16^th- 18^th of SEPTEMBER 2026, GENOVA (ITALY)

                                                                                             WELCOME!

With the Doctoral programme CLOE, in the last five year we worked on the study of the complexity of rural and mountain areas, searching for new paths to contribute to their sustainable development.

Now, the University of Genova is pleased to invite you to the final CLOE Conference in September 2026, where we aim to share and discuss ideas with the scientific community and to engage and involve in the discussion policy makers, experts, and citizens.

The aim of the conference is to reflect on current and emerging challenges for developing sustainable strategies regarding social and environmental protection and justice in rural and mountain areas, comparing results and current issues of research on these topics. 
The rational of the CLOE Project stems from the necessity to overcome the conventional approaches of knowledge that are often too narrow to capture the complexity of issues to which mountain ecosystems and rural areas are exposed to. Hence, bridging different areas of competence is the key to address pressing challenges (e.g., the abandonment processes of European rural and mountain areas, with their environmental, cultural and social consequences as well as the displacements, seemingly induced by climate change, in other areas of the world), and fair and sustainable development of local communities.

We welcome papers that investigate the Project's main topic under environmental, historical, socio-political, economic, engineering, sociological and legal perspectives.

KEY DATES:

Call for abstracts: 28^nd April – 31^st May 2026
Notification of abstract acceptance: 15^th June 2026
Registration: until 20^th July 2026