2026 EDSI Annual Conference

Católica Porto Business School (Porto, Portugal) announces the call for the conference Human-Centric and AI-Enabled Supply Chains

June 1 – 3, 2026
Católica Porto Business School (Porto, Portugal)

Abstract Submission: February 28th, 2026 (extended deadline).

Global supply chains are being reshaped by technological advancements, environmental pressures, and evolving societal expectations. Businesses face rising demands for transparency, ethical practices, and resilience amid ongoing disruptions, inflationary pressures, and regulatory changes across key markets. The urgency of climate change, the increasing importance of human rights, and the acceleration of digitalization are driving a fundamental rethinking of operations and supply chain strategies. Legislation such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, and national due diligence laws reflect a growing international consensus on the need for responsible business conduct. Meanwhile, the Industry 5.0 vision calls for a human-centric, resilient, and sustainable approach to innovation and production. In this evolving context, organizations must navigate complex and interdependent challenges, balancing operational resilience, environmental sustainability, and social responsibility across multi-tier, global supply networks. This demands integrated strategies, new technologies, and a reimagining of supply chain governance, risk management, and performance measurement.

This conference invites academic and practice-based contributions that explore the future of global supply chains at the intersection of resilience, sustainability, and human rights. Submissions may address (but are not limited to) corporate due diligence frameworks, supply chain risk management, sustainable procurement, labor rights and environmental protection, technology for compliance, governmental policies and transparency, circular economy initiatives, and case studies from industries facing critical social and environmental challenges.

Register here!

Contacts: edsi2026@ucp.pt

 

COLLOQUIA Conference 2026

IEP announces the call for the conference Restless World, Restless Democracies

8 May 2026

Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Lisbon Campus

The call for papers is open until March 16, 2026.

This interdisciplinary conference examines the condition of political restlessness shaping contemporary democracies in an increasingly unstable and conflict-prone international environment.

We invite scholars and researchers from a variety of sub-disciplines of Political Science and International Relations – Comparative Politics, Theory of IR, Political Theory and Political Philosophy, Public Policy, Foreign Policy Analysis, Regional Studies, Peace & War Studies, etc – to submit proposals for papers that engage, from diverse perspectives, with these topics (but are not limited to): Democratic Challenges | Geopolitics and the International Order & Intersecting Dynamics.

Check all available sub-themes on our Website.

We invite abstracts for individual (approximately 250 words) and a short biography (100 words). These should be sent by email to ci.iep@ucp.pt no later than March 16, 2026

Notification of acceptance will be sent on March 31, 2026, at the latest. After acceptance of abstracts, participants will be asked to register for the conference and to provide some personal details to this end.

About the Conference: 

• The working language of the conference is English.

• The conference will feature thematic panels composed of individual paper presentations followed by discussions. In addition to paper presentations, it will also have one keynote speaker and opportunities for networking.

• Individual paper presentations will be allocated 15 minutes for presentation. Each panel will have 40 minutes for discussion.

Registration and Fees:

The registration fee includes participation, coffee breaks, lunch and conference materials.

• Early bird (from March 31 to April 7, 2026): Researchers €80 and Students €40

• Regular registration (from April 7 to 17, 2026): Researchers €100 and Students €50

• IEP-Católica researchers and faculty are exempted from registration fees but must register.

Calendar: Final call: March 16, 2026

Notification of acceptance: March 31, 2026

Registration from March 31 to April 17, 2026

Contact Information: For any inquiries, please contact the conference organizing committee at to ci.iep@ucp.pt

We look forward to receiving your submissions and to fostering meaningful discussions on the critical issues of sovereignty, borders, and conflict.

In remembrance of Prof. JOSEP ANTONI ROM


Condoglianze Universitat Ramon Llull

 

On behalf of all members of the Strategic Alliance of Catholic Research Universities (SACRU), I wish to express our deep sorrow at the sudden passing of our dear friend and colleague, Professor Josep Antoni Rom, Rector of Universitat Ramon Llull.
Josep was an eminent scholar and an esteemed Rector. He played an active role in the growth and success of SACRU, generously participating in the strategy and initiatives of the Alliance. We will greatly miss his intellect, sensitivity, authenticity, kindness.
Our deep thoughts and prayers are with his family, his friends, and all the Ramon Llull’s academic community.

Isabel Capeloa Gil
SACRU President

SACRU Initiatives Multiply Ahead of the Jubilee of the World of Education


Piazza San Pietro a Roma

 

The Strategic Alliance of Catholic Research Universities (SACRU) will be promoting a series of initiatives in Rome during the Jubilee of the World of Education. In addition to the Autumn School “The Freedom of Scientific Research” at the Australian Catholic University campus in Rome, on October 29 at 5:30 p.m. SACRU will be officially presented at Villa Lusa the residence of the Embassy of Portugal to the Holy See at the invitation of the SACRU President, Prof. Isabel Capeloa Gil. The event will provide a special opportunity to introduce SACRU and its activities to diplomatic representatives to the Holy See, as well as to distinguished invited guests. The evening aims to foster dialogue and collaboration between the academic and diplomatic communities, highlighting SACRU’s commitment to advancing education, research, and ethical leadership on a global scale.

The day after, SACRU has been invited by the Dicastery for Culture and Education to take part in the Global Educational Village “Constellations of Educational Networks.” The exhibition will take place from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the Sala San Pio X, Via dell’Ospedale 1, offering SACRU the opportunity to showcase its commitment to higher education and international research, and to foster encounters and collaborations with other educational networks. Within this framework, on Friday, October 31 at 4:30 p.m., a presentation entitled “SACRU. Science for the Common Good” will highlight the network’s most significant experiences and innovative projects, encouraging interest and active engagement among participants. All the SACRU universities delegations will participate to His Holiness Pope Leo XIV audience with educators on Friday morning.

Debating the Freedom of Scientific Research. SACRU Autumn School 2025


Veduta di Roma e dei suoi palazzi dall'alto con il Vaticano sullo sfondo

 

Building on the success of its first edition in Lisbon in 2024, the SACRU Autumn School 2025 will take place at the Roman campus of the Australian Catholic University (ACU) during the Jubilee of the World of Education.

Under the theme “The Freedom of Scientific Research”, the Autumn School will explore how political, economic, and ethical pressures increasingly shape research today. Participants will examine the global dynamics of academic freedom, the impact of funding frameworks, the ethical balance between truth, value, and the common good, and the growing influence of AI in research.

Co-organized by the scientific co-ordinators Prof. Paolo Gomarasca (Università Cattolica) and Dr. Darren Sariski (ACU), the program will gather fourteen Ph.D. students and ten academics and researchers from across SACRU member universities: from Australia to Colombia, from Portugal to Japan, from Spain to the United States, from Chile to Italy.

Through lectures, workshops, case studies, and interactive sessions, the program will offer young scholars critical tools to reflect on their academic paths and to navigate the evolving landscape of research with integrity and independence. At its core, the SACRU Summer School seeks to answer a vital question: How can young researchers secure academic freedom while ensuring career sustainability in an increasingly regulated research environment?

Universidade Catòlica Portuguesa and Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore are full partners of the ELEVATE project within the EIT Higher Education Initiative funded by the European Union


Cartina d'Europa con evidenziati in arancione i paesi partner del progetto ELEVATE, Italia, Danimarca, Portogallo

 

ELEVATE aims to accelerate entrepreneurship and innovation capacity in the fields of Food Biotech, Biomedicine, AI and Creative and Cultural Industries, fostering value creation, start-up generation, and knowledge-intensive solutions. By integrating expertise of these knowledge areas, ELEVATE creates sustainable business opportunities in an interdisciplinary, co-creation-driven environment.

Read here

Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore and Universidade Catòlica Portuguesa are project partners of the Consortium CATALYSE

 

Pomodori, limoni e peperoni sul tavolo osservati con lente d'ingrandimanto

 

The CATALYSE project will create a network of food safety actors with the aim to support adoption of knowledge and innovative solutions along the value chain. It is co-funded by the European Union, the Swiss Confederation and UK Researh and Innovation. The network will foster collaboration and food safety knowledge sharing in a model that collects and then translates knowledge and practices across our community through active education and facilitation.

Read here

With friends like these: love and friendship with Ai Agents


Ragazzo di schiena immergo in fumetti di chat


An article published by William Hasselberger and Micah Lott (co-chairs of the SACRU Working Group “Artificial Intelligence, Agency and the Human Person”) in Quartile 1, Topoi.

This paper focuses on a central question for Human-AI interaction: Can you be friends with an AI agent? If not, why not?
Some have argued that friendship with AI agents is impossible because software artifacts do not, and cannot, care about you. Proponents of human–machine friendships have responded that such relationships may indeed be one-sided, but still count as relationships of genuine love and affection—perhaps constituting a whole new category of friendship.
Our paper takes a different path. We argue that you cannot be friends with an AI agent because you cannot sensibly be a friend to an AI agent. Being a friend to an AI would require caring about the good of the AI agent for its own sake, and it does not make sense to care about an AI agent in that way, since these agents lack a good of their own. After spelling out this argument, and responding to several objections, we highlight some initial implications of our argument, the most important of which is that the very idea of a tool – or, technological fix – to address social isolation and loneliness is misguided.

 

Read the article

 Pontificia Universidad Javeriana joins SACRU as a new member

 


 Zlatko Skrbis and Luis Fernando Múnera Congote, SJ, signing the agreement

The Governing Board of the Strategic Alliance of Catholic Research Universities (SACRU) officially admitted Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Colombia) as a new member of the Alliance during its meeting held on Sunday, July 27, 2025, at the Westin Hotel in Guadalajara, Mexico.

This marks the first enlargement of the SACRU network since its foundation in 2020. With this addition, Javeriana becomes the ninth member of the Alliance and the third university from South America, following Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro and Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

 Professor Isabel Capeloa Gil elected as the new President of SACRU

From left to right: Miki Sugimura, Elena Beccalli, Josep Antoni Rom Rodríguez, Pier Sandro Cocconcelli, Zlatko Skrbis, Luis Fernando Múnera Congote SJ, Isabel Capeloa Gil, Juan Carlos de la Llera, Fr. Anderson Antonio Pedroso

The Governing Board of the Strategic Alliance of Catholic Research Universities (SACRU) met on Sunday, July 27, 2025, at the Westin Hotel in Guadalajara, Mexico, under the chairmanship of SACRU President, Professor Zlatko Skrbis, Vice-Chancellor and President of Australian Catholic University.

Professor Isabel Capeloa Gil, Rector of Universidade Católica Portuguesa, was elected as the new President of SACRU for the three-year term 2025–2028. Alongside her, the Governing Board elected Professor Miki Sugimura, President of Sophia University, as the new SACRU Vice-President, succeeding Professor Elena Beccalli, Rector of Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore.

Isabel Capeloa Gil is Full Professor of Culture Studies and the current Rector of Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP). She holds a B.A. in Modern Languages and Literatures (1987) and an M.A. in German Studies (1992) from the University of Lisbon, as well as a Ph.D. in German Language and Culture from UCP (2001). She has served as Guest Professor in Germany (Saarbrücken, Munich), the United Kingdom, Ireland (National University of Ireland), Italy (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice), Brazil (PUC-Rio), and the United States (University of Pennsylvania and Stanford University). She is also an Honorary Fellow at the School of Advanced Studies of the University of London. From 2005 to 2012, she was Dean of the Faculty of Human Sciences at UCP. She founded The Lisbon Consortium network and leads the International Doctoral Program in Culture Studies. She is also a senior researcher and founder of the Research Centre for Communication and Culture.

The Governing Board wishes to thank Professor Zlatko Skrbis, the second President of the Alliance, for his leadership and to congratulate Professor Isabel Capeloa Gil on her appointment.