From the JCEP we are delighted to announce the HEST project website is now up and running. As many of you already know, the Higher Education for Social Transformation (HEST) is a programme promoted by the JCEP (the Jesuit Conference of European Provincials). It is envisioned as a fifteen-year, pan-continental, cross-disciplinary endeavor. The goal is to produce meaningful and quality research on 7 concrete topics that can be communicated to a range of audiences so as to promote progressive advocacy in each area. The objectives of the HEST website are: - To provide information on the general objectives of the programme, the 7 clusters, the people and the institutions participating. - To inform all interested parties about the activities of the different clusters through the news section. - To serve as a meeting point for researchers, who have at their service an intranet where they can share documents related to the research in each area. At the same time, the calendar of activities of the 7 networks is always accessible. We encourage all interested parties to enter the website and to participate: we will be happy to receive questions, advices, complaints,..., everything will be very well received! José Carlos Romero HEST Coordinator

Innsbruck’s workshop of dispositionalism. The workshop took place on the 26-27th of Feburary 2018 in the wintry Austrian city of Innsbruck at the Faculty of Theology of the Innsbruck University. The following five members of the Cluster took part in the event: prof. Josef Quitterer from Innsbruck University (the host of the workshop), dr Jacek Poznański SJ from Jesuit University Ignatianum in Cracow (coordinator of the cluster), dr Tobias Müller from Hochschule für Philosophie in München, dr Bruno Nobre SJ from Catholic University of Portugal in Braga, dr Francois Euvé SJ from Centre Sevre in Paris. On the first day some other members joined the workshop by online Skype connection: José Carlos Romero (HEST coordinator) and prof. Sara Lumbreras (coordinator of the cluster), both from Comillas University in Madrid. The meeting began with Checa Romero’s presentation on the developments within the whole HEST project. He informed also about progresses in all other clusters. Then Jacek Poznański presented the outcomes of the Cluster’s survey which subsequently were discussed in details. After the break two papers on powers and dispositionalism were read. First one prepared by Josef Quitterer and the second one by Tobias Müller. Each paper was followed by the discussions. Then, short communications from Bruno Nobre and Francois Euvé were offered. The discussions followed. The first day was rounded by the late evening visit in a Tirolian restaurant made possible by the courtesy of the Faculty of Theology. The next day the workshop started early morning with the remaining short communication by Jacek Poznański. Then the two short texts on powers prepared by prof. Dominique Lambert from Namur University and prof. Joaquin Menacho SJ from Barcelona’s Chemical Institute were read and discussed. All these papers and communications were to disposed the participants to discern how to go forward both in terms of the content of the research project as well as in terms of the way of proceeding for remaining two years of HEST programme. In the last part of the workshop the participants managed to formulate, firstly, the first draft of the content of the possible research topic focusing on levels of powers, and secondly, the possible timeline for the realization of the research plans which includes three bigger gatherings of the Cluster members. In general, the meeting was a time of lively exchange and discussions which were documented by Bruno Nobre SJ, the workshop’s secretary. The two-days event ended with the dinner in the Jesuit College. We all are grateful for the excellent organization effected by Josef Quitterer, the dean of the Theological Faculty. Many thanks go also to the Jesuit community which generously accommodated and fed most of us during these days.

Following the third round of meetings in Madrid, March 1-2, 2018. Across Europe, the Society of Jesus maintains a large network of higher-education institutions and social-policy centres which every day educate tens of thousands of young people and scrutinize untold government proposals and policy initiatives. The HEST initiative (Higher Education for Social Transformation) seeks to mobilise this network of research bodies so as to challenge realities on the ground by advocating for constructive change founded on solid research. Going beyond an expression of our collective social responsibility, HEST is an attempt to put flesh and bones on one of the hallmark slogans of the Jesuit approach to life – that we should be men and women for others. Seven research clusters have been established that seeks to direct this wealth of researching talent towards the issues that are most pressing in Europe today. They are: Ecology and Environmental Challenges Economy, Poverty and Ethics Christian Muslim Relations Dialogue Science and Religion Ignatian Studies Anthropology Migrations and Refugees These clusters, made of experts, analysts and researchers – both “J” and “lay” – from across Europe, are meeting over the period of three years with the intention of providing meaningful and quality research so as to yield real-world advocacy proposals. They also hope to sharpen local recommendations through the pan-European cooperation and to strengthen the Jesuit Identity of Jesuit higher-education institutions. The ambitious, ultimate aim, is that this project would roll for fifteen years, thoroughly transforming the internal self-understanding of Jesuit higher-education institutions and making a concrete difference for the most marginalised in our society. I am a member of the “Economy, Poverty and Ethics” cluster, which seeks to take seriously the commitment made in Decree 1 of the General Congregation 36, that “Global Wealth Inequalities” is one of the issues that Jesuits must pay particular attention to. We met for the third workshop of our group in Madrid in early March. Made up of scholars and experts from Poland, France, Belgium, England, Ireland, and Spain, this group – largely led by economists – are eager to explore below the numbers and examine what is really happening in the European economy. A decade on from the last crash, there is widespread dis-satisfaction with the so-called “recovery”. With this in mind, the group has focused on two critical issues: Models for company-formation Policies to deal with precarious labour The first focus area will draw on Catholic Social Teaching to explore how the legal construction of corporations can place the pursuit of the common good right alongside the pursuit of profit. The second focus area will explore how the response to the economic crash of 2008 has left more and more people on the economic sidelines and how we should seek to address that issue. Europe was struggling with awful weather, so delegates faces snowdrifts and airport delays to make the meetings. Madrid itself was buffeted by storm winds and flooding rains. But every delegate who gathered felt that the trip was more than worthwhile. The contemporary university is geared towards ever more intense specialisation and too often our individual research agendas, directed by abstract government rating-systems, gets disconnected from the real-world problems that we most want to address. HEST represents a different way of researching: inter-disciplinary, grounded in friendship and mutual values, dedicated towards the service of those most in need of help. In this, it is already a remarkable distillation of the finest parts of the Jesuit tradition.

At the pace of the discernment of the group, the third meeting of the Ignatian studies cluster of HEST progressed. We wanted to be faithful to the commitment and to the lights that came up during the last meeting in Brussels last September 2017, i.e. "We have to give as much or more importance to “how” we do things than to “what” we want to do. In this way, this meeting was established as a space of common discernment that would lead us to define the action plan of the cluster. To this end, we met again in Brussels: Carlos Coupeau (Deusto), José García de Castro (Comillas), Philip Endean (Centre Sevres), Mark Rotsaert (Campion Hall), Jad Chebli (Saint Joseph Univeristy Beirut) and José Carlos Romero (JCEP). They were two and a half days of work (from Friday, February 23rd to Sunday 25th) in which little by little, we began to express interests, desires and realities. The first day was a personal day of work with some documents: the minutes and echoes of the last meeting, as well as some other inspirational documents; and concluded with a sharing. On the second day, Saturday, we focused on discussing what should be the group's primary focus. A debate that was greatly enriched by Jad's presentation to us on the situation in Lebanon and the work that the Society of Jesus is doing there especially with refugees. Finally, Sunday was the day to gather the sharing and establish the action plan. The group decided on the topic to explore. It will be the meaning of "Social Transformation" from an Ignatian perspective. To this end, the different members will develop individual contributions that they will share prior to the next face-to-face meeting where they will be discussed and enriched with the contributions of others. Gratefully we ended the meeting by sharing a lunch in the always welcoming community of the JCEP in Brussels. In October, God willing, we will meet again.

The arrival of migrants and refugees to Europe has been one of the hot topics for decades and it is even more intense, since the start of the civil wars in Syria and Libya. The unhuman conditions, which they have suffered, and the deaths of thousands in the Mediterranean Sea have generated an outcry in the public opinion. At the same time, the public debate in some of the latest elections (such as in France, Netherlands, Austria or the United Kingdome) have rebuke around the role of migration in society. In this context, the Migrations and refugees cluster as part of Higher Education for Social Transformation Programme (HEST) is fostering the debate from an Ignatius perspective: What is the specific contribution that Jesuits Higher Education and Social Institutions can provide to this topic? Last 21th and 22th in Madrid the Migrants and refugees cluster met for its first meeting at Comillas Pontifical University in Madrid (Spain). We started the meeting presenting the general lines of the HEST programme, and afterwards we spent the evening presenting every member and their work related to the topic and getting to know each other. We had 6 institutions represented (Migrations and refugees Research Center of Pontifical University of Comillas Madrid, Human Rights Deusto Institute from Bilbao, JRS Belgium, Global Studies Center from Munich, Jesuits University Ignatiatum from Poland and Escuelas SAFA from Ubeda) with different experiences and competences. In addition, they count with Peter Rozic (from JESC) and Alberto Ares (from SJM) on the first day of the meeting. The second they focused around which opportunities we could have if we combined our strengths as a cluster; what has been done about the social implications of migration and refugee problems and how Jesuit values, the option for the poor and justice can be integrated into real policy decision. At the end of the meeting, an action plan from 2017 to 2019 was developed involving a research project, a workshop and shared publications on the topic.

The Cluster on Christian-Muslim Relations of HEST holds its first meeting. HEST (Higher Education for Social Transformation) is a research project promoted by the European Conference of Provincials. It aims to bring together in a collaborative effort professors and researchers from our Jesuit universities and faculties in Europe and Near East, together with social centres. The ultimate objective is to produce research results on seven key themes (Ecology, Economics and Poverty, Dialogue with Islam, Dialogue between Science and Religion, Anthropology, Ignatian Studies and Migration) that contribute to the transformation of our society from the level of everyday life to the highest political level where decisions are taken that affect us all. One of these seven themes, i. e. the dialogue between Islam and Christianity, is the one that gathered us last September 3 and 4 in Granada to a group of professors and researchers from different Jesuit institutions with experience in this subject. The Faculty of Theology of Granada hosted and coordinated the event. We met with three primary objectives: (1) to get to know each other personally, (2) to learn what we do in dialogue with Islam, and (3) to design a plan of collaboration for the next three years. The meeting began on Saturday evening in the convent of the “Comendadoras de Santiago” (which we should thank warmly for taken care of every single detail we needed). We had the first dinner together and took a stroll along the incomparable “Paseo de los Tristes” of Granada, admiring its impressive views of the Alhambra. On Sunday, we divided the day into two distinct parts. The morning was dedicated to the presentations; we began by introducing all the attendees to the HEST initiative, and we continued with a roundtable presentation of the work that each institution was doing in the topic. After those presentations, we were already able to take the next step: to discern what we could do together. Sunday afternoon was dedicated to this, presenting an open and sincere dialogue in which various possibilities of collaboration emerged. Among them, one seemed to be particularly relevant: the organization of an Academic Workshop in 2018 from which a first joint publication could emerge. The place could be Innsbruck, and the most probable theme: an Ignatian approach to the Dialogue with Islam. The mass and a cultural night tour, accompanied by “Granada tapas”, served as a perfect ending to the intense Sunday day. Monday began with another must-see visit: the Alhambra. We dedicate the morning to enjoy this unique historical enclave that distills memories of encounters and misunderstandings between our two cultures. At the end, we enjoyed a hearty lunch at the Convent and marched to the Faculty where we had our last afternoon session. It began with a master lecture on Al-Andalus by Juan Antonio Macias, and continued with a plenary session devoted to the elaboration of a concrete action plan for the coming times. God willing, this group, will meet again in September or October 2018 in Innsbruck to continue with this exciting task of learning together to dialogue with our Muslim brothers.