Research Institute for Social Sciences

Lavinia – Ioana Udrea is a Keele-funded Philosophy Ph.D Student in the School of Politics, International Relations & Philosophy (SPIRE) and the Environmental Officer of Keele Postgraduate Association.

She has a B.A. in Philosophy and a M.A. in Applied Ethics in Society, Business and Organizations from the University of Bucharest. In 2010, she was awarded the ERASMUS Scholarship to study at Complutense University of Madrid and later that year, she was offered the Professional Ethics - Visiting Student Scholarship from the Babe?-Bolyai University.

In February 2013, she was elected to be the next Environmental Representative of Keele Students' Union and Co-president of Think Green Students' Society. She has been working for six years as Volunteer Leader and Youth Educator for European and North American NGOs (AIESEC Bucharest, Greenpeace Bucharest, Romanian Association Against-AIDS, Pacific Whale Foundation Hawaii, etc.). This work experience helped her develop leadership and management skills, being involved directly in planning, implementation and monitoring of different youth activities and projects.

Lavinia Ioana Udrea feels that getting a PhD degree is the next step in her personal and professional development because she is interested to achieve international standards of excellence, to become a specialist in her field of study and to discover how philosophers can help people gain the sense of stewardship for preserving the nature.

Her RESEARCH QUESTION is:

Can the Sense of Moral Responsibility towards Nature Be Cultivated?

Lavinia focuses her research on the need for a motivational change in Environmental Ethics, while studying the motivational states that influence human beings to show moral responsibility towards nature. Moreover, she seeks to identify and analyse  human behaviour problems which address social challenges such as sustainability, energy and security.

Her research objectives:

• to bring a contribution to knowledge by analysing human motivation for taking care of the environment;
• to develop and implement effective philosophical methods and tools for gaining a long-term moral interest in protecting the environment.

Lavinia's supervisors are:

Dr. Sorin Baiasu and Prof. Andrew Dobson

2012(Oct) – 2016(Sep)  Keele-funded Philosophy PhD Student, Keele University, United Kingdom.

2011(Nov)  Nominated for the Student of the Year Award at The Education Awards Gala 2011, organized by Dinu Patriciu Foundation in Bucharest, Romania.

2011(May)  Romanian Top Talent Award at Top Talents Days – Romania, organized by Catalyst Solutions in Bucharest, Romania.

2010(Oct) – 2011(Feb)  Visiting Student Scholarship - M. Phil. in Professional Ethics  Babe?-Bolyai University, Romania.

2010(Feb) - (Jun)  ERASMUS Scholarship, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain.

Publications

• Udrea, L.I. (2011), The Ethical Code of the organizers of voluntary activities, National Action Plan dedicated to the European Year of Volunteering, VOLUM - the Federation of Organizations Supporting the Development of Volunteering in Romania, December 2011.

Presentations

• Udrea, L.I. (2013), The Influence of Moral Motivation in Environmental Studies, ECPR Environmental Politics and Policy Summer School, Keele University, June 2013.

• Udrea, L.I. (2013), Can the Sense of Moral Responsibility towards Nature Be Cultivated?, KPA Conference: Showcasing Postgraduate Research at Keele, Keele University, March 2013.

• Udrea, L.I. (2012), Does Intergenerational Justice require that we abandon Consumerism?, 1^st International Conference on Global Justice: Norms and Limits, University of Bucharest, May 2012.

• Udrea, L.I. (2012), A Discussion on Philosophical Counselling, 1^st National Philosophy Students’ Conference: Philosophy and Modernity, University of Bucharest, March 2012.

Other information:

• 2013(Sep) – 2014(Jun)  Incoming Residence Support Assistant, Student Support and Development Services, Keele University, United Kingdom.

• 2013(Jul) – 2014(Jun)  Incoming Environmental Representative of Keele Students' Union, Keele University, United Kingdom.

• 2011(Sep) – present  Ethics Specialistat Passion, Enthusiasm and Big Dreams.
  
  
• A Personal Development Project - http://laviniaioanaudrea.blogspot.com/which tries to analyze and understand better people’s motivation to reach their full potential. In this online environment, Lavinia is posting articles about Environmental Ethics,  Philosophical Counseling, Life coaching, Mentoring and Personal Development.
  
  
• 2010(Jul) – present   Youth Mentor and Non-formal Educator for the European Voluntary Service (EVS) in Youth in Action Program by European Commission.
  
  
• Lavinia Ioana Udrea is directly working with young people who want to build their self-esteem and explore the role of personal development in their life. In this sense, she interacts with youth groups and facilitates personal development trainings and workshops as needed.