Conferences

  • The Business Ethics Center of Corvinus University of Budapest organizes the The 20th Anniversary Conference of the European SPES Institute entitled "Spirituality & Business in the Anthropocene Era” in Budapest in June 20-22, 2024. Co-organizing partners of the conference are the Free University of Amsterdam – Faculty of Religion and Theology; Neyenrode Business University; the UNESCO Chair towards a Culture of Economic Peace, Grenoble School of Management; ABBS School of Management, Bangalore; S.P. Jain Institute of  Management and Research, Mumbai; and the Macau Ricci Institute, University of St. Joseph, Macau.

  • Initiated by Luk Bouckaert (KU Leuven) and Knut Ims (NHH Norwegian School of Economics, Bergen) the European SPES Institute organizes The Schweitzer Workshop in cooperation with ABC Climont in September 15-18, 2023 in Climont, France. The aim of the workshop is to recontextualize Albert Schweitzer’s eco-oriented ethics for our time - the Anthropocene. Albert Schweitzer formulated an experience-based foundation for ethics based on the principle Reverence For Life (Ehrfurcht vor dem Leben), and that he hereby contributed to a pioneering eco-ethics that should be brought up to date for our time. Schweitzer’s philosophy implies a new sense of authenticity no longer based on the modern ego-centric notion of autonomy but on the alter-centric notion of reverence for life. This foundational principle is conceived as an unconditional and inclusive respect for life in all its manifestations.

    See program of the workshop as enclosure.

  • Columbia University Spirituality, Mind, Body Institute, the European SPES Institute, Leuven, and the Business Ethics Center of Corvinus University of Budapest organize an international online conference on The Awakened Campus Global Initiative in November 29-30, 2022. 

    The aim of the conference is to create a collaborative global network of higher education institutions to integrate spirituality in their activities. The overall goal is to help the formation of spiritual awareness of students, faculty and university leaders through support of spirituality in the student faculty and student advisor relationship, campus culture, mission, shared relational values, residential programs, and range of pedagogy. The Awakened Campus Global Initiative Conference mainly but not exclusively focuses on teachers education, medical education, and business education. So we are looking for establishing partnership with teachers colleges, medical schools, and business schools as well as with alternative institutions of higher learning.

    Invited speakers from USA, Europe, and India will present their experience and best practices in integrating spirituality in higher education and help to co-create projects with participating institutions in curriculum, research, and extra-curriculum development areas, and facilitate the collaboration of faculty and university leaders to promote spiritual awareness in higher education and professional practices.

  • The University of Urbino “Carlo Bo” organizes the 2022 Annual European SPES Conference in May 19-21, 2022 in Urbino, Italy. The conference aims to contribute to the ecological transformation of humankind by exploring theoretical and practical models that integrate the sense of the place, ethics and spirituality in new ways of organizing of economic and social life.

  • The Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj Faculty of History and Philosophy, together with the European SPES Institute and the Business Ethics Center of Corvinus University of Budapest organizes a half day mini-conference on October 26, 2019 in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The topic of the conference is “A New Ethos of Entrepreneurship Based on Spirituality. The Philosophy of Caring Management in the New Economy”, drawing from the topic of the volume published at Palgrave MacMillan Publishers – Caring Management in the New Economy. Socially Responsible Behaviour Through Spirituality –, edited by Ora Setter and László Zsolnai.

  • The Waterford Institute of Technology, Department of Applied Arts hosted the 2019 Annual European SPES Conference in May 16-18, 2019 in Waterford, Ireland. Collaborative partners were the European SPES Institute and the Spirituality Institute for Research and Education, Ireland. The topic of the conference was “Spirituality in Society and the Professions” which is related to the Routledge International Handbook of Spirituality in Society and the Professions edited by Laszlo Zsolnai and Bernadette Flanagan.

  • The European SPES Institute, the Institute of Leadership and Social Ethics (ILSE), and the Damien Center organized the annual European SPES Conference entitled “The Will to Serve: Inspiring Models of Servant Leadership and Social Entrepreneurship,” in May 24-26, 2018, in Leuven, Belgium.

  • The Coller School of Management of Tel Aviv University hosted the 2017 Annual European SPES Conference in September 4-6, 2017 in Tel Aviv, Israel. Collaborative partners were the European SPES Institute and the Business Ethics Center of the Corvinus University of Budapest. The conference addressed spirituality and faith traditions as they fertilize business and enterpreneurs for creating models for pressing social problems, including poverty, conflict, unemployment, environmental degradation and climate change. A new ethos of entrepreneurship needs to be developed in which caring for fellow human beings, future generations and nature play a primordial role. Practical wisdom of the Jewish and other faith traditions suggests that enterprises with a spiritual value orientation can flourish, and serve the interests of business and the wider community better than conventional enterprises following the narrow financial bottom line. 

     

  • The Business Ethics Center of Corvinus University of Budapest and the European SPES Institute organized an international transdisciplinary workshop on Contemplative Science & Management in May 19-21, 2017 in Budapest, Hungary. Collaborative partners included Mind & Life Europe and the Hungary-Bhutan Friendship Society.

    The conference invited scholars and practitioners devoted to exploring and presenting new developments in contemplative inquiry related to Buddhist Economics, Well-Being, Social Transformation, Mindful Organizations, and Ecological Worldview in the management context. This particular combination of fields represents a unique nexus for reflection and action toward developing ways of mindful and sustainable management for organizations in economic and social life.

  • Sharda Nandram (European SPES Steering Committee member) organized a conference entitled "Integrating Simplification: The Rise of Integrative Self-Managed Enterprises" in 20-21 February, 2017 at BANASTHALI UNIVERSITY, RAJASTHAN in India.

    Integrating Simplification Theory talks about a dynamic approach for organizing and entrepreneurial thinking. It is a process of engaging in simplicity and refraining from complexity to avoid organization disintegration. Disintegration can be of any kind of wastage of resources or time (artha), misalignment between personal and organizational motives (kama) and values (dharma).  Here, it is an approach to enhance entrepreneurial creativity and Self-Management as part of the Integrative Self-Managed Paradigm.  The uniqueness in this paradigm lies in its treatment of various fundamental dichotomies like matter and spirit, material and spiritual, for-social and for-profit, automation or not-automation of processes, cooperation and competition, peace and war at work, mindful or mindless activities. Additionally, this approach has a clear apriori intention to be integrative even when it's bringing up the suppressed voices through critique. This translates into a clear perspective on futurology in worldview of this approach.

    Every culture has lot of cultural artefacts that embodies the elements mentioned in the themes of this conference. Therefore, contributions are welcome to bring wisdom from paradigms of traditional  ways of management including Bharatiya Prabandhan (Indian Management).

     

  • The Center for Ethics of the University of Antwerp and the European SPES Institute organized a workshop at the Antwerp Management  School on December 17, 2016 in Antwerp, Belgium.  Program of the workshop included the presentation of the book “Ethical Leadership: Indian and European Spiritual Approaches” (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2016). It was followed with a brainstorming session about the coopeartion of the European SPES Institute and the Flemish SPES Forum, including developing a joint SPESLab. The workshop ended by a presentation of Professor  Kim Yong-Bock, Chancellor of the Asia Pacific Center for Integral Study of Life about their activities and projects in South Korea. 

  • The Center for Ecological Economics and Ethics of the Bodo Graduate School of Business, University of Nordland organizes the 2016 Annual European SPES Conference in May 27-29, 2016, in Bodo, Norway. The topic of the conference is „Integral Ecology, Earth Spirituality and Economics”. Pope Francis’ encyclical letter Laudato si’  (Praised Be: On the Care of Our Common Home)  is an excellent opportunity for building a conversation between science and spirituality on ecology and sustainable development.

  • In cooperation with the European SPES Institute, IU Sophia – the university institute of the Focolare movement – organizes an international conference April 22-23, 2016 in Loppiano (Florence). The theme of the conference is „Vulnerability and gift in economics and business”. 

     

  • Initiated by Laszlo Zsolnai and the European SPES Forum the Von Hügel Institute of the St. Edmund College, University of Cambridge organized an international workshop on „The Economic and Financial Crisis and the Human Person” on June 8-9, 2013 in Cambridge.

  • The European SPES Institute was active in contributing to the scientific program of the International Conference on Gross National Happiness organized by the Centre for Bhutan Studies in November 4-6, 2015 in Paro, Bhutan. The following members participated in the conference

  • In coopearation with the Gandhi Peace Foundation, the European SPES Institute and Binghamton University Manas Chatterji organized an international seminar on Gandhi, Spirituality and Corporate Social Responsibility in October 31, 2015 in New Delhi, India. The program of the workshop included the following presentations

     

     

  • The European SPES Institute organizes its annual conference in 3-4 July 2015 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The title of the conference is "Management in the VUCA World: The Role of Spirituality". The conference aims to discuss how spiritual values help managers to navigate the VUCA World of Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity.

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    The “Virtues and Vices in Economics and Business” international workshop was organized by  the Centre for Economics and Ethics of the Catholic University of Leuven in cooperation with the European SPES Institute in June 19-20, 2015, Leuven, Belgium. Inspired by the spiritual humanism of the European personalist movement and applying the virtue ethics tradition participants seeked to develop new models for encouraging virtuous actions in business and  in economic policy.

       
       
  • With the help of Laszlo Zsolnai and the European SPES Institute an International Workshop on “Teleology and Reason in Economic and Social Affairs” was organized at the Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford, June 30 – July 1, 2014. The workshop explored Catholic Social Thinking for analysing pressing eco-nomic and financial problems of today. Inspired by the spiritual humanism of the European personalist movement and applying the analytical rigour of the Aristotelian-Thomistic tradition the workshop aims to develop new models for business functioning and economic policy serving the spiritual and material flourishing of the human person.

  • The 10th Anniversary Conference of the European SPES Forum was held in in April 10-12, 2014 in Ieper, Flanders Fields, Belgium. The conference entitled “Business for Peace – Strategies for Hope” was dedicated to the memory of the centennial anniversary of the first World War (1914-1918) The opening lecture was given by Herman van Rompuy, President of the European Council under the title “Europe as a Peace Project”. Participants launched The Ypres Manifesto on Business for Peace.

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