The 2026 International Conference on "Values in a Changing World" was held at the University of Bucharest(UB) in Romania from October 5 to 6. The conference was jointly hosted by the International Society for Value Inquiry(ISVI), the Center for Studies of Value and Culture and the School of Philosophy of Beijing Normal University(BNU), the Faculty of Philosophy of UB, and the Collaborative Innovation Center for Socialist Core Values and the Department of Philosophy of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences of BNU. Nearly 30 scholars from universities and research institutions in China, the United States, Romania, and other countries gathered for the conference and engaged in in-depth and productive discussions on the theme of "Values in a Changing World," examining it from multiple perspectives, including foundational theories of value philosophy, comparative studies of Chinese and Western value philosophy, value ethics in the age of artificial intelligence, and mutual learning among civilizations.

At the opening ceremony, Mugur Zlotea, Vice-Rector of UB, and Li Hong, Secretary of the CPC Committee of the School of Philosophy at BNU, delivered remarks on behalf of the hosts. Both sides reviewed the years of friendly exchanges between their philosophy disciplines and expressed the hope that, against the backdrop of a changing world, the conference would deepen exchanges and mutual learning among different civilizational traditions in the field of value philosophy, continue to advance extensive and in-depth academic exchanges between China and Romania, and promote mutual learning among civilizations. Viorel Vizureanu, Head of the Faculty of Philosophy at UB, chaired the opening ceremony.

Opening Ceremony of the Conference

In the keynote session, Han Zhen, Director of the Academic Committee of BNU and President of the China Life Science Society; Mircea Dumitru, Member and Vice President of the Romanian Academy and Professor in the Faculty of Philosophy at UB; Sun Weiping, President of the Chinese Society for Value Philosophy and Distinguished Professor at Shanghai University; and Lydia Amir, Professor of Philosophy at Tufts University, delivered keynote speeches respectively.

Han Zhen speaking (left); Mircea Dumitru speaking (right)

Sun Weiping speaking (left); Lydia Amir speaking (right)

The two-day conference also featured plenary sessions and parallel sub-forums, among other components. Its rich program covered a wide range of topics, including re-examinations of classical theories and key concepts in value philosophy, in-depth exploration of the contemporary value of Chinese and Western traditional thought, and direct engagement with the theoretical and practical challenges of the digital-intelligent society, offering active responses to the pressing issues of our time. In recent years, the Research Center for Value and Culture and the School of Philosophy of BNU and ISVI have regularly co-organized the "Values in a Changing World" series of international academic conferences, focusing on the foundations and frontier issues of value philosophy in an era of profound change and providing a high-quality platform for in-depth dialogue among Chinese and international scholars, thus highlighting value philosophy's concern for the times and its practical character.