EuARe – European Academy of Religion
The European Academy of Religion (EuARe) is a research initiative launched under the High Patronage of the European Parliament which offers an exchange platform to scholars, universities, centers, research infrastructures, scientific journals and publishers in Europe and the surrounding regions.
FSCIRE initiated it in 2015, hosts its Secretariat and supports its activities with partners and donors.
In 2015, thanks to the support of hundreds of scholars, it has been able to start a database of 1800 contacts of scholarly associations, scientific societies, research centers, university departments, working groups, and a plurality of other organizations that engage in the study of religions.
In the summer of 2016, approximately 3000 invitations to convene in Bologna were sent to the institutions and scholars surveyed, and the response was overwhelmingly positive: on 5 December 2016, at the founding event of the European Academy of Religion, FSCIRE hosted more than 500 participants, from all over Europe, the MENA countries, Caucasus, Russia, America and Asia, along with 25 universities that agreed to act as mentors of the Academy with the Universities of Bologna, Oxford and Paris, which have been active supporters of the initiative from the outset.
The launch was opened by the keynote speeches of Commissioner Carlos Moedas and other distinguished academics, diplomats and representatives of, among others, OSCE/ODIHR, UNESCO, and the World Economic Forum. After this, researchers and scholars worked together in three parallel working sessions in order to define a statute for the Academy, organize the first annual meeting, and submit proposals and ideas for the research platform.
The project has also gained the attention of Italian and European institutions, receiving the High Patronage of the European Parliament, the Patronage of the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research, as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
In 2017, the Ex Nihilo Zero Conference was convened during which ongoing studies and activities were presented. It took place under the auspices of the G7 Italian Presidency and was organized in collaboration with the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research. It was opened by the addresses, among others, of the Special Envoy for freedom of religion or belief outside the EU, Ján Figel’, the Rector of the University of Bologna, Francesco Ubertini, and the Secretary of FSCIRE, Alberto Melloni. During the five-day conference there were 133 panels, amounting to a total of 568 interventions and 950 participants.
The same success characterized the First and Second Annual Conferences, hosted by FSCIRE in Bologna: more than a thousand participants came from all over Europe, and from Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Sudan, Korea, Pakistan, Malaysia, Chile, Colombia, China, India. During the 2018 conference, the Emilia-Romagna Region and FSCIRE established the Giuseppe Alberigo award, which offers 20,000 euros to an established scholar and 10,000 to an early career one. Alberigo dedicated 54 years of work to FSCIRE, and the award is in memory of his impassioned and critical contribution.
The 2020 Conference was held online, due to the pandemic conditions. Since then, EuARe conferences are held in Bologna every other year.
Team and contacts
Treasurer
Francesca Cadeddu
Secretariat
Irene Iarocci
euare.bo@gmail.com
+39 051 239532
www.europeanacademyofreligion.org