The Aspen Seminars are supporting the Institute’s mission to foster values-based leadership, encouraging individuals to reflect and act in accordance with the ideals and ideas that define a good society.

The Aspen Leadership Seminars organized by Aspen Institute Romania have a duration of 3-4 days and are dedicated to a variety of age groups and socio-professional categories.

The Aspen Seminars are Socratic debates based on the 70-year-old Aspen method of text-based dialogue, that challenge their participants to think more critically and deeply about the principles of the good society, under the guidance of skilled moderators from the USA and from Romania.

Using our proven method of text-based moderated dialogue, the Aspen Seminars offer participants a neutral forum in which to reflect on timeless human values, pursue common ground, and cultivate a richer understanding of the human condition.

Through their attendance to the Aspen Seminars, the participants become Aspen Alumni and join a growing community of Fellows and Alumni of Aspen Institute Romania, which is already covering more than 40 countries and close to 1400 extraordinary individuals, all age groups and walks of life.

Participation in some of the Aspen Seminars is fee-based, while in others, participants are granted fellowships for attending the seminars.

In the case of the fee-based seminars, Aspen Institute Romania often grants a certain number of scholarships to young professionals, public sector representatives and NGO representatives, in Romania and the region.

The generous contributions to the Aspen Leadership Trust are directed to support the continuation of our efforts to offer scholarships to attend the Aspen Seminars.

ASPEN SEMINAR FOR LEADERS

For more than 70 years since it was first organized by the Aspen Institute in the USA, the Aspen Seminar on leadership, values, and the good society has challenged leaders in every field to think more critically and deeply about the good society. Since the foundation of Aspen Institute Romania more than 15 years ago, the Aspen Seminar for Leaders has been the backbone of our Leadership Programs, the flagship leadership seminar for senior leaders in every field.

Around 15-20 senior leaders embark on a challenging journey of reflection and self-discovery and emerge from the Aspen Seminar personally renewed, professionally re-focused, and better prepared to lead as they confront the difficult choices of our ever-changing world.

The Aspen Seminar for Leaders is fee-based. Discounts are available for the representatives of the AIR Members (25% Corporate Members, 20% Business Members, 15% Personal Private Sector Members) and for the representatives of the non-profit sector. In addition, depending on the budget of the program, 1-2 scholarships are available for representatives of the public sector. More details about the seminar and next editions are available in the dedicated section of the website, here.

FELLOWSHIP-BASED SEMINARS

A selection of Aspen Seminars is fellowship-based. The Institute offers all selected participants a scholarship covering the costs of accommodation, meals, moderation, reading materials and, if applicable, transportation between Bucharest and the location of the seminar.

The Aspen Seminars which are entirely fellowship-based are the Aspen Junior Seminar (students and young professionals, 20 to 24 years old) and the Aspen Teen Online Seminar (high school students, aged 15 to 19).

CUSTOM LEADERSHIP SEMINARS & SOCRATES SEMINARS

Under the guidance of the moderators, the Custom Leadership Seminars would challenge the participants, multiple stakeholders of the Aspen Public Policy Programs’ communities (including public decision-makers), to think more critically and deeply about the good society and to have an informal, constructive debate on topics of relevance to the respective Public Policy Programs.

Part of the broader category of the Custom Leadership Seminars, the Socrates Seminars provide a forum for leaders from various professions to convene and explore contemporary issues through expert-moderated dialogue.

The Custom Leadership Seminars and the Socrates Seminars are invitation based, depending on the areas of interest of each edition (e.g. healthcare, finance & economy, defense, resilience, technology etc.).

Offering a space for individual and collective reflection, the Aspen Seminars are at once a development opportunity, an intellectual challenge and a personal journey.