Research Activity - January 2019

On Dec. 13, Francesco Arese Visconti, Head of the Media Communications and Photography Department, presented at the Annual Research Symposium organized by CREAM (Centre for Research and Education in Arts and Media) at the University of Westminster in London.

Arese Visconti presented current results of his PhD research work. The presentation 'Sua Cuique Persona:' Face as Mask in Photographic Portraits of Italian Migrants in 21st Century Switzerland' highlighted aspects of creativity, innovation and interdisciplinarity. The presentation was very well received and raised questions about face, mask and their involvement in photographic portraiture.

Jachens presents at the BPS Division of Occupational Psychology Conference

Dr. Liza Jachens recently presented at the BPS Division of Occupational Psychology Conference, hosted in Chester, U.K. in Jan. 2019. The presentation on Rural Police Officer Welfare was part of a symposia at the conference named “Wellbeing and Work.” Dr. Jachens was invited to collaborate on the Devon and Cornwall Police Officer Welfare project, under the leadership of Dr. Jonathan Houdmont (University of Nottingham). Rural policing involves a unique set of challenges. Many police forces in England and Wales serve rural communities and there is growing anecdotal evidence to suggest a high prevalence of stress-related work, with line management systems designed for urban policing identified as a contributory factor. This study allowed for the identification of a set of generic and context-specific management behaviours that are important to the effective management of work-related stress in rural policing teams.

Foppiani on Radio Svizzera Italiana

On Jan. 24, Dr. Oreste Foppiani, Associate Professor of International History and Politics and Head of the IR Department, participated in the Radio Svizzera Italiana (RSI) program Modem dedicated to the global migration crisis in the Mediterranean Sea and the future of EUNAVFOR MED Operation Sophia. The other participants were Claudio Bustaffa, RSI correspondent in Rome, Gianfranco Schiavone, Vice-President of the Associazione Studi Giuridici sull’Immigrazione, Simone Billi, League's MP, and Giuditta Pini, Democratic Party's MP. The debate was moderated by RSI journalist Bettina Müller.

Listen to the program (in Italian).

Socio-Cultural Manifesto for creativity research published

Dr. Vlad Glăveanu, Head of the Psychology and Counseling Department and Director of the Webster Center for Creativity and Innovation, has led an international team of scholars who collaborated in formulating a Socio-Cultural Manifesto for creativity research. This Manifesto has been published by the oldest journal in the field, the Journal of Creative Behavior, under the title “Advancing Creativity Theory and Research: A Socio‐cultural Manifesto” and is available online in early view. This paper has been co-authored, beside Dr. Glăveanu, by Dr. Michael Hanchett Hanson (Teachers College of Columbia University, USA), Prof. John Baer (Rider University, USA), Dr. Baptiste Barbot (Pace University, USA), Dr. Edward P. Clapp (Harvard University, USA), Prof. Giovanni Emanuele Corazza (University of Bologna, Italy), Prof. Beth Hennessey (Wellesley College, USA), Prof. James C. Kaufman (University of Connecticut, USA), Dr. Izabela Lebuda (University of Wrocław, Poland), Prof. Todd Lubart (Universite Paris Descartes, France), Prof. Alfonso Montuori (California Institute of Integral Studies, USA), Dr. Ingunn J. Ness (Bergen University, Norway), Prof. Jonathan Plucker (Johns Hopkins University, USA), Prof. Roni Reiter-Palmon (University of Nebraska at Omaha, USA), Prof. Zayda Sierra (University of Antioquia, Colombia), Prof. Dean Keith Simonton (University of California Davis, USA), Prof. Monica Souza Neves-Pereira (University of Brasilia, Brazil), and Prof. Robert J. Sternberg (Cornell University, USA), with input from Ronald Beghetto (University of Connecticut, USA) and Prof. Maciej Karwowski (University of Wrocław, Poland). The Manifesto outlines a set of twelve socio-cultural premises for creativity research that will continue to be the topic of scholarly debate, including at the second edition of the Creativity Week / European Collaborative Creativity Conference this coming June.

Indjikian conference activity

Dr. Rouben Indjikian was a speaker at annual TXF Structured Commodity Finance conference in Geneva on Nov. 9, 2018, where he took part in a panel on alternative non-bank sources of commodity trade finance increasing in their importance, as banks decreased their activities in trade finance due to more stringent Basel III regulations. He was also moderating at Euromoney Global Grain conference in Geneva on Nov. 13. The session in the event of that day called Black Sea Forum was devoted to the problems of development of Black Sea hub logistics and infrastructure becoming more and more important in international trade in grains.