In the study of Islamic philosophy, the name of Shihabuddin Suhrawardi is well-known for his illuminative philosophical concept. He was a controversial figure in his time that he tried to combine the concept of philosophy with mysticism. In Wednesday Forum CRCS-ICRS December 1st 2010, this figure was elaborated by John Compaglia, a student of Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, and a holder of the Luce Fellowship Program at UGM, presenting “The Context and Content of Suhrawardi’s Use of Cosmogonic and Cosmological Doctrines in His Philosophical Allegories”.

Last July 5-23, 2010, a few students, a staff, and a lecturer of CRCS UGM were invited to participate in the “Vienna International Christian-Islamic Summer University” (VICISU) 2010 in the University of Vienna, Austria, in cooperation with the Austrian Ministry of Research and Science. The CRCS was represented by Dian Maya Safitri, Yuyun Sri Wahjuni, Sholahudin, Mohammad Rokib, Maria Ingrid Nabuboga, and Dr. Fatimah Husein.

For the November 3, 2010 edition of Wednesday Forum, two of them, Yuyun Sri Wahyu and Mohammad Rokib had the opportunity to share their experience.

For the second time, a student of the University of Malaya Kuala Lumpur took part in “Wednesday Forum” of CRCS/ICRS. The previous theme raised was about the issue of sleeping, and for 20 October 2010 discussion, the theme raised was about the concepts of reward and punishment within the educational system.

Moderated by Nyong Eka Teguh Imam Santoso from ICRS, the forum presented Mohamad Khairul Bajuri, a graduate student of philosophy from University of Malaya, who explored the title of “Use of Reinforcement in Learning: Content Analysis from Behavioral Science and Islamic Perspectives.” Bajuri delivered the results of a research he conducted in several institutions of Islamic education in Malaysia. Before conducting field observation, the research was initially begun with literature reviews from both scientific literatures, mainly psychology, and Islamic literatures.

One of the social phenomena feasible to be examined comprehensively is the issue of suicide. The frequency of suicides is relatively high and closely related to various aspects of human life. Addressing this issue, therefore, must be begun with a thorough study involving interdisciplinary methodology as delivered by Dicky Sofjan, Ph.D in his presentation at CRCS-ICRS Wednesday Forum on Wednesday, 27 October 2010.

Presenting “Suicide and Social Disintegration: Where’s the (Dis)-Connection?”, Dicky Sofjan, a Regional Project Manager in the Asian Public Intellectuals (API) institution, began his presentation with a description of the suicide intensity around the world. The varied motives and types of suicide were also presented. In particular, he mentioned the quite high suicide rate in the area of Gunung Kidul Regency, Yogyakarta Special Province.