Project Manager

Romulus Brâncoveanu, PhD Professor, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest

The fields of competency relevant for the theme of the project relate to my interests and the competences I have acquired so far in several areas. These competences are very closely related to my professional and scientific record since 1990, which records a passage from the philosophy of science, philosophy of education and educational policies to the problematic of political and social philosophy.

Philosophy of science: My interest in the philosophy of science relates to my PhD thesisTeorie sau program de cercetare? Modalităţi de construcţie teoretică în ştiinţele omului (Theory or Research Program? Modalities of Theoretical Construction in the Human Sciences). In my thesis I have introduced in a specific way the concept of research program in order to describe the great sociological theories and their theoretical construction (Weber, Pareto, Durkheim and Parsons). The different concepts I have launched in my thesis made the object of further research that was published in different articles among which: „Disciplina ştiinţifică: reprezentare şi consens” (“The Scientific Field: Representation and Consensus”), in Cunoaştere şi analiză (Knowledge and Analysis), All, Bucuresti 1998, ISBN 973-9392-34-2; „Discurs şi emergenţă sau o ipoteza dialogică a discursului” (“Discourse and Emergence or a Dialogical Hypothesis of the Discourse”), in M. Bodea (coord.), Complexitatea. Teme logice, ontologice şi epistemologice (Complexity. Logical themes, Ontological and Epistemological), Casa cărţii de ştiinţă, Cluj-Napoca, 2002, ISBN973-686-272-0; „Rolul programelor metodologice în ştiinţele sociale” (“The Role of the Methodological Programs in Social Sciences”), in Analele Universităţii Bucureşti, Filosofie, 2001, ISSN 0068 – 3175. Also, synthesizing the research activity that I had begun with my PhD thesis, I have published the volume Canoane metodologice şi dialog discursiv. Despre programe le metodologice în ştiintele sociale (Methodological Canons and Discursive Dialog. About the Methodological Programs in Social Sciences), Editura Paralela 45, Piteşti, 2004, ISBN973-697-175-9. Following my interest in the philosophy of since and my competence acquired in the educational policies, I have obtained a CNCSIS research grant in which the different aspects of the theory of knowledge and of the evolution of science are referred to the new institutional changes in the European university supposed by the Bologna Process: “Universitatea europeană şi instituţionalizarea cunoaşterii: fundamente cultural-valorice ale învăţământului universitar modern şi schimbarea instituţională în universitatea de astăzi” (“The European University and the Institutionalization of Knowledge: Cultural-Value Foundations of Modern University Education and the Institutional Change in Nowadays University”).

Philosophy of education and the educational sciences: My interests related to the philosophy of education and the educational sciences have materialized in several studies whose author or co-author I have been. I mention that many of these studies represented a foundation for decisions regarding the educational policy of national or international organisms. Among the studies with which I have contributed to the accomplishment of the conceptual and theoretical framework of the reform of the education in Romania and to the accomplishment of concrete policies and projects I mention the most relevant: Decentralizing Education in Transition Society, Washington, D. C.: The World Bank, 2001, ISBN 0-8213-4876-0; Reviews of National Politics for Education: Romania, OECD Publications, Paris, ISBN 92-64-17635-7; Inclusive Education in Romania, UNESCO, Paris, 2000, ED – 2001/WS/2; National Report on Education for All, Romania, Institute of National Education, Bucharest, 1999, Cartea albă a reformei învăţământului în România (The White Book of the Education Reform in Romania), 1998, Alternative, Bucuresti, 1998, ISBN 973-9216-64; Reforma învăţământului din România: condiţii şi perspective (The Education Reform in Romania: Conditions and Perspectives), ISE, Bucuresti, 1993. Also in the field of education I have been directed or taken part in several research or project teams which developed important activities of empirical and theoretical research of the problems of education. Among these I mention: „Proiectul pentru Învăţământul Rural” (“The Rural Education Project”), co-financed by the World Bank – deputy director (2002-2007 2007- 2008, coordinator); „Proiectul Reformei Învăţământului Românesc”(“The Project of the Reform of the Romanian Education”), co-financed by the World Bank, coordinator of the Policy and Legislation Component (1996-2000); „Education for All”, project financed by UNESCO and the World Bank – coordinator, member of the research team (1999-2000), and „Descentralizarea serviciilor educaţionale în România”(„Decentralizing educational services in Romania”), research project financed by the World Bank - member of the research team.

Political and moral philosophy: Since 1998 I have been teaching political philosophy and philosophy of history at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Bucharest. Ever since, I have been teaching courses such as: Introduction to Political Philosophy, Contemporary Political Philosophy, Social Philosophy, Political Theories, Political Anthropology, Models of the European Democracy etc. In this quality, I have taken part in the constitution of the module of political and moral philosophy, the first attempt in our country, after 1998, to configure an education program in the field of political and moral philosophy (as it is well known, the Romanian tradition is poor in this field), and also the constitution of an education program for the license and MA degrees in the field of European studies. Also in the area of political philosophy, I mention my activity related to the constitution of the thematic of philosophy and political science in our country, and of a scientific community around it, by the publication of numerous articles and analysis in the journal Sfera Politicii. I have been an editor of this journal between 1993-1996, and since 2003 I am its chief redactor. I mention that the journal Sfera Politicii has reached issue no 128, after 15 years of continuous activity. In the field of political philosophy I have coordinated a series of volumes and published different articles among which „Raportul Tismăneanu: ecouri” (“The Tismaneanu Report: Echoes”), special issue Sfera Politicii, nr. 126 – 127, XV, 2007, ISSN 1221-6720, 138 p; „Uniunea Europeană. România. Prima zi” (“The European Union. Romania. First Day”), special issue Sfera Politicii, nr. 125, XIV, 2006, ISSN 1221-6720, 152 p.; „Partide şi societate” (“Parties and Society”), special issue Sfera Politicii, nr. 124, XIV, 2006, ISSN 1221-6720, 152 p.; „Uniunea Europeană: structuri şi aşteptări” (“The European Union: Structures and Aspectations”), triple special issue, Sfera Politicii, nr. 120, 121, 121, XIV, 2006, ISSN 1221-6720, 152 p.; „Raţiune publică, raţiune politică şi raţiune civică sau cum transpare problema Luminării în disputa dintre Habermas şi Rawls” (“Public Reason, Political Reason, and Civic Reason or how the Problem of Enlightenment Reveals itself in the Dispute Between Habermas and Rawls”), in Filosofia azi. Prima întâlnire româno-chiliana, (Philosophy Today. The first Romanian-Chilean Meeting) Editura Universităţii din Bucureşti (ed. Mircea Dumitru, Adrian Paul Iliescu, Patricio Brikle), „Ultimele zile ale societăţii civile” (“The Last Days of the Civic Society”), in A.-P. Iliescu (coord.), Mentalităţi şi instituţii. Carenţe de mentalitate şi înapoiere instituţională în România (Mentalities and Insitutions. Mentality Deficiencies and Institutional Backwardness in Romania), Ars Docendi, Bucureşti, 2002, ISBN 973-558-069-1. In 2007, I have published at Editura Universităţii din Bucureşti, the volume Raţiune publică şi discurs (Public reason and Discourse), ISBN 978-973-737-414+1 and, as a coordinator and co-author, the volume Managementul cunoaşterii (The Knowledge Management), ISBN 978-973-737-391-5. Also, in the field of philosophy I coordinate the series Biblioteca de Filosofie of the Paralela 45 Publishing House.

Project management: I have some experience in the management of research-development projects, some of them with an external financing or with special amplitude. Among them I mention „Proiectul pentru Învăţământul Rural” (“The Rural Education Project”), (2003-2007 deputy director, 2007 – 2008, coordinator). Also, I mention: „Education for All”, project financed by UNESCO and the World Bank – national coordinator, member of the research team from 1999 to 2000 (this grant was used to accomplish an empirical study and the proposal of new educational policies) and „Inter-governmental Roles in Education Service” (2000), research project financed by the World Bank – member of the research team; „Reform of the Pre-universitary Education”, 1994-2000, (in this project I was the coordinator of the Policy and Legislation Component; the main result of the activity developed in this branch were the law projects of the education until 2000 that were adopted in a more or less different form by the Parliament). Also, as researcher at The Institute for Educational Sciences, I coordinated different research teams. Either as an expert, a member or manager of some projects of research-development, I took part in the elaboration of educational policies in our country. Also, as co-author of the two White Books of the Romanian Education, I took part in configuring the educational strategies and policies after 1990.

Grant Project Manager: I obtained and developed different research projects based on a grant. Some of these have been mentioned above. Also, I mention: „Universitatea europeană şi instituţionalizarea cunoaşterii: fundamente cultural-valorice ale învăţământului universitar modern şi schimbarea instituţională în universitatea de astăzi” (“The European University and the Institutionalization of Knowledge”), CNCSIS project, 2005-2008.

The Research Team

Mircea Dumitru, Professor, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest

Academic Experience: Professor of Logic and Philosophy, Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest from 2000 to 2008. He is PhD supervisor since 2006. He also taught as a Visiting Scholar at the University Center of The City University of New York, at The University of Tulsa, Tulsa, Oklahoma, U. S. A., and as Teaching Assistant, at the Department of Philosophy, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana, S.U.A. Mircea Dumitru has had a rich publishing activity, as proven by his numerous articles in Romanian and foreign philosophy journals and by the many translation of important works of philosophers such as Wittgenstein, Quine, Kripke etc.

Grants and Scholarships: since 2006 is member of the research team of IHPST-CNRS, France – Logique et langage, Modelisation logique, grant leader Professor Gabriel Sandu, that develops an important research project at a European level with European funds, dedicated to logical modeling. During 2003-2005, Mircea Dumitru was the director of a CNCSIS grant with the project Concepte, reprezentare, conţinut mental. Teme în fundamentele filosofice ale ştiinţelor cognitive (Concepts, Representation, Mental Content. Themes in the Philosophical Foundations of Cognitive Sciences). He has also taken part in other projects such as: February-July 2004: NECLINK fellowship, New Europe College, Institute for Advanced Study, Bucharest; February-July 2003: NECLINK fellowship, New Europe College, Institute for Advanced Study, Bucharest; January-May: 2001 grant of the World Bank; 1998-2001: RELINK fellowship, New Europe College, Institute for Advanced Study, Bucharest; 1994-1998: PhD scholarship, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana, S.U.A.; 1993-1994: Fulbright scholarship, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana, S.U.A.; 1991: Goethe Institute scholarship, Düsseldorf, Germany.

Published Works: On Incompleteness in Modal Logic. An Account through Second-Order Logic, UMI, A Bell & Howell Information Company, 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346, USA, 1998, 218 p.; Logică şi argumentare (Logic and Argumentation), high-school text-book (co-author P. Bieltz), ALL Publishing House, Bucharest, 1999; 2nd edition revised 2003; Modalitate şi incompletitudine. Logica modală ca logică de ordin superior (On Incompleteness in Modal Logic. An Account through Second-Order Logic), forward by professor Graeme Forbes, Tulane University, New Orleans, S. U. A. and an afterword by professor Melvin Fitting, City University of New York, Paideia Publishing House, Bucharest 2001, which won the book award ‘Mircea Florian’ of the Romanian Academy; Explorări logico-filosofice (Logico-Philosophical Explorations), with an afterword by Sorin Vieru, Humanitas Publishing House, Bucharest 2004; „Atitudini propoziţionale. Probleme şi teorii (II)” (“Propositional Attitudes. Problems and theories (II)”), in Revista de Filosofie, Vol. 3-4, p. 465-476, Editura Academiei Române, Bucharest, 2004.

Constantin Stoenescu, PhD Reader, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest

Research and academic experience: he is head of The Department of Theoretical Philosophy and Logic, Faculty of Philosophy, specialist in the field of epistemology, theory of scientific knowledge, logic, the management of knowledge and sustainable development. He has experience in the field of continuous education as pro-rector and rector of Popular University of Giurgiu where he made projects in collaboration with DVV/Germany.

Project management: As founder and member of some non-governmental organizations (member in the research team, expert and director of project) he developed different projects: he took part in three CNCSIS projects: „Teme ale complexităţii” (“Themes of complexity”), „Concepte, reprezentări, conţinut mental” (“Concepts, representations, mental content”) and „Universitatea Europeană şi instituţionalizarea cunoaşterii” (“The European University and the institutionalization of knowledge”); manager of the project “Centrul de informare, consultanţă şi asistenţă juridică pentru cetăţeni şi instituţii” (“Center for Information, Consulting and Juridical Assistance for Citizens and Institutions”), project PHARE PDP 297, activities in collaboration with The Venice Commission, The Romanian Academy, The Romanian Parliament etc.; regional manager of sustainable development projects financed especially by UNDP; coordinator for the field of education in the project „Creşterea capacităţii cetăţenilor de a influenţa şi contribui la dezvoltarea comunităţii” (“The Growth of the Citizens’ Capacity of Influencing and Contributing to the Development of the Community”), made by CNDD with the financing of the World Bank; as President of The New Alliance Ecologist Society he has been involved in the last 12 years in tens of projects, with divers finances, ranging from The Foundation for an Open Society to PHARE.

Publications: He took part in many conferences, national and international; he published many studies and articles in scientific and cultural journals. He published the volumes:Experienţa şi semnificaţie (Experience and Significance); Teoria cunoaşterii. Teme. Texte. Literatură (The Theory of Knowledge. Themes. Texts. Literature), co-author; Filosofia austriacă. Origini, specific, reprezentanţi (The Austrian Philosophy. Origins, Specific, Representative Figures), coeditor, etc. Translations from Schlick, Popper, Ernst Tugendhat etc.

Dorina Cucu, Graduate Teaching Assistant, PhD candidate of the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest

The title of her PhD thesis is „Raţionalitate sau democraţie. Dileme filosofice privind rolul instituţiilor politice” (“Rationality or Democracy. Philosophical Dilemmas Regarding the Role of the Political Institutions”), which totally accords with the subject of the project. She published articles in Analele Universităţii din Bucureşti and in Sfera Politicii. She is Assistant at The Department of Moral and Political Philosophy, University of Bucharest.

Mircea Toboşaru, Graduate Teaching Assistant, University Politehnica of Bucharest, PhD candidate of the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest

He’s writing his PhD thesis called “Pragmatismul analitic” (”The Analytic Pragmatism”). This thesis also accords also with the project’s subject. He is Assistant at University Politehnica of Bucharest, Department of Philosophy, Logic, Psychology, Sociology. He published: O Scurtă Introducere în Filosofie (A Short Introduction to Philosophy), Saga, Cluj, 2006 and „Despre Agenţii Morali Artificiali” (“On Artificial Moral Agents”), article in Perspectivă Filosofică asupra Tehnicii (“A Philosophical Perspective upon Technology”), ed. Mircea Toboşaru, Printech, Bucureşti, 2006).

Yet, together with these researchers, we will cooperate in the different research activities with as many PhD and MA candidates as possible, who will take part in the work-shops and conferences. The two PhD candidates that are members of the research team will take part in all the activities. A special attention will be given to the participation of the young members from the research team in the elaboration of hypothesis, theories, models and their applicative aspects. They will also take part in all the research activities and will have the possibility to initiate themselves hypothesis or to propose solutions beneficial to the progress of the research. In this environment, the young researchers will benefit from the guidance of professors with a special experience in the studied fields and will apprehend directly different methodologies of philosophical and applicative research. The PhD candidates will be encouraged to fructify the results of their research in the benefit of the accomplishment of their PhD thesis.