VERN’s international academic center at the Island of Vis, “VERN’ Island School”, has been a host of The 2nd International Multidisciplinary Scientific Conference "Mediterranean Islands Conference 2018" (MIC-Vis 2018) which was held from 19th to 22nd September in joint organization by The Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar and VERN '.

The venue hosted more than 150 scientists and experts from 15 countries, including domestic and international scientific institutions such as The Heidelberg University, The Plekhanov Russian University of Economics Moscow, The University of Economics in Bratislava, The Pierre Gardette Institute and many other institutions, who presented more than 100 scientific papers.

The aim of the gathering was to propose solutions for sustainable development of Mediterranean islands through 18 different conference topics: agriculture and fisheries, architecture, arts and literature, business and economics, culture and tradition, demography, education, geography, history, marine and biology, media and communication, migration, public services, renewable energy sources, sport, security, sustainable development and tourism.

Photo exhibition "Mediterranean" which was actually an exhibition of student's photographs which have been applied for the competition have also been exposed within the conference and followed by the proclamation of winners: Fran Horvat (Silent sea - 1st place), Ljiljana Vukmanović (The third – 2nd place) and Zvonimira Michieli Tomić (On the other side – 3rd place).

"We are very delighted that we raised the interest about the importance of sustainable development of islands and that this year's conference brought together many more scientists and scientific papers about development concepts of islands and island countries, as well as development concepts for inhabitant’s everyday challenges. I believe that scientific synergy at the conference will help us to develop solutions for sustainable development of the islands and whole Mediterranean", said Prof. Vlatko Cvrtila, PhD., Dean of VERN' University of Applied Sciences and Provisional Rector of VERN' University during the opening ceremony.

Participants were also welcomed by Ms. Antonia Uskok, Deputy Mayor of the Town of Vis, Ms. Ljiljana Kaliterna-Lipovčan, PhD., Assistant Director of the Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar, Ms. Ozana Ramljak, PhD., VERN’s lecturer and a member of the program committee and Mr. Dionigi Albera, a member of the program committee and director of the French Institute for Ethnology of the Mediterranean.

This year's conference was held under the high patronage of the President of the Republic of Croatia Ms. Kolinda Grabar Kitarović and the Town of Vis.

We bring you a piece of the atmosphere from this year's "Mediterranean Islands Conference".

Communication Department

Photographs:

Date of publication: September 26, 2018