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Guest lecture „Irish Presidency of the Council of the EU”, by H.E. Mr Aidan Kirwan, Ambassador of Ireland

Wed, 15 May 2013 11:43:00 +0300

The lecture is organized by Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence at the University of Latvia in cooperation with Embassy of Ireland in Latvia, UL European Studies Master Programme, and UL Doctoral School "European Integration and Baltic Sea Region Studies".

We kindly ask to register for lecture here.

One of the world’s leading cognitive science* experts will deliver a lecture at the University of Latvia

Wed, 15 May 2013 10:22:00 +0300

In his lecture ’The Pros and Cons of Perceptual Learning’, Professor Robert Goldstone will explain to the audience, using his neat sense of humour, why the research of perception is important in the context of different scientific fields, especially cognitive science. In addition, he will highlight the problematic issues in the viewpoint regarding the foundation of knowledge in human perception. ‘Robert Goldstone is currently one of the five most significant researchers in the world and is demonstrating an outstanding performance in interdisciplinary researches in various spheres. I am pleased that Robert Goldstone has agreed to give this open lecture. We would like to demonstrate the Latvian intellectual community why cognitive science research is scientifically potent and fascinating to experts from various fields and all those interested in this topic,’ says Professor Jurģis Šķilters, the director of the UL Centre for the Cognitive Sciences and Semantics and the organizer of the event. Robert Goldstone is Chancellor's Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences, director of the Percepts and Concepts Laboratory and director of Cognitive Science Program at the Indiana University. He has studied the interaction between perception and knowledge, acquisition of concepts, computational models of human thinking, psychology of decision making, reasoning and problem solving and visual cognition processes and is the author or co-author of more than 170 highly significant publications. Jurģis Šķilters points out that everyone studying cognitive science comes across Robert Goldstone’s works. Professor’s researches are excellent study material from the point of view of psychology and computer modelling and a significant contribution to psychology and cognitive and computer sciences. He has been bestowed with several honorary titles and awards as well as recognized by the National Academy of Sciences in the USA. Everybody is invited to Robert Goldstone’s open lecture that will take place on May 15 at 16:00 in the Great Hall of the UL as part of the 9^th International Symposium of Cognition, Logic and Communication ‘Perception and Concepts’.

Lecture will be broadcast online in UL portal. *Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary field that examines cognition, consciousness and perception. It combines research methods and findings of multiple disciplines including psychology, philosophy, linguistics, computer and communication sciences.

Translated by students of the professional study programme Translator of the University of Latvia.

Students of the Faculty of Law succeed internationally

Fri, 10 May 2013 15:32:00 +0300

University of Latvia Faculty of Law compete in various moot court competitions annually. One of the...

Symposium on Language for International Communication

Thu, 09 May 2013 13:26:00 +0300

Cognitive science experts from all over the world to take part in the symposium at the University of Latvia

Fri, 03 May 2013 09:26:00 +0300

The symposium participants will mainly focus on issues regarding the relation between perception and concepts (knowledge structures). For example, whether the concepts are related to one’s perceptual experience or perceptual experience depends on the concepts one has, and whether the perception is possible without any concepts. This year, the invited organisers are the researchers of perception and concepts from the USA, Edouard Machery, a professor of the University of Pittsburgh, and Jesse Prinz, a professor of the City University of New York. The invited speakers are prominent cognitive scientists, such as David Chalmers, a professor of the Australian National University and visiting professor of the New York University (USA), Andy Clark, a professor of the University of Edinburgh (UK), Rob Goldstone, a professor of the Indiana University (USA), Alva Noë, a professor of the University of California, Berkeley (USA), Casey O'Callaghan, a professor of the Rice University, and others, whose work is important to the topic ‘Perception and Concepts’. Professor Chalmers’s contribution is mainly related to the consciousness issues, which are among the central issues in the philosophy of mind. His colleague, Professor Clark, with whom Chalmers worked on the thesis of the extended mind, represents the direction of cognitive science, which studies embodied cognition. The main thesis of this direction is that cognition is happening in the interaction between the mind, the body (brain) and the environment. Professor Noë’s theoretical views are also associated with the embodied cognition paradigm, and his active theoretical work is devoted to the problems of perception. Professor Goldstone represents the field of cognitive psychology. He runs an interesting Percepts and Concepts Laboratory. You can find more information on this laboratory as well as participate in an online experiment by visiting cognitrn.psych.indiana.edu. Professor O’Callaghan will focus on multimodal, sound, speech, and art (in the broad sense) perception. At the symposium, he will deliver a report on the perception experience and its relation to the various senses. ‘This is the largest symposium we have ever organized. Several years of work have resulted in bringing together the most important concepts and perception researchers to find answers to a variety of vitally important questions on the nature, sources and forms of expression of human knowledge as well as their relation to the perception and senses. We are pleased that the symposium will be interesting for representatives of different fields,’ says Jurģis Šķilters, the director of the UL Centre for the Cognitive Sciences and Semantics and one of the symposium organizers. Several of the symposium events will be broadcasted live on the University website, while on May 15 at 16:00, Professor Goldstone will give an open lecture at the UL Great Hall. Programme
Home page Translated by students of the professional study programme Translator of the University of Latvia.

European Studies Master Programme students meet Stanford University students

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 11:46:00 +0300

The meeting was held at the European Commission Representation in Latvia, "EU House", and it was organized in the framework of discussion moderated by Romans Putans, ph.D. candidate, researcher at the Centre for European and Transition Studies (CETS) and graduate of the European Studies Master Programme. During the discussion, issues related to Latvia as a member of the EU as well as education and study process in Latvia were discussed. The opening lecture about Latvia`s economic developments was given by Professor Dr. Tatjana Muravska, director of European Studies Master Programme and head of the CETS at the University of Latvia, followed by interventions from other members of CETS – graduates and researchers Janis Aprāns, Denīze Ponomarjova, lecturer Javier Mendoza, interns Stefano Greco, Simon Agez and Nena Markovic. Stanford University students and professors were particularly interested in the development of socio-economic situation in Latvian since 2008, when Latvia experienced the sharpest economic downturn among the EU Member States, however, was able to stabilize the economic and financial situation in the country to a level that now has allowed Latvia to apply for the European Monetary Union, i.e., implementation of the single currency – euro. Also the educational process in Latvia, including study process, funding principles and tuition fees, as well as the competitiveness of graduates in the labour market and employment after graduation was discussed among European Studies Master Program and the Stanford University students. Stanford University students and faculty appreciated the high level of employment and the competitiveness of European Studies Master Program graduates at different levels of national, transnational, diplomatic, academic, private and other institutions in Latvian and European Union. Stanford University in Berlin is one of ten overseas campuses run by the Bing Overseas Studies Program of Stanford University in United States. Stanford in Berlin hosts Stanford students of all majors. Students come to Berlin for periods of 3-9 months of study and optional, subsequent internships. Trips to new and prospective member states of the European Union are part of extracurricular activities, which gives students the opportunity of more practical experiences of different EU dimensions. Group of students from Stanford University in Berlin have already visited Latvia in 2005, when they had a chance to meet president of the Republic of Latvia H.E. Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga. During this year, 2013, study visit group of students and faculty members of Stanford University in Berlin are staying in Latvia from 24^th to 27^th of April, having guest lectures and discussions with representatives of the University of Latvia, Bank of Latvia, other institutions, as well as students and members of youth organizations in Latvia.

Baltic Entrepreneurial Summerschool 2013

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 14:29:00 +0300

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Conference at the UL discussed important issues for improving the cross-border labour mobility in the Central Baltic region.

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 11:53:00 +0300

Around 50 conference participants including representatives of the European Commission Representation in Latvia, Central Baltic INTERREG IV A Programme 2007-2013 Joint Technical Secretariat, Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Latvia, regional labour market institutions (EURES, career consultants, etc.), universities, professional education establishments, employers organizations, enterprises, labour unions, state and private employment services, as well as cross-border regions of the European Union (Polish - German cross-border region and German - Czech cross - border region), representatives from organizations and projects dealing with the labour market, mobility and regional development issues gathered in Riga. The conference was opened by the Vice-rector for Research of UL - Professor Andris Kangro and the Director of the UL Centre for European and Transition Studies - Professor Tatjana Muravska - representing the Lead Partner of the "Central Baltic Job Ferry" project. High level speaker from the Representation of the European Commission in Latvia - Deputy Head Mr. Andris Kužnieks and the Head of the Joint Technical Secretariat, Central Baltic INTERREG IV A Programme 2007-2013 Dr. Philipp Schwartz addressed conference delegates stressing the importance of cross-border cooperation for regional development and well being of people. Senior researcher of the project partner organization Nordregio - Dr. Petri Kahila presented research results on the labour market mobility in the Central Baltic region. This research is one of the project outcomes conducted by its partners and the final Synthesis research report will be published this summer. Research results indicate that cooperation between Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Latvia is gradually increasing. However, the labour market mobility remains comparatively low in this region. The research concludes that the development of a regional labour market could help to improve the overall competitiveness and welfare of the Central Baltic region. Therefore, project partners have worked out policy recommendations which were presented and discussed during the conference. The policy recommendations are targeted to European Union, national (Estonia, Latvia, Finland, Sweden) and regional levels (regions of the Central Baltic programme) and focus on increasing the flow of information and communication, improving knowledge and cooperation, increasing the exchange of information and knowledge, supporting activities on the regional level, ensuring targeted information for employment seekers, facilitating the application of practical methods and solutions, as well as other measures promoting labour mobility and integration. Please, see more information on policy recommendations and the Policy brief on the project platform: http://www.cbjobferry.eu/publications Conference participants were introduced with the Internet platform www.cbjobferry.eu developed during the project implementation which offers mutually comparable information on the most demanded professions (more than 200 professions) in the Central Baltic region in five languages (English, Finish, Estonian, Latvian, Swedish). The platform contains information about professional qualifications, labour conditions, professional requirements, recognition of education documents, potential employers and other details having relevance to professions included in the platform. During the conference, Mr. Stefan Pommer from the MKW (Germany), which worked on implementing IT solutions for the platform, introduced participants with opportunities for individual platform users, as well as organizations and companies which would like to register on the platform and explore its features. Conference speaker from the Economic Development, Transportation and Environment Centre of the Southwest Finland Dr. Jouni Marttinen informed about Finnish experience for forecasting labour supply and demand by applying specially designed instrument for this purpose which is called the "Occupational Barometer". This instrument helps to follow the demand of particular professions across regions of Finland, as well as to investigate where the labour supply and demand are in balance. Forecasts by the "Occupational Barometer" are performed every half year and their results are publicly available. The "Occupational Barometer" is based on the view of the employment and economic development offices on the development of the labour market situation in the coming half year. The situation concerning some occupations and professions may change quickly. The "Occupational Barometer" in Internet: http://www.luotain.fi One of parallel sessions taking place in the framework of the conference workshop were devoted to discussing best practices and exchange of experience with other similar projects. The Project Manager of the Lead Partner's organizations - the University of Latvia Ms. Zane Zeibote presented best practices acquired during the "Centralbaltic Job Ferry" project lifetime. For instance, one of the best practices of the "Centralbaltic Job Ferry" project has been the study trip to the German - Czech border region where similar project called the European Job Guide has been successfully implemented in close cooperation with EURES. This was very important to understand in the very beginning of the project implementation how the project results are applied in practice and to learn from experience of others. The Project Manager Ms. Dorothea Möckel representing the "EUROJOB-Viadrina" project which is implemented on the German - Polish border region presented their experience in project implementation. Mr. Eduards Filippovs from Latvia informed about the "Baltic Sea Labour Network" project results and the creation of the "Baltic Sea Laour Forum" which all interested parties dealing with labour market issues are invited to join. Also, Mr. Emīls Rode representing another project of the Central Baltic programme - "Expat", informed about the achievements and challenges during the project implementation. During the another parallel session of the conference dealing with the policy recommendations its participants discussed differences and commonalities of national labour markets of the Central Baltic region, as well as measures to be implemented on national and supra-national levels for strengthening the whole labour market of this region. Conference participants had also an opportunity to participate in the training session introducing “Centralbaltic Job Ferry” platform possibilities and benefits for employers and employees. During the third parallel session differences of the organisations dealing with labour market was discussed as well. The implementation of the "Centralbaltic Job Ferry" project begun on May, 2011 and it will be completed by the end of August, 2013. Visit the website to find additional information and register to access all benefits of the platform – www.cbjobferry.eu

Stanford goes to Latvia

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 15:56:00 +0300

The Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence of the University of Latvia together with European Studies Master Programme will organize a roundtable discussion with American students and their supervising professor from Stanford University in Berlin covering several topics in relation to Latvia as a member state of the European Union. The roundtable discussion will take place on April 24, 2013, from 10:00 to 11:30 at the European Commission Representation in Latvia, “EU House”, Aspazijas Boulevard 28, Riga.

During this visit students from Stanford will have meetings at the University of Latvia, Central Bank of Latvia, other institutions as well as students and members of youth organizations in Latvia. Stanford University in Berlin is one of ten overseas campuses run by the Bing Overseas Studies Program of Stanford University in United States. Stanford in Berlin hosts Stanford students of all majors. Students come to Berlin for periods of 3-9 months of study and optional, subsequent internships. Trips to new and prospective member states of the European Union are part of extracurricular activities, which gives students the opportunity of more practical experiences of different EU dimensions. Group of students from Stanford University in Berlin have already visited Latvia in 2005, when they had a chance to meet president of the Republic of Latvia H.E. Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga.

The Daily lunch restaurant satisfaction questionnaire

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 11:30:00 +0300

Questionnaire