. Mircea Dumitru is specialised in philosophical logics, philosophy of language and the analytical metaphysics of modality. He teaches philosophical logics, symbolic logics, philosophy of language, metaphysics of modality, epistemology, philosophy of mind and conscience. He has publish over 50 articles on logics of modality, theories on truth, significance, rationality, Wittgenstein’s philosophy, contemporary logics, (Quine, Kripke, Kit Fine), realism, essentialism, relativism and has translated into Romanian several writings by Nozick, Nagel, Wittgenstein, Quine, Forbes, Kripke. His doctoral dissertations (at Tulane University -New Orleans, Louisiana - in 1998 and at the University of Bucharest) deal with modality and incompleteness and neo-fregeanism and neo-russellianism, respectively.
Academician Ioan Aurel Pop
President of the Romanian Academy
Rector of the Babeș-Bolyai Univertity of Cluj-Napoca
Prof. Ioan Aurel Pop, specialised in mediaeval history, mediaeval institutions and Latin paleography, is director and member of several national and international research projects, organiser and coordinator of international conferences and publishing projects that require the contribution of tens of specialists from Romania and abroad, editor of the Tulane University (New Orleans, Louisiana) since 1998, and author of several scientific works of great importance for the history of Romania, reality and myth with reference to the Romanian people.
Academician Maya Simionescu
Vice-president of the Romanian Academy 1998 - 2008
President of the Department for Biological Sciences of the Romanian Academy
Founder and director of the Institute for Biology and Cell Pathology ”Nicolae Simionescu”
Founder of this field in Romania and associate professor at Yale, Columbia (USA) and McGill University (Canada), acad. Maya Simionescu has authored over 500 articles published in famous revues and has been cited in literature over 6,500 times. At the beginning of her career she worked in the research laboratories of the Rockefeller Institute (USA) under George Emil Palade, the Nobel prize winner of 1974 for ”discoveries regarding the functional organisation of cell, that has had an essential role in the development of modern cell biology”. She is member of the American Society for Cell Biology, European Cell Biology Organization.
Academician Răzvan Theodorescu
President of the Department for Arts, Architecture, Radio and Televison of the Romanian Academy
Minister of Culture 2000 - 2004
Ambassador of the ”Alliance of Civilisations” for Romania
Historian Răzvan Theodorescu, professor at the University of Arts in Bucharest has written tens of articles and books on Romanian and European Arts, published in revues in Romania and abroad. He is associated member of the Archeological Society of Athens, member of the Academy of Sciences in New York, and of the European Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters.
Dr. Nicolae Şerban Tanaşoca
Director of the Institute for Southeastern European Studies of the Romanian Academy
The late Nicolae Șerban Tănășoacă was specialised in Byzantine civilisation and remarkably contributed to the genesis of the Levant Project. He was present at the first reunion on this project, in May 2013 (the Levant, cradle of cultural diplomacy. Re-discovering the Mediterranean) and supported the project with his erudition and foresight. At the beginning of 2017, clearly understanding the project’s dual vocation, academic on the one hand and diplomatic on the other hand, he accepted to be part of the scientific committee. His demise on April, 07, 2017 is an irreparable loss not only for the scientific and cultural life of Romania but for all those involved in the Levant Project, too.
Professor Andrei Marga
President of the Romanian Cultural Institute 2012 - 2013
Minister for foreign affairs of Romania 2012
Minister of education 1997 - 2000
Rector of the Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca 1993 – 2004, 2008 - 2012
Professor Andrei Marga - Herder Prize winner – is specialized in history of modern and contemporary philosophy, philosophy of politics, philosophy of religion. Prof. Marga has initiated vast reforms in the Romanian educational system with the aim at hastening the integration of Romania in the educational system of Europe. Membership and affiliations: senior consultant for the international Network Confucius Institutes (Hanban Fundation, Beijin China), expert for Hochschulrektorenkonferenz (HRK,Germany) and Agenzia per la Valutazione e la Promozione della Qualità delle Facoltà Ecclesiastiche (Vatican), vice-president of CEPES – UNESCO Council, member of the Higher Education and Research Committee, the Council of Europe, Strasburg.
Professor Remus Pricopie
Minister of Education 2012 - 2014
Rector of the National University for Political and Administrative Sciences
Member of World Academy of Art and Science
Professor Remus Pricopie graduated from University George Washington in Advanced Studies in International Educational Politics . Five years later, i. e. 2009, as a student with exceptional merits he was awarded the Fulbright Alumni Prize for the month of March by the USA State Department. He also has a Certificate in management and leadership in education, awarded by the Harvard University. Professor Pricopie is 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 – Viena
Professor Adrian Curaj
Minister of Education 2015 - 2016
General Manager of the Executive Unit for the financing of Higher Educational System, Research, Development and Innovation
Head of the UNESCO Department for Policies in Science and Innovation at the National University for Political and Administrative Studies (SNSPA)
Professor Curaj teaches at the Faculty of Automatic Control and Computers, Politechnical University of Bucharest; he is a member of the Romanian National Commission for UNESCO, member of ARCOR (Romanian Association for the Rome Club), of the Board of the USA Fulbright Commission in Romania, Romania’s representative in the monitoring group in the Bologna Follow-Up Group. He is also coordinator, expert or consultant in various research, or development projects financed by the International Bank, UNESCO, UNIDO, European Training Foundation and the European Commission for Higher Education.
Dan Petre
General director of the Romanian Diplomatic Institute
Secretary of State for Global Affairs in the Ministry for Foreign Affaires
A graduate of the History and Philosophy Faculty of Bucharest University, of the École des Hautes Études en Science Sociales in Paris, visiting research fellow with the School of European Studies of Sussex University, UK, and with Université Libre de Bruxelles, Dan Petre taught at Bucharest University – the Faculty of Political Science, and the International Relations and European Studies section of the Faculty of Letters, and was a guest lecturer at the National Defense University – College of Multinational Operations and College of National Defense. He was senior research fellow of the Romanian Diplomatic Institute, where he gave many lectures. His main expertise area being Theory of International relations, Geopolitics and Strategic Studies, and he also practiced and thought about Black Sea area, South East Europe and Middle East.
Radu Boroianu
Director of the Romanian Cultural Institute 2015 - 2017
Secretary of State in the Ministry of Culture 1991 – 1992, 2013 - 2014
Secretary of State for French-speaking countries and official representative in the OIF Council for the president of Romania, 2005
Romania’s ambassador on Switzerland 1997 - 2001
Minister delegate for Public Information 1997
Stage director, member of the Theater Association, of UNITER (Theatre Union of Romania), honorary president of the Association for the Promotion of Contemporary Visual Arts, Radu Boroianu is the founder of the Romanian Association Art Tradesmen (ACOAR) co-founder of the Artmark Auction House and of the Art Society and Point Contemporary Galleries, member of CINOA ( International Federation of Dealer Associations).
Professor Daniel Barbu
Minister of Culture 2012 - 2013
Dean of the Faculty of Political Sciences in the University of Bucharest, 1994 – 2000, 2002 – 2004
Ph.D. in history, philosophy and theology, Daniel Barbu has been „ricercatore invitato” at Pontificio Instituto Orientale of Rome, Fulbright grantee at Jackson State University, visiting professor at École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales of Paris, National University of Athens, University of Pittsburgh, Central European University of Budapest, Institutes for Political Studies of Bordeaux and Aix-en-Provence. He has published 12 books and over 120 studies/papers in volumes published in Romania and abroad, in specialised revues in Romania and other countries.
Associate Professor Puiu Haşotti
Minister of Culture 2012
Vice-president of the Senate 2004 - 2005
Vive-president of the Chamber of Deputies 2002 - 2005
Associate professor at the Faculty of History, University Ovid at Constantza
Assoc. prof Puiu Hașoti is specialised in pre-historical archeology and has written several books, articles and studies published in Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Italy and France. He is honorary president of the Association for the Promotion of Cultural Heritage and Experimental Archeology, ARCHEX.
Academician Nicolae Anastasiu
Director of the Doctoral School of Geology 2005 - 2008
Official representative of Romania in the Commission of International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS)
Grigore Cobălcescu Prize winner, awarded by the Romanian Academy, member of the Romanian Geological Society, of the Society of Mineralogy and Petrography of the Medium, ”Ludovic Mrazec”, of the International Association of Sedimentologists, of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG). He has had a vast scientific activity, stages of specialisation, documentation and geological practice in France, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, USA, Canada, Australia, Chile, China and Japan; ha has written over 150 articles and studies published in Romania and abroad. He has a great contribution in the evaluation of Romania’s potential regarding shale gas; he has also organised several conferences and post-academic courses.
Tudor Berza, D. Sc./Ph. D
Associate member of the Romanian Academy
Dr. Tudor Berza is specialised in magmatic and metamorphic petrology and a winner of the Grigore Cobălcescu Prize awarded by the Romanian Academy and a member of the Romanian and Serbian Geological Societies. He has published hundreds of research reports, articles, geological guides and participated in the working out of the geological map of Romania. He is Romania’s official in the Commission of metamorphism of the Geological Association for the Carpathians and the Balkans; he is also part of the International Commission for the Denomination of Metamorphic Rocks – part of IUGG – UNESCO. He delivered courses in the universities of Tübingen, München, Salzburg, Clausthal, Hanover, Köln, Basel, Paris VI, Liège, Brussels and Belgrade . He is on the editorial board of the following revues: Geological Research and “Revue Roumaine de Géologie” , published under the auspices of the Romanian Academy.
Professor Romulus Brâncoveanu
Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest
Chair holder of the UNESCO Department for Intercultural and inter-religious exchanges
Ph. D since 1996, his doctoral thesis was on the philosophy of social sciences; he is a consummate researcher in political philosophy, management of knowledge and the philosophy of education. As dean of the Faculty of Philosophy of Bucharest, Prof. Romulus Brâncoveanu coordinates all the curricula and research-work in the institution. He has also contributed to the so-called ”White Book” of the Romanian Educational System.
Professor Zoe Petre
Dean of the Faculty of History, University of Bucharest, 1990 – 1996
Prof. Zoe Petre was specialised in Roman and Greek history and supervised doctoral theses in history; she was associate professor at the École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (Paris), Centre „Louis Gernet” d’études comparées sur les sociétés anciennes al Universităţii „Jules Verne” of Amiens, visiting professor at the universities of Harvard și Cambridge (Massachusetts), visiting researcher at Columbia and New York Universities, Zoe Petre delivered lectures at the universities of Strasbourg, Lille, Amiens, Bruxelles, și Cambridge (UK). Prof. Petre was one of the initiators of the Levant project. Her unexpected demise on September, 01, 2017, has deprived the Institute of her exceptional contribution.
Professor Vlad Nistor
President of the Bucharest University Senate, 2012 - 2016
Dean of the Faculty of History 2004 - 2012
Director of the Romanian Diplomatic Institute 2005 - 2013
