9th International Summer School of the European PhD on
Social Representations & Communication
" Communication Studies and Social Representations:
a Theoretical and Metodological Dialogue through Research"
Colonna Castle, Genazzano - Rome (ITALY), 7-16 June 2003
Dear Participants,
Welcome to the 9th International Summer School of
the European Ph.D.
on Social Representations and Communication
No way! The 9th International Summer School is finally starting.
The time for preparation is definitively over. We cannot do any more or better to prepare for the event, which represents the central, bright star of our European Ph.D. programme and requires the efforts of all its academic and administrative staff for the entire year.
Inspired by this metaphor of the solar system, it is a pleasure, not just a required ritual, to begin this year by thanking all the planets which – entering into the system or moving around it - have made the realisation of the 9th edition of the International Summer School possible.
First of all, I would like to express my pleasure in welcoming all those taking part in this event Without you, no effort in logistical planning, seeking financing, or management would be ever enough to transform the project into action:
· 45 participants, competitively recruited among a wide number of applicants, including:
· 18 research trainees enrolled into the European Ph.D. programme;
· 14 European Ph.D. Marie Curie fellows;
· 27 research trainees enrolled into other doctoral programmes in social sciences, mainly in social psychology;
· 9 guest professors from outside and inside the European Ph.D. network, including leading experts from various continents in multidisciplinary fields with different traditions, such as cultural psychology, experimental psychology, organisational and communication studies that maintain a constructive dialogue with social psychology.
A special thanks to the the Dean of the Faculty of Psychology 2, Prof. Francesco Avallone, who not only has accepted to formally represent the co-ordinating and hosting University of Rome La Sapienza, but also to play a double role as a guest speaker and give a lecture in the opening work session.
Because science also needs money guided by competitive policies to improve – I would like to express my deep and sincere gratitude to:
· the European Union DG Research, represented here by Mrs. Brigitte Hasewend, which approved the new multi-year cycle of the International Summer School within the High Level Scientific Events programme, integrating support already provided by other EU programmes for the participation of the Euro Ph.D. Marie Curie Fellows. In fact, the EU DG-Research designated the European Ph.D. on Social Representations and Communication as a Marie Curie Training Site. It is the only European network in the field of social psychology accredited, since the first announcement for the programme (2000), to deliver European doctoral training and to offer substantial financial support for the “stage” abroad, not only to participants admitted in our Euro Ph.D. programme, but also to a select number of other young researchers enrolled in their own national doctoral programme outside the network. Mrs. Brigitte Hasewend kindly proposed to introduce the participants into the European policy launched within the 6th framework programme. I welcomed her intervention, since I am ever more convinced that to become a good scientist in the new cultural arena, it is absolutely necessary to learn both how to do research through international co-operation and how to deal competitively with resource management on a global scale;
· the University of Rome "La Sapienza" - Co-ordinator of the European Doctorate on Social Representations and Communication, which in previous years co-funded the Socrates programmes approved by the European Union DG Education and Culture and the Internationalisation programme approved by the Italian Ministry for Scientific Research (MIUR);
· the Italian Ministry for Scientific Research (MIUR), which approved theInnovative Actions for developing the European Doctorate on Social Representations and Communicationsince its announcement of its programme aimed at the Internationalisation of the Italian University system;
· the French-Italian Ministries for Scientific Research which recently approved our European Ph.D. within the Vinci programme aimed at building the French-Italian University.
As space and human resources are no less important than money, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Mayor of Genazzano, Dr. Margherita Coluccini, who along with the Rector of "La Sapienza" University – agreed to host the European Ph.D. programme and its related activities tat the Castello Colonna. I also would like to thank the local staff that the Mayor kindly assigned to the task, in particular Councillor Ciprotti, Mr. D’Attilia, and Ms. Angelucci for welcoming for the second year the International Summer School at the magnificent Castello Colonna.
In conclusion, I must not forget to express my gratitude to the Euro Ph.D. staff,that although engaged with our own financial resources, invests an immense amount of effort each year to organise the events in co-operation with Department 's administrative staff (led by Dr. Filomena Tarantino):
· Dr. Zoe De Smet (Scientific Secretary), Dr. Deborah Park (English translator), Dr Stefania Occhio (Administrative Accountant), Dr. Patrizio Bellafiore (Computer and Video Technician), Marco Meloni (Web master for the Euro Ph.D. site), as well as Dr. Mariangela Dimola (Full time Research Assistant dedicated , in co-operation with Dr. Maria Libera d’Ambrosio, to the intermediate co-ordination of the trans-national research team working on the meta-analysis of the S.R. literature and to the creation of the virtual library), Sara Saurini (assistant for the long term preparation of the event).
All of them admirably and skillfully in executed the very complex work goals set both within my office at the Faculty and at the new multi-media lab located in the heart of Rome.
Among the unremunerated people who each day provide me with great support, I cannot forget to officially thank my son, Massimiliano, for the dynamic impulse and the great expertise he dedicates in both visible and invisible ways to guarantee the efficiency of our multi-media lab and his constant contributions aimed at updating and improving our web site and computer skills.
After these expressions of gratitude, I would like to say a few words about the character and the structure of the scientific event’s’ programme.
When you glance at a list of researchers accepted into the program, the international, multicultural and multilingual composition of the participants leaps out off the page. They come from a wide range of different Universities and nationalities, (34 from the European Union, 10 from other European countries and 1 from North America). Then you see the rich teaching faculty, including professors from Universities and research centres spread over 5 European countries (Finland, France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland) and outside Europe (U.S.A.).
As you can see by reading the thematic organisation of the parallel workshops and the programme didactic materials provided, the participants in this event (both professors and young researchers) are not only diverse in provenance, but also have diverse research interests within the multidisciplinary field of Social Representations and Communication.
As in previous events, the 9th International Summer School is aimed at integrating face-to-face and O.D.L. training activities running on the web. We received a new impulse from the parallel development of the E.L.V.I.R.T.I.S.S. project (E-Library and Videoconference Research Training Infrastructure on Social Sciences) and the Innovative Actions for developing the European Ph.D. under the Internationalisation programme. These projects call for an enlarged integrated physical and virtual lab that aims toward the further development and dissemination of multimedia tools produced for distance co-operative research activities and on-line advanced research training in the specialised multidisciplinary field of Social Representations and Communication.
The So.Re.Com.Thematic Network of excellence led by European scientists has been recently launched for a world-wide scientific community. The complex package of multimedia tools to be developed and disseminated via Internet includes: a full bibliographic inventory, a meta-analysed inventory, an advanced search engine, an e-library in SR & C, digitalised studio produced videos, magisterial lectures produced in real time (videoconferences), Video-chat and Moderated Forum Discussions among participants with both academics and policy makers, and a "virtual campus" SR & C scientific community online database. During this International Summer School, we will have a special session to present some of the multimedia tools already installed on the web site that have the goal of creating a virtual space for extending the opportunities for scientific exchanges from the International Summer School over the full year and "opening its walls" towards the virtual world-wide scientific community
The daily programme of the International Summer School will run according to a well-tested didactic formula that integrates:
· keynote lectures in the plenary session by internationally recognised scientists in multidisciplinary areas (like organisational psychology, cultural studies, human rights, epistemology of knowledge, social psychology and media studies, experimental social psychology) to be transmitted in a later stage in streaming videos on the web and diffused in DVD-D digital support,
· significant contributions by the scientific officer, as representative of the most important European Institution in the field of Research and Research training;
· parallel workshops focussed on presentations relating to current projects of researchers and related interactive training sessions based on open discussion and feedback. Three parallel group seminars will be focussed on the specific topic of this International Summer School or dedicated to the presentation of research reports by students currently enrolled in the European doctoral programme (including the new outstanding candidates admitted for academic year 2003-2004), those selected as Marie Curie Fellows as well as a number of other young researchers enrolled in national doctoral programmes outside the network. Following the suggestion of Programme Director Serge Moscovici, this is the second year that the participants enrolled into the Euro Ph.D. programme will attend a special training session reserved for them to share advise about their projects, as a monitor system, and to reinforce their sense of belonging to our institutional scientific community.
· different types of advanced methodological training, both on experimental and qualitative approach (like focus groups and the photolangage technique);
· presentations of the multimedia tools on the web site and advanced training session on meta-theoretical analysis of S.R. corpus;
· live interviews with the protagonists of the scientific field, “Between autobiography and the biography of the Social Representation theory”;
· individual and group tutoring and co-tutoring;
· presentations and evaluation of the European Doctorate on Social Representations and Communication dissertations’ final reports by an International final jury;
· dedicated meetings among the European Ph.D. and the Marie Curie Fellows, Tutors and the Scientific co-ordinator;
· informal meetings among all the participants alongside the swimming pool at the Hotel La Meridienne or during the visits to Rome and the Roman hill towns of Genazzano and Palestrina;
· monitoring and evaluative sessions for the whole event.
Now, to finally conclude, I would like to announce that to celebrate the 10th birthday of our European Ph.D. programme, a new publication is currently in press. It was supposed to be a small leaflet, but day by day, night by night, over the last two months it grew and grew - becoming a 100 page book . It reconstructs the history of the institutional recognition of the programme in the four scenarios (European Union, Universities, Ministries and the larger scientific community) and includes our academic special events and pictures of some of the infrastructures and facilities. It also provides information about logistical and organisational aspects of the programme, its financial support and so on.
I promise it will be sent to all the participants in the events, including the Euro Ph.D. Alumni, an organisation that will be launched on the special occasion of the 10th anniversary. All this from an idea, born out of an intellectual scientific passion that at the beginning was judged as foolish and overambitious. It is now an well-established programme. and has been recognised for its expertise in changing the “esprit du temp” of the academic world.
Enjoy the event and have a very productive stay!
Yours sincerely,
Annamaria Silvana de Rosa
International Summer School Organiser
In your folder, which is in itself a "souvenir" produced specially for this occasion, you will find:
(1) International Summer School scientific programme timetable,
(2) list of participants and teaching staff,
(3) list of parallel group seminars,
(4) didactic materials (also available on the dedicated web site as another step towards realising the new virtual library),
(5) information about the European Doctorate on Social Representations and Communication (leaflet, list of participants enrolled in the programme, etc.)
(6) evaluation form for the 9th International Summer School,
(7) a badge with your name, and a ‘pin’ of the European Doctorate on Social Representations and Communication ;
(8) an attendance certificate,
(9) block notes and post-it blocks with the new graphic logos and icons belonging to the European Doctorate on Social Representations and Communication and Marie Curie;
(10) a mouse pad with the logos of all the partner Universities of the European Doctorate on Social Representations and Communication
(11) an invitation card for three social dinners;
(12) tourist brochures and information;
(13) Exclusively for the new students admitted into the European Doctorate on Social Representations and Communication (a.y. 2003-04) , the book “Penser le vie, le social, la nature. Mélanges en homage à Serge Moscovici”, as didactic material.