Barcelona is a city that never fails to deliver excitement and stimulation, and this vibrant cultural hub is always a great setting for an IAFOR event. This year was no different and over 350 delegates from more than 65 countries attended The 4th Barcelona Conference on Education (BCE2023), held alongside The 4th Barcelona Conference on Arts, Media & Culture (BAMC2023).
Dr Joseph Haldane, Chairman and CEO of IAFOR, and Professor Anne Boddington, IAFOR Provost, and PVC (Research) at Middlesex University, United Kingdom opened the conference, with Dr Haldane underlining the importance of the organisation’s mission, and the challenge and rewards of engaging across barriers of nation, culture and discipline. Professor Boddington echoed this sense of challenge, by focussing on interdisciplinarity and asking people to focus on engagement strategies. She suggested conversations that began by starting with telling people what you don’t know, rather than with what you do.
Donald E. Hall, Executive Vice-President at Binghamton University (SUNY) in the United States gave the third in his keynote series, “There Is No New Normal”, which asked us to question our engagement as scholars and academics post-pandemic and in the new age of AI.
David Mallows of UCL’s Institute of Education then gave a very insightful keynote that wove together theory and practice around digital literacy and digital inclusion, asking how one is to “read” the digital world.
After lunch, the plenary session focussed on education, culture and demographic change with presentations from a research directed from the University Lleida in Spain. Núria Casado-Gual gave a keynote on “Old Age in the Spotlight: Towards an Anti-ageist Theatre in the Times of the ‘New Normal’ segueing into a plenary panel titled “Contemporary Cultural Representations of Ageing: Deconstructing Ageism” with Raquel Medina of Aston University, United Kingdom, Inesa Shevchenko, and Kateřina Valentová of the University of Lleida in Spain.
The final plenary session of the day was on the arts and literature, with Daniel Lutz, of Purrple, who gave a light hearted presentation titled “Want Happiness? Become an Artist”, before Professor Isabel Alonso-Breto of the University of Barcelona gave a deeply personal and moving keynote on literature as a guide and support through the darkest times: “I Shall Be Brief: Spare Thoughts on Literature and Care”.
A vibrant poster session and reception saw a lot of conversations, and set up the two parallels days and final online day, and the end of a very successful conference. We thank the organizing committee for their role in putting together a great programme, and particularly to Professor Emerita Sue Ballyn of the University of Barcelona for her continued stewardship of the event. We look forward to returning to Barcelona again next year!
While formal presentations are the backbone of IAFOR conferences, the value of informal, yet intellectual, interaction among peers is not overlooked. This was exemplified by the conference dinner at Can Lampazas, a charming restaurant known for its authentic Catalan cuisine and cozy atmosphere, offering a delightful dining experience in the heart of the city. Adding to the conference experience, delegates were also taken on a guided tour of the Sagrada Famila prior to Plenary Day.
BCE & BAMC 2023 have once again highlighted IAFOR's inspiring vision - one that emphasizes academia's capacity for positive change and its duty to foster innovation through connections and education. We can't wait to welcome you back next year!
