The University of Bucharest in cooperation with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology Trondheim is pleased to announce a call for papers for the interdisciplinary conference The Long View and the Short in Building Resilience: Natural Resources and Geoeconomics in the 21st Century, to be held on 30-31 May 2025, at the University of Bucharest.
The conference will be held at the University of Bucharest. Convenors will be Professors Dragoș Paul Aligică (University of Bucharest) and Espen Storli (Norwegian University of Science and Technology Trondheim).
This conference explores the problems of natural resource management, supply security, and the complex geoeconomic landscape of the 21st century, placing these problems in the long run of historical evolutions and in the context of comparative interdisciplinary approaches. By bringing together scholars from across disciplines such as economics, history, geography, political science, geology, environmental studies, economics, international relations, and sociology, the conference seeks to build a deeper understanding of how historical experiences and data can inform present challenges and future trends.
The global crises of recent years—pandemics, geopolitical tensions, and natural emergencies—have revealed vulnerabilities in resource security, in supply chains, and in economic linkages due to integration and asymmetric interdependence. This conference will explore how lessons from the past, when combined with interdisciplinary research, can help us understand, define, and build resilience for the future. In particular, it will address the following themes:
Focus Areas:
- The intersection of political economy, environmental science, geography, geology and history in understanding sustainable resource use. What methodologies can be employed to integrate insights from different disciplines in natural resource governance?
- What can we learn from history regarding how human societies and communities have organized their relationship with the exploitation, creation, and distribution of natural resources?
- Historical lessons for present challenges: How past disruptions in global supply chains inform strategies for resilience today.
- The economic and geopolitical factors shaping resource security in a multipolar world.
- Economic Integration and Asymmetric Interdependence in Resources: Understanding how economic integration creates interdependent vulnerabilities in resource management.
- Cross-disciplinary insights into how technology is transforming supply security and resource management.
- Exploring the balance between historical energy systems and emerging trends in renewables and energy diversification.
- Food Systems, Agriculture, and Food Production: Supply planning and strategies in a historical and comparative perspective.
- How global and regional supply networks have evolved, and what this means for future resilience.
- How historical conflicts over resources shape current international relations and global governance frameworks.
- What lessons can we learn from historical cases of food and energy shortages that might inform current efforts to manage natural resource scarcity in the face of climate change and political instability?
- How has the past response to resource scarcity, such as rationing or alternative resource development, influenced contemporary policies on sustainability and resilience?
The conference will highlight how historical analysis, combined with theory-informed, data-driven insights, can enhance our understanding of resource vulnerabilities and supply chain risks. Interdisciplinary contributions that examine the interplay between past experiences and current trends will be especially encouraged, as they offer critical foresight into future challenges. We welcome contributions from diverse fields, including political science, history, sociology, anthropology, economics, administrative and policy sciences, geology, evolutionary and biological sciences, geography, environmental sciences, management, and philosophy.
The organizers will provide accommodation for up to 3 nights and meals.
Submission Guidelines:
- Abstracts (max. 500 words) should be submitted by 20 January 2025.
- Full papers (up to 8,000 words) are due by 30 April 2025.
For submissions and further inquiries, please reach out to the organizing committee at e–mail address: resil21conference@gmail.com
The event will feature keynote speeches, interdisciplinary panel discussions, and paper presentations that encourage a broad, multifaceted exchange of ideas. Selected papers may be included in an edited volume.