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RECENT EVENTS

 


e-Conference on Evolution of Individuality (CEI)

e-Conference on the Evolution of Individuality (CEI) was opened February 2010. Individuality is the crown of human evolution and the catalyst for social progress, yet there are very different conceptions of what constitutes true individuality, the relationship between the individual and society, and whether humanity is inevitably evolving toward higher levels of individuality. This project will explore the essential nature of individuality, the social and cultural factors that foster it, its role in social development, its myriad expressions in the original thinker, creative artist, political leader, entrepreneur, inventor and social innovator, and the means available to society to foster it.

This e-conference utilizes a variety of methods for interaction, including papers, presentations, panel discussions, audio and video webcasts and open forums.

CEI Home 

CEI Forums


GEC Webcasts


As part of our continuing effort to increasing the reach, frequency, range and effectiveness of programming and interaction among our Fellows, the Academy has developed an e-conferencing and video-conferencing platform for live virtual meetings, presentations and panel discussions of up to 30 participants, which are recorded and hosted on our website for viewing and discussion by Fellows and the general public. The first three webcasts were conducted in November as part of the Global Employment Challenge e-conference. See all recent GEC Webcasts.


GEC e-Conference

The e-Conference on Global Employment Challenge was opened in October 2009. This interdisciplinary dialogue explores theoretical and practical aspects of the global employment challenge, including its demographic, economic, legal, political, psychological dimensions as well as linkages with the international financial crisis, social stability, and terrorism.

This e-conference utilizes a variety of methods to explore creative solutions to the problem of global employment, including presentations, panel discussions, audio and video webcasts and open forums.

GEC Home 

GEC Forums

GEC Webcasts


Climate System Management

The Academy conducted a symposium on Climate System Management in Palo Alto, California on July 30, 2009.

The symposium included presentations by three eminent experts on geoengineering followed by discussion. Speakers included Ken Caldeira, Chair, US National Academy of Science inquiry into geoengineering; Prof. Granger Morgan, Carnegie Mellon University (and chair of a recent international conference on risk management and geoengineering; and Jason Blackstock, Senior Analyst, International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis (Vienna). Read more on the event.

Students for a Nuclear Weapons-Free World

The World Academy has been instrumental in helping the World Federation of United Nations Associations run a contest in 2008 among students from around the world to write essays, create videos and create posters on the theme of working to eliminate nuclear weapons.

Large number of other organizations have helped publicize this effort. Students from 49 countries responded with original essays, posters and videos. The President of the World Federation, Hans Blix, and Academy Trustees Bob Berg and John Cox, participated in the award ceremonies and symposium in Geneva, July 14-18, 2008. Bob presented a paper on the World Academy's history of work on nuclear disarmament that also raised a number of policy issues for discussion by the youth leaders with senior UN officials. The 15 student leaders who were given awards set their course for further work on nuclear disarmament.
Read More on the conference

Bob Berg's Address at the conference

Final report on the conference

International Conference in New Delhi calls for Nuclear Disarmament

The Academy's initiative on nuclear abolition has acquired greater strength and momentum with the convening of a two-day international conference on Toward a Nuclear Weapons Free World in New Delhi on June 9-10, 2008 at the initiative of WAAS Fellow Jasjit Singh. In his inaugural address, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh fully endorsed the Academy’s call for total elimination of nuclear weapons, a position that was reaffirmed by the Vice-President of India and the Foreign as well as leading Indian and international security and military experts. For More on the event, click here

 

ONGOING EVENTS

Standing Committee on Peace and Development (SCPD)

Returning to an issue that was close to the hearts of some of the Academy's founders including Albert Einstein, Robert Oppenheimer, Joseph Rotblat and Bertrand Russell, the Board of Trustees has approved a proposal to undertake initiatives to promote total nuclear disarmament. Click to Read More

South East European Division (SEED)

The South East European Division of WAAS was formally established in November 2005 on the occasion of the World Academy's General Assembly held at Zagreb, Croatia. Click to Read More

Biofocus Foundation

The Biofocus Foundation (BF) was established by WAAS in 1990 as a response to the ever growing importance of biology, in its widest sense, in the continuing development of our civilization. Under the leadership of Carl-Goran Heden as Director General, BF has sought to establish a multi- and inter-disciplinary systems approach to the solution of complex biological problems using the collective expertise of the Fellows of WAAS. Click to Read More

PROJECTS

Weaponization of Space

On February 26, 2008, WAAS conducted a high level workshop on the threats arising from the weaponization of space, in collaboration with the Global Security Institute at the GSI's offices in New York City. Expert presentations were made by Jonathan Granoff, President of GSI, Ambassador Robert Gray, Director, Bipartisan Security Group and Canadian legal expert Lucy Stojak. Read full details and see the presentations

 

PAST ACTIVITIES

Beyond Global Warming

On February 28, 2008, WAAS conducted an international conference on Global Warming in collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh. The conference was inaugurated by Mark A. Nordenberg, the University Chancellor and included sessions on Global Challenges of the Future and Can the Arts and Sciences Collaborate on Global Issues?

Installation of Prof. Jeffrey Schwartz as New President

Jeffrey Schwartz, PhD, Professor of Anthropology and History and Philosophy of Science and Fellow in the University’s Center for Philosophy of Science, was inducted as the New WAAS President on February 28, 2008, at Pittsburgh, by outgoing president Dr.Walter Truett Anderson. For More on the event with pictures click here

Program on Nuclear Disarmament (October - 2006)


SCPD convened a two-day meeting in New York with the leadership of the Global Security Institute and its Middle Powers Initiative program, to explore the potential for cooperative effort.

Click to Read Details

World Futures Society Conference (July - 2006)

WAAS organized a special workshop on nuclear disarmament at the World Future’s Society Annual Conference in Toronto on July 30, 2006.

Click to Read Details

Security in Knowledge-based Society (Nov 2005)

NATO Advanced Research Workshop at Zagreb, Croatia, began immediately prior to the opening of the 2005 General Assembly, and then ran concurrently with it.

The Future of Knowledge - GA at Zagreb (2005)

 

The 2005 General Assembly, held in the Westin Zagreb Hotel in the hospitable country of Croatia, was one of the most successful in the history of the Academy. Click to Read More


Uncommon Opportunities: Roadmap for Employment, Food & Global Security (2004)

The Academy conducted an international symposium was conducted in New Delhi on November 19-22, 2004 in collaboration with UN World Food Program, M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, Mother's Service Society & National Farmers Commission (India), International Centre for Peace & Development (USA) to examine the relevance in today's world of recommendations contained in the report of the International Commission on Peace & Food, Uncommon Opportunities: Agenda for Peace & Equitable Development, which was submitted to the UN in 1994, and to explore the inextricable mutual interdependence between peace, social stability, democracy, employment and food security. The conference was inaugurated by Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, President of India.


The Global Century - GA at Vancouver (1998)


The theme of the conference was the proposition that, whereas publisher Henry Luce had once pronounced the 20th century to be “The American Century,” the 21st would be the century of globalization. Click to Read More

The Governance of Diversity - GA at Minneapolis (1994)

The object of the 1994 General Assembly, as set forth in a preliminary planning document by Academy President Harlan Cleveland, was “to develop and disseminate a fresh vision of the kinds of human cooperation that will be possible in the 2020 world, and the steps governments and nongovernments will need to take, starting soon, to make such peaceful change possible.” Click to Read More