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

Programme

Tuesday, September 30 will be held at TBS Education Barcelona.
Wednesday, October 1 to Friday, October 3 will be held at Hotel Barcelona Condal Mar.
Saturday, October 4 will be held online.

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Conference Outline

*Please be aware that the above schedule may be subject to change.

Tue, September 30, 2025Wed, October 1Thu, October 2Fri, October 3Sat, October 4

Conference Venues: TBS Education Barcelona

09:00-10:00: Conference Check-in & Coffee | Auditorium (7F)

10:00-10:35: Welcome Address & Recognition of IAFOR Scholarship Winners | Auditorium (7F) & Online
Joseph Haldane, The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan

10:40-11:05: Keynote Presentation | Auditorium (7F) & Online
AI-Assisted Instruction: Affordances and Issues
Carlos Delgado Kloos, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain
11:05-11:20: Q&A Session

11:25-12:25: Panel Presentation | Auditorium (7F) & Online
Black Box Revolutions: Unpacking the Dynamics Between Design, Technology, Arts and Education in 2025
Heitor Alvelos, University of Porto, Portugal
Susana Barreto, University of Porto, Portugal
Paula Casal, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain
Carlos Alberto Scolari, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain
Joseph Haldane, IAFOR, Japan (Moderator)

12:25-12:40: Conference Photograph

12:40-14:10: Extended Break

14:10-14:35: Keynote Presentation | Auditorium (7F) & Online
Circulation of Japanese Newsreels on the War in Asia (1931-1945) in Spain
Marcos Centeno-Martín, University of Valencia, Spain
14:35-14:50: Q&A Session

14:55-15:55: Panel Presentation | Auditorium (7F) & Online
Soft Power in Contested Spaces: Education and Arts for Peace
Brendan Howe, Ewha Womans University, South Korea
Maria Montserrat Rifà-Valls, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain
Anne Boddington, IAFOR, Japan (Moderator)

16:00-17:00: Rumba Catalana Performance and Workshop | Auditorium (7F)
A Journey Through the History of the Catalan Rumba
Joan Delgado, The Raval's Band, Spain
Agustín Gálvez, The Raval's Band, Spain

17:00-18:00: Welcome Reception | Foyer (7F)
This is a free event open to all registered delegates

20:00: Conference Dinner | Racó de la Vila
This is a ticketed event

Conference Venue: Hotel Barcelona Condal Mar Affiliated by Meliá

12:50-13:20: Conference Check-in | Lobby (Ground Floor)

13:20-14:10: Featured Roundtable | (B1) Gràcia
Senior Academic Leadership
Heitor Alvelos, University of Porto, Portugal
Anne Boddington, IAFOR, Japan
Joseph Haldane, IAFOR, Japan (Moderator)

14:15-15:15: Panel Presentation | (B1) Gràcia & Online
Embedding Social Responsibility: Service-Learning as a Tool for Knowledge Transfer in the New University Landscape
Marta Ortega Sáez, University of Barcelona, Spain
Catalina Ribas Segura, CESAG-Comillas Pontifical University, Spain
Dolors Ortega Arévalo, University of Barcelona, Spain (Moderator)

15:15-15:45: Networking Coffee Break

15:45-16:45: Forum Discussion | (B1) Gràcia
Global Citizenship: Education, Arts, Media, and the Rise of Extremism
Brendan Howe, Ewha Womans University, South Korea (Respondent)
Melina Neophytou, IAFOR, Japan (Moderator)

16:50-17:20: IAFOR Information Session | (B1) Gràcia
Matthew Chima, IAFOR, Japan
Melina Neophytou, IAFOR, Japan

17:20-17:50: Networking Coffee Break & Poster Set Up

17:50-18:50: Conference Poster Session | (B1) Poble Nou

Location: Hotel Barcelona Condal Mar Affiliated by Meliá

12:15-13:00: Conference Check-in & Coffee | Lobby (Ground Floor)

13:00-14:40: Onsite Parallel Session 1
(1F) Barceloneta: BCE | Curriculum Design and Development
(1F) Sant Sebastià: BCE | Educational Policy, Leadership, Management and Administration
(B1) Eixample: BCE | Teaching Experiences, Pedagogy, Practice and Praxis
(B1) Gòtic: BAMC | Linguistics, Language and Cultural Studies
(B1) Gràcia: BCE | Professional Training, Development and Concerns in Education
(B1) Poble Nou: BAMC | Architecture and Urban Studies
(B1) Sants: BCE | Foreign Languages Education and Applied Linguistics

14:40-14:55: Break

14:55-16:10: Onsite Parallel Session 2
(1F) Barceloneta: BCE | Teaching Experiences, Pedagogy, Practice and Praxis (Workshop and Presentation)
(1F) Sant Sebastià: BCE | Educational Policy, Leadership, Management and Administration
(B1) Eixample: BCE | Higher Education
(B1) Gòtic: BAMC | Education/Pedagogy (Workshop)
(B1) Gràcia: BCE | Primary and Secondary Education
(B1) Poble Nou: BAMC | Arts Practices
(B1) Sants: BCE | Foreign Languages and Higher Education

16:10-16:40: Networking Coffee Break

16:40-18:20: Onsite Parallel Session 3
(1F) Barceloneta: BCE | Teaching Experiences, Pedagogy, Practice and Praxis
(1F) Sant Sebastià: BCE | Interdisciplinary, Multidisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Education
(B1) Eixample: BCE | Innovative Technologies in Education
(B1) Gòtic: BAMC | Literature, Literary Studies and Theory
(B1) Gràcia: BCE | Education and Difference
(B1) Poble Nou: BAMC | Cultural Studies
(B1) Sants: BCE/BAMC | Foreign Languages Education and Applied Linguistics

Location: Hotel Barcelona Condal Mar Affiliated by Meliá

08:50-09:30: Conference Check-in & Coffee | Lobby (Ground Floor)

09:30-11:10: Onsite Parallel Session 1
(1F) Barceloneta: BAMC | Media Studies
(1F) Sant Sebastià: BAMC | History and Cultural Studies
(B1) Eixample: BCE | Learning Experiences, Student Learning and Learner Diversity
(B1) Gòtic: BAMC | Digital Humanities
(B1) Gràcia: BCE | Professional Training, Development and Concerns in Education
(B1) Sants: BCE | Education and Difference

11:10-11:25: Break

11:25-13:05: Onsite Parallel Session 2
(1F) Barceloneta: BCE/BAMC | Education/Pedagogy
(1F) Sant Sebastià: BAMC | Ethnicity, Literature, Literary Studies
(B1) Eixample: BCE | Education, Sustainability and Society
(B1) Gòtic: BCE/BAMC | Art, Technology, and Pedagogy
(B1) Gràcia: BCE | Teaching Experiences, Pedagogy, Practice and Praxis
(B1) Sants: BCE | Educational Policy, Leadership, Management and Administration

13:05-13:35: Networking Coffee Break

13:35-15:15: Onsite Parallel Session 3
(1F) Barceloneta: BCE/BAMC | Innovative Technologies in Education
(1F) Sant Sebastià: BAMC | Cultural Communication and Performance Studies
(B1) Eixample: BCE | Education, Sustainability and Society
(B1) Gòtic: BAMC | Visual Culture and Communication
(B1) Gràcia: BCE | Design, Implementation and Assessment of Innovative Technologies in Education
(B1) Sants: BCE | Educational Policy, Leadership, Management and Administration

15:15-15:30: Onsite Closing Session | (B1) Gràcia

Location: Online

08:55-09:00: Message from IAFOR

09:00-10:15: The Forum | Live-Stream Room 1
Global Citizenship: Education, Arts, Media, and the Rise of Extremism
Grant Black, Chuo University, Japan (Respondent)
Raul Fortes Guerrero, University of Valencia, Spain (Respondent)
Apipol Sae-Tung, IAFOR, Japan (Moderator)

10:20-12:00: Online Parallel Session 1
Live-Stream Room 1: BCE | Professional Training, Development and Concerns in Education
Live-Stream Room 2: BCE/BAMC | Psychology and Culture in Communication
Live-Stream Room 3: BAMC | Cultural Studies and Arts Practices

12:00-12:10: Break

12:10-13:50: Online Parallel Session 2
Live-Stream Room 1: BCE | Innovative Technologies in Education
Live-Stream Room 2: BCE/BAMC | Foreign Languages Education and Applied Linguistics
Live-Stream Room 3: BAMC | Visual Culture and Cultural Studies

13:50-14:00: Break

14:00-15:15: Online Parallel Session 3
Live-Stream Room 1: BCE | Education Policy and Teaching Experiences
Live-Stream Room 2: BCE | Higher Education

15:15-15:20: Closing Message from IAFOR

*Please be aware that the above schedule may be subject to change.

Featured 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

Featured Presentations

  • AI-Assisted Instruction: Affordances and Issues
    AI-Assisted Instruction: Affordances and Issues
    Keynote Presentation: Carlos Delgado Kloos
  • Black Box Revolutions: Unpacking the Dynamics Between Design, Technology, Arts and Education in 2025
    Black Box Revolutions: Unpacking the Dynamics Between Design, Technology, Arts and Education in 2025
    Panel Presentation: Carlos Alberto Scolari, Paula Casal, Heitor Alvelos, Joseph Haldane
  • 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
  • Soft Power in Contested Spaces: Education, the Arts, Language, and Media for Peace
    Soft Power in Contested Spaces: Education, the Arts, Language, and Media for Peace
    Panel Presentation: Brendan Howe, Maria Montserrat Rifa Valls, Anne Boddington
  • 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
  • Global Citizenship: Education, Arts, Media, and the Rise of Extremism
    Global Citizenship: Education, Arts, Media, and the Rise of Extremism
    The Forum: Brendan Howe, Melina Neophytou
  • Senior Academic Leadership
    Senior Academic Leadership
    Featured Roundtable: Anne Boddington, Heitor Alvelos, Joseph Haldane
  • 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

Conference Programme & Abstract Book

The online version of the Conference Programme is now available to view below via the Issuu viewing platform. Alternatively, download a PDF version. The Conference Programme can also be viewed on the Issuu website (requires a web browser). An Issuu app is available for Android users.

Click to download as a PDF

The Conference Programme contains access information, session information and a detailed day-to-day presentation schedule.

Attendee Guide

Please carefully read the Attendee Guide.

Pre-Recorded Virtual Presentations

A number of presenters have submitted pre-recorded virtual video presentations. We encourage you to watch these presentations and provide feedback through the video comments.

Virtual Video Presentations

Important Information Emails

All registered attendees will receive an Important Information email and updates in the run-up to the conference. Please check your email inbox for something from "iafor.org". If you can not find these emails in your normal inbox, it is worth checking in your spam or junk mail folders as many programs filter out emails this way. If these did end up in one of these folders, please add the address to your acceptable senders' folder by whatever method your email program can do this.

Accepted Presentations

One of the greatest strengths of IAFOR’s international conferences is their international and intercultural diversity. As of July 23, 2025, BAMC2025 has received 332 submissions from 70 countries and territories - including: Brazil, Canada, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Nigeria, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, the UAE, the UK, and the United States.

Accepted Submissions

Previous Programming

View details of programming for past BAMC conferences via the links below.

BAMC2024 BAMC2023
BAMC2022 BAMC2021 BAMC2020
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
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
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
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
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
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
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

Previous Presentations

Keynote Presentation (2024) | East Wind, West Wind: Intertextuality, Transculturality, and Temporal and Spatial (Re)creations in the Cinema of Miyazaki Hayao
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”
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
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
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”
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
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
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)
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
AI-Assisted Instruction: Affordances and Issues
Keynote Presentation: Carlos Delgado Kloos

The use of generative artificial intelligence is no longer a choice: we already use it unintentionally, when we search the web or read email, where clients surface AI-generated summaries, and in AI-powered customer-support interactions and recommendation systems. Many countries are investing heavily in AI as a strategic priority. Adoption is accelerating across industries, and education is no exception. How can we as educators best harness AI in the classroom, and how can we avoid its potential pitfalls?

By analogy with the acronym CAI (Computer-Assisted Instruction), we as educators can use AIAI (AI-Assisted Instruction) to refer to AI in education. AI is more than typing a prompt to get an eloquent answer: today’s systems are multimodal, exhibit emerging reasoning capabilities, and can be orchestrated in multi-agent setups. New affordances and use cases are appearing every day, bringing with them new opportunities as well as uncharted challenges and risks. In this talk, we will discuss the many educational use cases of AIAI both for teachers and students, and we will also highlight some of the problems and dangers that accompany them.

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Black Box Revolutions: Unpacking the Dynamics Between Design, Technology, Arts and Education in 2025
Panel Presentation: Carlos Alberto Scolari, Paula Casal, Heitor Alvelos, Joseph Haldane

How do we prepare students for a future shaped by AI without giving in to either techno-euphoria or techno-doom? What creative skills should we as educators be nurturing today, and how do we redefine the role of educators, artists, and designers in a world where machines increasingly generate content? As education systems and creative industries adapt to new and rapidly changing technologies, we find ourselves caught between two extremes: the promise of innovation and the fear of obsolescence.

This panel explores how the swift development of artificial AI is transforming the ways we teach, learn, and practice in the fields of arts and design.

Panellists include practitioners and researchers working across design, arts, science, and industry, who will discuss how these changes affect the way we understand reality itself, especially as digital tools challenge the idea of visual and audiovisual media as stable sources of truth. Drawing on their hybrid experiences, they will offer diverse perspectives on how to navigate this shifting landscape, and invite participants to reflect critically, and creatively, on the future of creative education.

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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.

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Soft Power in Contested Spaces: Education, the Arts, Language, and Media for Peace
Panel Presentation: Brendan Howe, Maria Montserrat Rifa Valls, Anne Boddington

Education is a normative human right, but it also serves the practical function of improving domestic and international governance performance. It serves the collective good and betterment of society, and fends humanity from non-traditional security threats such as the global climate crisis, humanitarian emergencies affecting refugees, stateless persons, internally displaced people, and forced migrants, as well as natural disasters, pandemics, and demographic shifts.. However, education must compete for resources with other policy sectors, especially in a global climate where realpolitik and national interest dominate policy and budgetary agendas.

At IAFOR’s Paris conference in June 2025, UNESCO Assistant Director General on Education, Dr Stefania Giannini, reminded us that hard power is ill-suited to communicate in today’s polarised world. According to her, soft power, as exercised through education, culture, and the arts, can lead to innovative and peaceful solutions to conflict resolution. In this context, creative industries and the Arts emerge as unexpected but powerful allies, able to generate alternative funding streams and create impactful, awareness-building initiatives, from refugee storytelling to public murals and documentary films.

This panel looks at the importance of education and the arts in fostering peace in a contested space. Overall, while acknowledging the challenges posed to education funding and implementation by geopolitical contestation, this panel identifies opportunities for new actors, initiatives and avenues of innovation.

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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.

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Global Citizenship: Education, Arts, Media, and the Rise of Extremism
The Forum: Brendan Howe, Melina Neophytou

We are living through a time of great global political and economic change, which is being played out in different ways across the world. Historically, in times of uncertainty and fear of the future, people have turned to political extremes for answers and reassuring, if unnuanced, narratives. Today is no different: in the context of rising global authoritarianism and nationalism, legitimate questions and grievances of the populace in any given country are deflected and misdirected. Scapegoats are sought as people rail against both the existing centres of power and their avatars (the government, the elites, the establishment, the deep state, etc), as well as the amorphous ‘other’ (the foreign, the immigrants, etc). The latter are often blamed by the former for reasons of political expediency and survival, and that is reflected in increasingly divisive and toxic public discourse today.

Culture, media, language, and education play an important role in instilling and fueling extremist ideologies, often subliminally. For example, in a study conducted by University College London (UCL) in 2021, teachers were concerned that students would mimic extremist behaviour seen on social media. They saw themselves as unprepared to deal with extremism at school due to limited training, curriculum constraints, and pressure to simply report at-risk students, rather than engage with them. However, education is often proposed as a solution to counter political polarisation, religious fundamentalism, and online radicalisation by fostering critical thinking and empathy. The Arts are also increasingly recognised as a powerful tool, creating spaces for dialogue that challenge politically delicate topics subtly and in a non-confrontational manner.

How can we disagree well in a polarised world that is increasingly using rhetoric of division and violent means to establish certain norms? What can educators, artists, and professionals do to establish spaces of dialogue and conviviality? What ways of thinking and acting do we need to change within educational institutions, media, and political discourse? Join us for The Forum session in Barcelona to discuss these topics and more with the wide array of international and intercultural perspectives present at the conference.

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Senior Academic Leadership
Featured Roundtable: Anne Boddington, Heitor Alvelos, Joseph Haldane

This roundtable and interactive session will explore the career paths of academic leaders and provide tips on the skills needed to succeed in leadership positions. Speaking from a variety of national and professional contexts, the session leaders will describe their individual paths to leadership roles and the trade-offs that often accompany a career in higher education leadership and administration. Following the brief presentations, audience members will be asked to provide their own thoughts and observations on successful and unsuccessful leadership styles, as well as engage in an active discussion of the potential for academic leaders to make positive changes within their institutions and professional organisations.

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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.

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