Message from the Chair: philosophy behind SOURDOMICS

The philosophy behind the diversity of our cross-border network lies in the mission to contribute through Science to promote social progress, peace in world, solidarity, and friendly relations and coexistence between peoples and Nations, regardless of their origins, creeds or religions, policies and political regimes.

The COST Action SOURDOMICS, CA18101, will be strictly governed by the fundamental principles proclaimed in Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) from the United Nations. It will be kept in mind protection of Universal values, such as equal rights and opportunities irrespective of the age, gender, sexual orientation, region or country, and cultural background.

Based on this, I propose that in the course of this COST ACTION we may embrace, in a simple manner (and after voting), social causes that are unanimously accepted by the COST members. There are many possibilities, for example:

• Environmental and animal protection
• Protection of special groups of our society, e.g. seniors, Alzheimer's patients
• Inequality between men and women, including differences in salaries and access to leadership positions
• Domestic violence, child labour, human trafficking
• Hunger and poverty in the world.

Watching at the recent news of the cyclone IDAI, in March 2018 in Mozambique, and the conditions in which people live nowadays in different regions of our Planet, I cannot help but be concerned that at the same time that we want to build a Europe of Progress, Solidarity and Freedom, there are so many people living below the line of poverty, without access to safe water, food security, housing, education, basic sanitation, basic health care and, frequently, without freedom. We cannot stand in front of it!

What I propose here is to embrace these causes in our events. For example, in the national and international congresses we can create a place where the non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) are invited to come and expose social messages through brochures and posters, or even creating parallel sessions for debates on social causes. These are the real Societal Challenges!

The Chair

1^st May of 2019 (GP1)