FORUM CARPATICUM 2025
Forum Carpaticum 2025: “Taking stock and building partnership for sustainable development of the mountain and rural areas”
Date: 9th-11th September 2025
Venue and hosted by: Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Comenius University Bratislava
The 8th Forum Carpaticum will follow upon the success of the Forum Carpaticum 2023 Carpathian Futures - Critical Transitions at the cross-section of the region’s social, political, environmental and economic challenges as well as research grounded solutions.
In addition to the dominant themes in the regional scientific and policy debates showcased in the S4C Research Agenda 2022-2030, the 2025 conference will pay special attention to two sub-themes to support the region’s diverse vulnerable communities and places as well as the scientific communication across the disciplines:
- “Building capabilities and facilitating the participation of vulnerable groups in rural and mountain regions through SSE in multi-level sustainable development policy”
In this regard, the Forum is affiliated with two projects: the Horizon Europe SERIGO project, which addresses rural vulnerabilities across Europe through community-based action research of social innovations, and RESDI’s project focused on the participation of Marginalised Roma Communities in the EU Green Transition, supported by the European Climate Foundation. These two initiatives will provide practical synergy with the debates within the Carpathian region and beyond.
- “Bridging natural and social sciences for sustainable development and impact-driven research through transdisciplinary approaches”
The call for panels, papers and side events will be open in mid-November, and the contributions will be welcome from the amongst the broad thematic areas identified in the S4C Research Agenda 2022-2030:
- Climate Change
- Water Resources and Management
- Natural Hazards and Risks
- Land Use and Land Cover Change
- Integrated landscape management and governance for better regional development policy
- Forests, their management and governance
- Conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity
- Ecosystem services and human well-being
- Urban and rural development
- Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Tourism
- Cultural heritage and traditional knowledge
- Education for Sustainable Development
- Participatory research, multi-actor dialogues and knowledge co-production
- Social innovation to promote sustainable development
- Green energy and energy efficiency
- Data Management
In addition to building on the S4C Research Agenda 2022-2030, the Forum Carpaticum 2025 will aspire to support Carpathian Convention’s Presidency of Serbia strategic priorities: “strengthening interregional cooperation and strengthening cooperation with the EU, and encourages close cooperation of the Carpathian Troika consisting of the previous, current and future Presidencies to maximise the results of common efforts”. In this light, the conference will be organised with the following objectives:
- seeking cross-disciplinary and cross-methodological synergies and capitalising on interdisciplinary research across natural and social sciences as well as humanities, including legal studies, in the Carpathian Region and beyond
- continuing in a multi-level stakeholder dialogue across local, national and supranational levels; building synergies with other relevant regional initiatives; and bringing local and marginalised voices beyond academia to the table
- supporting the development of intra-regional and inter-regional collaborative projects, particularly with the Caucasus Mountain Network
- showcasing the region’s Education for Sustainable Development initiatives, drawing from its cultural and natural heritage
- facilitating publication outputs through special issues and workshops with renowned scientific publishers
- capacity building and networking of young scholars and practitioners
- facilitating conversations with key public and private international donors
Contact information:
Kristína Rankovová, Conference Director, kristina.rankovovauniba.sk
Juraj Turan, Conference Manager, juraj.turanuniba.sk
Jakub Csabay, Conference Co-Chair, jakub.csabay@uniba.sk
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
