Bogdan Murgescu and the Bucharest Team

The key members of the Bucharest team are specialists in economic history (prof. Bogdan Murgescu), economic and human geography (prof. Pintilii), labour relations and social history (dr. Mara Mărginean), history of experts and specialized knowledge (dr. Corina Doboș), history of communism (dr. Matei Gheboianu).

Each of the members of the University of Bucharest team has also acquired expertise which is relevant for the current project. Prof. Murgescu has undertaken research on the history of natural resources, especially oil and energy resources, and on their impact on economic development; besides having been part in several international research projects and being an active participant at the World Economic History Congresses, he has coordinated for 7 years the doctoral schools of the University of Bucharest and has initiated the founding of the Interdisciplinary School of Doctoral Studies.

Dr. Radu-Daniel Pintilii is founding member and scientific manager of the Research Center for Integrated Analysis and Territorial Management (CAIMT) and has undertaken research on forestry resources and on the regional impact of open-pit mining.

Dr. Mara Mărginean has undertaken research on the economic and social history of industrializing regions in Romania during communism, including the use of local natural resources.

Dr. Corina Doboș has worked on communities of professional experts, on health issues of industrial workers and on Romania’s cooperation with international organizations.

Dr. Matei Gheboianu coordinates the master program History of Communism, which has a significant part dedicated to the extensive growth model based on the exploitation of natural resources.

Bogdan Murgescu's profile at the University of Bucharest

University of Bucharest

The University of Bucharest (UB), founded in 1864, is a leading institution of higher education and research in Romania, providing undergraduate and graduate studies, and conducting research in a variety of fields of natural sciences, social sciences and humanities. The University of Bucharest models its educational process based on the needs of the society of knowledge, in which the formation of competences and abilities plays an essential role.  It employs about 1,300 permanent faculty and about 2,000 part-time associated faculty, who teach about 33,000 students in the framework of 93 B.A. programs, 208 M.A. programs, and 22 doctoral schools.

The University of Bucharest is part of several international cooperation networks. It has more than 300 active bilateral collaboration agreements with universities in 52 countries. Since October 2018, the University of Bucharest is founding member of CIVIS – European Civic University Alliance, together with Aix-Marseille Université, National Kapodistrian University of Athens, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Sapienza Università di Roma, Stockholms Universitet and Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen. 

UB has a rich experience in cooperating to international research projects and has also successfully managed two different EEA grants, one of them having as partner the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (EEA-JRP-RO-NO-2013-1-0047. Engineering Yeast and Plants for Heavy Metal Applications: from Bioremediation to Bioextraction), while the other has been conducted by medieval historians in partnership with the National Archives of Norway (RO12-0007 Digitization of medieval documents from the National Archives of Romania). Its capacity to conduct interdisciplinary research has been increased by the founding of the Research Institute of the University of Bucharest (2015), and of the Interdisciplinary School of Doctoral Studies (2018).

The University of Bucharest has a long tradition in the exploration of natural resources and in the research about their use and contribution to long-term economic development, built around several disciplines (geography, geology, history, chemistry, law). The specializations in geology or geography, institutionalized at UB since the second half of the 19th century, were crucial for the formation of several generations of experts in key areas of natural resources exploitation and management, such as mineralogy, petrography, geophysics, or shuman and economic geography. Currently, UB offers courses in complementary disciplines relevant to the natural resources’ sustainable governance, management and history, (history, business administration, political science, geology, geography, economic history, economic geography, micro and macro-management, commercial law, international relations, environmental studies) for both undergraduate and postgraduate students. The multidisciplinary training in complementary subjects represents a good premise for the acquisition of the critical skills and knowledge necessary for the practical training in the interdisciplinary specialization in the domain of natural resources management and governance. 

The current project will benefit from the expertise of several faculty members coming from the departments of history and geography, as well as from researchers associated with the Research Institute of the University of Bucharest and with other research groups inside the university.