Vienna, 6 September 2024 – After an initial meeting with CDA at his office in the Center for Molecular Medicine in 2023 Professor Lars Y. Terenius from Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm visited our CDA headquarters office in Vienna on 6 September 2024. Being a Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (KVA) Lars is the European Chairman of our CDA Scientific Advisory Board. CDA President Alexander G. Welzl together with CDA Vice President Markus Stender introduced Lars Terenius in the genius loci of Palais Lieben Auspitz and its splendid history. After internal strategic talks focusing on formats, fields and topics of collaboration between European and Chinese universities, research institutions and actors in the respective National Innovation Systems Professor Terenius and President Welzl followed the invitation of Professor Melanie Malzahn, Chair of the Academy Council of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW), to join her as guests at a conference at the OeAW which marked the kick-off of the Cluster of Excellence ‘EurAsian Transformations’. The invitation came as a result of a previous bilateral meeting between Malzahn and Welzl following panel contributions of both of them at a Sino-European conference taking place at University of Vienna with a focus on the history of collaboration of peoples along the silk road from ancient times until the 21st century. Lars Y. Terenius and Alexander G. Welzl attended the interdisciplinary conference “Language and Culture in the Borderlands of the Eastern Silk Road” and listened to the keynote of Imre Galambos (formerly Professor at Cambridge University; now Professor at Zhejiang University; Trustee of Needham Research Institute) at Austrian Academy of Sciences on 6 September 2024.
From left to right: Alexander G. Welzl (President, CDA), Lars Y. TERENIUS (Professor, Karolinska Institutet, Member of The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, European Chairman of the CDA Scientific Advisory Board), Markus STENDER (Vice President, CDA)
‘Communication of Civilization and the Silk Road’ – CDA and OeAW Members’ Remarks
In this interdisciplinary Sino-European conference taking place at University of Vienna on 11 - 12 May 2024 organised jointly by the Oriental Institute, University of Vienna, and Syria Research Center, Northwest University in Xi'an, China, amongst others leading historians and linguists from Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW), as well as CDA contributed their expertise addressing modes and perspectives of communication between the peoples along the Silk Road in ancient times and in the 21st century. In her contribution on ‘Cultural connectivity on the pre-modern Eastern Silk Road’ Professor Melanie Malzahn presented findings of her most recent research investigating ancient Silk Road cultures, languages and cultural connectivity. In his remarks on 'Peace and Development in the 21st Century - Universities as Bridge Builders between the Cultures along the Silk Road' CDA President Alexander G. Welzl built on CDAs motto - 'Ex Sapientia Lux' - and CDAs work supporting peace-oriented and evidence-based dialogue between Europe (the West) and China. Against the backdrop of the economic developments on the Eurasian continent from Bronze Age until today (salt and silk) Welzl addressed the importance of dialogue, curiosity for otherness, exchange of knowledge between peoples and cultures in a spirit of mutual learning and appreciation which are main cornerstones to prevent war and collaboratively solve the Grand Challenges of humankind in the 21st century.
From right to left: Alexander G. Welzl (President, CDA), Melanie MALZAHN (Professor, University of Vienna; Member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Chair of the Academy Council of the Austrian Academy of Sciences)
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