Activities of the School of Law Faculty | January – February 2024

The Faculty of the School of Law of the University of Nicosia have been really active in research, collaboration, and discourse between January and February 2024.

From the successful completion of work packages in the SUST-HEIN project to the insightful contributions at the “Democracy in Crisis” conference, the faculty’s endeavours reflect a deep commitment to fostering sustainable futures, enhancing consumer protection, and shaping the contours of civil discourse. This summary encapsulates the essence of their activities, underscoring the impact of their collective efforts on the global academic and societal stage.

I. Projects

  • SUST-HEIN
    Dr Odysseas Christou     runs the Erasmus+ project Sust-HEIn: The second transnational meeting of the SUST-HEIN PROJECT was held in Rome at the end of January. A comprehensive overview highlighted the achievements and milestones attained since the project’s inception. Significant attention was dedicated to Work Package 2 (WP2). The collaborative efforts of partners led to the successful conclusion of WP2, with the submission of valuable recommendations. This marks a crucial step forward in our shared journey towards institutional sustainability. Following the success of WP2, the discussion seamlessly transitioned to Work Package 3 (WP3). Partners engaged in fruitful deliberations regarding the next steps, aligning strategies and goals to ensure a seamless continuation of the project’s objectives.
  • TransformERS
    Dr Odysseas Christou was appointed to the Management Committee of COST Action CA22156 – Transformations international Experience and Research network for Sustainable futures (TransformERS). The overarching aim of TransformERS is to inform research, policy and practice for transformations that deliver justice in a changing global context by bringing together and positioning research relevant to societal transformation. Such societal transformations are cited as highly necessary to avoid catastrophic climate change and biodiversity loss, and are called for in the IPCC and IPBES frameworks, as well as the European Green Deal. However, current research into transformations is highly fragmented. Pieces of relevant knowledge are held by policy-makers, practitioners, and researchers, from within a range of contexts, disciplines, projects and perspectives, both within and outside of the sustainability research community. There is a need to put these separate pieces together to 1) identify what transformation-relevant knowledge is held and by whom 2) understand how the different pieces fit together; 3) understand what the big picture is – what we know about transformations collectively; and 4) identify the missing pieces – understand what we still need to create knowledge on. TransformERS creates a networking infrastructure to meet these 4 needs with objectives to 1) inform transformation policy; 2) shape transformations research and practice; 3) train transformations researchers from across broad disciplines and topics.
  • ECO4ALL
    Dr Odysseas Christou was appointed as a Working Group Member of CA22124 – EU Circular Economy Network for All: Consumer Protection through reducing, reusing, repairing (ECO4ALL). The main aim of the ECO4ALL Action is to contribute to the information, reflection and dissemination activities for youth at large, academics, young researchers, staff of the public administration, business environment and for civil society as a whole regarding the circular economy that works for consumers; therefore ECO4ALL aims at promoting the understanding of sustainable consumption, the conservation of resources and the prevention of waste, as well as the responsibility of manufacturers in the design and marketing phases, as one of the most important prerequisites towards consumer protection through reducing, reusing, repairing. Innovative aspects of the project consist of the improvement of the green circular economy as a behaviour, by driving the actions and decisions of governments, companies, workers, citizens and consumers to realise their economic, environmental and social impacts in a responsible manner. In the ECO4ALL ‘s view, the EU institutions focus on the environmental and productive aspects of the circular economy, with barely a mention of the social and consumer-related aspects. Under a comprehensive approach, the proactive role of consumers will overcome mere asymmetrical participation, and must empower them to participate in the full circularity of the process.

II. Conference / Seminar Participation

  • Achilles C. Emilianides, Dr Constantinos Adamides, and Dr Yiannos Katsourides participated in a conference that took place in Nicosia (31.1.2024-1.2.2-2024) entitled «Η δημοκρατία σε κρίση» (“Democracy in Crisis”) organized by Institute of Studies for Politics and Democracy.
  • Dr Constantinos Adamides participated in Cairo, Egypt (20-22.2.2024) in a Conference entitled “The Third World Forum for the Culture of Just Peace” organized by Al-Babtain Cultural Foundation. Dr Adamides was the main discussant on the session: “Peace and Political Development”.
  • Dr Constantinos Adamides was the invited speaker (24.2.2024) in a conference as part of EMERGE project: Shaping Tomorrow: Enhancing Civil Participation in Cyprus. Dr Adamides was discussant on “Media in the Era of Truth Decay: The Impact of Disinformation”.
  • Dr Konstantinos Dimarellis presented the topic “Σύμβαση έργου, εργασίας και παροχής υπηρεσιών – Εντολή” (21.2.2024) in the series of seminars organized by Nomiki Vivliothiki “Οι αστικές συμβάσεις στη σύγχρονη οικονομία”.
  • Dr Nicolas Kyriakides was a speaker at the final conference of the Small Claims Analysis Net 2 (SCAN2) project on the European Small Claims Procedure organised by Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) on the 22nd of February in Brussels. His speech focused on the future of European Civil Procedure.
  • Hubert Faustmann organized an online briefing on the potential resumption of the Cyprus Talks and the state visit of the German President Frank Walter Steinmeier to some German members of parliament from the SPD and their assistants on 8 February 2024.

III. Publications

  • Dr Grigoris Michailidis published in February 2024 the second edition of his book: «Πτωχευτικό Δίκαιο, Το νέο δίκαιο της Αφερεγγυότητας» (“Bankruptcy Law, The new law of Insolvency”), Lex Book.
  • Dr Emilios A. Solomou published a new paper titled “International Mindedness in Emerging Contexts of International Schooling. Cyprus, A Case Study” in the British Journal of Educational Studies, together with M. Elerian and Elena Papanastasiou.

IV. Other

  • Dr Vagia Polyzoidou gave an interview to the website “inside story” on the term «γυναικοκτονία» and whether it should be part of the criminal code. The interview is available here.
  • The CCEIA published a special edition of its electronic newsletter In Depth, «Ένα έτος διακυβέρνησης Νίκου Χριστοδουλίδη: αποτίμηση και προοπτικές», Κυπριακό Κέντρο Ευρωπαϊκών και Διεθνών Υποθέσεων, τόμος 21, τεύχος 21, Φεβρουάριος 2024. The newsletter is available here.
  • A book presentation of the book of Prof. Andreas Theophanous «Από τη Δεσμευμένη Ανεξαρτησία του 1960 στις Προκλήσεις του σήμερα- Συνοπτική αξιολόγηση του Κυπριακού και της πολιτικής όλων των Προέδρων», Εκδόσεις Hippasus, 2023, was organized by the committee of Larnaca/Famagusta of KYKEM (12.1.2024) in Larnaca.