[1] His Romanian doctoral thesis focused on the concept of theatrical space; the New Zealand one analysed the European reception of the theatre of the absurd.

[2] Saiu is a teacher in the Postgraduate Programme of NUTF[3] and a PhD supervisor in the Doctoral School of "Lucian Blaga" University of Sibiu.

[18] More recently, he spoke about the role of critical thinking in theatre pedagogy during a plenary address at the Conference of the ITI/UNESCO Network for Higher Education in the Performing Arts (2018).

[20] Throughout the years, he has hosted cultural conversations with Tim Robbins,[21] John Malkovich,[22] Mikhail Baryshnikov,[23] Jin Xing,[24] Neil LaBute,[25] Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt,[26] Ohad Naharin,[27] Jaroslaw Fret,[28] Mao Weitao,[29] Laetitia Casta,[30]Stan Lai,[31] Stanley Wells,[32] Robert Lepage,[33] Robert Wilson, Sasha Waltz, Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker,[34] Thomas Ostermeier, Ivo Van Hove,[35] Jan Fabre,[36] Declan Donnellan, Akram Khan, Israel Galvan, Andrei Serban and many others.

The distinction was offered "as a sign of appreciation for his important activity dedicated to theatre criticism, and for the professionalism that he has shown in promoting Romanian theatrical creation".

During the pandemic, Saiu was very active as a conference chair and public speaker, promoting the idea that "theatre is not a commodity, but a cultural necessity".