CONFERENCES

MSS Conferences
Major Conferences organized/co-sponsored by MSS

  1. Future Education – Pondicherry, Jan 2018

    The world is moving faster and faster. Information is multiplying more rapidly than anyone can organize or absorb it. Job requirements are changing before our eyes. Technology is creating new jobs and destroying existing ones. The type of education we offer will be a critical determinate of our success in meeting these challenges. We require rapid and radical changes in the way we educate youth to prepare them for success in the society that is emerging. The one-day conference on Future Education was organized by The Mother’s Service Society (MSS), an educational and social science research institute and owner of Primrose School, Puducherry in collaboration with Mind Mingle Education, New Delhi, the World Academy of Art & Science and the World University Consortium, USA. The conference examined the changes needed in our schools and provided an opportunity to know, learn and adopt the different innovative methodologies, strategies and ideas practiced in different schools across India and overseas.

  2. General Assembly of the World Academy – New Delhi, Nov 2011
    The Academy’s General Assembly at the Taj Mahal Hotel in New Delhi on November 9-11, 2011 is a landmark event in the recent history of the Academy. The GA was a resounding success in another respect as well. It confirmed the value of our new strategy of working in closer collaboration with like-minded organizations such as the Club of Rome and The Mother’s Service Society (India). Click here to read more on the Delhi GA.
  3. e-Conference on the Emerging Individual (WAAS) – Feb 2010
    e-Conference on the Evolution of Individuality (CEI) was opened February 2010. Individuality is the crown of human evolution and the catalyst for social progress, yet there are very different conceptions of what constitutes true individuality, the relationship between the individual and society, and whether humanity is inevitably evolving toward higher levels of individuality. This project will explore the essential nature of individuality, the social and cultural factors that foster it, its role in social development, its myriad expressions in the original thinker, creative artist, political leader, entrepreneur, inventor and social innovator, and the means available to society to foster it. This e-conference utilizes a variety of methods for interaction, including papers, presentations, panel discussions, audio and video webcasts and open forums. Click here to go the conference homepage.
  4. e-Conference on Global Employment Challenge – Oct 2009 to Feb 2010
    The e-Conference on Global Employment Challenge was opened in October 2009. This interdisciplinary dialogue explores theoretical and practical aspects of the global employment challenge, including its demographic, economic, legal, political, psychological dimensions as well as linkages with the international financial crisis, social stability, and terrorism. This e-conference utilizes a variety of methods to explore creative solutions to the problem of global employment, including presentations, panel discussions, audio and video webcasts and open forums. Click here to go to the conference homepage.
  5. Weaponization of Space (Global Security Institute) – New York, Feb 2008
    On February 26, 2008, WAAS conducted a high level workshop on the threats arising from the weaponization of space, in collaboration with the Global Security Institute at the GSI’s offices in New York City. Garry Jacobs and Ashok Natrajan of The Mother’s Service Society and Fellows of WAAS participated in the workshop. Expert presentations were made by Jonathan Granoff, President of GSI, Ambassador Robert Gray, Director, Bipartisan Security Group and Canadian legal expert Lucy Stojak. Click here to read more on this workshop.
  6. Workshop on Nuclear Disarmament (Global Security Institute) – New York, Oct 2006
    The World Academy convened a two-day meeting in New York (October 11-12, 2006) in collaboration with the leadership of the Global Security Institute and its Middle Powers Initiative and The Mother’s Service Society to explore the potential for cooperative effort. Click here to read more on this workshop.
  7. Workshop on Nuclear Disarmament (World Futures Society) – Toronto, July 2006
    WAAS organized a special workshop on nuclear disarmament at the World Future’s Society Annual Conference in Toronto on July 30, 2006. Academy President Walter Truett Anderson and Fellows Jasjit Singh and Garry Jacobs made presentations arguing on the urgent necessity and practical feasibility of achieving complete nuclear disarmament within a period of five years. Click here to read more on this workshop.
  8. Future of Knowledge (General Assembly of the World Academy) – Zagreb, Nov 2005
    The General Assembly was the first held in South Eastern Europe, and was the occasion for the formal announcement of the creation of the new South Eastern Europe Division (SEED) of the World Academy. Click here to read more.
  9. Security in a Knowledge-Based Society (NATO Workshop) – Zagreb, Nov 2005
    The NATO Advanced Research Workshop held in Zagreb, Croatia, November 16-20, 2005, concurrently with the General Assembly of the World Academy of Art and Science followed a preliminary meeting in Washington DC in September 2005 in which the major themes were initially developed. The workshop focused on three major areas of security concern to the international community: terrorism, international peacekeeping, and nuclear weapons. The Mother’s Service Society funded the workshop along with NATO. Click here to read the report.
  10. Peace & Security – Washington Sept 17, 2005
    Harlan Cleveland & Garry Jacobs of The International Center for Peace & Development (USA) & The Mother’s Service Society (India) organized the workshop which was attended by Robert McNamara, Harlan Cleveland, Jasjit Singh, Walter Anderson, Bob Berg, Garry Jacobs, Jon Peterson, Robert van Harten, Ashok Natarajan.
  11. International Conference on Uncommon Opportunities: Roadmap for Employment, Food & Global Security – Delhi, Nov 2004
    The Academy conducted an international symposium was conducted in New Delhi on November 19-22, 2004 in collaboration with UN World Food Program, M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, Mother’s Service Society & National Farmers Commission (India), International Centre for Peace & Development (USA) to examine the relevance in today’s world of recommendations contained in the report of the International Commission on Peace & Food, Uncommon Opportunities: Agenda for Peace & Equitable Development, which was submitted to the UN in 1994, and to explore the inextricable mutual interdependence between peace, social stability, democracy, employment and food security. The conference was inaugurated by Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, President of India. Click here to read the ICPF report.
  12. International Conference on Theory of Social Development – Chennai, September 1999
    Hosted by the International Center for Peace and Development (USA), the Mother’s Service Society and the M. S. Swaminathan Foundation, this conference was co-chaired by M. S. Swaminathan & Harlan Cleveland. Participants included Robert Berg, Pushpa Bhargava, John P. Craven, Jose Ireneu dos Remedios Furtado, Robert van Harten, Garry Jacobs, Bernard Lietaer, B. S. Raghavan, Ana Maria Sandi, Ivo Slaus, C. Subramanian.
  13. Workshop on Process of Social Development – Washington DC, May1999
    In May 1999, the Society, WAAS and ICPD co-sponsored a three day seminar on Development Theory in Washington DC. Participants included delegates from Canada, Chile, Mexico, Netherlands and USA. Harlan Cleveland, the President of WAAS, chaired the seminar. MSS presented four papers outlining the principles and process of development.
  14. Future of Science – (WAAS) – Minneapolis, Oct 1994
    In October, 1994, the Society co-organized a special session on the Future of Science at the General Assembly of the World Academy of Art & Science in Minneapolis, USA.
  15. Transition in Eastern Europe (Gorbachev Foundation) – Moscow, Jan 1994
    A conference on the Transition in Russia was organized in collaboration with the Gorbachev Foundation and the Agrarian Institute of Moscow in January 1993. A working group including three members of the Society’s research staff completed a draft report in June 1993 on strategies to accelerate the economic transition in Russia. Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev chaired the conference.
  16. Uncommon Opportunities (ICPF) – Atlanta, (Oct 1993)
    The fifth and final plenary meeting of ICPF was held at the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta in October 1993. Uncommon Opportunities report is based upon the findings and recommendations of six working groups to study a wide gamut of issues related to peace, disarmament, food, employment and human development in the emerging global context. Click here to read the complete report.
  17. Sustainable Development (ICPF) – Oslo, Oct 1992
    The fourth plenary meeting of the Commission was hosted by the Norwegian Agricultural Research Council in Oslo in September 1992. Here attention focused on issues related to the first Gulf War and the on-going war in the former Yugoslavia.
  18. Employment & Development (ICPF) – Chennai, Oct 1991
    The Society sponsored the third plenary meeting of the International Commission On Peace and Food in Madras from October 2-4, 1992, for which approval was granted by the Department of Economic Affairs of the Ministry of Finance. Fifteen delegates from around the world joined with ten distinguished Indian delegates to discuss critical issues related to development, environment and defense. The Society’s study of employment potentials in India was presented at the meeting and endorsed by the participants.
  19. Transition in Eastern Europe (ICPF) – Moscow, Nov 1990
    The second full meeting of the ICPF was hosted by the All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Moscow in November 1990. In addition to Commission members, 25 Soviet experts on agriculture, economics and military conversion were invited to present papers and discuss the impact of economic changes on the USSR. This meeting focused primarily on strategies for economic transition in Eastern Europe, agricultural development and establishment of market mechanisms, efforts to reduce military expenditure and the proposal to establish a World Army.
  20. End of the Cold War (ICPF) – Trieste, Sep, 1989
    The first official plenary meeting of ICPF was held at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy in October 1989 in collaboration with the Third World Academy of Sciences. At that meeting the Commission approved its terms of reference and plan of work for the next five years.