With 7.5 million people, Catalonia ("Catalunya" in Catalan)  has a bigger population than Wales or Scotland.  The Catalan government is currently locked in a legal stalemate with the federal Spanish government as it wishes to hold a referendum on independence.

The Swansea conference is led by the European Institute for Identities, based at Swansea University.  It focuses on Catalonia, and follows an earlier event focusing on Wales, which took place at Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) in Barcelona in November 2013.

The Swansea event will look at how those seeking to build a national identity  – now and in the past – have sought to make their nation visible and give it a profile and identity.  The programme features experts from Catalunya, many of whom are from UPF, which is the top Spanish university, and in the world’s top 200. 

Mr Josep Manuel Suàrez Iborra, head of the delegation of the Catalan Government to the UK and Ireland, who will be attending the conference, said:

“The visit is a good opportunity to strengthen our relationship with Wales”


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Professor Mike Sullivan, Swansea University Vice-President (Strategic Partnerships), said:

“We’re delighted that Pompeu Fabra – one of the top 200 universities in the world – is working with the European Institute of Identities at Swansea University.  It confirms the University’s growing links with other universities across Europe and globally.

UPF and Swansea University have a great deal in common, serving distinctive nations within their member-states.  Both have new campuses on the waterfront; have close relationships with top-flight football clubs and strong civic links.  Our mission will, we hope, strengthen all three aspects and pave the way for closer co-operation.

We intend this first example of joint working with UPF to lead to institutional links between both universities and across many disciplines. This will facilitate collaborative research and teaching programmes and generate new funding opportunities, especially at the European level."


Dr. Enric Ucelay-Da Cal, professor of contemporary history at Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), and head of GRENS (Research Group in States, Nations and Sovereignties), said:
 
“The seminars in Barcelona and Swansea will be a good opportunity for investigators and students of  nationalism in both countries to analyse how both sub-state nationalist movements have fought since the second half of the nineteenth century to gain ‘awareness’ and heighten sensibility among their fellow ‘nationals’.
 
GRENS and UPF are delighted to co-organise the seminars with Swansea.  We expect to continue collaborating in further research”.

‌About Universitat Pompeu Fabra

• UPF is the highest-placed Spanish university in the Times Higher Education rankings (2013), and the only one to make the top 200 in the world.
• It is also the highest-rated Spanish university for research productivity
• It scores highly for student satisfaction (93%) and job placements (87%) among graduates.

Links between Swansea University and Catalonia:

•    Swansea is one of the very few universities in the UK to offer courses in Catalan language and translation, in the Department of Languages, Translation and Communication.
•    The department also offers students a course called “Barcelona/Buenos Aires”, looking at the history, culture and politics of these cities.
•    The University has Catalan staff and students working in various subjects

The Swansea conference programme

Professor Iwan Davies, Pro Vice Chancellor at Swansea University, underlined that links between universities can have all kinds of wider benefits:

"These partnerships between universities can lead to wider links between regions.  For example our work involves building relationships between small businesses, and cultural and voluntary sector organisations,  as part of a wider regional partnership.   International links like this can play a crucial role in wider economic regeneration.

We already have links with Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, so it’s good that we now also have an emerging partnership with UPF."