IAFOR > The Barcelona Conference on Arts, Media & Culture (BAMC) > BAMC2025 Overview

BAMC2025 Overview

Join us in Barcelona for BAMC2025!

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

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Introduction

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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Speakers

  • Heitor Alvelos
    Heitor Alvelos
    University of Porto, Portugal
  • 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
  • Brendan Howe
    Brendan Howe
    Ewha Womans University, South Korea
  • Melina Neophytou
    Melina Neophytou
    IAFOR, Japan
  • Dolors Ortega Arévalo
    Dolors Ortega Arévalo
    University of Barcelona, Spain
  • Marta Ortega Sáez
    Marta Ortega Sáez
    University of Barcelona, Spain
  • Catalina Ribas Segura
    Catalina Ribas Segura
    Comillas Pontifical University, Spain
To be Announced

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Programme

  • Embedding Social Responsibility: Service-Learning as a Tool for Knowledge Transfer in the New University Landscape
    Embedding Social Responsibility: Service-Learning as a Tool for Knowledge Transfer in the New University Landscape
    Panel Presentation: Dolors Ortega, Marta Ortega, Catalina Ribas Segura
  • Circulation of Japanese Newsreels on the War in Asia (1931-1945) in Spain
    Circulation of Japanese Newsreels on the War in Asia (1931-1945) in Spain
    Keynote Presentation: Marcos Centeno-Martin
  • A Journey Through the History of the Catalan Rumba
    A Journey Through the History of the Catalan Rumba
    Rumba Catalana Performance and Workshop: Joan Delgado, Agustín Gálvez
To be Announced

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International Advisory Board

Dr Joseph Haldane, Chairman and CEO, IAFOR
His Excellency Professor Toshiya Hoshino, Osaka University, Japan
Professor Barbara Lockee, Virginia Tech., United States
Professor Donald E. Hall, Binghamton University, United States
Dr James W. McNally, University of Michigan, United States & NACDA Program on Aging
Professor Haruko Satoh, Osaka University, Japan
Dr Grant Black, Chuo University, Japan
Professor Dexter Da Silva, Keisen University, Japan
Professor Gary Swanson, University of Northern Colorado, United States
Professor Baden Offord, Curtin University, Australia
Professor Frank Ravitch, Michigan State University, United States
Professor William Baber, Kyoto University, Japan

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Conference Programme Committee

Professor Heitor Alvelos, University of Porto, Portugal
Dr Sue Ballyn, University of Barcelona, Spain (Conference Co-chair)
Professor Anne Boddington, Executive Vice-President and Provost, IAFOR & Middlesex University, United Kingdom
Professor Susana Barreto, University of Porto, Portugal
Dr Joseph Haldane, IAFOR and Osaka University, Japan, & University College London, United Kingdom (Conference Co-chair)
Professor Raul Fortes Guerrero, University of Valencia, Spain
Dr Mattia Mantellato, University of Udine, Italy
Gloria Montero, Novelist, Playwright and Poet, Spain
Professor John McLeod, University of Leeds, United Kingdom
Dr Dolors Ortega Arévalo, University of Barcelona, Spain
Professor Antonella Riem, University of Udine, Italy

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Conference Review Committee

Now accepting applications

To be Announced

IAFOR's peer review process, which involves both reciprocal review and the use of Review Committees, is overseen by the Conference Programme Committee under the guidance of the International Academic Board (IAB). Review Committee members are established academics who hold PhDs or other terminal degrees in their fields and who have previous peer review experience.

If you would like to apply to serve on the BAMC2025 Review Committee, please visit our application page.

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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

Previous Presentations

Workshop Presentation (2024) | Communicating Knowledge Through the Wreckage of Disinformation:An Exploratory Workshop
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
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
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) | TBA
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
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”
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
Embedding Social Responsibility: Service-Learning as a Tool for Knowledge Transfer in the New University Landscape
Panel Presentation: Dolors Ortega, Marta Ortega, Catalina Ribas Segura

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of Service-Learning (SL) practices and methodologies in higher education, with a focus on their role as mechanisms for knowledge transfer and civic engagement. As a pedagogical model, SL integrates community service with academic learning objectives, promoting not only the development of academic competences but also social responsibility and community transformation. Increasingly recognized as a strategic tool, SL has been found to increase students’ awareness of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and supporting universities’ knowledge transfer mission through socially engaged teaching and institutional collaboration with local stakeholders.

The panel will also present a comparative case study of the University of Barcelona and CESAG in Palma de Mallorca, illustrating how both large and small institutions have successfully embedded SL into their curricula through interdisciplinary projects and long-term community partnerships, demonstrating the model’s adaptability and social impact. Through a review of international and national literature on SL, the panel will highlight SL’s core components such as addressing real social needs, fostering reciprocal partnerships, and integrating structured reflection into the curriculum, while framing SL as both a pedagogical method and a philosophy of institutional responsibility and democratic participation.

An examination of how Spain’s new Organic Law of the University System (LOSU) supports the institutionalisation of SL by promoting social responsibility and knowledge transfer will also be discussed, particularly how networks like ApS(U)CAT and regional policy frameworks in Catalonia position SL as a central pillar of university teaching and civic engagement.

Read presenters' biographies
Circulation of Japanese Newsreels on the War in Asia (1931-1945) in Spain
Keynote Presentation: Marcos Centeno-Martin

During the so-called “dark valley”, or the fifteen-year war in Asia (1931-1945), the Japanese industry of newsreels experienced extraordinary growth, particularly fostered by war in China from 1937. This paper examines the international circulation of the footage shot by Japanese operators about the conflict in Asia, particularly focusing on their distribution in Spanish cinemas. On the one hand, this research will cast light into the global phenomenon of migration of images in a moment in which cinema was becoming a modern propaganda weapon. On the other hand, this presentation will trace the journey of images from the creation of the puppet state of Manchukuo to the end of the Pacific War, and how they eventually reached Spain. It will also assess how these images were appropriated along the way, and how their Spanish interpretations of the events in Asia shifted according to the changing interests in Spain.

Read presenter's biography
A Journey Through the History of the Catalan Rumba
Rumba Catalana Performance and Workshop: Joan Delgado, Agustín Gálvez

In the 1950s, the rumba catalana or Catalan rumba developed within the gypsy community of Barcelona out of the fusion of flamenco and other international musical styles. Today, some 75 years later, UNESCO is being asked to declare this popular foot-stepping rhythm as part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

As we prepare for the UNESCO declaration, key questions must be explored to truly understand the art form. Who really developed the Catalan rumba? In what neighbourhood of Barcelona did it develop? What are the basic elements that characterise it? What makes it different from the Cuban and Flamenco rumbas? What is the famous ventilador, an essential feature of the rumba catalana? Barcelona guitarist Joan Delgado and vocalist Agustín Gálvez address these questions as they lead the audience through the origin and history of the rumba catalana in a participatory musical exploration of this fascinating rhythm, ever present at any popular festival in the region.

With only a guitar and two palms to clap, you need nothing more to set up a great shindig like Peret himself might have done.

Read presenters' biographies