FORUM CARPATICUM 2025

Date: 9th-11th September 2025

Venue and hosted by: Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia

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:

1.       “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 and European Climate Inititive (EUKI). These two initiatives will provide practical synergy with the debates within the Carpathian region and beyond.

2.       “Bridging natural and social sciences for sustainable development and impact-driven research through transdisciplinary approaches”

The contributions are 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

Deadlines for Proposals of Sessions, Abstracts and Side Even

There is a three-stage process for submitting proposals:

1.  Call for Sessions: 20 December 2024 – 31 January 2025 (midnight CET time) - CLOSED

2.  Call for Abstracts of Presentations and Posters: 26 February 2025 – 15 April 2025 (midnight CET time) - CLOSED

All abstracts must be submitted electronically via the submission form. If you are planning to present more than one contribution, please fill out the form once again. 

You may choose to join one of the proposed sessions found HERE or in case none of the outlined sessions fit your proposal, please choose “Other”.

When submitting your abstract, we ask you to indicate:

• type of contribution you are making,
• title of your presentation/poster,
• abstract (max 300 words), including 3-8 keywords,
• if relevant, list of references used in your abstracts in the APA citation format,
• based on the S4C Research Agenda 2022-2030, indicate up to 3 tentative thematic areas relevant for the abstract you are proposing,
• abstract of the presentation/poster you are proposing in layperson language (to be understandable for general public) (max 300 words),
• 1-3 sentences-long layperson language description of the main outcomes/relevance of your presentation/poster for sustainable development of the Carpathian region,
• if relevant, 1-2 policy recommendations from your presentation/poster, which could be relevant for the implementation Carpathian Convention and its working groups,
• if relevant, please include acknowledgements.

Participants will be notified of the outcome of their proposed abstract by 30 April 2025.

3.  Call for Side Events: 20 December 2025 – 15 April 2025 - CLOSED

To propose a side event, please get in touch with the organising team via emails: jakub.csabay@fses.uniba.sk, kristina.rankovova@fses.uniba.sk, rudolf.skovira@fses.uniba.sk and andrea.figulovafses.uniba.sk.

What you will need to submit:

• Type of side event
• Tittle of the side event
• Overview and description of the side event
• Email address of the organizer(s) of the side event
• Number of envisioned participants

Participants will be notified of the outcome of their proposed side event by 15 April 2025.

Registration

Registration is OPEN NOW! To register, please, visit this side.

Early-bird registration: 30 April 2025 – 15 May 2025 (midnight CET time)

Regular registration: 15 May 2025 – 15 June 2025 (midnight CET time)

Participants attending and/or appearing in the Programme must register and pay through online system before the registration deadline. The registration online system will be open on 15 April 2025. Those not registered and paid by the registration deadline will be withdrawn from the conference.

Registration fees:

• Early-bird price– 150 EUR
• Standard price– 250 EUR
• One-day standard price – 100 EUR
• Price for students– 100 EUR
• Price for students for one-day conference attendance – 50 EUR
• Participants from marginalised communities and from outside of the EU (e.g. Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova) will be eligible to apply for a fee waiver on individual basis.

Visas

Visas are the responsibility of the individual. Depending on the purpose of travel and your country of origin, different types of visas will apply. Enquire well in advance about entry regulations by consulting the embassy or consulate of Slovakia in your home country. Organisation team cannot offer any further advice on visas. Visa invitation letters will be supplied on request only when we have received the registration fee in full.

Programme

The conference programme with full timetable will be available on the FSES website by early July 2025.

Contact information:

Kristína Rankovová, Conference Director, kristina.rankovovafses.uniba.sk
Juraj Turan, Conference Manager, juraj.turanfses.uniba.sk
Jakub Csabay, Conference Co-Chair, jakub.csabayfses.uniba.sk
Andrea Figulová, Conference Co-Chair, andrea.figulovafses.uniba.sk
Rudolf Škovira, Conference Convener, rudolf.skovira@fses.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.

This project is part of the European Climate Initiative (EUKI) of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK). The opinions put forward in this call for papers are the sole responsibility of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK).