Science In Romania Research Articles

Cultivating Civic Engagement

In contemporary society, the concept of civic engagement appears as an essential condition for the functioning of democracy and social well-being. Civic engagement transcends simple participation in the electoral process and encompasses a wider spectrum of activities: civic and community participation, activism, and public dialogue. Thus, cultivating civic engagement is a mission, duty, and responsibility for universities, particularly for social science programs. They derive from the need to form and shape not only professionals but also responsible and involved people from a civic and social point of view. However, the mechanisms by which higher education institutions can effectively cultivate such engagement among students remain a subject of debate and investigation. This study seeks to bridge this gap by exploring the strategies used by universities to promote civic awareness among students. Methodologically, this article proposes a study on one of the most important universities in the field of social, political, and administrative sciences in Romania. By analyzing the perceptions and experiences of students, the research provides new empirical data on how educational practices influencing civic and political engagement are evolving, or, conversely, reveals institutional shortcomings in fulfilling the mission of promoting civic engagement among students. In this sense, a standardized questionnaire was distributed to the students from the political science bachelor's degree program to analyze their perceptions and experiences regarding how the study programs and the teachers' activity incorporate the component of civic and political involvement. Data analysis highlights how and if higher education programs cultivate and shape student engagement through academic programs, extracurricular activities, or community partnerships.

Evoluţia instituţiei şi ştiinţei arhivistice româneşti în timpul directoratului lui Aurelian Sacerdoţeanu (1938-1953)

The article explores the role played by Aurelian Sacerdoţeanu in the organization, management, and modernization of the State Archives. It also shows how these processes triggered the consolidation of archival science in Romania. First, I analyze the administrative activity of Aurelian Sacerdoţeanu at the helm of the State Archives. Second, I address his scientific work and the contributions he made to Romanian archival science. The historical period under consideration (1938-1953) was marked by major political and social changes. Thus, the study of Sacerdoţeanu’s administrative and academic work offers valuable insight on the broader transformation of the historical field during these turbulent years.

DEVELOPMENT OF COMMUNICATION SCIENCE IN ROMANIA. CHALLENGES AND PERSPECTIVES

The present paper is an analysis of the development of Communication Science in Romania during the last decades. It starts with a search for a definition for Communication Science and a short history of the research field. One of the main questions to be discussed is whether Communication Science is rather part of social sciences or part of the humanities. Another interesting issue to be discussed is that of the challenges and perspectives regarding the future of Communication Science in Romania.

Social Entrepreneurship: An Ability for the Future Teachers

Creative thinking, identifying new solutions, taking risks, the proactive attitude, initiative, self-esteem, social and innovative intentions to contribute to societal well-being are competencies listed down in the Learning Compass (OECD, 2019a). Such abilities can be connected with social entrepreneurial competence. Meaningful constructs for the social entrepreneurial competence are: risk taking, self-esteem, personal creativity (Scale of Konakli & Göğüş, 2013), as well as personal traits, social characteristics, and characteristics of social initiative (Scale of Capella-Peris et al., 2019), scales used also in this article. The teachers, as role models for their students, have to demonstrate this competence in order to scaffold it effectively in their students’ minds. We aim to identify to what extent the students in educational sciences in Romania, who will become teachers, demonstrate abilities on this dimension during their BA initial teacher education. Thus, we investigated elements of social entrepreneurial competence in groups of students from Pedagogy, Pedagogy of Primary and Pre-school Education, and Special Needs Education. 509 respondents, students in the first and third year of the BA program, from nine public universities, answered the online questionnaire. The results of the study highlight possible correlations between risk taking and elements of personal creativity, or personal traits, but it could not identify statistically significant differences between the 1st and 3rd year students regarding social entrepreneurial competence. To identify to what extent the social entrepreneurial competence can be noticed at the level of the student teachers, represents a reference for possible curriculum revision of the academic offers.

Making Decision in Criminal Proceedings within a General Theory of Forensic Science in Romania

The judicial process of making decision in criminal cases is, generally speaking, increasingly analysed within a complex framework, one of these being harmonized with principles, and concepts organized along with the forensic activities of investigation. To this regard, the Romanian judicial activity in criminal cases is not away from these values of respecting standards in criminal proceedings. This situation is particularly viewed during the judgment phase of criminal proceedings at the stage of making decision. Taking into consideration all these aspects, the current paper is focused on the best practices of the activity of decision making in criminal cases in Romania, particular attention being paid to the forensic science and the way in which it influences the process of achieving decision in the framework of administering and assessing evidence based on forensic activity of investigation. An in-depth analysis of both the doctrine trends and the case-law presentation on the topic of decision making in criminal proceedings within the forensic framework in Romania will be presented, as well as the case-law remarks and comments of this topic. The idea of this paper was conducted by the fact that several criminal cases are usually solved by taking into account the involvement of forensic investigation records of gathering evidence which help judicial bodies in making decision in criminal proceedings.

Making Decision in Criminal Proceedings within a General Theory of Forensic Science in Romania

The judicial process of making decision in criminal cases is, generally speaking, increasingly analysed within a complex framework, one of these being harmonized with principles, and concepts organized along with the forensic activities of investigation. To this regard, the Romanian judicial activity in criminal cases is not away from these values of respecting standards in criminal proceedings. This situation is particularly viewed during the judgment phase of criminal proceedings at the stage of making decision. Taking into consideration all these aspects, the current paper is focused on the best practices of the activity of decision making in criminal cases in Romania, particular attention being paid to the forensic science and the way in which it influences the process of achieving decision in the framework of administering and assessing evidence based on forensic activity of investigation. An in-depth analysis of both the doctrine trends and the case-law presentation on the topic of decision making in criminal proceedings within the forensic framework in Romania will be presented, as well as the case-law remarks and comments of this topic. The idea of this paper was conducted by the fact that several criminal cases are usually solved by taking into account the involvement of forensic investigation records of gathering evidence which help judicial bodies in making decision in criminal proceedings.

Some Landmarks in the Romanian history of medicine

The article provides an overview of the development of the history of medical science in Romania. The achievements of Romanian historians in the study of various areas of the history of medicine are presented.

Din nou, ACUM, Brașov, 17-19 octombrie 2019

The International Colloquium of Social Sciences and Communication ACUM (NOW) took place in Brasov in between 17th and 19th of October 2019, over three sunny autumn days. The event was organized by the Faculty of Sociology and Communication of the University Transylvania and by the Society of Sociologists of Romania. The keynote speakers were: Bogdan Voicu (R.I.Q.L.) with a communication about migration as a double osmosis, Robbie Gilligan (University of Dublin), with a paper about working with vulnerable young people, Sylvie Huet, (University of Clermond), who investigated the “glass ceilings”, and Mihai Burlacu, from the Bucharest Polytechnic, with a reconsideration of the anthropological space as heterotopia. The colloquium organized by SSR is already part of a local university tradition of national and international openness. Slowly but steadily, a real international character of scientific manifestations in Romania is formed, much less cosmopolitan than similar conferences in the global West, but with a constant presence of foreign guests and participants who bring a much needed diversity of perspectives and research themes. During the works, we received a very careful reception from colleagues in sessions that put together various contributions, from long-term individual research topics to recent exploratory research.The event was one that confirmed its success over the years, thus strengthening Brasov's place on the map of social sciences in Romania.

Culture and Science in Romania. Evidence from World Values Survey

Culture and Science in Romania. Evidence from World Values Survey

Subversive affinities: Embracing soviet science in late 1940s Romania

This article discusses the appropriation of Soviet science in Romania during the late 1940s. To achieve this, I discuss various publications on biology, anthropology, heredity and genetics. In a climate of major political change, following the end of the Second World War, all scientific fields in Romania were gradually subjected to political pressures to adapt and change according to a new ideological context. Yet the adoption of Soviet science during the late 1940s was not a straightforward process of scientific acculturation. Whilst the deference to Soviet authors remained consistent through most of Romanian scientific literature at the time, what is perhaps less visible is the attempt to refashion Romanian science itself in order to serve the country's new political imaginary and social transformation. Some Romanian biologists and physicians embraced Soviet scientific theories as a demonstration of their loyalty to the newly established regime. Others, however, were remained committed to local and Western scientific traditions they deemed essential to the survival of their discipline. A critical reassessment of the late 1940s is essential to an understanding of these dissensions as well as of the overall political and institutional constraints shaping the development of a new politics of science in communist Romania.

A former Romanian scientific society: The Society of Physical sciences (1890-1910)

The Society of Physical sciences (phisycs, chemistry and mineralogy) has been an important Romanian scientific society since its establishment, in 1890 until the middle of the twentieth century. This paper seeks to provide an analysis of its activity in the first two decades of existence, a less studied period, namely how its enterprises contributed to the dissemination and spread of the latest scientific ideas within Romania’s culture. The society was founded at the initiative of some of the most proeminent Romanian scientists of that period and, until the end of the nineteenth century, it expanded its sphere of activity by including sections on mathemathics and natural history. Therefore, its activity, exemplified by public conferences, presentation of members’ personal scientific endeavors, intellectual debates or scientific missions, reflected the general development of physical sciences in Romania in that epoch. This research is based mostly on a close scrutiny of society’s scientific journal.

New Feature: Now History of Science in Romania

New Feature: Now History of Science in Romania

Teacher's Responsibility in Moral and Affective Education of Children

This article investigates the role of teachers for moral and affective education of children in secondary education, based on a survey carried out in 2011 within the Institute for Education Sciences in Romania. It aims to identify current challenges and difficulties encountered by teachers and students in relation to moral and affective education in school, to explore how teachers understand their role, to identify critical areas of teacher training and solutions for improvement. It underlines the need to update educational practices, while the fast changes of the education system in the last decades caused an increased resistance of school.

Romanian Marine Centennial

This article explores an Antarctic expedition that led to the development of marine sciences in Romania, celebrating their one hundredth anniversary, and the creation of marine stations. Emil Racovitza participated in the Belgica Antarctic Expedition of de Gerlache which seems to have nurtured his interest in the marine sciences. He is credited with launching oceanography in Romania. Other major figures in the development of oceanography and the creation of marine research facilities are Borcea and Antipa, whose careers are retraced in the paper. Recently all research points have been regrouped to form the National Institute for Research and Development. La Roumanie fête le centenaire de son océanographie et l'INRDM (Institut National pour la Recherche et le Dévelopment Marins “Grigore Antipa”) célèbre les 40 années de sa création; de fait il s'agit d'un organisme issu de la coalescence de plusieurs stations océanographiques qui ont jalonné le développement de l'océanographie en Roumanie. Plusieurs noms de personalités proéminentes sont citées dans ce bref aperçu. Racovitza, qui se fit un renom en tant que membre du complément scientifique de l'expédition de la Belgica en Antarctique, y trouva probablement sa vocation marine. Les festivités de l'anniversaire, qui ont un cachet international, se centreront sur un symposium. Istoricul oceanologiei româneşti poate fi rezumat prin evocarea personalităţilor lui E. Racoviţa, G. Antipa, I. Borcea şi a instituţionalizării cercetării marine în staţiunile şi laboratoarele care au general Institutul Român de Cercetări Marine/Institutul Naţional de Cercetare-Dezvoltare Marină “Grigore Antipa” şi Institutul Naţional de Cercetare-Dezvoltare pentru Geologie şi Geoecologie Marină “GeoEcoMar.” Die Geschichte der rumänischen Meereswissenschaften kann zusammen-gefasst werden durch die Berufung der Persönlichkeiten von Emil Racovitza, Grigore Antipa und Ioan Borcea sowie die Institutionalisierung der Meeresforschung in Forschungseinrichtungen, die zur Gründung des Rumänischen Meeresforschungs-institut/Nationalinstitut für Meeresforschung und Entwicklung “Grigore Antipa” und des Nationalinsitut für Forschung und Entwicklung der Meeresgeologie und Ökologie (GeoEcoMar) geführt haben.

Political science in post-communist romania

The article explores the development and institutionalisation of political science in Romania after 1989. It argues that, despite a rapid process of expansion and institutionalisation, the emergence of political science as an internationally competitive discipline has been fundamentally affected by two types of factors: communist legacies and systemic under-investment in teaching and research.

News and Notes

The Romanian Society of Political Studies invites membership applicationsfrom international scholars with relevant interests. The Society was established in January 2000 to enhance and provide an institutional setting for efforts aimed at improving the standards of Romanian political science. It emerged as a response to the growing need for better communication and co-ordination between scholars based at established institutions and those working independently both within Romania and abroad. Its main goal is to improve the academic teaching and research environment in political science in Romania.

Emerging information society and history of information science in Romania

AbstractInformation Science development in Romania provides a comprehensive, comparative study of the cultural influences that prevail in the acquisition, processing, and distribution of data, information, and knowledge in that nation. The chronology of most important events of history of Information Science in Romania and the historical context in which the present development of Information Society in Romania can be understood are presented.

A Data Archive for Social Sciences in Romania

A Data Archive for Social Sciences in Romania

Problems in the management of university education in the field of librarianship and information science in Romania

Describes the re‐establishment of a department of librarianship and information science at Bucharest University, Romania. Discusses some of the problems and dilemmas encountered and gives details of the curriculum and courses taught. Ends by assessing what has been achieved and outlining aims for the future.

ON ACADEMIES IN TRANSITION

This version of President Iliescu's speech to the participants in the Workshop is a translated and edited version as reported by Radio Romania Actualitati on 25 April 1995 and as such is not the complete text. The President outlines the role of science in Romania and science policy in the transition of Romania to a market economy. While Romanian science must increasingly be part of world science, Romania as a country must prepare to become part of the European Union. The two processes are linked. The fact that transition is giving rise to great social and economic polarization is dangerous for the progress of science in that it leads to public opposition to public financial support for science. Thus it is all the more important for science to find solutions to the pressing human problems created by transition.