From Sept. 30th,2016 to Oct.1st, the Executive Vice Director of IAHS at PKU, Professor Peimin NI, was invited to participate in the 14^th Rhodes Forum sponsored by World Public Forum “Dialogue of Civilizations,” at Rhodes Island, Greece, and chaired the plenary session on “Infrastructure as the Backbone of Civilizations.” Professor Ni has been a frequent participant of the events at this important platform of global dialogue of civilizations. Among those who attended this year’s forum are prominent political figures such as Milos Zeman, President of the Czech Republic, and distinguished scholars, such as IAHS’s longtime friend, Professor Fred Dallmayr. The theme of this year’s Rhodes Forum was “The Chaos of Multiplicity: an Urgent Call for Dialogue.”