As part of our comprehensive Student Wellbeing Program, “You are More Than You Think,” experts from the “Partners in Learning” in collaboration with local teachers within the project “Be Internet Awesome” funded by Google, have started working on promoting online safety and digital wellbeing in primary and high schools across the island of Hvar.
Within our Educators Learning and Wellbeing Program “Light workers of the Future” experts from the “Partners in Learning”, are set to lead transformative workshops within Eu funded project “Wellbeing in Digital Education”. These workshops are meticulously deigned for primary and high school educators, focusing on their overall wellbeing in digital education.
Under the passionate leadership of history professor Tarita Radonić, within the Program of Hvar’s Academic Excellence, “Island’s Academic Odyssey” team led by Petra Sahlberg, project titled “Academics: kids from the island” will start by engaging students from both High School Hvar - separate location in Jelsa, and High School Hvar in Hvar. The initiative aims to gather and analyze historical, socio-economic, and socio-cultural data pertaining to life on the island of Hvar, as well as personal anecdotes from the childhood and youth of each academician from the island. The focus on the formative years of academics, often overlook in biographical accounts, promises to offer unique insights into academicians’ island life and upbringing.
As part of our Transformative Parents and Community Partnership Program, “It Takes a Whole Village to Raise a Child” we present a series of impactful workshops designed for educators, parents, and community members to build a collaborative platform shaping micro-educational ecosystems that foster an active engagement in parents-teachers partnership dedicated to supporting students. Guided by expertise of Borna Lulić, Marija Novak and Petra Sahlberg, this program is a dynamic endeavor where the symphony of education resonates through the harmonious partnership of educators and parents, enhancing the interconnectedness of education triangle (student-teacher-parent).
Our efforts are dedicated to development of educational projects with aim to enhance the capabilities of teachers and school principals in primary and high schools on the island of Hvar. Specialized trainings in the strategic application, leadership, and implementation of education projects, ensuring building a foundation for educational excellence.
Embarking on a linguistic odyssey, within our Program of Hvar’s Academic Excellence, “Island’s Academic Odyssey” our “Dictionary of Stari Grad” aim to collect, describe, and present a linguistic treasure trove. Initiated by Mladen Plančić and Petra Sahlberg, team led by Paula Jurić and Andrino Dužević, both PhD students at the University of Zadar supervised by Prof. Dr. Dunja Brozović Rončević, head of Department of Ethnology and Anthropology at the University of Zadar, are working on comprehensive Dictionary of Stari Grad to preserve, promote, raise the social and cultural awareness of the local dialect, enriching Hvar’s cultural heritage for generations to come.
Within our Program of Hvar’s Academic Excellence, “Island’s Academic Odyssey” team led by Petra Sahlberg are working on the project "Decade of Academics of the Island of Hvar - 2025-2035" that aims to explore, celebrate, and promote intellectual and cultural heritage of the academics from the island of Hvar over a decade (2025-2035). Renowned as a socio-anthropological phenomenon, the island of Hvar stands as a beacon of academic excellence with the highest number of academics per capita in the world. Our currently focus is on writing the “Biographic and Bibliographic Monography of the Academicians of the island of Hvar” as comprehensive and detailed record of the lives and academic contribution of Hvar’s academicians. It serves as a living testament to historical preservation, an invaluable educational resource, cultural recognition, and endless source of inspiration and scholarly reference for future generations.
Pharos Institute is collaborating with the Museum of Stari Grad in developing the second annual Philosophy Symposium in Stari Grad to be held 30 April-5 May 2024. This year’s theme of “Time and Flux” will include programming for visiting philosophers, the community and youth. Please see the link here for more information. https://www.pharos-symposium.org
Pharos Institute is actively seeking funding for this sculpture project which focuses on sensitizing Hvar Island communities, Croatia, and visitors to our rich cultural and democratic heritage through the development of sculpture of key island figures from Vrbanj, Matija Ivanić and Ante Tresić Pavičić, and through this process help to revitalize the Croatian and Dalmatian sculptural heritage deeply rooted in our region. Both Ivanić and Tresić Pavicic were ahead of their time in promoting human rights, tolerance, and democracy, and we believe that by “Giving a Face to Hvar Legends” Project, we can use art to encourage Hvar and Croatia to revisit its core values.
We also envision that this first artistic phase of development of the two sculptures will provide a basis for developing interactive programming that allows us to use art and history to teach for the future, using the series of anniversaries and commemorations related to them between 2022-2027 to raise public attention through symposiums and exhibitions explore to archetypal motifs manifest in contemporary artworks.
Pharos Institute, in partnership with the Boz Life Science Research and Teaching Institute (San Diego, CA, USA; www.bozinstitute.org), is undertaking marine ecology and environmental research programing. A pilot research project is part of a Boz Institute initiative “Environmental Impact on Species Diversity: Collaborative International Research, STEM Education and Global Policy Program," Hvar high school students led by their chemistry teacher will join Boz Institute researchers to perform an ecological risk assessment study utilizing marine mussel metagenomics and targeted sea water chemistry analysis of samples collected at six sites along the coast of Hvar. This effort is focused on preserving marine biodiversity, and promoting STEM education.See https://bozinstitute.org/research/projects/research-collaborations/ for more information.
The Pharos Institute, in collaboration with the City of Stari Grad, is embarking on development of a Sustainable Tourism Strategy. Throughout 2024, in close cooperation with the local community and city authorities, the project aims to foster a fresh perspective and approach to tourism planning. The overarching goal is to cultivate tourism practices that enrich the Stari Grad community, economy, and environment. This strategic blueprint will serve as a roadmap for integrated tourism and urbanistic development in the years ahead.
In collaboration with our partner, Danijel Knežević from the University of Algebra, this initiative aims to conduct workshops designed to cultivate financial literacy within the local community.
Through a collaborative effort between the Pharos Institute and the Faculty of Economics Zagreb, Department of Trade and International Business, this project envisages a series of workshops. These workshops aim to facilitate connections between key players in the tourism sector and local island producers of agricultural goods and crafts.
In collaboration with the Agency for the Management of Stari Grad Plain the Pharos Institute will engage students from the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Economics specializing in tourism as part of their Tourism and Environment course. Together, we aim to craft enriching new content for tourists, enhancing their experience of this unique UNESCO World heritage.
Pharos Institute in partnership with the Centre of Southeast European Studies of the University of Graz and co-organizers the University of Rijeka and the Marco Polo Interpretation Center, Korčula will convene an “Islands of Memory” workshop in June 2024. The workshop is part of an ongoing initiative on historical remembrance on islands, focused on the Adriatic and Mediterranean from a comparative perspective. The workshop invites academics and practioners from a multidisciplinary background to reflect on memory and historical remembrance in the context of islands. Questions of interest pertain to questions of isolation and insularity, issues of idenity vis-à-vis states and nations, connections, and transnational networks along historical sea routes. The workshop builds on previous events on the theme and seeks to establish a continues debate on the topic.