Synergies in Communication (SiC)

The 11th International Conference

Bucharest, Romania

26 – 27 October 2023

hybrid academic event



The Department of Modern Languages and Business Communication of the Bucharest University of Economic Studies (ASE),Romania,is organizing the 11thannual international conference Synergies in Communication (SiC 2023), to be held in a hybrid format on 26-27 October 2023. The event will be organized under the auspices of the Faculty of International Business and Economics in partnership with  Université d’Artois, University of Zaragoza, Aix-Marseille Université, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Hiroshima University, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan University (SOA), “Ovidius” University of Constanta and QUEST Romania, PROSPER-ASE Language Centre, The Romanian Society for English and American Studies (RSEAS),  a member of The European Society for the Study of English (ESSE), Romanian Association for American Studies (RAAS).


The conference is organized around 6 thematic areas:


Section 1: Synergies in Linguistics, Business and (Inter)cultural Communication (online)

Communication is a synergistic field where effectiveness is given by knowledge from diverse domains and by the ability to align best practice with the increasingly rapid pace of the world today. Moreover, today, universities face the challenge of meeting their dual role as institutions of culture and higher education as well as providers of knowledgeable, flexible, autonomous and self-determined graduates for the labour market. This section of our conference welcomes discussions on topics related to the following main areas:

  • Current developments in academic and research communication
  • Linguistics, sociolinguistics and (inter)cultural communication
  • The language of modern media
  • Language and literature in the cultural and linguistic space
  • Literary and cultural studies; analyses of culturally determined values, mentalities, actions, attitudes etc.;
  • Theory and practice in (inter)cultural education;
  • Business communication – intercultural dimensions and specific skills demanded on the labour market.
  • The inter-disciplinary dimension of business communication – changing mentalities through environmental education.
  • Translation studies;
  • Traductology and terminology in business and economics;

Email: sic.section1@gmail.com


Section 2: Interdependences: Academic and Digital Literacies in the New Educational and Research Environment. Revisiting Quality in Higher Education (online)

This section provides an interdisciplinary forum for specialists in various fields to share expertise and to reflect together on ways forward, in the current academic context, with all its challenges and opportunities. This section will be organised in partnership with the University of Zaragoza, the Doctoral School of Humanities of “Ovidius” University Constanta, and the Romanian Association for Quality Language Services QUEST. Possible topics include (but are not restricted to):

  • Academic literacy development – case studies from different international contexts;
  • New developments in communication, study, teaching, assessment, and professional development in the digital era;
  • Quality related aspects in the new educational and research environment;
  • New perspectives on academic networking, research and dissemination of research outcomes;
  • Revisiting research methodologies in applied linguistics and education;
  • Current and upcoming challenges in multilingual education.

       Email: sic.section2@gmail.com


Section 3: Romanian Cultural and Linguistic Studies (online)

Romanian academia play an important role in building bridges between values, traditions and representations attached to Romania and to other cultural areas – in Europe or worldwide. We propose to focus on the presence of Romanian culture in other countries, to strengthening connections between Romania and other cultures, to the teaching of Romanian culture and language to foreigners in Romania and abroad, with a view to using such cultural and linguistic knowledge in a multicultural context. Papers are invited on, but not limited to topics such as:

  • Romanian cultural studies – literary, translation, socio-linguistic, pragmatic studies;
  • Teaching Romanian as a foreign language – theory and practice;
  • Enhancing Romanian and foreign students’ awareness of each other’s cultures, as a prerequisite for academic and professional mobility, as well as social and cultural inclusion.

       Email: sic.section3@gmail.com


Section 4: Gastronomical Fusion and Fission in between East and West (hybrid)

In either institutionalized or private contexts, food is both nourishment and pleasure for those interacting within their community or the other in both east and west. More specifically, food and gastronomy go beyond notions of mere survival, being embedded in spiritual practices through culture-specific rituals/rites. Considering the cultural flows adjacent to the process of globalization, the circulation of food(s) and gastronomical discourses has led to unexpected fusions that have eroded rigid notions of cultural belonging and national identity. This panel then proposes a debate upon topics ranging from feasts (anniversaries, celebrations, festivals, rites of passage, funeral ceremonies) to sociological or psychological effects/disorders such as crave, obsession or deprivation and associated phenomena. Proposed papers may thus cover or expand beyond the following: 

  • Gastronomy, the Self and the Other;
  • Cuisine, media, popular culture and visual anthropology;
  • Food, women’s identity and memory;
  • Food, psychology and trauma studies; 
  • Meals, image, imagination and imaginary worlds;
  • Food, colonial and postcolonial studies / translation studies;
  • Gastronomy, literature and the socio-political context;
  • Food, cultural globalisation and hybridity;
  • Food, diaspora and cross-cultural communication.

 Email: sic.section4@gmail.com

Section 5: Mindscapes and Cultural Insights in Far Eastern Studies (online)

Focusing mainly on Far Eastern Studies, spanning from China and Korea to Japan, this section is designed not only as a debating venue on tradition, cultural representations, and academic challenges in a volatile contemporary context, but also as an interdisciplinary nexus for specialists willing to share their new ideas, research results, and latest in-depth scholarship on various topics such as:

  • Literary research and interpretation;
  • Comparative literary studies;
  • Translation studies;
  • Linguistics, education, and language teaching;
  • Cultural studies;
  • Gender studies;
  • Semiotics;
  • Anthropology, mythology, and folklore;
  • Media and pop-culture;
  • Communication;
  • Digital humanities etc.

Email: sic.section5@gmail.com

Section 6: Multidisciplinary Approaches to Human Experience (online)

What does it mean for each of us to be a human being? How do we perceive ourselves? How do we perceive others? What makes us act in a certain way? How do we relate to the people around us or to the context in which we live? This section of the conference tries to find the answer to all these simple, yet puzzling questions that touch all the intricacies, contradictions and mysteries of life. The panel intends to be a celebration of the human experience, with all its complexities, thrills and wonders. We welcome submissions that explore all aspects of this topic from various academic fields: literature, philosophy, religion, culture, arts and media, psychology, pedagogy, etc. The themes for the session include, but are not limited to the following suggestions:

  • The human condition: destiny, free will, the meaning of life, life as a journey, the human nature
  • The construction of identity: self-discovery, belonging, language, memory, relationality, alterity, etc.
  • The individual experience: happiness, change, struggle, pain, suffering, loss, trauma, etc.
  • The collective experience: community life, collective identity, collective trauma, conflict, tolerance, adaptation, migration, diaspora, boundaries, borders, etc.
  • Experiencing worlds: religious, utopian, dystopian, fantastic and mythical imaginaries; inner worlds, levels of consciousness, types of realities, dreams, etc.
  • Experiencing complex human emotions: awe, sublime, compassion, love, altruism, hate, guilt, despair, etc.
  • The captivating human behaviour: heroism, revenge, forgiveness, acts of solidarity, etc.
  • The complexities of human motivation: beliefs, attitudes, assumptions, thinking patterns, habits, choices, decision-making, rules, etc.
  • Modalities of envisaging the human experience: storytelling, reading, translating, etc.
  • The role of education in shaping the human experience/ human nature

Email: sic.section6@gmail.com