Bibliopéra

Filippo Grandi, former UN High Commissioner for Refugees, reflects on the future of humanitarian action amid protracted conflicts, mass displacement, shrinking access and shifting geopolitics. Joined in conversation by Minhua Ling, Associate Professor at the Geneva Graduate Institute, and students Suraya Yosufi and Jennifer Siaw, he examines how humanitarian principles can be upheld while adapting to new challenges. The discussion is introduced by Marie‑Laure Salles and Leo Colonnello.

In English.

Stefano Fiorin (Bocconi University) presents experimental research examining how visible religious identity—women’s headscarves and men’s Islamic beards—affects labor market outcomes in Indonesia. Using a large job portal and incentivized resume rating experiments with employers and job seekers, the study finds that displaying religious symbols reduces employer ratings and interview probability, with similar penalties for headscarves and beards. It also reveals employers’ biased trait assessments and job seekers’ limited awareness of these penalties.

In English.

Juliette Faure, professor of political science at the University of Lille and researcher at CERAPS, examines the emergence of a Russian “modernizing conservatism” that fuses religious traditionalism with advocacy of technological modernity. Drawing on archival research, interviews and fieldwork, she traces its roots in late Soviet intellectual formations and shows how this ideology helped legitimize authoritarian and expansionist policies. The talk draws on the career of journalist Aleksandr Prokhanov to illustrate processes of theorization and diffusion.

In French.