Rationale

The present proposal connects four research teams at the following institutions: Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, Helsingin Yliopisto, Uniwersytet Jagielloński w Krakowie, Universidad Complutense de Madrid. All of them are working in the field of Ancient Religious History and Anthropology and share a common interest in opening up new areas of interdisciplinary research with the aim of strengthening the possibility to increase the impact of their expertise on global challenges such as migration, human rights and processes of societal inclusion, and thus improve new form of access to  external funding through interdisciplinary cooperation.

Expertise and knowledge related to religious mindset and experience of cultural encouters and clashes in the past is part of  the next framework programme Horizon Europe, cluster 2 ‘Culture, Creativity and Inclusive societies’  since at the basis of research projects in this area there is the assumption that: «Cultural heritage is the expression of the ways of living a society has developed by common values, traditions and beliefs and the different influences it has been exposed to and absorbed over time. It gives a sense of belonging to people and anchors our societies into their past while allowing them to project themselves into the future.»

This means that research groups like the ones involved in the present project need a strong networking among each other to better understand how to shape future research in directions which can be percieved as more relevant towards societal challenges, and need therefore an increased capacity to open up to experts in other fields, more directly connected to contemporary challenges related to cultural heritage and inclusive societies.

On the other hand a stronger networking in research foresight will allow participants to design future excellent ambitious research avenues to apply to curiosity driven calls like ERC funding and to encourage younger researchers to international research careers through the MSCA funding.