Ferbopo Era Chair

30/08/2026

🔔 Sober Thought: A FERBOPO Forum — Next Session
How does far-right politics imagine apocalypse — and how is gender central to that vision?

Join us on Wednesday, 3 September, 14:00 EEST for a free online talk by Ov. Cristian Norocel (Lund University) on this interesting topic.
📅 3 September 2026, 14:00 EEST
💻 Online — free & open to all
🎓 Registration: https://grants.ulbsibiu.ro/ferbopo/event/sober-thought-norocel-gendering-far-right-apocalyptic-imaginaries/

10/08/2026

🎬 Sober Thought Session is available on Youtube!
The relationship between the Orthodox Church and the Romanian state did not begin in 1989. It was shaped by decades of communist rule.

Dr Cristian Vasile (Romanian Academy) traced these dynamics in the latest Sober Thought session — and asked what legacies they left behind.

▶️The full presentation is available at: https://grants.ulbsibiu.ro/ferbopo/sober-thought-a-ferbopo-forum-cristian-vasile-state-church-relations-in-communist-romania/

(Presentation in Romanian)

07/08/2026

New recording available | Sober Thought: A FERBOPO Forum

Sober Thought welcomed one of the most influential sociologists of religion working today: Prof. Emerita Nancy T. Ammerman (Boston University), whose work on lived religion has fundamentally reshaped how scholars study the relationship between religion and everyday life.

▶️ Watch now: https://grants.ulbsibiu.ro/ferbopo/sober-thought-a-ferbopo-forum-nancy-ammerman-religion-social-practice/

28/07/2026

Since 1990, the Romanian Orthodox Church has built over 30 cathedrals and 4,000 churches — a pace unmatched anywhere in Central and Eastern Europe, and funded in large part by public money.

In a new Sober Thought recording, Dr Giuseppe Tateo (Roma Tre University) examined what this extraordinary expansion reveals about post-communist restructuring, national identity, and the transformation of Romania's urban landscape.

▶️ Watch now: https://grants.ulbsibiu.ro/ferbopo/sober-thought-a-ferbopo-forum-giuseppe-tateo-on-orthodox-churches-in-post-communist-romania/

19/07/2026

Our next Sober Thought talk is coming up next week!

How separated were state and church, really, under Romanian communism?

On Wednesday, 22 July at 14:00, historian Dr Cristian Vasile (Romanian Academy) joins FERBOPO's Sober Thought series to unpack these legal ties

🆓 Free & online — everyone welcome!
🗓️ 22 July, 14:00 EEST

See more info: https://grants.ulbsibiu.ro/ferbopo/event/sober-thought-vasile-stat-biserica-romania-comunista/

or join directly on Google Meet: https://meet.google.com/xvj-ogxd-woc

15/07/2026

📺 New recording available | Sober Thought: A FERBOPO Forum

Did Christianity create national identity in Eastern Europe — or did national consciousness emerge independently of faith?

In our latest Sober Thought session, Prof. Emerita Sabrina P. Ramet (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) brought decades of scholarship to bear on one of the most enduring debates.

️ Watch the full recording: https://grants.ulbsibiu.ro/ferbopo/sober-thought-a-ferbopo-forum-sabrina-p-ramet-on-religion-and-nation/

FERBOPO launches Sober Thought: a free online lecture series on state, religion, and body politics in Romania and Eastern Europe.

08/07/2026

New Sober Thought Session on July 10!

On Friday, we welcome Nancy T. Ammerman (Boston University, Emerita) to discuss Religion as Social Practice: Lived Religion in Context!

✅ Register here for this free online event: https://grants.ulbsibiu.ro/ferbopo/event/nancy-ammerman-religion-social-practice-sober-thought/
📅 10 July · 16:00 (EEST) · Online · Free participation

Drawing on her landmark work on lived religion, Prof. Ammerman offers a framework for analysing religious practices in their social, institutional, and legal contexts.

We look forward to your participation!

05/07/2026

New Sober Thought Session on July 8!

On Wednesday, we welcome you to a new event as Giuseppe Tateo (Roma Tre University) discusses Orthodox Churches in Post-Communist Romania.

📅 8 July 2026 🕑 14:00 EEST 💻 Online via Google Meet

✅ Register here for this free online event: https://grants.ulbsibiu.ro/ferbopo/event/sober-thought-tateo-orthodox-churches-post-communist-romania/

His talk will explore how 4,000+ new houses of worship and the world's tallest Orthodox cathedral reshape Romanian cities, public spending, and national identity after socialism.

30/06/2026

New research result from the FERBOPO team!

We are pleased to share a new publication contribution by FERBOPO ERA Chair Professor Lavinia Stan, whose work continues to shape feminist and gender scholarship in Eastern Europe and beyond.

Find out more on our website: https://grants.ulbsibiu.ro/ferbopo/ferbopo-research-2026-introduction-to-virtual-issue-recent-research-on-women-and-womens-issues/

Prof. Stan has curated a virtual issue for East European Politics and Societies — one of the field's top journals, now celebrating 40 years.

27/06/2026

🎬 A New Sober Thought talk is now on Youtube
On 18 June, Dr Radu Cinpoeș from the University of Greenwich joined us online to discuss a difficult but important topic: Church and Sexual Exploitation — examining the role of the Church in both enabling and obstructing responses to human trafficking and gender-based violence.

📺 Watch the full talk on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/eBcOiKUcOVI

📖 Read the full news post on our website: https://grants.ulbsibiu.ro/ferbopo/sober-thought-radu-cinpoes-on-church-and-sexual-exploitation/

More sessions coming — check our Events page for what's next.