Press conference about SASA Activities
A press conference was held at the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts on Wednesday, 21 May, during which Academician Nebojša Lalić, SASA General Secretary, presented the Academy’s programme through the end of August 2025.
As he noted, the Academy and its branches in Novi Sad and Niš, as well as the Centre for Scientific Research of SASA and the University of Kragujevac, will offer a rich programme over the coming three months.
Keeping in mind that the SASA elections were held in November last year, the programme of SASA features the inauguration of new members of the Academy. Between 12 and 15 May, newly elected full members of the Academy made their accession speeches. In late May and during June, newly elected foreign members of the SASA will deliver their addresses. Author Drago Kekanović, a foreign member of the Department of Literature and Literature will give his speech on 27 May titled ‘Between the Zenith and the Nadir or Tracing a Novel I Never Wrote (But Should Have)’, which honours renowned Serbian avant-gardist Ljubomir Micić, the creator of internationally acclaimed literary movement Zenitism, editor and publisher of the equally influential international journal ZENIT.
Throughout June, accession speeches by members of the Department of Medical Sciences will unfold, and they include lectures by Dr Janko Nikolić on 11 June and Dr Vesna Garović on 13 June. Dr Janko Nikolić is an internationally recognized immunologist and gerontologist, a professor of nutritional sciences, genetics and neurosciences and the chair of the Department of Immunobiology at the University of Arizona School of Medicine in Tuscon, a scientific fellow at the BYOS Institute who was declared the researcher of the year in biosciences of the State of Arizona for his work on ageing, immunology and testing for COVID-19 prevention. Dr Vesna Garović is a full professor and head of the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, director of the Mayo Clinic Centre for Clinical and Translational Science and dean for Clinical and Translational Science at the above-mentioned clinic.
The end of May will also see special lectures within the ongoing lecture series ‘Updates in Diabetes 2025’. This series of lectures began in April and encompasses 10 sessions, featuring 15 eminent lecturers, five of whom are international experts, including the president of the European Association for Diabetes. As part of this series, on 27 May, Dr Katarina Lalić will give a lecture titled ‘The Treatment of Dyslipidemia in Diabetes: New Approaches’ and Professor Edita Stokić will lecture on the topic ‘Obesity: The Difference between Men and Women’.
The official Branko Ćopić Endowment Award Ceremony will be held on 28 May. In parallel, the SASA Library Book Forum has announced the presentation of Volume 22 of the Dictionary of the Serbian-Croatian Literary and Vernacular Language (covering entries from pokupić to poslužiteljstvo), scheduled for 27 May. The day of the SASA Library, which is celebrated on 10 June, will be dedicated to the anniversaries of Serbian academicians in 2025. Among them is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Academician Ljubomir Tadić.
At the beginning of June, the SASA Department of Social Sciences will host a scientific conference titled “The Scholarly Work of Academician Miodrag Jovičić”, to be held on 3 and 4 June. The event is organised in cooperation with the Institute for Comparative Law in Belgrade and the Miodrag Jovičić Foundation, marking the centenary of the birth of Academician Miodrag Jovičić (1925–1999). The conference will bring together scholars whose research focuses on constitutional law and political systems—fields in which Academician Jovičić made his most significant contributions.
The scientific conference ‘Movement Control’ will be held on 6 and 7 June at the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. This scholarly event, featuring the participation of international experts, is organised by the Department for Movement Disorders of the Clinic for Neurology at the University Clinical Centre of Serbia in Belgrade. It is held under the auspices of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Belgrade and SASA.
In addition to addressing specific topics such as dystonia and ataxia, the conference will emphasise the understanding and significance of these disorders from genetic, clinical, and therapeutic perspectives. Attendees will have the opportunity to hear lectures by leading global experts, with the aim of providing valuable insights into current research and advancements in the diagnosis and treatment of dystonia and ataxia.
A commemorative session in memory of Academician Ljubomir SImović will take place on 9 June.
The lecture series ‘Current State and Perspectives of Natural Resources of Serbia in the Era of Climate Change, Energy Transition and New Directions of Economic Development’ continues with the lectures titled ‘The Rovina Project, а Future Source оf Copper in the Current European Context,’ and ‘Roșia Poieni – A Brief History and Future Outlook’ which are to be held on 12 June. Professor Miodrag Mesarović, PhD, will address the topic ‘Energy Transition and its Impact on Nature, Economy and Society’ on 19 June, while Professor Snežana Šerbula, PhD, will give the lecture titled ‘Currents Experience in Exploitation of Mineral Resources and the Impact on Nature, Population and Economy’ on 26 June.
When it comes to art-oriented programmes at SASA, the exhibition ‘Ilija Bosilj: The Triumph of Art’ curated by Dr Ivana Bašičević ANtić, is on display at the SASA Gallery until 8 June. The opening of the next exhibition ‘Stojan Ćelić: Redefined Limits of Space’, authored by Zoran Erić, is planned for 24 June. The exhibition is organised to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of this eminent artist, art critic, professor at the Faculty of Arts in Belgrade and academician. It was also prompted by the foundation of the Stojan Ćelić Endowment at SASA.
It was noted that the concert season at the SASA Gallery finishes on 26 June.
At the SASA Gallery of Science and Technology, the exhibition ‘Through the Eyepiece’, curated by Professor Nela Puškaš, is taking place until 31 May. The exhibition setup marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of ‘The Microphotographic Atlas of Normal Histology.’ The author of the Atlas, Aleksandar Đ. Kostić was the first professor of histology and embryology at the Belgrade School of Medicine and a pioneer in medical photography and film in Serbia.
The eleventh salon of landscape architecture (12 – 26 June), traditionally held at the SASA Gallery of Science and Technology, will feature a wide selection of works by the foremost domestic and international authors. In August, the exhibition ‘Metamodernism’, organised by Kolektiv Arhitekata and authored by Zoran Dmitrović, will also be hosted at the SASA Gallery of Science and Technology. The exhibition seeks to map the global and local architectural landscape in the period following the 2008 economic crisis, a time marked by a paradigm shift in contemporary architecture.
The end of August will bring 10th International School and Conference on Photonics – PHOTONICA 2025, which will take place from 25 to 29 August. This scholarly event is recognised in scientific circles as immensely important for research in the fields of quantum and non-linear optics, biophotonics, optical materials and metamaterials, ultra-fast optical phenomena, optical communications and laser technologies.
Referring to the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts’ active publishing output, Academician Nebojša Lalić noted that the Academy published 52 titles in 2024. On this occasion, he highlighted the monograph ’The Palace of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts’, authored by Professor Milan Prosen. The publication was edited by the late Academician Milan Lojanica, with Academician Lalić serving as editor-in-chief. The reviewers include Academician Branislav Mitrović, Corresponding Member Igor Borozan, and Marina Pavlović, PhD.
The monograph was published at the end of last year to mark the centenary of the Academy’s building (1924–2024). It was translated into English in 2025. The volume offers a unique perspective on the architectural and institutional history of the Academy, shedding light on the evolution of Serbia’s highest scientific and cultural institution.