The topic of the conference was: "New challenges for democracy - Exploring the Crisis of Trust and Democratic Legitimacy in Europe" while numerous questions of interest for the Southeast Europe, in particular for the Western Balkan Countries were discussed by participants and panelists. The representative of the WBC-INCO.NET took a part in the panel discussion: "Democracy in the Danube Region – EU’s Danube Strategy and its Vision of an Integrated Danube Region"

The conference's opening ceremony held on Wednesday, October 16, 2013 in the Aula Magna of the University of Rijeka Rectorate gathered numerous prominent guests who addressed the audience with their welcoming speeches and words of support and encouragement for the Centre:

• Stjepan Mesić, former President of the Republic of Croatia
• Dr. Dejan Jović, delegate of the President of the Republic of Croatia
• Dr. Vesna Pusić, Vice-President of the Government of the Republic of Croatia and the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs
• Dr. Željko Jovanović, Minister of Education, Science and Sports of the Republic of Croatia
• Dr. Tomislav Jovanović, Minister of Science, Education and Technology of the Republic of Serbia
• Dr. Jernej Pikalo, Minister of Education, Science and Sports of the Republic of Slovenia
• Dr. Pero Lučin, University of Rijeka Rector
• Marina Medarić, Vice-Prefect of Primorsko-Goranska County
• Mr. Vojko Obersnel, Mayor of the City of Rijeka
• Dr. Erhard Busek, Erste Foundation, Vienna
• Dr. Oliver Boiun, Network of European Institutes of Advanced Studies, Paris
• Ms. Hedvig Morvai, European Fund for the Balkans, Beograd
• Dr. Maurizzio Ferraris, University ofTurin, and the

Directors of the Centre for Advanced Studies – South East Europe:

• Dr. Petar Bojanić, Director of the Centre for Advanced Studies, Belgrade – presented words of support and encouragement on behalf of Ivan Vejvoda, German Marshall Fond of the The United States
• Dr. Snježana Prijić Samaržija, Vice-Rector for Studies and Student Affairs of the University of Rijeka, and,
• Dr. Vedran Džihić, Institute for Political Sciences, Vienna.

Opening Ceremony (Photo by CAS)

Vision of CAS (Center for Advanced Study)

"The Center for Advanced Study, as a unique venue for scholars and intellectuals from Southeast Europe (SEE) and internationally, aims at providing constructive contributions to advanced studies of the social sciences and humanities (SSH) from the SEE perspective, by opening opportunities and space for independent scholarly and intellectual thinking and debates. CAS is committed to pursuing new lines of thought and to broaching often contested topics of social relevance for SEE and wider. There is a pressing need for critical discussion and reflection of relevant  regional and global phenomena involving scholars, intellectuals, practitioners and society at large, in order to move the region towards full integration into broader European and global scientific and intellectual space.
In response to these contextual challenges, the Center strives to create space for scholars and intellectuals to gather, dialogue, collaborate and offer their contribution to the world wide academic arena, with the ultimate goal of rebuilding SEE’s social and scientific ties with leading global intellectual and scholarly centers. The mission of the Center is to provide the freedom of research and intellectual thinking, to strengthen  transnational and regional scientific collaboration and joint work on current discourses in SSH. In collaboration with leading IAS in and outside Europe, the Center is committed to fostering space for research on a range of topics of social relevance, while at the same time aiming at improving the quality of scientific institutions in the region by supporting young talented scholars and emphasizing the strategy of “brain gain”. The Center will identify prospective young scholars from Southeast Europe working abroad and in the region and help them to (re)connect to global scholarly trends by providing support and infrastructure for conducting independent research projects."

• Please find the agenda and CAS brochure attached below.

WBC-INCO.NET supports the idea of regional cooperation and wishes Petar Bojanić, Snježana Prijić Samaržija, Vedran Džihić and the CAS team a great success!