2020 FANEL Conference

This conference was organized at the initiative of Professor Liliana Popescu, Vice-rector of SNSPA, who underlined that there is a stark contrast between the number and quality of women experts in politics, international relations and national security and the visibility of those experts in the public sphere. The public debates on international politics and public policy – regardless of the hosting country – tend to favour the presence of male experts, to the extent that mANELS (all-male panels) have become a usual practice. Mass-media is saturated by this type of approaches. By organizing a conference that comprises only fANELS (all-female panels), the organizing team gathered by Professor Popescu aimed at surprizing and even shocking the audience.

During the three fANELS academics, researchers, business women and women experts from the governmental sector discussed about international interconnectivity and national policies, AI and innovative technologies, the New World Order, illiberalism, innovation and political change, the power of information and opinions, the power of ideologies, disinformation, cyber security, migration, and regional partnerships, among other topics. The participants were from Romania, from the East and South-eastern Europe, from other EU countries, and from the US.

The conference ended with a roundtable addressing the topic of the much needed gender equilibrium in public debates regarding international relations and security. The discussion was moderated by Professor Mihaela Miroiu and by Ioana Avădani, the President of The Center for Independent Journalism (Centrul pentru Jurnalism Independent).

Conference funded by: the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) – Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation.

Partners: AnALize, CeSIP

• Develop a regional network of women specialized in the area of international relations, foreign policy, security studies, global political economy, European studies, political sciences, etc.
• Connect to existing initiatives in the area, in Europe, and in the world.
• Organize a second edition of the Fanel Conference next year in Bucharest (2021), at the SNSPA.