Volume 4 Issue No.

April-June 2013

2013 IFSSO General Conference held in Istanbul

IFSSO delegates during the Closing Session of General Conference.

The International Federation of Social Science Organizations (IFSSO) convened its 21st General Conference at the Yildiz Technical University in Istanbul, Turkey last April 9-10, 2013. The theme of the conference was The Ways and Means of Living in Peace and Harmony in a Multicultural World. Although the number of participants to the conference was smaller compared to the 2011 Conference in the Philippines, this years conference had the most number of countries represented. There were speakers and participants coming from 19 countries, namely Albania, Algeria, Austria, Czech Republic, Egypt, Ghana, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, the Philippines, Poland, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, and the United States. see back page...
FEATURE
IFSSO General Assembly Elects New Executive Board, Makes other Important Decisions

The IFSSO General Assembly convened on April 11, 2013 at the office of the Istanbul Foundation for Science and Culture (IFSC) in Istanbul, Turkey to elect the new officers of the Federation. Dr. Nestor Castro of the Philippines was re-elected as IFSSO President. This is the second term of Dr. Castro as IFSSO President, having been first elected as President in 2011 during the General Assembly in Batangas City, Philippines. Prior to that, Dr. Castro served as IFSSO Secretary General from 2009 until 2011. see back page...
JAPAN Hosts International Conference on Glocal Studies

The Center for Glocal Studies of Seijo University organized an international conference in Tokyo, Japan last May 11, 2013 with the theme Glocal Studies in East Asia: Mobility, Contact and Conviviality. The conference was co-sponsored together with IFSSO and the Institute for Sociology in Tokyo. Dr. Kazuhisa Nishihara, IFSSO Second Vice-President and Professor of Sociology at Seijo University, acted as the Conference Chairman. see back page...

2013 IFSSO General Conference held in Istanbul

cont... Those who gave the Welcome Remarks to the conference were Dr. Alparslan Aikgen, the Director of the Institute of Social Sciences of the Yildiz Technical University (YTU); Dr. Nestor Castro, the President of IFSSO; Dr. Faris Kaya, General Director of the Istanbul Foundation of Science and Culture (IFSC); and Dr. Yusuf Ayvaz, Pro Vice Rector of YTU. 25 papers were presented during the two-day conference. These papers were selected from 109 paper proposals from 30 countries that have been received by IFSSO. The paper presentations were divided into the six panel sessions addressing the following sub-themes: 1) The nature of knowledge and its utilization for human happiness and intercultural harmony; 2) Spiritual aspect of human development: Said Nursis perspective; 3) Migration and solutions to problems brought about by multicultural differences; 4) Various crises afflicting contemporary societies and their solutions; 5) Solutions to problems stemming from religious and political differences; 6) Culture of violence and (their) solutions. The conference culminated with the participants boat tour of the Bosphorus, the strait that divides Asia and Europe, and a reception dinner at the Rustempaa Madrasa. The 21st General Conference was organized by IFSSO together with IFSC and YTU.
IFSSO General Assembly Elects New Executive Board, Makes other Important Decisions

cont...
Aside from Dr. Castro, the other elected IFSSO officials are: Dr. I Ketut Ardhana (Indonesia) as First Vice President; Dr. Kazuhisa Nishihara (Japan) as Second Vice-President; Mr. Hakan Gulere (Turkey) as Secretary General, Dr. Mourad Moulai Hadj (Algeria) as Treasurer; and Dr. Hidasi Judit (Hungary), Dr. Yekti Maunati (Indonesia), Dr. Soottiporn Chittmittrapap (Thailand), and Mr. Samuel Marfo (Ghana) as Executive Board Members. The new Executive Board will serve as IFSSO officials from 2013 until 2015. The IFSSO General Assembly also officially approved the membership of new applicants. The Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) of the Philippines and the Udayana University of Indonesia were accepted as Associate Members. Dr. Luz Almeda (Philippines), Dr. Mourad Moulai Hadj (Algeria), Dr. Rodalin Asenas (Bahrain), and Dr. Sudhir Kumar Singh (India) were accepted as new Individual Members. JAPAN Hosts International Conference... The General Assembly decided to amend the IFSSO Statutes by adding a new member category, i.e. that of Student Member. Aside from Full Member Organizations, Associate Member Organizations, and Individual Members, IFSSO is now accepting Masters and PhD students as non-voting members. Lastly, the General Assembly identified the venues of the next two IFSSO General Conferences. The 22nd IFSSO General Conference will be convened in 2015 in Tokyo, Japan with Seijo University as conference host and venue. The theme of that conference will focus on the issue of Glocalization. Dr. Kazuhisa Nishihara was designated as Conference Chair and he is expected to organize a Conference Committee consisting of social scientists from China, Japan, and South Korea. On the other hand, the 23 rd IFSSO General Conference will be undertaken in 2017 in Algeria, with Dr. Mourad Moulai Hadj as Conference Chair.

cont...
Dr. Laurence Roulleau-Berger, Research Director of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and the Ecole Normale Superieure de Lyon of France, was the Keynote Speaker during the conference. Among the speakers in the conference were Dr. Saihanjuna of Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Dr. Sunhee Lee of Tohoku University, and Ms. Mari Shiba of Nagoya University. The Glocal Studies in East Asia Conference is a kick-off activity for the 22nd IFSSO General Conference in 2015 in Tokyo which also deals with the theme of Glocalization.

IFSSO Newsletter is published by the INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF SOCIAL SCIENCE ORGANIZATIONS For inquiries, visit us at Room 3055, Faculty Center, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City 1101, Philippines. Telefax No. (63-2) 4261544 email at ifsso_secretariat@yahoo.com Lay-out Design by Peye Raa