The CST-CEE Initiative relies on two main value dimensions: Creating Public Intellectuals and Regional Solidarity. This model aims to respond to specific needs that have been identified from the previous stages of the Initiative. Some of these needs are interreligious dialogue; (re)building of common good and social trust; civic engagement and active citizenship; life-long-learning and training of trainers; mutual East-West cultural contributions; Global Compact on Migration; Church and society cooperation. All of the CST-CEE Actions are aimed towards this value model.
From the experience of 2018-2019 we have developed a standardized model for the improvement of the Initiative. It is composed by 4 lines of actions:
CST-CEE Summer School [SS]
- Objective: dissemination of CST and of its applications among CEE CHEI Students.
- Target: CEE CHEI students, currently involved in CST and Social Ethics applications, interested to share their experiences and learn new research topics.
- Tasks: Organize a special school every year in the summer, lasting a whole week; topics: 1) FASS current research issues on CST and its applications and 2) Expert Council current research initiatives in the local regions of the CEE.
CST-CEE Expert Council [EC]
- Objective: exchange of good practices; sharing and dissemination of CST and its applications in a wider network of experts; interactions between, and mutual recognition among, different educational systems, potential to set-up a network through which bids for funding for transnational research projects could be made to the European Commission.
- Target: Professors and Researchers coming from different CHEI in CEE Countries.
- Tasks: promote and strengthen the group; a high-level seminar and strategic meeting held in Rome every year in summer to exchange current research topics in a mutual Life-Long-Learning process; publication of relevant original papers.
- Objective: collaboration, integration, exchange, knowledge development, common research; licentiate and doctoral theses aimed at improving CST in CEE region; support to the Expert Council in setting up a transnational network.
- Target: CEE CHEI students currently involved in CST and Social Ethics applications, available to study 2 years in Rome at FASS and to participate to the development of CST-CEE Initiative. The group is actually composed by 3 students from Romania, Hungary and Czech Republic. Hopefully their number will increase to 6 members from different CEE Countries (also to experience that “regional solidarity” which is one of the main values of the initiative)
- Tasks: develop licentiate and doctoral theses on CST applications; participate in CST-CEE research programs; collaborate in the setup of the Summer School.
CST-CEE Research and Development [RD]
- Objective: production and dissemination of documents, research reports, analyses and projects on CST in the CEE Countries.
- Target: Professors, Researchers, Students from CHEI in the CEE region.
- Tasks: a) Each year a special research topic is developed during the academic year in the FASS, with its professors and students: the results will be presented at the annual Summer School and at the Expert Council high-level seminar. b) Each of the EC members will share their current research and will present original papers on the subject during the EC annual event. c) Each of the Summer School students will present their current projects on related topics; d) The EC papers will be published by the Angelicum Press and/or in other academic journals; the best projects from the SS students may be included. e) An annual CST-CEE Research project will be developed: in 2019, it is the production of an annotated bibliography of the most important texts on CST produced in CEE Countries in the last 10 years. f) The TF members will make additional contributions, for example, the updating and augmenting of the knowledge base of the Catholic and Ecclesiastical Higher Education Institutions (CHEI) in the CEE region providing CST courses, first developed in 2017.