ELTE Roman World and the Far East Research Group

The second ANSO–ATES Conference took place this year on 23rd to 25th August in Lanzhou. The hosts of the conference were the Alliance of International Science Organization (ANSO), the Association for Trans-Eurasia Exchange and Silk Road Civilization Development (ATES), the UNESCO Beijing Office, and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA); the organizers were Lanzhou University, Dunhuang Academy, and the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research of the Chinese Academy of Science.

The Association for Trans-Eurasia Exchange and Silk Road Civilization Development (ATES) was established in 2019, under the Alliance of International Science Organization (ANSO), to promote interdisciplinary research and international cooperation. This year’s conference brought together renowned experts and scholars from the Silk Road countries and other regions to conduct interdisciplinary dialogues and share their most recent scientific results. The conference was inaugurated on the morning of 23rd August, by Prof. Fahu Chen, Director of the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research of the Chinese Academy of Science. Among the speakers of the opening ceremony was Prof. Ferenc Hudecz, Vice President of the Hungarian Academy of Science, who held an online welcome speech to the guests and participants. Speakers of the first session, among many illustrious invitees, were Prof. Jürg Luterbacher, Science Director of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Prof. Michael Meadows, President of the International Geographical Union (IGU), and many others. Keynote talks of the first day, covering a wide range of scientific fields, and showing a rich diversity of topics, were centred around the role of basic sciences in the service of sustainable development.

On the second and third days of the conference lectures were grouped according to six different thematic sessions, namely the following: (1.) Palaeolithic Culture and Human Migration; (2.) Early Farming and Herding; (3.) Evolution of Silk Road Network and Towns; (4.) Silk Road Science and Technology Exchange; (5.) Genetic History of Silk Road Population; (6.) Environmental Change and Sustainable Development of the Silk Road. The three participants from Hungary were assigned to the third session. Dr. Zsolt Szilágyi, senior research fellow of the Institute of Ethnology, Research Centre for the Humanities lectured on Cultural crossroads, presenting the research activities of the Institute of Ethnology and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Inner Asia. Two representatives of the ELTE Roman World and the Far East Research Group, the group leader, Dr. Krisztina Hoppál, and the Sinologist member, Dr. Melinda Pap both gave their speeches. Dr. Melinda Pap presented the research goals and prospects of the newly established research group, and Dr. Krisztina Hoppál gave and online lecture, and revealed the role of Roman artefacts in the study of Silk Road networks.

Following the three-day conference, the participants head to the world-famous city of the Thousand Buddha Caves, Dunhuang, a millennial Silk Road centre, located at the eastern corner of the Gobi Desert. Within the framework of an interactive workshop, further possibilities for international interdisciplinary cooperations were discussed. Scholars were forming groups according to fields of science, focus was laid on personal dialogues and share of knowledge, as a result, further specific goals were established.