The  European Society for Rural Sociology Congress, 2013, will be held in Florence, between July, 29 and August, 1 under the general theme: Rural resilience and vulnerability: the rural as locus of solidarity and conflict in times of crisis.

This congress aims at increasing our knowledge of the effects of the crisis in the different regions of Europe and beyond, and to add to our understanding of the processes that contribute to vulnerability and resilience of people and places.

The call for abstracts to the various  Working Groups is now open until March, 1, 2013.

The Working Group list and the guidelines for submission of abstracts can be found here.

Of particular interest is the Working Group 17 – Trekking out of the crisis: is there a role for rural tourism?  convened  by Elisabete Figueiredo and Antonio Raschi.

The APDEA (Portuguese Association of Agricultural Economics), the SPER (Portuguese Society of Rural Studies) and the University of Évora, through ICAAM (Institute of Mediterranean Agricultural and Environmental Sciences) CEFAGE (Center for Advanced Studies in Management and Economics), with the support of SOBER (Brazilian Society of Economics, Management and Rural Sociology), CETRAD (Centre for Transdisciplinary Development Studies), CESNOVA (Centro de Estudos de Sociologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa) and APDR (Portuguese Association for Regional Development) will be held next year in Évora, between 15 and 18 October 2013, an international and multidisciplinary event. Particular emphasis will be placed on issues of Lusophone community.

This event, under the motto “Feeding minds, overcoming the global crisis”, ESADR 2013, brings together the VII Congress of APDEA, the V Congress of SPER and I Lusophone Meeting in Economics, Sociology, Environment and Rural Development. It also offers special sessions of the APDR and SOBER.

The ESADR 2013 aims to discuss ideas and proposals to face the global crisis in a sustainable way, through the promotion of socio-economic development of rural people as well as the surrounding society.

The call for Thematic Panels is now open until February, 15, 2013. More information here.

Elisabeth Kastenholz and Elisabete Figueiredo, researchers of the Rural Matters project, were invited to the Porto Canal TV Show ‘Mentes que Brilham’ on ‘Tourism and Rural Development’ last 8 January 2013. The show can be viewed and downloaded by clicking here.