Twenty years ago, in 1996, Chiara Lubich was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Social Sciences from the Catholic University of Lublin in Poland, for having launched a “Copernican revolution in social sciences” and for having promoted dialogue as the key driving force for peacekeeping and peace-building in every context, even in post-communist countries.

Chiara Lubich’s ‘charism of unity’ is at the forefront of dialogue today. The theory and praxis of dialogue has influenced the lives of many people of different cultures and religions, who have committed themselves to her spiritual vision that is embodied in the culture of unity. In a world where ethnic and religious differences often lead to violent conflicts, the spread of the charism of Chiara Lubich has contributed to constructive dialogue among persons, generations, social classes and nations.

Starting from the analysis of tangible and symbolic meanings of dialogue, the Promoters invite all interested parties to propose original contributions that explore, from different perspectives, practices, pathways and processes related to respect, diversity management, mutual understanding, conflict resolution and peace building.

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ive areas of interest have been identified. Preference will be accorded those contributions able to use multidisciplinary approaches, coming from psychology, economics, pedagogy, politology, sociology and communication studies. A particular characteristic of innovative submissions should consist in a disciplined effort to bridge gaps between theory and practices. Only new and unpublished papers, which can bring added value to the empirical, theoretical, prescriptive and practical understanding and creative engagement of conflict and dialogue, will be selected.

Laudatio