The UNESCO Chair in Comparative Studies of Spiritual Traditions, their Specific Cultures and Interreligious Dialogue participated in an international conference on the ‘Anthropological Turn in Policultural Education: Values, Identities, Educational Strategies.’
About one hundred academics from across Russia attended the conference, held on 6 February 2026 in St Petersburg. Based at the Coat of Arms Hall of Herzen Russian State Pedagogical University, the meeting was presided by the Rector, Mr. Sergei V. Tarasov. A number of honorary guests attended, including the famous Russian diplomat and state official, Senator Mr. Vladimir A. Chizhov. Professor Guy Mettan, from the University of Geneva, Switzerland, also attended the conference.
UNESCO Chair, Mr. Dimitri L. Spivak, delivered an invited plenary paper on Intercultural Dialogue in UNESCO Educational Strategy. His discussion analysed strategic documents including the UNESCO Constitution (1945), Vision Statement of the United Nations Organization Secretary-General Antonio Guterrez on Transforming Education (2022), Fortaleza Declaration of the Global Education Meeting, organized by UNESCO (2024), Santiago Consensus adopted at World Summit of Teachers, sponsored by UNESCO (2025), and last but not least, UNESCO Medium-Term Strategy (2022-2029).
In addition, Vice Chair, Ms. Alina V. Venkova gave an invited talk devoted to ‘Anthropological Challenges of Digital Space: Mechanisms of Inheritance and Outlooks of Creativity’. Her presentation focused on issues of ‘post-humanity’ and artificial intelligence.
The UNESCO Chair on Comparative Studies of Spiritual Traditions, their Specific Cultures, and Interreligious Dialogue is a member of the IDIU Network.