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13th GCGI International Conference and the 3rd Joint GCGI and SES Forum

Why Values Matter

The Power of Purpose and Values: The Path to a Better World

Wednesday 31 August- Sunday 4 September, 2016

Hosted at Waterperry House, Nr. Oxford

Waterperry House | School of Economic Science

Dear Friends, 

Building a better world, the world of values in the interest of the common good is indeed a holistic journey. It encompasses all our relationships in our daily lives, from how we interact with each other, across diversity, to how we care for the planet and steward our resources and how we relate to a faith or spiritual values and envision a future bigger than ourselves. Our Conference this year, similar to the previous ones, will take participants on a journey into building and co-creating the better world we are all yearning for.

What does it mean to be human? What does it mean to live a life of meaning and purpose? What does it mean to understand and appreciate the natural world? ...To forge a more just society for the common good? In what ways are we living our highest values? How are we working to embody change we wish to see in the world? What projects, models or initiatives give us the greatest hope?

How can we do well in life by doing good? How can we become agents of change for the common good? How to spark a new public conversation framed around human dignity and the common good?  Human beings have explored these many questions of value through religion, philosophy, the creation of art and literature, and more. Indeed, questions of value have inaugurated many disciplines within the humanities and continue to drive them today. Questions about values and valuing are fundamental to being human, but rarely are the subject of explicit public reflection. The Conference will explore how values-led action can be a resource for renewal.

Please see the links below to discover more about our forthcoming Conference, theme and sub-themes, submitting abstracts, registration, fees, travelling to Waterperry House, the GCGI Award, the Gala Evening and more.

We will be delighted to welcome you to Waterperry House and the Conference. Please submit your abstracts for formal presentation, or consider sharing your experience, wisdom and insight with less formality at our “Storytelling” panels. This year on Friday 2nd of September during a special High Tea, we will launch the GCGI Storytelling Project: Telling Our Stories, Sharing the Wisdom- What can we learn from each other’s stories & experiences? What consciousness or spiritual experiences have you had that shaped what you do, how you work or what you’ve accomplished? How have you put your insight, wisdom or guidance into action? What have you learned that you’d like to share? And what questions or challenges are you having that you’d like to talk about with others?

For presentation possibilities please contact Prof. Kamran Mofid: k.mofid@gcgi.info

For participation and registration contact Peter Holland: petermholland36@hotmail.com

Introduction, General Information, Theme and Sub-themes

Why Values Matter: First Announcement of 13th GCGI International Conference and the 3rd GCGI-SES Joint Forum

Sir Anthony Seldon to receive the 4th GCGI Award for Public Service in the Interest of the Common Good and to deliver the Keynote Address

Sir Anthony Seldon to receive the 4th GCGI Award for Public Service in the Interest of the Common Good

Abstract/Paper Submission and Presentation Guidelines

GCGI-SES Joint 2016 Conference: Guidelines for Abstract Submission

Storytelling for the Common Good: First Call for Stories

Storytelling for the Common Good

Fees and Registration

GCGI-SES Joint 2016 Conference: Fees and Registration

Travelling Arrangements

GCGI-SES Joint 2016 Conference: Travelling Arrangements

We Thank Our Partners

GCGI-SES Joint 2016 Conference: We Thank Our Partners

Meet our Keynote Speakers

In addition to our plenary and featured  speakers, as well as our Storytellers, we are delighted and honoured to have Keynote Speakers who have specialist knowledge of our work, who capture the interest of the participants and will leave all who hear them informed and inspired.

2016 GCGI-SES Forum Keynote Speakers

Sir Anthony Seldon, Vice-Chancellor, The University of Buckingham, the 4th recipient of the GCGI Award and the Featured Keynote Speaker.

Sir Anthony Seldon

Anthony Seldon is an authority on contemporary British history and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Buckingham.  He was formerly 13th Master of Wellington College, one ofBritain's most famous independent schools.  He is also author or editor of over 25bookson contemporary history, politics and education.

After gaining an MA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics atWorcesterCollege,Oxford, and a PhD at the London School of Economics, he qualified as a teacher at King's College,London, where he was awarded the top PGCE prize in his year.

Please continue to read: Sir Anthony Seldon

Prof. W. Richard Bowen

Professor W. Richard Bowenis a Fellow of the UK Royal Academy of Engineering. His contributions to the development of membrane separation processes and atomic force microscopy are widely regarded as world leading. Professor Bowen is a member of the Academy’s Engineering Ethics Working Group, the UK Academies' Human Rights Committee and the Advisory Board of the Centre for Emerging Technologies and Bioethics at St Mary’s University London. He has lectured on engineering ethics at universities and international conferences in theUK, mainlandEurope, theMiddle EastandChina. Recent publications includeAtomic Force Microscopy in Process Engineering (London: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2009, with N. Hilal),Engineering Ethics: Outline of an Aspirational Approach (London: Springer-Verlag, 2009), Peace Engineering (Lakeshore: Woodsville, 2013, ed. with P.A. Vesilind) and Engineering Ethics: Challenges and Opportunities (Cham: Springer International, 2014).

Please continue to read: Professor W. Richard Bowen, FREng

Laura Hyde

Laura Hyde (Cert Ed, M Ed), Consultant in educational development and former head of St James Senior Girls’ School, London: “Having worked with young people and adults for nineteen years as a headteacher, I continue to marvel at how it is possible to provide the conditions in which the magnificence of human nature can find its expression. I would like to offer the fruit of my experience so far, to other schools, parents, young people or adults in various walks of life, to help them discover how those circumstances can be provided.”

Please continue to read: Laura Hyde  Allowing people to flourish

Ian Mason

Ian Mason, Principal, School of Economic Science, and GCGI Senior Ambassador

IAN MASON is a barrister practising in housing, environment, public and property law. He has been an active student in the School since 1971 and currently leads studies in law and economics. Ian joined the Fellowship in 1981, was elected to the Executive Committee in 1996 and became Principal of the School in Great Britain and Chairman of the Fellowship and the Executive Committee in 2008.

Please continue to read: Roles & Trustee Responsibilities | School of Economic Science

Prof. Winston P. Nagan

Prof. Winston P. Nagan, FRSA, Samuel T. Dell Research Scholar Professor of Law, Levin College of Law, University of Florida. Professor Nagan was born in South Africa and educated at the University of Fort Hare. At that time, the apartheid authorities were constructing the foundations of a police state. Professor Nagan as a student leader was active in promoting the rule of law values, which challenged the values of apartheid authoritarianism. In this role, he was active in organizing legal defenses for political prisoners. Later he organized a prison education scheme for the continuing education of all political prisoners in South Africa. He left South Africa for exile in 1964 and continued his legal studies at OxfordUniversity. He graduated with the degrees of BA honors and MA. He continued his studies at DukeUniversity, LL.M, MCL. He did his doctoral studies at Yale under Myres McDougal and Michael Reisman (JSD). He left Yale for a position in the University of Florida where he currently is Sam T. Dell Research Scholar Professor of Law and Director of the Institute for Human Rights and Peace.

Please continue to read: Winston Nagan, FRSA - Levin College of Law Levin College of Law

Prof. Alan Williams

Prof. Alan Williams. Alan Williams is British Academy Research Professor and Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Religion at the University of Manchester. The publications of Prof. Williams include the Pahlavi Rivāyat Accompanying the Dādestān ī Dēnīg;Rumi Spiritual Verses Masnavi-ye Ma’naviThe Zoroastrian Myth of Migration from Iran... Qesse-ye SanjānIn the Mirror of the Stream (ed., with translations of poems of Shafi’i Kadkani and paintings by Pari Azarm Motamedi,) and Parsi Settlement in India and The Diaspora (ed. with John R. Hinnells). He is currently contracted to publish all six volumes of the Masnavi with I.B. Tauris of London

Please continue to read: Prof Alan Williams research profile - research | The University of Manchester