IAFOR > The Barcelona Conference on Arts, Media & Culture (BAMC)

The 6th Barcelona Conference on Arts, Media & Culture (BAMC2025)

September 30 – October 4, 2025 | Held in Barcelona, Spain (and online)

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The International Academic Forum (IAFOR) and the IAFOR Research Centre at the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) at Osaka University, Japan, invite you to join The 6th Barcelona Conference on Arts, Media, and Culture, running alongside The 6th Barcelona Conference on Education. With an open call for papers, this event offers an engaging exploration of Education, Arts, Media, and Culture's latest advancements, inspired by diverse global ideas. Rooted in international, intercultural, and interdisciplinary foundations, BCE/BAMC2025 provides exceptional networking, professional development, and opportunities to present and publish contemporary ideas for academics at all career stages.

Throughout its history, Spain has served as a bridge connecting European and Arabic thought, having been conquered by both Romans and Arabs. This historical intersection became the cradle from which Arab intellectualism spread into Europe, showcasing the potential for different cultures to thrive and mutually influence one another within the same geographical space. Situated at the crossroads of Europe and North Africa, with the magnificent Mediterranean Sea as its backdrop, Barcelona has long been a focal point for intercultural communication and exchange and a harmonious coexistence of various cultures and ideas.

Today, this legacy continues to thrive in the city. Barcelona not only boasts its status as an international hub, seamlessly blending tradition and modernity, but it also serves as a hub of political and cultural uniqueness. As the epicenter of Catalonian separatism, Barcelona is a living testament to a politically active civil society composed of a distinct cultural and linguistic minority that ardently fights for its rights. Barcelona is where the realms of multiculturalism, linguistic diversity, political activism, technology, and global communication intersect, making it an ideal setting to explore interdisciplinary themes and collaborate with scholars from around the world.

In this dynamic and globally connected city, our conference, with a thematic focus encompassing Education, Arts, Media, and Culture, provides an opportunity to engage with a rich tapestry of ideas, cultures, and perspectives. Barcelona is where the realms of multiculturalism, linguistic diversity, political activism, technology, and global communication intersect, making it an ideal setting to explore interdisciplinary themes and collaborate with scholars from around the world.

In keeping with IAFOR’s commitment to interdisciplinary study, delegates at either conference are encouraged to attend sessions in other disciplines. Registration for either conference will allow delegates to attend sessions in the other. We expect the resultant professional and personal collaborations to endure for many years, and we look forward to seeing you in Barcelona and online!

– The BAMC2025 Programme Committee

Key Information
  • Venue & Location: Held in Barcelona, Spain (and online)
  • Dates: Tuesday, September 30, 2025 ​to Saturday, October 04, 2025
  • Early Bird Abstract Submission Deadline: May 02, 2025*
  • Final Abstract Submission Deadline: July 04, 2025
  • Registration Deadline for Presenters: August 08, 2025

*Submit early to take advantage of the discounted registration rates. Learn more about our registration options.

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Call for Papers

The BAMC Organising Committee welcomes papers from a wide variety of interdisciplinary and theoretical perspectives, and submissions are organised into the following streams:

  • Arts
  • Media
  • Culture

Speakers

  • Heitor Alvelos
    Heitor Alvelos
    University of Porto, Portugal
  • Susana Barreto
    Susana Barreto
    University of Porto, Portugal
  • Grant Black
    Grant Black
    Chuo University, Japan
  • Anne Boddington
    Anne Boddington
    IAFOR, Japan
  • Paula Casal
    Paula Casal
    Pompeu Fabra University, Spain
  • Marcos Centeno-Martín
    Marcos Centeno-Martín
    University of Valencia, Spain & SOAS, University of London, United Kingdom
  • Joan Delgado
    Joan Delgado
    The Raval's Band, Spain
  • Agustín Gálvez
    Agustín Gálvez
    The Raval's Band, Spain
  • Raúl Fortes-Guerrero
    Raúl Fortes-Guerrero
    University of Valencia, Spain
  • Joseph Haldane
    Joseph Haldane
    IAFOR, Japan
  • Brendan Howe
    Brendan Howe
    Ewha Womans University, South Korea
  • Carlos Delgado Kloos
    Carlos Delgado Kloos
    Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain
  • Melina Neophytou
    Melina Neophytou
    IAFOR, Japan
  • Dolors Ortega Arévalo
    Dolors Ortega Arévalo
    University of Barcelona, Spain
  • Maria Montserrat Rifà-Valls
    Maria Montserrat Rifà-Valls
    Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain
  • Marta Ortega Sáez
    Marta Ortega Sáez
    University of Barcelona, Spain
  • Catalina Ribas Segura
    Catalina Ribas Segura
    Comillas Pontifical University, Spain
  • Apipol Sae-Tung
    Apipol Sae-Tung
    IAFOR, Japan
  • Carlos Alberto Scolari
    Carlos Alberto Scolari
    Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain

IAFOR's Conference Themes for 2025-2029

IAFOR Themes 2025-2029
Our selected themes for 2025-2029 bring together ideas and encourage research and synergies in the following areas:

  • Technology and Artificial Intelligence
  • Humanity and Human Intelligence
  • Global Citizenship and Education for Peace
  • Leadership

    • Our four themes can be seen as standalone themes, but they are also very much in conversation with each other. Themes may be seen as corollaries, complementary, or in opposition/juxtaposition with each other. The themes can be considered as widely as possible and are designed, in keeping with our mission, to encourage ideas across the disciplines.

    Read Last Year's Conference Report

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    Find Out More About Conference Reports & Intelligence Briefings

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    About IAFOR

    "Inspiring Global Collaborations"

    Founded in 2009, The International Academic Forum (IAFOR) is a mission-driven politically independent non-partisan and non-profit organisation dedicated to encouraging interdisciplinary discussion, facilitating intercultural awareness and promoting international exchange, principally through educational interaction and academic research. Based in Japan, its main administrative office is in Nagoya, and its research centre is in the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), a graduate school of The University of Osaka. IAFOR runs research programs and events in partnership with universities, think tanks, and other associations. Through its international, intercultural and interdisciplinary conferences, research, and publications, IAFOR is a network hub for interdisciplinary discussion across Asia and beyond.
    Read more about IAFOR.

    Apipol Sae-Tung
    IAFOR, Japan

    Biography

    Apipol Sae-Tung is an Academic Coordinator at IAFOR, where he contributes to the development and execution of academic-related content and activities. He works closely with the Forum’s partner institutions and coordinates IAFOR’s Global Fellowship Programme. His recent activities include mediating conference reports for the Forum’s international conference programme and facilitating the IAFOR Undergraduate Research Symposium (IURS).

    Mr Sae-Tung began his career as a Program Coordinator for the Faculty of Political Science at Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. He was awarded the Japanese Government’s MEXT Research Scholarship and is currently pursuing a PhD at the Graduate School of International Development, Nagoya University, Japan. His research focuses on government and policy analysis, particularly on authoritarian regimes. He currently takes part in research projects on international student education in Thailand, Southeast Asian politics, Japan-Asia digital economy, and AI-language model training.

    Mr Sae-Tung holds an MA in International Relations and Diplomacy from Thammasat University, Thailand, where he studied foreign policy analysis and Thailand-China relations. He also holds a BA in History from the same institution, with a focus on modern Western and Southeast Asian comparative history and historiography.

    Mr Sae-Tung has interned for the United Nations Centre for Regional Development (UNCRD) in Japan, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Thailand. He served on the Lifelong Learning Team while with UNESCO, working specifically on projects enhancing education access through online platforms among Thai NEET individuals and supporting Myanmar migrant children, providing shelters and access to proper education along the Thai-Myanmar border.

    Forum Discussion (2025) | Global Citizenship: Education, Arts, Media, and the Rise of Extremism (Online)
    Grant Black
    Chuo University, Japan

    Biography

    Professor Grant Black is a Professor in the Faculty of Commerce at Chuo University, Tokyo, Japan, where he has taught Global Skills and Global Issues since 2013. He is engaged in diverse roles as a global manager, systems builder, executive leader, and university professor. His research and teaching areas include global management skills, intercultural intelligence (CQ), and organisational management. He also has taught Japanese Management Theory at J. F. Oberlin University, Japan, and a continuing education course in the Foundations of Japanese Zen Buddhism at Temple University Japan. Previously, he was Chair of the English Section at the Center for Education of Global Communication at the University of Tsukuba, where he served in a six-year post in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. He holds a BA Highest Honors in Religious Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara; an MA in Japanese Buddhist Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles; and a Doctor of Social Science (DSocSci) from the Department of Management in the School of Business at the University of Leicester. Professor Black is a Chartered Manager (CMgr), the highest status that can be achieved in the management profession in the United Kingdom. In 2018, he was elected a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute (FCMI) and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA). Professor Black is President of Black Inc. Consulting (Japan), a Tokyo-based firm specialising in international and intercultural project management, communication projects, and executive leadership and training. He is the director of the Nippon Academic Management Institute (NAMI) and the author of Education Reform Policy at a Japanese Super Global University: Policy Translation, Migration and Mutation (Routledge, 2022). Professor Black serves as a Vice-President for the International Academic Forum (IAFOR).

    Forum Discussion (2025) | Global Citizenship: Education, Arts, Media, and the Rise of Extremism
    Carlos Alberto Scolari
    Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain

    Biography

    Dr Carlos A Scolari is Professor in Theory and Analysis of Interactive Digital Communication in the Department of Communication at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain, where he coordinated the university’s PhD Program in Communication from 2018 to 2023. His research has focused on the new media ecology and evolution, interfaces, and transmedia narratives. He has been Principal Investigator of several projects, including the EU H2020 TRANSLITERACY project and the TRANSALFABETISMOS project through the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) from 2015 to 2018, and PLATCOM through the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN) from 2020 to 2024. He is currently PI of the project LITERAC-ia with the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation & Universities (MCIU) from 2024 through 2027. His most recent books include Las leyes de la interfaz (Gedisa, 2018), Media Evolution with Fernando Rapa (La Marca, 2019), Cultura Snack (La Marca, 2020), La guerra de las plataformas (Anagrama, 2022), and On the Evolution of Media (Routledge, 2023), published in Spanish as Sobre la evolución de los medios (Ampersand, 2024). According to DIALNET, Professor Scolari is the most cited Spanish researcher in Media and Communication.

    Panel Presentation (2025) | Black Box Revolutions: Unpacking the Dynamics Between Design, Technology, Arts and Education in 2025
    Carlos Delgado Kloos
    Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain

    Biography

    Dr Carlos Delgado Kloos studied Telecommunications Engineering at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid in Spain and Computer Science at the Technische Universität München in Germany. He is Full Professor of Telematics Engineering at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, where he is also the Head of the Department of Telematics Engineering, Director of the GAST research group and Director of the UNESCO Chair on “Scalable Digital Education for All”. He has been Rector’s Delegate for Digital Microcredentials, Vice Rector for Strategy and Digital Education, Vice Rector for Infrastructures and Environment, and Associate Vice Rector for International Relations and Cooperation. He has carried out research stays at several universities such as Harvard, MIT, Munich, Passau, and Naples.

    His main research interests are in the field of Educational Technology. He has been involved in a large number of research projects and has published more than 600 papers (h-index 59 on Google Scholar). He has coordinated several MOOCs on edX, MiríadaX, Federica Weblearning, and Coursera with around 700,000 registrations. He has been promoting the adoption of digital micro-credentials in Spain through the CertiDigital project (certidigital.es) and has also recently recorded a MOOC about AI for Teaching and Learning, which can be followed on Coursera in Spanish and English and on Federica Weblearning in Italian.

    Keynote Presentation (2025) | AI-Assisted Instruction: Affordances and Issues
    Maria Montserrat Rifà-Valls
    Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain

    Biography

    Dr Maria Montserrat Rifà-Valls is Serra Húnter Fellow in Visual Arts Education at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain. She completed her PhD in Philosophy and Sciences of Education at the Universitat de Barcelona, Spain. Positioned in feminist and decolonial theories, she specialises in curriculum studies, children's subjectivities, and visual arts. She is currently a researcher in the group ATLAS - Critical Intersections in Education (SGR 01014), and she is also a member of the Institute of Women and Gender Studies (iiEDG). She is the current principal investigator of K Reporters: Reassembling politics across children's cultures to scale intersectional pedagogies (2024–2027, Horizon MSCA-SE).

    Dr Rifà-Valls has published in Critical Arts, Ethnography and Education, Visual Inquiry, the International Journal of Education through Art, Gender and Education, and Visual Arts Research. She currently teaches in the Degrees of Early Childhood and Primary Education, in the Degree in Socio-Cultural Studies of Gender, and in the official Master's degree programme in Research in Education (MURE). She has been a visiting researcher at the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA) at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, among others.

    Panel Presentation (2025) | Soft Power in Contested Spaces: Education and Arts for Peace
    Paula Casal
    Pompeu Fabra University, Spain

    Biography

    Dr Paula Casal is a Professor in the Department of Law at Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), Spain. She has held teaching positions at Reading University and Keele University, United Kingdom. Professor Casal has completed fellowships at institutions across the globe, having served as Fellow in Ethics at Harvard University from 1999 to 2000; a Keele Junior Research Fellow, also at Harvard University, from 2000 to 2001; Hoover Fellow at Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium from 2001 to 2002;; Leverhulme Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom from 2002 to 2004; and Christopher Family Fellow at Stanford University, United States in 2018. Her work has appeared in a number of journals, including Ethics, Economics & Philosophy, Journal of Medical Ethics, Journal of Moral Philosophy, Journal of Political Philosophy, Political Philosophy, Political Studies, and Utilitas. She is Associate Editor of Politics, Economics & Philosophy, and Law, Ethics and Philosophy. Professor Casal currently serves as Co-director of the UPF-Centre for Animal Ethics and as President of the Great Ape Project chapter in Spain. Her latest book, Los derechos de los simios (Trotta 2022) co-written with Professor Peter Singer, is forthcoming in English in 2025.

    Panel Presentation (2025) | Black Box Revolutions: Unpacking the Dynamics Between Design, Technology, Arts and Education in 2025
    Melina Neophytou
    IAFOR, Japan

    Biography

    Dr Melina Neophytou is the Academic Operations Manager at IAFOR, where she works closely with academics, keynote speakers, and IAFOR partners to shape academic discussions within The Forum, bring conference programmes together, refine scholarship programmes, and build an interdisciplinary and international community. She is leading various projects within IAFOR, notably The Forum discussions and the authoring of Conference Reports and Intelligence Briefings, and she oversees the Global Fellows Programme.

    Born in Germany and raised in Cyprus, Dr Neophytou received her PhD in International Development from Nagoya University, Japan, in 2023, specialising in political sociology, the welfare state, and contentious politics. She received an MA in International Development from Nagoya University, with a focus on Governance & Law, and a BA in European Studies from the University of Cyprus, Cyprus.

    Dr Neophytou’s research interests currently focus on how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing the relationship between state and society. Her current work examines technologies such as facial recognition (FRT) and biometric surveillance, and how these tools impact freedom of expression, protest, and social policy.

    The Forum (2025) | Global Citizenship: The Rise of Extremism
    Marta Ortega Sáez
    University of Barcelona, Spain

    Biography

    Dr Marta Ortega Sáez is a Serra Húnter Programme Lecturer in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures and English Studies at the University of Barcelona, Spain, where she teaches courses in English Literature. Her research focuses on the reception of 19th- and 20th-century English-language women writers during the Franco dictatorship from 1939 to 1975. Dr Ortega Sáez studies the influence of censorship from a gender perspective, examining the Spanish translations of authors such as the Brontë sisters, George Eliot, Louisa May Alcott, Rosamond Lehmann, Vita Sackville-West, Virginia Woolf, Radclyffe Hall, and Margaret Mitchell. She also specialises in the life and work of Juan G. de Luaces, one of the most prolific translators of the first two decades of the Franco regime.

    Panel Presentation (2025) | Embedding Social Responsibility: Service-Learning as a Tool for Knowledge Transfer in the New University Landscape
    Catalina Ribas Segura
    Comillas Pontifical University, Spain

    Biography

    Dr Catalina ‘Caty’ Ribas Segura is a Lecturer in the Languages Department at CESAG (Centro de Enseñanza Superior Alberta Giménez), affiliated with Comillas Pontifical University, Spain. She holds a PhD in English Studies from the University of Barcelona, Spain. Her education also includes studies at La Trobe University and Southern Cross University, Australia.

    Dr Ribas Segura began working at CESAG in 2006, teaching English for specific purposes in various degrees, including the school’s Early Childhood Education, Primary Education, Audiovisual Communication, Advertising and Public Relations, and Sports Science programmes. She has been invited to teach classes and masterclasses at a number of other universities, including the University of Barcelona, the University of the Balearic Islands, and Thammasat University, Thailand.

    Her research focuses on immigrant literature and crime fiction in Australia, with an emphasis on the construction of identities and on Greek and Chinese migration in Australia. She was the coordinator of the Postcolonial and Decolonial Studies section of the Spanish Association for Anglo-American Studies (AEDEAN) from 2020 to 2024 and is currently a member of the TRANSLIT research group. She has published over 20 texts and participated in 40 conferences worldwide.

    Panel Presentation (2025) | Embedding Social Responsibility: Service-Learning as a Tool for Knowledge Transfer in the New University Landscape
    Marcos Centeno-Martín
    University of Valencia, Spain & SOAS, University of London, United Kingdom

    Biography

    Dr Marcos Centeno-Martín is Associate Professor in Film and Media at the University of Valencia, Spain, and a research associate at the School of Asian Studies (SOAS), University of London, United Kingdom. He was previously a Lecturer in Film Studies for the Department of Japan and Korea and convened the MA programme in Global Cinemas and the Transcultural at SOAS. After his appointment at SOAS, Dr Centeno-Martín was a Lecturer at Birkbeck College, United Kingdom, where he acted as the Director of the Japanese Programme. He has also been research associate at the Nissan Institute for Japanese Studies, Waseda University, and the University of Oxford, and a guest lecturer at Nanzan University, Japan.

    Dr Centeno-Martín’s research interests revolve around Japanese documentary film, war-time memory, image theory, transnationality, and representation of minorities. He is the PI for TRAMEVIC: Transnational War-time Memories in East Asian Visual Culture funded by Generalitat Valenciana, coordinator of TRADIASIA (Transculturality and Diversity in East Asia). He has received grants from the Council on East Asian Studies at Yale University, United States, and has led projects with funding from the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, Daiwa, the Japan Foundation, the Japanese Ministry of Education (MEXT).

    Keynote Presentation (2025) | Circulation of Japanese Newsreels on the War in Asia (1931-1945) in Spain
    Brendan Howe
    Ewha Womans University, South Korea

    Biography

    Brendan Howe is Dean and Professor of the Graduate School of International Studies, Ewha Womans University, South Korea, where he has also served two terms as Associate Dean and Department Chair. He is currently the President of the Asian Political and International Studies Association, and has been elected to serve as the President of the World International Studies Committee from July, 2025. He has held visiting professorships and research fellowships at the East-West Center as a POSCO Visiting Research Fellow (United States), the Freie Universität Berlin (Germany), De La Salle University (Philippines), The University of Sydney (Australia), Korea National Defence University (South Korea), Georgetown University (United States), Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Malaysia), and Beijing Foreign Studies University (China).

    Educated at the University of Oxford, the University of Kent at Canterbury (United Kingdom), Trinity College Dublin (Ireland), and Georgetown University (United States), his ongoing research agendas focus on traditional and non-traditional security in East Asia, human security, middle powers, public diplomacy, post-crisis development, comprehensive peacebuilding, and conflict transformation. He has authored, co-authored, or edited around 150 related publications, including Comprehensive Peacebuilding on the Korean Peninsula (Springer, 2023), Society and Democracy in South Korea and Indonesia (Palgrave, 2022), The Niche Diplomacy of Asian Middle Powers (Lexington Books, 2021), UN Governance: Peace and Human Security in Cambodia and Timor-Leste (Springer, 2020), Regional Cooperation for Peace and Development (Routledge, 2018), National Security, State Centricity, and Governance in East Asia (Springer, 2017), Peacekeeping and the Asia-Pacific (Brill, 2016), Democratic Governance in East Asia (Springer, 2015), Post-Conflict Development in East Asia (Ashgate, 2014), and The Protection and Promotion of Human Security in East Asia (Palgrave, 2013).

    Panel Presentation (2025) | Soft Power in Contested Spaces: Education, the Arts, Language, and Media for Peace
    Susana Barreto
    University of Porto, Portugal

    Biography

    Susana Barreto is a researcher at LUME, Unexpected Media Lab and Associate Professor of Design at the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Porto, Portugal. In recent years, Professor Barreto has been involved in research projects focused on preserving specialised knowledge at risk of disappearance, specifically those embedded in the experiences of retired professors, artists, researchers, and practitioners in the arts, crafts, and design. Her research interests focus on the role of ethics in visual communication, design and crime, design culture, visual methodologies, and visual/history collections.

    Panel Presentation (2025) | Black Box Revolutions: Unpacking the Dynamics Between Design, Technology, Arts and Education in 2025

    Previous Presentations

    Workshop Presentation (2024) | Communicating Knowledge Through the Wreckage of Disinformation:An Exploratory Workshop
    Anne Boddington
    IAFOR, Japan

    Biography

    Professor Anne Boddington is Executive Vice-President and Provost of IAFOR, and oversees the academic programs, research and policies of the forum.

    Anne Boddington is Professor Emerita of Design Innovation and has held executive and senior leadership roles in Higher Education including as Dean of Arts & Humanities at the University of Brighton, Pro Vice Chancellor for Research, Business & Innovation at Kingston and Pro Vice Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Exchange at Middlesex University.

    In 2022 she concluded chairing the Sub Panel (32) for Art & Design: History, Practice & Theory as part of the Research Excellence Framework (REF2021) and has extensive experience in the governance and conduct of peer review, research evaluation and assessment in REF2014 (Sub Panel Deputy Chair and Equality Diversity Advisory Panel [EDAP]) and RAE2008. A former member of AHRC’s Advisory Board, she is the current Chair of the Advisory Board for the UKRI’s National Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Research (NICER) programme (£30M), Deputy Chair and a Trustee of the Design Council, the government’s strategic advisor for design, and a member of both the InnoHK Scientific Committee (Hong Kong) and the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications (HKCAAVQ).

    Since the 1990’s Anne has worked across the UK and internationally with a wide range of quality assurance, professional, statutory, and regulatory bodies in the UK, Europe, the Middle East, Hong Kong, and India.

    As an independent consultant she now works as a strategic advisor and mentor and is committed to promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion in practice, developing effective governance, supporting career development, reducing bureaucracy, and improving organisational design, integrity, and productivity in the changing workplace.

    Panel Presentation (2025) | Soft Power in Contested Spaces: Education, the Arts, Language, and Media for Peace
    Joan Delgado
    The Raval's Band, Spain

    Biography

    Guitarist Joan Delgado is an architect with a passion for music. He studied classical guitar from a young age, over time discovering the magic of the regional 'rumba catalana' sound and its ‘ventilador’. From this moment on, his interest in the guitar shifted to that of an accompanist, blending his background in flamenco with specialised training in the Andalusian guitar.

    Mr Delgado has been a constant feature of Barcelona's musical scene since 2010, accompanying musicians in various styles (including flamenco, rumba, bossa nova) and combining the rhythmic base of the solo guitar with traditional latin rhythms. He is known for his collaborations with Swiss-Mexican singer Raissa Avilés and more recently with Argentinian singer Dominique Maucci and French-Tunisian percussionist Narjess Saad.

    In addition to his work as a guitarist, composer, and arranger in his rumba catalana band, International del Raval, Mr Delgado has honed his skills as a musician with courses in percussion (including cajón flamenco and palmas) and has played as a trombonist in the Raval's Band and the Txaranga de la Prospe.

    Cultural Presentation (2025) | A Journey Through the History of the Catalan Rumba

    Previous Presentations

    Interactive Performance (2024) | The Rumba Catalana: An Interactive Performance by Joan Delgado and Agustín Gálvez
    Agustín Gálvez
    The Raval's Band, Spain

    Biography

    Although musician-singer Agustín Gálvez was born in Bilbao, his family came from the region of Aragon of northeastern Spain. Mr Gálvez learned to play the traditional Aragonese bandurria when he was seven years old, performing in local groups throughout his youth. Although music has always been a part of his life, he began studying it seriously after he moved to Barcelona and transitioned from a competitive athletic career. He bought himself a tenor saxophone and began taking classes at the then-recently established Taller de Musics in Barcelona. He gradually added classes in solfeo at the Conservatory of Music and, given the quality of his singing voice, was urged to study singing.

    Although he trained as a lyric tenor, he always gravitated towards salsa – boleros, rumbas, huarache – while performing professionally with various bands. He is now part of three Big Jazz bands – The Raval's Band, L'EM Big Band, and the Bibandinou.

    Cultural Presentation (2025) | The Rumba Catalana: An Interactive Performance by Joan Delgado and Agustín Gálvez

    Previous Presentations

    Interactive Performance (2024) | The Rumba Catalana: An Interactive Performance by Joan Delgado and Agustín Gálvez
    Heitor Alvelos
    University of Porto, Portugal

    Biography

    Heitor Alvelos is Full Professor of Design and Director of The ID+ Research Center at The University of Porto, Portugal, where he coordinates the Unexpected Media Lab. He currently serves as Vice-President of the European Academy of Design and is a Member of Academia Europaea and the European Science Foundation. Professor Alvelos has held prior posts in academic institutions throughout Portugal and internationally, including Course Director of the PhD in Design programme at The University of Porto from 2011 to 2024; Chairman of the Scientific Board (HSS) at The Foundation for Science and Technology from 2016 to 2022, Outreach Director for the Digital Media programme at The University of Austin Portugal from 2010 to 2014, and Senior Tutor in the Drawing Studio at The Royal College of Art, United Kingdom, from 1999 to 2001. Heitor has coordinated a wide range of national and international research projects since 2007 and throughout his academic career, including curation of the FuturePlaces Media Lab for Citizenship from 2008 to 2017 with the University of Texas at Austin, United States, and the recent FCT/H2020 project Anti-Amnesia: Design Research as an Agent for Narrative and Material Regeneration and Reinvention of Vanishing Portuguese Manufacturing Cultures and Techniques.

    Panel Presentation (2025) | Black Box Revolutions: Unpacking the Dynamics Between Design, Technology, Arts and Education in 2025

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    Workshop Presentation (2024) | Communicating Knowledge Through the Wreckage of Disinformation:An Exploratory Workshop
    Raúl Fortes-Guerrero
    University of Valencia, Spain

    Biography

    Professor Fortes-Guerrero combines his work as a researcher and lecturer of Japanese language and culture at the University of Valencia’s Area of East Asian Studies with his task as coordinator of the Asia and Oceania Committees at the university’s International Observatory of Intangible Culture and Global Village (UVObserver-Intangible Heritage), linked to the UNESCO Chair for Development Studies. He received his BA in Audiovisual Communication, his BA in History of Art with Special Distinction, and his PhD Cum Laude and International Doctor Mention in History of Art from the University of Valencia, Spain. To this can be added his duties as a member of scientific committees of congresses (XIV Congreso Nacional y V Congreso Internacional de la Asociación de Estudios Japoneses en España), peer reviewer for scientific journals (MIRAI. Estudios Japoneses, FOTOCINEMA. Revista Científica de Cine y Fotografía), and exhibitions curator (Hiroshige y su época. Visiones de la naturaleza en el arte japonés y chino del siglo XIX).

    His research achievements have awarded him two prestigious fellowships (Association of International Education, Japan; Spanish Ministry of Education and Science’s National Teacher-Training Program) an Erasmus grant for teachers’ mobility, and research posts at Waseda University, Japan; Birkbeck, University of London, United Kingdom; and the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.

    Professor Fortes-Guerrero has authored a number of articles, books, and book chapters, including , among them the most comprehensive monograph on Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki written in Spanish (Hayao Miyazaki, Akal, 2019) and a reference film guide for his praised movie Spirited Away (“El viaje de Chihiro”. Hayao Miyazaki (2001), Nau Llibres/Octaedro, 2011).

    Professor Fortes-Guerrero has also served as a translator for the reference journals “L'Atalante”. Revista de Estudios Cinematográficos and Hojas en la acera. Gaceta trimestral de haiku. He also publishes his tanka poems monthly in Kokoro no Hana, a renowned literary magazine published by the Japanese poetry society Chikuhaku-kai.

    Forum Discussion (2025) | Global Citizenship: Education, Arts, Media, and the Rise of Extremism

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    Keynote Presentation (2024) | East Wind, West Wind: Intertextuality, Transculturality, and Temporal and Spatial (Re)creations in the Cinema of Miyazaki Hayao
    Dolors Ortega Arévalo
    University of Barcelona, Spain

    Biography

    Dr Dolors Ortega Arévalo has been a lecturer of Literature in English at the University of Barcelona, Spain since the year 2010, teaching courses focused on Contemporary Fiction in English, Modernist and Postmodernist Literature in English, Medieval Literature, North American Contemporary Fiction, Shakespeare and Postcolonial Literatures, both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. She received her PhD from the University of Barcelona and she was awarded the European Doctorate Mention for her thesis "Deterritorialising Patriarchal Binary Oppositions: Deleuze, Woolf, Masculinities and Film Adaptation", after a year as a Visiting Doctoral Researcher under the supervision of Dr Humm at the University of East London, United Kingdom. Her research has focused mainly on Modernist writers, Gender Studies, Contemporary British Fiction, Film Adaptations, Postcolonial Literatures and the Philosophy of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. She has most recently been working on transnationalisms and hybridity and has published the prologue and only authorised annotated Spanish translation of F.S. Fitzgerald's The Last Tycoon (2014) as well as the prologue of F.S. Fitzgerald’s Cuentos Rebeldes (2018). She is a member of the consolidated research group Ratnakara with its current project “Rhizomatic Communities: Myths of Belonging in the Indian Ocean World,” funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (PGC2018-095648-B-I00). She has been a member of the academic committee of the MA “Construcció i Representació d’Estudis Anglesos” of “Facultat Filologia i Comunicació de la Universitat de Barcelona”, and is currently a member of the executive committee of “Centre d’Estudis Australians i Transnacionals (CEAT)” and the Head of Studies of CFA Rius i Taulet School for Adults in Barcelona.

    Panel Presentation (2025): Embedding Social Responsibility: Service-Learning as a Tool for Knowledge Transfer in the New University Landscape

    Previous Presentations

    Panel Presentation (2024): Adult Education and Learning (AEL) in Spain: Challenges and Opportunities
    Keynote Presentation (2022): “Adult Education and the ‘Pedagogy of the Oppressed’: Vulnerability, Resilience, and Lifelong Learning”
    Joseph Haldane
    IAFOR, Japan

    Biography

    Joseph Haldane is the founder, chairman, and CEO of IAFOR. He is responsible for devising strategy, setting policies, forging institutional partnerships, implementing projects, and overseeing the organisation’s global business and academic operations.

    Dr Haldane has a PhD from the University of London in nineteenth-century French studies (ULIP/RHUL), and has research interests in world history and politics; international education; and governance and decision making. Since 2015, he has been a Guest Professor at Osaka University’s School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), and Co-Director of the OSIPP-IAFOR Research Centre since 2017.

    In 2020, Dr Haldane was elected Honorary Professor of University College London (UCL) through the Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction, and full Professor in the United Nations Peace University's European Center for Peace and Development in 2022. A member of the World Economic Forum’s Expert Network for global governance, he holds visiting professorships at Belgrade and Doshisha Universities where he teaches ethics and governance. He is a member of the International Advisory Council of the Department of Educational Foundations at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

    Professor Haldane has had full-time faculty positions at the Université Paris-Est Créteil, Sciences Po Paris, and Nagoya University of Commerce and Business, as well as visiting positions at the French Press Institute (Université Paris-Panthéon-Assas), and the Schools of Journalism of Sciences Po Paris and Moscow State University.

    Dr Haldane has been invited to speak at universities and conferences globally, including the UN HQ in New York, and advised universities, NGOs and governments on issues relating to international education policy, public-private partnerships, and multi-stakeholder forums. He was the project lead on the 2019 Kansai Resilience Forum, held by the Japanese Government through the Prime Minister’s Office and oversaw the 2021 Ministry of Foreign Affairs commissioned study on Infectious Diseases on Cruise Ships.

    Panel Presentation (2025): Black Box Revolutions: Unpacking the Dynamics Between Design
    Featured Roundtable (2025): Senior Academic Leadership

    Previous Presentations

    Featured Interview (2022): Gloria Montero Asks Joseph Haldane to Tell His Story
    Keynote Presentation (2021): “In Conversation with Gloria Montero”