Barcelona presents STEAMConf 24, tackling challenges in education, science and technology
Its programme includes 72 activities, taking place on the UPF's Ciutadella campus and and at other locations in the Citadel of Knowledge.
Between Thursday 18 and Saturday 20 April, Barcelona will be presenting the ninth edition of STEAMConf Barcelona, the international learning conference, which aims to explore the interaction between a growing network of schools and local and international experts committed to educational transformation and avant-garde science and technology. Taking part in the conference will be leading local and international researchers on integrated learning in science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (known as STEAM).
The opening session will take place at 6 pm on Thursday 18 April, with representatives from the organising institutions (Science in Society Foundation, UPF, UPC, BIST and the secondary school Institut Angeleta Ferrer) and contributors (Barcelona City Council and the Catalan Government). The Catalan Government will be represented by Anna Simó, the regional Minister for Education, while Barcelona City Council will be represented by Laia Claverol, Director of the Area for The Economy and Economic Promotion.
The UPF’s Ciutadella campus is the main venue for STEAMConf. Barcelona 2024, along with the Espai Vela, which is part of the UPC’s Barcelona Nautical Sciences Faculty, the Pasqual Maragall Foundation and Parc de la Ciutadella.
Over 70 activities on education and STEAM
This year’s programme, with a total of 72 activities, combines the perspectives of experts, researchers and leading figures in the fields of education, science and technology from all over the world with those of the teachers who work in classrooms and the students themselves. From an international standpoint, the event’s aim is to help reinforce alliances and cooperation among professionals and researchers in those fields, both in Europe and Latin America.
During the conference, there will be talks with 12 renowned international experts on education and STEAM: Rochelle Gutiérrez, mathematics education professor at the University of Illinois (USA), María del Mar Patrón Vázquez, cofounder and co-director of Habla Teacher Institutes in Mérida (Mexico), Nuvia Crisol Ruland, scientist, artist and teacher at the High Tech High Graduate School of Education (HTH-GSE) in San Diego (USA), Sunny Down Summers and Alaina Carter, from the New Harmony High School in New Orleans (USA), Randi Williams, an expert in robot-human interaction, AI and education, from the MIT MediaLab Massachusetts (USA), Scott Bold, a transformer of educational systems in Belfast (Ireland), Diane Brancazio and Justin Schmidt, experts in maker projects, in order to help implement new classroom methodologies based on technology, plus Barbara Donnici and Elèna Sofia Paoli, from the Fondazione Reggio Children (Italy).
The remaining 24 activities will be workshops aimed at exploring and investigating specific aspects of the learning process. UPF professors and researchers will be taking part in various activities. The UPF’s speakers at STEAMConf are: Davinia Hernández-Leo, director of the research group on Interactive Technologies Distributed for Education (TIDE in Catalan), at the UPF’s Department of Information Technologies and Communications (DTIC in Catalan), Patricia Santos Rodríguez and Khadija El Aadmi Laamech, researcher and doctoral student also linked to TIDE, Lela Mélon, executive director of the Planetary Well-being Project and associate professor of Sustainability in Business Law at ESCI-UPF, José Luis Martí, professor of Philosophy of Law and researcher into the Theory of Democracy in the Department of Law, and Roger Cuartielles, professor and researcher in the UPF’s Department of Communication and a member and trainer of the Learn to Check platform.
