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.

 

Driving Global Change:
SACRU Contribution to a Sustainable Future

 

 

From mental health in Portugal to the meaning of institutions in Italy, from biodiversity in Japan to access to water in Ecuador, the report offers a concrete geography of Catholic academic engagement around the world

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, with the goal of providing a path for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, both now and in the future. At the core of the Agenda are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which represent an urgent call for action by all countries —developed and developing— through a global partnership aimed at ending poverty and other deprivations, improving health and education, reducing inequality, and spurring economic growth.

In line with its mission to foster higher education and research for the Common Good, the Strategic Alliance of Catholic Research Universities has collected insights on the SDGs, reflecting the diverse expertise of its network. These contributions come from the work of 15 faculty members and students from seven partner universities within the Alliance. They embody a unique international, interdisciplinary, and intergenerational approach, capturing the diverse perspectives of those at the forefront of research and academia, all working together to address the global challenges outlined in the SDGs.

The selection of SDGs addressed in this report mirrors the choices of SACRU partner universities, made in light of their academic strengths and leading initiatives connected to specific goals. The contributions represent the personal views of individual academics and students and are not intended as the official positions of SACRU and its partner universities.

The report opens with an introduction by Professor Zlatko Skrbis, President of SACRU and Vice-Chancellor and President of Australian Catholic University, and Professor Pier Sandro Cocconcelli, SACRU Secretary General and Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore.

 

Read here

Unlocking the Power of the Oceans

 

 

June 18 at 2:00 PM (GMT+9, Japan time)
Portugal Pavilion, EXPO 2025, Osaka, Japan
Zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87883639572

 

Universidade Católica Portuguesa, in collaboration with Sophia University, is organizing the seminar “Unlocking the Power of the Oceans”,  which will explore the multifaceted significance of the oceans from both practical and symbolic perspectives. Scholars and experts will engage in an interdisciplinary dialogue, addressing the sea as a source of economic potential, environmental sustainability, and technological innovation, while also examining its social impact through cultural, artistic, and symbolic representations.

On the same occasion, the exhibition “Poetry as an Echological Survival” by artist Nuno da Luz, curated by Nuno Crespo (School of the Arts, Universidade Católica Portuguesa), will be inaugurated.

 

Click  here to see the program