Agenda

The seminar Religious Intolerance in Brazil: Legal, Political and Social Perspectives from Rio de Janeiro will examine the challenges of religious freedom in Brazil, drawing on the experience of the State of Rio de Janeiro. The discussion will address the concept of tolerance, Brazilian religious law and its main regulatory frameworks, the secular nature of the state and its contemporary challenges, as well as the implementation of affirmative action measures and public policies aimed at promoting and protecting religious freedom.

The seminar will welcome Márcio Dodds Righetti Mendes, also known as Márcio de Jagun, a Brazilian scholar, lawyer and former public official whose academic and professional work has focused on human rights, religious diversity, African philosophy and decolonial thought.

Márcio de Jagun holds a Law degree from Universidade Cândido Mendes, a Master's degree in Education and a PhD in Philosophy from Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ). He has completed postdoctoral studies in Religious Studies at Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora (UFJF) and in Philosophy, specializing in Afro-Metaphysics, at UERJ.

He teaches Yoruba Philosophy and Culture at UERJ's Programme for Studies and Research on Religions (PROEPER) and Yoruba Language, Philosophy and Culture at Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF). He is also a member of the Kékeré research group at UERJ and serves as a consultant to Brazil's National Historical and Artistic Heritage Institute (IPHAN) on the inclusion of the Yoruba language in the National Inventory of Linguistic Diversity.

As a lawyer specializing in human rights and religious freedom, he was a founding member of the State Council for the Defence and Promotion of Religious Freedom. He served as State Superintendent for the Defence and Promotion of Religious Freedom in Rio de Janeiro from 2017 to 2021 and as Executive Coordinator for Religious Diversity in the Municipality of Rio de Janeiro from 2022 to 2025. In 2022, he received the title of Benefactor of the State of Rio de Janeiro in recognition of his contributions to public administration and cultural production in defence of religious freedom. He was also elected to the Pan-American Academy of Letters and Arts.

His academic and cultural publications address African philosophy and theology, Yoruba religion, Candomblé, decolonial thought and religious freedom. His books include Orí – a Cabeça como Divindade (2015), Odù – os Yorubas e o Destino(2016), Yorùbá – Vocabulário Temático do Candomblé (2017), Ewé: a Chave do Portal (2019), Nkó Yorùbá – Gramática, Conversação e Tradução (2020) and Filosofia Descolonial do Candomblé Nagô (2024).

The seminar will provide an opportunity to examine the relationship between religious diversity, citizenship, public policy and institutional responses to discrimination. Drawing on the Brazilian experience, the discussion will contribute to broader debates on human rights, social inclusion, democratic governance and the protection of cultural and religious diversity.

28 de outubro 2026 | 18h00

The Department of Political Science, Sociology and International Relations at Universidade Lusófona, in collaboration with the Res Publica Foundation, will host the launch of issue No. 98 of Finisterra – Revista de Reflexão e Crítica, entitled O Inimigo Americano (The American Enemy), on 20 October 2026.

Featuring contributions from faculty members and researchers of the Department, the publication addresses contemporary geopolitical transformations and the challenges associated with the emergence of a new international order. The event will provide an opportunity for academic debate on shifting international power relations, geopolitical tensions, and the political and civilizational dimensions shaping global affairs.

Among the contributors is Jorge Botelho Moniz, Associate Professor at Universidade Lusófona and researcher at LusoGlobe, who will present his contribution, Geopolítica Sagrada: As Novas Esferas de Pertença Civilizacional (Sacred Geopolitics: The New Spheres of Civilizational Belonging). His intervention will explore the relationship between geopolitics, religion, and civilizational identities in the context of contemporary international transformations.

The programme will begin at 6:00 PM with introductory remarks by Pedro Silva Pereira, President of the Res Publica Foundation. At 6:15 PM, Guilherme d'Oliveira Martins, former Executive Administrator of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, will present O Mundo à Beira do Abismo (The World on the Brink of the Abyss), followed by Jorge Botelho Moniz's intervention. The session will be introduced and moderated by Fernando Pereira Marques, Director of Finisterra.

An open debate and question-and-answer session will begin at 7:00 PM, followed by closing remarks at 7:30 PM.

The event will contribute to ongoing academic discussions on international politics, global governance, and the changing configuration of geopolitical and civilizational relations.

Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions).

20 October 2026 | 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

On 27 October 2026, LusoGlobe – Lusófona Centre on Global Challenges will host a lecture by Gustavo Glodes Blum on contemporary disputes over sovereignty, territory, and intervention in the context of the new Gulf War and the broader transformation of the international order.

The lecture will examine how current conflicts and geopolitical transformations are challenging established understandings of territorial sovereignty, intervention, and the use of force. Drawing on perspectives from Geography and International Relations, the session will explore competing interpretations of war and intervention, as well as their implications for territorial configurations, international politics, and the changing structure of the international system.

The discussion will also consider how these dynamics reflect a broader metamorphosis of the international order, in which traditional principles of sovereignty coexist with renewed territorial disputes, shifting power relations, and contested forms of international intervention.

Speaker

Gustavo Glodes Blum holds a PhD in Geography from the University of Campinas (Unicamp), an MA in Geography from the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), and a BA in International Relations. He is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Institute of Geosciences at Unicamp and is undertaking a research stay at the Geneva Graduate Institute in Switzerland.

Event Information

Date: 27 October 2026
Time: 1:30 PM
Venue: Room D.2.2, Universidade Lusófona
Organisation: LusoGlobe – Lusófona Centre on Global Challenges

The event is open to the academic community.

Sabrina Medeiros, researcher at LusoGlobe and Associate Professor at Lusófona University, will participate in a research meeting at the DLR Institute for the Protection of Maritime Infrastructures, Bremerhaven,, Germany, to discuss the application of wargaming and foresight methodologies to education, training and decision-making in complex security environments.

The presentation, “Wargaming and Foresight Methodologies and Practices Applied to Education and Training for Multi-Domain Operations”, builds on research developed in the NATO context and will introduce the Agents Joint Assessment and Planning Tool (AJAPT), a simulation and analytical platform designed to support multi-actor interaction, structured negotiation and the assessment of decision-making processes.

The session will also explore the potential application of AJAPT to maritime security and critical infrastructure resilience through a scenario focused on grey-zone pressures and cascading disruptions in the North Sea. The discussion connects LusoGlobe’s research on simulation, interagency cooperation and security governance with the work conducted by DLR’s Institute for the Protection of Maritime Infrastructures on maritime resilience, security and simulation-based analysis.

The visit contributes to the international development of the AJAPT research agenda and to ongoing cooperation between research communities working on simulation-based methodologies for security, defence and critical infrastructure protection.

LusoGlobe’s President and senior researcher Professor António Costa Pinto participated as a keynote speaker at the international conference “Construcción y expansión de las Nuevas Ultraderechas nacionales y transnacionales en las Américas y Europa,” organized by the CALAS Platform for Dialogue and hosted at FLACSO Ecuador from 1–2 December 2025.

From March 2025 until December 2025, the sixth edition of the Permanent Seminar on Islamic Studies will be held at Universidade Lusófona, coordinated by Fabrizio Boscaglia. This cycle of events consists of scientific lectures on Islam and Islamic civilisation, given by Portuguese and international experts, in Portuguese, Spanish, and English.