Programme

Thursday, November 5 to Sunday, November 8 will be held at TBS Education Barcelona.
Monday, November 9 will be held online.
All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

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Conference Outline

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

Thu, November 5, 2026Fri, November 6, 2026Sat, November 7, 2026Sun, November 8, 2026Mon, November 9, 2026

Conference Venue: TBS Education Barcelona

13:00: Conference Check-in | Attic (7F)

13:15-13:55: Orientation Session for First Time Presenters | Conference Room (7F)
This session provides an overview of what to expect at the conference, including guidance on preparing your presentation, publishing opportunities, and ways to engage with IAFOR.

14:00-14:45: Flash Presentations | Conference Room (7F)
This session allows presenters to maximise their visibility and showcase their research in this fast-paced, informal networking session. Each presenter has 60 seconds to highlight the key ideas, findings, or areas of interest in their work in lightning rounds. This session also provides an opportunity for all participants to discover the work of other presenters and find sessions they may wish to attend during the conference. This session is open to all presenters, including those who have already presented. Audience members are welcome to attend and watch the presentations.

14:45-15:15: Networking Coffee Break

15:15-17:00: Workshop Sessions | Conference Room (7F)

    15:15-16:05: Workshop Session 1
    Design Education in an Accelerated World: How Are We Keeping Up?
    Heitor Alvelos, University of Porto, Portugal
    Susana Barreto, University of Porto, Portugal

    16:10-17:00: Workshop Session 2
    Senior Academic Leadership
    Anne Boddington, IAFOR, Japan
    Donald E. Hall, Binghamton University, United States
    Joseph Haldane, IAFOR, Japan (Moderator)

    16:10-17:00: Workshop Session 3

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

Conference Venue: TBS Education Barcelona

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

09:30-10:00: Welcome Address & Recognition of IAFOR Scholarship Winners | Auditorium (7F) & Online
Joseph Haldane, The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan

10:05-10:30: Keynote Presentation | Auditorium (7F) & Online
10:30-10:45: Q&A

10:50-11:50: Panel Presentation | Auditorium (7F) & Online
Creative Education in Times of Crisis

11:55-12:55: Panel Presentation | Auditorium (7F) & Online
Teaching Hope in an Age of Crisis

12:55-13:00: Conference Photograph

13:00-14:00: Extended Break

14:00-15:00: The Forum (Onsite) | Auditorium (7F)
Donald E. Hall, Binghamton University, United States (Respondent)
Melina Neophytou, IAFOR, Japan (Moderator)

The Forum is a plenary session designed as a platform for international, intercultural, interdisciplinary – and inclusive – discussions, joining experts and practitioners in an open dialogue format. Come share your thoughts and experiences as global educators and researchers.

15:05-16:05: 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

16:10-17:10: Conference Poster Session & Networking Coffee | Attic (7F)

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

Conference Venue: TBS Education Barcelona

09:00: Conference Check-in & Coffee | Ground Floor

09:30-11:10: Onsite Parallel Session 1
Room 202 (2F): BCE | Interdisciplinary Education
Room 203 (2F): BCE/BAMC | Educational Research and Curriculum Design
Room 204 (2F): BCE | AI-Mediated Education
Room 205 (2F): BAMC | Literature, Literary Studies and Theory
Room 208 (2F): BCE | Teacher's Professional Development Experiences
Room 209 (2F): BCE | Mind, Brain and Psychology in Educational Contexts

11:10-11:25: Break

11:25-13:05: Onsite Parallel Session 2
Room 202 (2F): BAMC/BCE | Sustainable Development Issues in Education
Room 203 (2F): BCE | Curriculum Design and Development
Room 204 (2F): BCE | Pedagogy and Praxis
Room 205 (2F): BAMC/BCE | Linguistics, Language and Culture
Room 208 (2F): BCE | Professional Development and AI
Room 209 (2F): BCE | Student Learning and Learner Diversity

13:05-13:35 Networking Coffee Break

13:05-13:55 Chatterbox: Guided Networking Session | Agora (2F)
Matthew Chima, IAFOR, Japan

Some of the most useful conversations can happen outside the formal presentation rooms. Chatterbox guides participants through engaging in conversations in an easy and more informal way to meet people onsite, beyond the presentations. Participants will choose from a selection of themed networking groups, each offering a different starting point for conversation.

14:00-15:15: Onsite Parallel Session 3
Room 202 (2F): BCE/BAMC | Sustainability and Society
Room 203 (2F): BCE | Cryptography in the Classroom (Workshop)
Room 204 (2F): BCE | Teaching Voice in the Era of Generative Text (Workshop)
Room 205 (2F): BAMC | Media Studies
Room 208 (2F): BCE | ReflAct: Shaping the Future of Education with a Systemic Constructivist Stance (Workshop)
Room 209 (2F): BCE | Guidance and Learning Experiences

15:15-15:30: Break

15:30-17:10: Onsite Parallel Session 4
Room 202 (2F): BCE | Education, Sustainability and Society
Room 203 (2F): BCE/BAMC | Technology in Curriculum Design and Development
Room 204 (2F): BCE | Educational Assessment and AI
Room 205 (2F): BAMC | Sociology
Room 208 (2F): BCE | Professional Training, Development and Concerns in Education
Room 209 (2F): BCE | Education and Differences

Conference Venue: TBS Education Barcelona

09:00: Conference Check-in | Ground Floor

09:30-11:10: Onsite Parallel Session 1
Room 202 (2F): BCE | Assessment Theories and Methodologies
Room 203 (2F): BCE | Language Teaching Experiences
Room 204 (2F): BCE | Educational Policy and Leadership
Room 205 (2F): BAMC | Arts Practices
Room 208 (2F): BCE | Teaching Experiences and Pedagogical Development

11:10-11:25: Coffee Break

11:25-13:05: Onsite Parallel Session 2
Room 202 (2F): BCE | AI and Assessment in Education
Room 203 (2F): BCE | Foreign Languages Education and Applied Linguistics (including ESL/TESL/TEFL)
Room 204 (2F): BCE | Educational Policy, Management and Administration
Room 205 (2F): BAMC | Digital Humanities
Room 208 (2F): BCE | Professional Training and Development in Education

13:05-13:25: Onsite Closing Session

13:25-14:45: Extended Break

14:45-16:35: Knowledge Exchange Hubs | Agora (2F)
Connect, collaborate, and shape ideas in this interactive session designed to turn delegates from passive participants into active contributors. Join rotating topic groups, exchange ideas on topics selected by delegates, explore potential interdisciplinary collaborations, and experiment with AI-based tools to develop and share your ideas. Coffee will be served throughout the session.

    14:45-14:55: Opening and Group Formation
    14:55-15:25: Group Discussion
    15:25-15:55: Creative Reflection & Storytelling (with optional AI support)
    15:55-16:25: Group Presentations
    16:25-16:35: Wrap-Up

Location: Online

09:00-09:05: Message from IAFOR

09:05-10:05: The Forum (Online) | Live-Stream Room 2
Briar Pelletier, IAFOR, Japan (Online Moderator)

The Forum is a plenary session designed as a platform for international, intercultural, interdisciplinary – and inclusive – discussions, joining experts and practitioners in an open dialogue format. Come share your thoughts and experiences as global educators and researchers.

10:05-10:20: Break

10:20-12:00: Online Parallel Session 1
Live-Stream Room 2: BAMC | Linguistics and Language (Workshop and Presentation)
Live-Stream Room 3: BCE | Education Policy, Leadership and Management
Live-Stream Room 4: BCE | Teaching and Learning Experiences

12:00-12:10: Break

12:10-13:50: Online Parallel Session 2
Live-Stream Room 2: BCE | Curriculum Design and Development
Live-Stream Room 3: BCE/BAMC | Professional Training, Development and Concerns in Education
Live-Stream Room 4: BAMC | Arts, Media and Culture

13:50-14:00: Break

14:00-15:40: Online Parallel Session 3
Live-Stream Room 2: BAMC/BCE | Education/Pedagogy
Live-Stream Room 3: BCE | Teaching Experiences, Pedagogy, Practice and Praxis
Live-Stream Room 4: BCE/BAMC | Digital Humanities

15:40-15:45: Message from IAFOR

Conference Programme

The draft version of the Conference Programme will be available online on September 28, 2026. All registered delegates will be notified of this publication by email.

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

Featured Speakers

  • Brian Aycock
    Brian Aycock
    Chuo University, Japan
  • Anne Boddington
    Anne Boddington
    IAFOR, Japan
  • Donald E. Hall
    Donald E. Hall
    Binghamton University, United States
  • Andrés Pedreño
    Andrés Pedreño
    Torre Juana IA Hub, Spain
  • Alex Seago
    Alex Seago
    Richmond American University London, United Kingdom

Featured Presentations

  • Creative Education in Times of Crisis
    Creative Education in Times of Crisis
    Panel Presentation: Alex Seago
  • Design Education in an Accelerated World: How Are We Keeping Up?
    Design Education in an Accelerated World: How Are We Keeping Up?
    Workshop Session: Heitor Alvelos, Susana Barreto
  • The Forum
    The Forum
    Come share your thoughts and experiences as global educators and researchers.
  • 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

Attendee Guide

Please carefully read the Attendee Guide.

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 September 4, 2026, BCE2026 has received over 660 submissions from 100 countries and territories - including: Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, the UAE, the UK, and the United States.

Accepted Submissions

Previous Programming

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

BCE2025 BCE2024 BCE2023
BCE2022 BCE2021 BCE2020
Brian Aycock
Chuo University, Japan

Biography

Dr Brian Aycock is an Associate Professor of Law at Chuo University, Japan) He is also a Senior Research Associate in the Refugee Law Initiative’s Internal Displacement Research Programme and serves as Editor-in-Chief of the RLI Working Paper Series.

His research focuses on state responsibility for climate-induced displacement and the development of international protection frameworks in response to environmental harm. His work examines the intersection of refugee law, subsidiary protection, and international legal obligation, with particular attention to comparative approaches in Japan and Europe.

He has conducted field research on planned relocation in Fiji and has presented his research internationally in Japan, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States. He has also consulted with the Japanese Ministry of the Environment on legal responses to disaster displacement.

Dr Aycock earned a PhD in International Law from International Christian University, Japan, in 2023 and an MA (Distinction) in Refugee Protection from the University of London, United Kingdom, in 2019.

Keynote Presentation (2026) | TBA
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.

Previous Presentations

Panel Presentation (2025) | Soft Power in Contested Spaces: Education, the Arts, Language, and Media for Peace
Donald E. Hall
Binghamton University, United States

Biography

Donald E. Hall is Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at Binghamton University (SUNY), USA. He was formerly Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering at the University of Rochester, USA, and held a previous position as Dean of Arts and Sciences at Lehigh University, USA. Provost Hall has published widely in the fields of British Studies, Gender Theory, Cultural Studies, and Professional Studies. Over the course of his career, he served as Jackson Distinguished Professor of English and Chair of the Department of English (and previously Chair of the Department of Foreign Languages) at West Virginia University. Before that, he was Professor of English and Chair of the Department of English at California State University, Northridge, where he taught for 13 years. He is a recipient of the University Distinguished Teaching Award at CSUN, was a visiting professor at the National University of Rwanda, was Lansdowne Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the University of Victoria (Canada), was Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Cultural Studies at Karl Franzens University in Graz, Austria, and was Fulbright Specialist at the University of Helsinki. He has also taught in Sweden, Romania, Hungary, and China. He served on numerous panels and committees for the Modern Language Association (MLA), including the Task Force on Evaluating Scholarship for Tenure and Promotion, and the Convention Program Committee. In 2012, he served as national President of the Association of Departments of English. From 2013-2017, he served on the Executive Council of the MLA.

His current and forthcoming work examines issues such as professional responsibility and academic community-building, the dialogics of social change and activist intellectualism, and the Victorian (and our continuing) interest in the deployment of instrumental agency over our social, vocational, and sexual selves. Among his many books and editions are the influential faculty development guides, The Academic Self and The Academic Community, both published by Ohio State University Press. Subjectivities and Reading Sexualities: Hermeneutic Theory and the Future of Queer Studies were both published by Routledge Press. Most recently he and Annamarie Jagose, of the University of Auckland, co-edited a volume titled The Routledge Queer Studies Reader. Though he is a full-time administrator, he continues to lecture worldwide on the value of a liberal arts education and the need for nurturing global competencies in students and interdisciplinary dialogue in and beyond the classroom.

Professor Donald E. Hall is a Vice-President of IAFOR. He is Chair of the Arts, Humanities, Media & Culture division of the International Academic Advisory Board.

Previous Presentations

Keynote Presentation (2024): The Work of the University in Perilous Times
Keynote Presentation (2023): There Is No New Normal
Andrés Pedreño
Torre Juana IA Hub, Spain

Biography

TBA

Keynote Presentation (2026) | TBA
Alex Seago
Richmond American University London, United Kingdom

Biography

Professor Alex Seago received his BA in American Studies from the University of Birmingham, United States, his MA in American Studies from the University of Kansas, United States, and his PhD in Cultural History from the Royal College of Art, United Kingdom. During an academic career spanning almost 50 years, he has taught a wide range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses in sociology, cultural studies, popular culture, criminology, development studies, art, and design history for several British and American universities and colleges of art, including the Royal College of Art, where he was responsible for supervising MPhil and PhD students. During the mid 1990s, Professor Seago developed the Research Methods lecture series for MPhil and PhD students at the Royal College of Art. His publications include Burning the Box of Beautiful Things (Oxford University Press, 1995), a cultural historical study of changes in graphic design at the RCA in the 1950s and early 1960s and Pop Art and Design (Bloomsbury Press, 2017) with Dr Anne Massey.

Keynote Presentation (2026) | TBA
Creative Education in Times of Crisis
Panel Presentation: Alex Seago

This hour-long panel discussion explores the role creative education can play in generating moments of cultural intensity and social transformation. Taking Barcelona as a resonant setting, it brings Spanish and British examples into dialogue to ask how education, experimentation and collective creativity have helped turn periods of political change, urban reinvention, and social resistance into enduring cultural movements.

In Spain, the discussion will consider La Movida in Madrid in the late 1970s and 1980s, following Franco’s death in 1975, as a moment when punk rock, the films of Pedro Almodóvar, sartorial experimentation and new forms of everyday life expressed a wider democratic and cultural transformation. It will also reflect on Barcelona’s 1992 Olympic and Cultural Olympiad moment, when culture, design, and urban planning became inseparable from the city’s international reimagining.

In the United Kingdom, post-war educational reforms made art colleges more accessible to working- and lower-middle-class students. These institutions became spaces of experiment in music, sound, art and design, helping to generate Swinging London in the 1960s and 1970s and paving the way for later movements including Glam, Punk, and Cool Britannia. Across these examples, the panel asks whether creative education merely responds to social and political change, or whether it actively produces the languages, images, and practices through which such change becomes visible.

At a time when artificial intelligence, technological determinism, and renewed investment in national defence are reshaping the value placed on human creativity, this conversation invites reflection on the contemporary purpose of creative education. What forms of communication, imagination, and resistance can it still enable? How might it help us reframe everyday experience, social exchange and cultural expression in ways that remain distinctly human?

Read presenters' biographies
Design Education in an Accelerated World: How Are We Keeping Up?
Workshop Session: Heitor Alvelos, Susana Barreto

The workshop will address the challenges design educators are facing in a world that is changing faster than our curricula. It will touch on perplexing technologies, with AI at the forefront, shifting professional expectations, and how we have been managing to prepare students for futures we struggle to anticipate.

A contextual presentation will be followed by an open conversation and a hands-on activity mapping out testimonies and action plans for the following three fronts:

These topics will converge in a collective position paper/manifesto for design education in times of rapid change, co-authored by those present who wish to participate.

The action-based moments will alternate with a joint critical reflection towards future publications on the subject of design education in an accelerated world. Delegates will gain renewed insights into the current fast pace of design education and contribute to novel ways of acting upon the resulting issues of this speed.

Read presenters' biographies
The Forum
Come share your thoughts and experiences as global educators and researchers.

The Forum is a plenary session designed as a platform for international, intercultural, interdisciplinary – and inclusive – discussions, joining experts and practitioners alike in an open dialogue format. Come share your thoughts and experiences as global educators and researchers.

The Forum will take place in two separate formats.
The Forum (Onsite) will be held at the venue and is exclusively for Onsite participants

The Forum (Online) will take place on the Online Day and is open to all Conference participants and IAFOR Members.

Overviews of the ideas, conversations, and key takeaways generated from the discussion at these sessions are recorded and archived in the Conference Report and Intelligence Briefing (ISSN: 2759-4939)

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