The 2022 Gender Report calls for us to #DeepentheDebate on gender equality in education.
Firstly it calls for us to pay closer attention to data. The Report has relied upon UIS data on gender gaps in out-of-school rates and a new comprehensive dataset on completion rates housed on its VIEW website. They show that gender disparities in education have changed rapidly. Globally, gender gaps in education access at all three levels of education are close to zero – but stagnation in some countries and pockets of exclusion within others prevail.
Updated data housed on its WIDE website also present an almost global picture of the gender gap in learning outcomes. Girls now outperform boys in learning in general but are not among top performers in mathematics. Their advantage over boys in reading in early grades increases with age. They also outperform boys in science in secondary school in middle- and high-income countries. This analysis provides a baseline against which to compare the next layer of learning data that will be released in the coming 18 months and which will help assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on inequality.
The Report calls for the debate to also look beyond access, completion and learning to societal norms influencing progress. Gender equality in education is influenced by gender-based expectations, by politicians as well as parents, communities as well as businesses and faith leaders. Depending on the context, the role of these actors can push the gender equality agenda forward or undermine progress to maintain the status quo. Read the Report Share the social media pack Watch the event (2-3 PM CEST) Watch the video
From March 15 to 19, the Neurobioethics Study Group coordinated by Fr. Alberto Carrara, L.C., professor in the Faculty of Philosophy and Fellow of the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics and Human Rights (School of Bioethics), participated with numerous national and international events during the Brain Awareness Week organized by the Dana Foundation.
March 15-16 NEURO-COVID. The video-recording is accessible by clicking here.
Speakers: Matilde Leonardi (IIRCS Carlo Besta, Milan) “Long-Covid: neurological aspects” (for the video-recording of this speech click here); Stefano Mazzoleni (bio-robotic engineer, University of Bari) “The epidemic during the time of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics – A new anthropology for a safer world? “; Armando Piccinni (neurologist, psychiatrist and President of BRF, BRAIN RESEARCH FONDAZIONE Onlus of Pisa) “Covid: psychiatric aspects”; Fabrizio Mastrofini (head of the communication office of the Pontifical Academy for Life) “Covid 19 between information and misinformation”; Alberto Carrara “Covid: Anthropological and Neuroethical Issues”; Laura Arnaboldi (Psychologist, SISPI) “From Confinement Syndromes to Long Covid in Psychology”; Bianca Tomasi (Psychologist, SISPI) “Online Psychotherapy during Covid time: the experience of a digital native”; Alberto Passerini (Psychiatrist, Psychotherapist, Founder and Director of SISPI) “Phenomenology of the psychotherapeutic setting: adaptations triggered by the pandemic”; Tania Cerasella (lawyer, member of the GdN) “Pandemics and epidemics of information between disinformation and misinformation: “together for”…. ., the person, in search of truth, justice, with love and kindness”; Emanuela Cerasella (lawyer, coordinator of the subgroup of the GdN on Neurolaw) “Pandemic of Covid 19, exceptional conditions of imbalance between necessities and available resources in health care: when clinical ethics meets law”. Both events were presented and moderated by Claudio Bonito, philosopher and coordinator of the GdN subgroup on Posthumanism.
March 17 NEURO-SPORT. The video-recording is accessible by clicking here.
Speakers: “Sport and neurosciences, the historical roots” (Angela Teja); “”Genetic concept of the psychosomatic spirit applied to sport” (starting from the thought of Fernando Rielo, Founder, thinker, poet 1923-2004)” (Father David Murray); Testimonials 1 – Mauro Raffaeli (Sport that heals), Paolo Di Benedetto (the walk that opens the heart and the mind); “Robotic Neurorehabilitation and Adapted Physical Activity: reality and perspectives” (Luciano Bissolotti, Specialist in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine, Fondazione Teresa Camplani-Casa di Cura Domus Salutis); Testimonials 2 – Carmine Consalvi and Fernando Ruscito (pedagogical work with children through sport). The event was presented and moderated by Claudio Bonito, philosopher and coordinator of the GdN subgroup on Posthumanism.
March 18 NEURO-TECH. NEUROTECHNOLOGIES THAT LOVE THE HUMAN PERSON. The video-recording is accessible by clicking here.
Program:
16:00. Introduction and moderation (Claudio Bonito)
16:10. Greetings from the Rector of the European University of Rome (UER) Prof. F. Pedro Barrajón, L.C.
16:10-18:00. Neurotechnologies that love the human person. Theoretical and practical presentation of neuro-technologies applied to mental pathology at the clinical neuroscience laboratory of the European University of Rome. Prof. Benedetto Farina, Professor of Psychiatry; Prof. Claudio Imperatori, Associate Professor of Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, European University of Rome (UER).
March 19 1st WORLD CONGRESS OF NEUROBIOETICS
On the occasion of the 101st anniversary of the birth of neuropsychiatrist Anneliese Alma Pontius (1921-2018), who coined the neologism “neuro-ethics” in 1973, the newly formed INNBE, INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF NEUROBIOETICS, was presented.
Certainly, a most special moment was represented by the speeches of some of the Honorary Members of the IINBE: the first one was from the United States of America, by Prof. Stephen M. Stahl, a well-known psychiatrist and pharmacologist; then from Mexico, the Vice-President of FISP (International Federation of Philosophical Societies), Prof. Lourdes Velázquez; next from Mexico again, the President of the Mexican Association of Neuroethics, Prof. Karen Herrera; in Zoom connection, the phenomenologist Angela Ales Bello (Emeritus Philosopher at the Pontifical Lateran University); in presence, the philosopher of the Pontifical Gregorian University and coordinator of the subgroup of the GdN dedicated to Neurobioethics and sexual differences, Prof. Giorgia Salatiello; the coordinator of the subgroup of the GdN on Neurolaw, the lawyer Emanuela Cerasella and Dr. Franco Arosio, for 33 years General Director of the IRCCS Carlo Besta in Milan.
To our big surprise, Prof. Borys Ivnyev, psychiatrist, Rector of Kiev Medical University and Honorary Member of IINBE, was able to connect via WhatsApp call directly from Ukraine. His speech was greeted with loud applause, which caused to both Prof. Ivnyev and to all of us strong emotions. It was a very touching moment that you can see in the video-recording (at the minute 1:40:00), as well as on our social pages.
Finally, we connected with Aversa, one of the local sections of the GdN coordinated by Prof. Mara Marano, who in parallel has organized for this important anniversary for neurobioethics, a prestigious conference attended by: The Bishop of Aversa, the Mayor, the scientist Antonio Giordano, the philosopher Michele Farisco, the Chief Francesco Verde, the theologian Guido Cumerlato and the philosopher Pasquale Giustiniani.
Lastly, the following events were officially announced: (1) the upcoming release of the volume “Anneliese Alma Pontius. A hundred years after her birth. Neuroethics from a female perspective” by A. Carrara and E. Barboni and (2) the Prize of 2,000 euros on Neuro-Education dedicated to the founder of neuroethics “Anneliese Alma Pontius”, whose call for tender will be released in the coming months.
The video-recording is available on the YouTube channel on this link.
The central role of education, the need for integrated knowledge, the development of new skills and the commitment to a joint and shared ecological transition. These are some of the issues of the meeting of the Italian UNESCO Chairs with the Ministries of Education and University and Research.
The meeting was opened by the Minister of Education, Patrizio Bianchi, and the Minister of University and Research, Maria Cristina Messa. Franco Bernabè, President of the Italian Commission for UNESCO (CNIU), and Stefania Giannini, Unesco’s Deputy Director General for Education, also participated.
The Italian Unesco Chairs, with the project “Dialogues of the Unesco Chairs: a laboratory of ideas for the world to come”, have started a path to propose themselves as a collective subject with a high scientific profile and as a community of knowledge to contribute to the challenge of sustainability and socio-economic transition. The meeting is the synthesis of a year of confrontation and dialogue between the holders of the Italian UNESCO Chairs engaged in the development of education and knowledge in relation to global environmental and social challenges and for the achievement of the goals of sustainable development of the UN Agenda 2030.
To this end, the Italian UNESCO Chairs are working to provide a laboratory of ideas and knowledge for future generations, to implement a transdisciplinary and transnational educational approach, to contribute the introduction of the environmental challenge in school and university education, to develop tools for sharing and dissemination of knowledge by acting as bridges between academia, civil society and policy makers.
Bioethics and Consciousness: an interdisciplinary and interreligious reflection on an essential dimension of the human person.
July 2,3,9,10 2021 – from 3:30pm to 6:30pm
Course presentation
The 19th Summer Bioethics Course will take placeat15:30-18:30 on July 2-3 and 9-10, 2021. Simultaneous translation will be available into English, Italian, and Spanish. The title of the course is “Bioethics and Consciousness: an interdisciplinary and interreligious reflection on an essential dimension of the human person.”
The course is organized by the Faculty of Bioethics in collaboration with the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics and Human Rights established at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum and the European University of Rome.
Description
The course is organized by the Neurobioethics research group, in particular by the subgroup on consciousness, with the participation of all other subgroups and researchers of the group. The theme of consciousness is at the center of contemporary bioethics debates. At the beginning stages of human life, the absence of self-consciousness is invoked to justify depriving the human organism of the status of personhood. At the final stages of human life, it is argued that an apparently irreversible loss of the manifestations of human self-consciousness can justify the harvesting of organs as a “donation” from subjects in gravely compromised states of altered consciousness. Moreover, two tensions are widespread in neuroscientific, philosophical and social contexts. On the one hand, there are attempts at reductionism, whether in the merely neurobiological sense or in a functionalist sense. On the other hand, there have emerged many substitutionary approaches that seek to identify personal self-consciousness with mere digitizable information. Therefore, correct information and formation regarding consciousness is important.
This international summer course in bioethics proposes an interdisciplinary and interreligious study of human consciousness with the aim of understanding the plurality of meanings corresponding to the multi-layered complexity of personal dimensions of which it is composed. The course will offer its participants the chance to acquire the knowledge regarding the following areas: the state of the art of the so-called “science of consciousness” ranging from neuroscience to artificial intelligence and including quantum physics; the medical-clinical and psychiatric-psychological context; the philosophy and anthropology of consciousness; the artistic-aesthetic and theological-spiritual dimension. In this final context, special emphasis will be given to interreligious dialogue about the theme. Finally, the course will give its participants the competencies necessary to discern critically the varied contemporary contexts in which consciousness is invoked in order to evaluate critically clinical protocols, proposed laws, sanitary applications, and the political, economic and social implications of the theme.
The Hastings Center has prepared this resource to help the nation stop the spread of the pandemic and we invite you to share it widely with patients and the general public through any dissemination channels available to you. This compelling animation underscores the four simple steps, needed to curb the coronavirus and restore the economy. We can “Stop the Spread.”
Stop the SpreadWhen an infectious disease reaches crisis proportions, how can a country return to daily life and restore its economy?youtu.be
These steps include:
1. Widespread use of masks to prevent disease transmission;
2. Widely available testing with quickly reported results;
3. Large-scale contact tracing to determine who is infected, or may become infected; and
4. Voluntary targeted isolation by those who test positive for, or who have been exposed to, the virus.
Without effective masking, testing, tracing, and isolation, the country’s attempts to reopen will be disrupted. Stopping the spread of the novel coronavirus—and avoiding a general lockdown—depends on these important measures.
