Education for the Future

The miracle of Irene Natividad: Global Summit of Women, Warsawa 2016

I attend this week the Global Summit of Women 2016, in Warsawa, Poland. Once again this event is energizing, full of amazing women, generous to share their knowledge, and experience with other women, and the brave men, many CEOs, attending the conference. Numbers of women attending add up to three ceros, over one thousand from 73 countries from all over the world. I spread the word of my new released book on smart cities, may collaborative work with COIT in Spain and of Camilo José Cela University.
9A5IMG_0257 - copia

923IMG_0349 - copia


The miracle of Irene Natividad and Margarita de Cos

Global Summit of Women is a miracle, made up each year by @INatividad and @GlobeWomen. Irene is an truly amazing and strong woman I first meet some years ago, back in Madrid. Then she headed the first opening of the Madrid Stock Exchange ever made by women. Thrilling, yes, as she is. Margarita de Cos is the head of the Spanish delegation @GlobeWomen, and a great leader and model of all of us.

Global Summit of Women 2016 Warsawa Dr. Olga Gil

Asia, as part of Eurasia

During the summit I am having great opportunities to build up ties with China and Japan, countries that interest me a lot. From China, I meet Cyindy Cheng Yang, CSO from Focus Media, and Lu Dai, News Director and Union President from Shanghai Oriented Webcasting. I learned a lot from Huang Wenlin wisdom, chief of the China Association of Women Eterpreneurs. I really enjoyied talking at the table together with impresive chinese business women Jayjun, Sunny, and Ayilaile.

From Japan

From Japan, I have meet Hijiri, Kiyoka, Keiko -from Deloitte- Machiko, Mahoko, Minori, Naoko, Reiko, Yuyiko Tanaka, from the Japan Women Ingeneers Forum and I.N.O. corporation. and I stablished great contacts with a university and a bussiness school. Both institutions are interested on my work on smart cities and to stablish ties with UCJC university in Madrid.

Global Summit of Women 2016 Warsawa Dr. Olga Gil

Global Summit of Women 2016 Warsawa Dr. Olga Gil


Testing the ground for the new and very innovative academic programms at Universidad UCJC

At the Global Summmit I have been testing the ground for the new and very innovative academic programms at Universidad UCJC.

Think, Create, Discover and Communicate. Future is here.
A unique bilingual summer program (Spanish/English) in Madrid, at Camilo José Cela University.

This is pre-university Humanities, Science and Technology course, designed for a generation facing a world immersed in a process of drastic changes -16-18 year-olds. The pre-university course is held in campus and living at the university residences, in Madrid outskirts, from June 29th to July 13th.

For this course we have seek *very* motivated young people interested on:
– How emerging technology affects our fundamental experience of humanity.
– How information online compilation systems are changing radically our concept of privacy.
– The radical changes on classical concepts of communications, progress, war, culture, politics, work and knowledge taken place today.
– New technology is creating new humans and new ways of communicating.
– These new humans will be, at the same time, the developers of new discoveries in science and drivers behind the development of new technology.

Why this course? And how our university differenciates from others!

Generations born in an entirely digital environment have to decide where they will take communications, robotics, environmental research or the exploration of outer space. Today´s youth will define progress in communications technology and what are the priorities of human kind: men reaching Mars, developing apps, the creation of a robot as -a dream of science fiction for decades and alquimia for centuries.

Based on the cross-cutting nature of knowledge today and its impact shaping the future, this two week summer programm “Humanities, Science and Technology: Think, Create, Discover”, allows students to:
– ´Tackle different aspects of what will be their world with a strong base on communications, interpersonal, and Media communications.
– Learn from the major conceptual changes facing their generation.
– Develop skills related to technology and creativity in a practical and fun way.
– Visit firms, with industry professionals to get to know the most innovative initiatives that blend Humanities, Science, Technology and Communications,
– Develop a rich network based in Madrid, open also to opportunities to practice Spanish lenguage while starting over contacts with Madrid as focal point of reference for Latin America and the whole Hispanic world.

The course will is complemented with cultural and sporting activities in campus at Camilo José Cela University in Villafranca del Castillo. I particularly love the horse riding club.

Humanities, Science, Technology & Communications summer course gives pre- university students, age 16-18 year old, a great opportunity to acquire the tools and skills that will set students apart from their entire generation.

Just in case you are interested in the Humanities, Science, Technology & Communications summer course, I leave you the name of the contact persons below.

Meeting brave enterpreneurs and social enterpreneurs from America and Spain

Impresionada por el trabajo que desarrollan Elsa Andrés en Justisen, Lola Elejalde en InnoBasque, Rita Gasalla en Gälow, Gema Cernuda en Ellas Deciden y @Peixco, Carlota Lorenzana en Muralto.es, -and great restaurants for women visiting Madrid for business purposes!- Merce Ribera en Atrevia, Maruxa Sanmartín en Grupo Maviva, Erika Vallespin en ATKearney. Agradable y acogedora la Embajada de España @EmbEspPolonia el día de nuestra llegada a Varsovia, con un cocktail de bienvenida capitaneado por su Excelencia el Embajador Agustín Nuñez, arropado por Isabel Martín, Consejera de Turismo y Carmen Batres, Consejera de Información y Prensa, entre otros.​ En España, una delegación de lujo, a pesar de que de nuevo en esta edición, faltan ministras que arropen a la delegación, a diferencia de Francia, donde si ha habido una Ministro arropando a la delegación francesa.

El mundo hispano

Entre nuestras hermanas de América Latina y el mundo hispano, Maricruz Cochamanidis, de Kuljis Cochamanidis Group en Bolivia, Marianne Hontiveros (Filipinas), Patricia Espinosa, Nora Villafuerte y Yasmin Darwich President of BPW International and based in Coahuila (México).

From France

Just to name very few: Isabelle Roux-Chenu from Capgemini and the young Pauline Chanvin and Louise Moulié, from Politiqu´elles, a French non-profit organization working towards women empowerment at politiquelles.org.

From Switzerland, a country I am very interesten in because it has a long tradition of work on local government, democracy and networks: Martha Uribe, from Nestle, Arancha González -SheTrades programm- and Vanessa Erogbodbo -women and trade program-, from International Trade Center, United Nations, at Geneva.

From The United States of America, Claudia Freed, CEO of EalGreen and leveraging the circular economy and empowering access to leaning at Elgreen.org

Olga Gil, Dr Olga Gil Warsawa Global Summit 2016

Last but not least, I am having great opportunities to meet with mayors and enterpreneurs concerned with the future of cities, such as the Honorable Mayor of Warsaw -three terms Mayor! and teacher- Hanna Gronkiewick-Waltz, and discuss about comparative public policies in cities across the world.

Thank you all for your time and generosity! Comments are open for any new insight!


Humanities, Science, Technology & Communications summer course. Contact persons:

Mª Victoria García: mvgarcia at ucjc dot edu
Mar Calzadilla: mar dot calzadilla at sek dot es

Address:
Address: Urb. Villafranca del Castillo, Calle Castillo de Alarcón, 49, 28692 Villanueva de la Cañada, Madrid
Phone: +34 918 15 31 31

​website: http://www.ucjc.edu/estudios-universitarios/cursos-de-verano/humanities-sciencies-and-technology-hst

Posted in Art and Building New Society, Branding, Economy&Trends, Education for the Future, Local Government, Olga Gil, Smart Cities, Sustainabiity, Tech & Contents, Trends, Uncategorized, Viajes, Women&Men public sphere No Comments »

Discussing ​Smart Cities in Doha​

We have been in Doha (Qatar) from March the 14​th to the 17th​ together with an interesting team from the SEK Group and Universidad Camilo José Cela (UCJC). ​I had the opportunity to lead a workshop and a conferences, the workshop was at the Ministry of Public Works, on March 15th and the conference was prepared for a group of 40 people, including corporate managers, Latins in Qatar and the Spanish Ladies in Qatar at the Intercontinental Hotel The City. The organization of Damián Fernández @damianmadrid was of outmost value along the stay.

I presented the book I co-authored and published recently on smart cities, as well as the interdisciplinary projects we are aiming at around the smart city idea at the different schools at Universidad Camilo José Cela, involving architecture, communications, health science, education and sports.
2016 Public Works Authority Doha Olga Gil pic

Attendants shared questions about the smart city concept.

The size of the public allows for networking of peers. We have keept the cohort small at 10 participants to the workshop and 30 to the conference. Since they are from across the world and public and private experts are included, the network of individuals allows to discuss smart cities and their challenges from a broad perspective. Some of the attendants to the workshop, specially the engineers, emphasized the importance of having happy people in the cities, and being able to have measures of happiness, rather than overbuild or embed information and communications technology into urban territories. This is an interesting insight. I always learn from people coming to conferences and workshops, as they pose new questions and highlight facets that could have been overlooked. The work of Coates on the geopolitics of the Gulf countries in recent years was very useful to prepare and adapt to the local context.

The SEK team, together with the UCJC team presented interesting pre-college summer courses offered under the heading “Humanities, Science and Technology” for 16 and 17 year-old students to parents. ​SEK Group was founded 120 years ago, and has become widely as the most well-known private educational institution in Spain. SEK has six schools in Spain, one in Dublin (Ireland), one in Les Alpes (France) and a school in Doha (Qatar). SEK schools schools follow the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum, and use English and Spanish as the languages of instruction in Spain. In Doha Arabic and Spanish are taught as foreign languages. In Spain SEK group has a 100% success rate for students´ University Entry Exams. SEK Group together with Camilo Jose Cela University add up over 17,000 students attending the educational institutions every year.

This post is work in progress, as I will be reflecting on all the data gathered along the stay. Let me, for the time being share these pictures with you.​
Olga Gil y grupo SEK UCJC
1 P1020885 copia
1 P1020899 copia
1 P1020916 copia

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Branding, Education for the Future, Local Government, Smart Cities No Comments »

Con la mirada puesta en un 2016 prometedor

Queridos amigos y lectores, en esta entrada de blog voy a contaros cómo el otoño 2015 ha resultado una base interesante para un 2016 prometedor. Os hablaré para empezar, de un nuevo libro que publico en Enero con dos coautores, Julio Navío y Maider Pérez de Heredia, dedicado a ciudades inteligentes. También os hablaré de la participación en el curso online masivo abierto, “Profesionales e-competentes: claves, estrategias y herramientas para innovar en red.” Os contaré que he participado en la formación del equipo de gobierno del presidente de Angola en Luanda invitada por CIGMAP. Además, participo de la mano de un grupo de investigadores especialistas en estudios de política local en la iniciativa de creación del primer instituto especializado en estudios del ámbito local en Europa, con intención de que abarque también especialistas y red de otros continentes. A lo largo del año, además he presentado junto a mis colaboradores los resultados de nuestras investigaciones sobre ciudades inteligentes en Lisboa, Shanghai y Varsovia. También he comenzado a colaborar en una revista editada por un grupo de jóvenes emprendedores: Vladivostok Magazine. En cuanto a novedades académicas, este semestre me he estrenado impartiendo ciberperiodismo, Internet, redes sociales y política3.0. Un otoño apasionante del que os dejo resúmenes, imágenes y un video a continuación.

151211 Foto Libro como se gobiernan las ciudades

El libro sobre ciudades inteligentes

Por un lado espero la presentación a comienzos de año del libro que he escrito con mi equipo especializado en ciudades inteligentes: Julio Navío y Maider Pérez de Heredia. En el libro nos planteamos un tema esencial para los próximos años: la transformación digital de las ciudades. Lo hacemos analizando las bases de los proyectos denominados smart city en ocho entornos de tres continentes distintos: Shanghai, Iskandar, ciudades en Japón, Nueva York, Málaga, Santander y Tarragona. Os avanzo la portada que ha elegido la editorial Silva, sobre una base diseñada por Paisaje Transversal, y que creo es todo un acierto. Este libro ha sido posible gracias al apoyo económico del Colegio de Ingenieros de Telecomunicación y también de Accenture en años pasados. A ambos, muchas gracias por haber creído en la investigación ambiciosa que les proponíamos y haber financiado alguna de las fases, respetando en todos los momentos nuestra independencia científica.

Captura de pantalla 2015-12-14 a las 0.10.42

Profesionales e-competentes, !apúntate!

El curso online masivo abierto, “Profesionales e-competentes: claves, estrategias y herramientas para innovar en red” está dirigido por María Sánchez, con el respaldo de la Universidad de Málaga y la Universidad Nova de Lisboa. Este curso se pondrá en marcha en marzo o abril de 2016. Ya hemos grabado los videos de todos bloques de estudio, y os recomiendo que os apuntéis. La preinscripción podéis hacerla en este enlace. Me voy a permitir avanzaros un video de prueba sobre el que estamos trabajando. Es un video que he grabado con el apoyo y el magnífico equipo técnico de Medialab en la Universidad Camilo José Cela, donde imparto Ciberperiodismo este otoño a un grupo estupendo de estudiantes que se gradúan en breve. Gracias Juana Abantos, Pedro y Alvaro por vuestro magnífico trabajo técnico.




Formando a equipos de gobierno de países emergentes: Angola

El Rector de la UCJC, El Director de CIGMAP y el Secretario General de GRESIMA (Gobierno de Angola)
Os contaré que he participado en la formación del equipo de gobierno del presidente de Angola en Luanda invitada por Jorge Santiago, Director de CIGMAP. Os invito a leer la entrada de blog que publiqué con ocasión de este interesantísimo curso, en el que aprendimos tanto los estudiantes como la profesora. Y como guinda os dejo unas fotos de la graduación de mis estudiantes angoleños en la Universidad Camilo José Cela, en el Campus de Villafranca, en Madrid.

FullSizeRender (8)

Contribuyendo a la creación de redes de dimensión global

IMG_2243

También participo por invitación del profesor Colin Copus, al que conocí en Varsovia presentando la investigación sobre ciudades inteligentes, y junto a un nutrido grupo de investigadores especialistas en estudios de política local en la iniciativa de creación del primer instituto especializado en estudios del ámbito local en Europa –con intención de que abarque también especialistas y red de otros continentes. La primera reunión en la Universidad The Montfort me ha permitido pisar de nuevo Londres y conocer la ciudad de Leicester. El grupo de investigadores sobre política, economía y otras disciplinas centradas en el ámbito local es de primera división. ¿Que se siente cuando nos invitan a jugar la Champions? Gratitud hacia aquellos que loo han hecho posible. Muchas gracias Carlos, muchas gracias Colin.

Presentando en el mundo casos de ciudades españolas con visión de futuro: smart cities en perspectiva comparada

A lo largo del año, además he presentado junto a mis colaboradores los resultados de nuestras investigaciones sobre ciudades inteligentes en Lisboa, Shanghai y Varsovia. Os invito a que veáis detalles si estáis interesados en esta entrada de blog.

Colaboraciones en prensa

También he comenzado a colaborar en una revista editada por un grupo de jóvenes emprendedores: Vladivostok Magazine… porque me interesa lo que piensan y escriben los jóvenes y que la generación con nuevas ideas pueda conocer las mías !Os recomiendo VladivostokMAG! Gracias a mi amiga Leticia por tener la amabilidad de ponernos en contacto.

Captura de pantalla 2015-12-20 a las 21.19.26

Mis deseos para 2016 … consolidar proyectos y los vínculos institucionales enriquecedores establecidos, sobre los que os he contado en esta entrada de blog. Y actualizar mis sitios web. Y para vosotros, mis deseos son mucha salud y prosperidad en 2016, y que vuestros sueños se hagan realidad.

Posted in Branding, e-government, Economy&Trends, Education for the Future, Gobierno3.0, Innovación, Olga Gil, Redes, Smart Cities, Trends, trips No Comments »

Branding de mujeres profesionales.

Estos días he estado preparando mi próximo viaje a Estados Unidos. Anticipo una presentación para académicos en la que he incluído documentos visuales: He seleccionado imágenes de actividades en las que he participado y de personas que me apoyan académicamente (Oxford, Warwick, CUNY…) o con las que he compartido intereses en años recientes.

Me interesa vuestra percepción sobre branding de mujeres profesionales, con sus particularidades específicas con aplicación a candidatos electorales, CEOs de empresas, intelectuales, líderes de opinión o científicos y la ocupación real de posiciones en organos en los que se toman decisiones: el Parlamento, los Consejos de Administración o los órganos rectorales de las universidades. Viendo este documento, de forma general: ¿Que añadiríais? ¿Qué cambiaríais? ¿Que incluiríais en posibles cursos que las jóvenes puedan aprender? ¿Que consejos daríais?

Estaré encantada de recibir vuestras ideas y comentarios sobre los aspectos mencionados y sobre cómo mostrar de forma gráfica en qué somos expertos (hombres/mujeres) a una audiencia que te ve por primera vez -o que aun no ha tenido ocasión de verte y escucharte.

AP1090402

Posted in Branding, Diferenciación, Education for the Future, Innovación, Olga Gil, trips, Viajes, Women&Men public sphere 5 Comments »

Educating global competitors

Education is changing radically. Digital culture and new global challenges are shaking the foundations of long established learning traditions. These changes have strong consequences for teachers and students alike. I will recall here my recent experience.
Classes re-oriented
My concern preparing a new course has to do with the traditional knowledge that students have to learn. Something new with this? Yes, nowadays students have different profiles and interests, and those should be beared in mind. It is not the same teaching a second degree than expectations from young and unemployed students. Beside this, there are two new components: The first component has to do with the need to engage with firms and institutions -students in my courses do this through project based development and digital portfolios. The second component has to do with fostering a new attitude.

Digital portfolios: Focused on the student

The digital portfolios are minimum requirements demanded to students. These are digital artifacts -built up personally and also working in groups- that they are guided to develop on relevant issues and with a thought on a possible client, either a firm or institution in mind.

Digital portfolios might include reports openly published on Slideshare, learning to curate information on a specific topic through Delicious, Scoop.it…, a professional branding reflecting the work done in the class (from a blog, to a Linkedin and other social media profiles). Bolonia, allotting 50% of time for practical work in the classes is an excellent incentive to built up on this system. Let´s see some examples:

Restoring the Spanish education based on the Brazilian example 2012-2022 is a report prepared by Maider Pérez de Heredia, @maiderpzh. Maider is also author of this digital magazine on the subject. Her report was prepared for McKinsey&Company.

The need for a common fiscal policy in Eurozone has been drafted by Julio Mateo, @juliomcastillo, who is also the author of this digital magazine on the subject.

– Jorge Nuñez @GEEorgx worked on Sino-Congolese relations in Africa: a win-win policy? preparing a report for: Oxford University China Africa Network (OUCAN) among others. This is his digital magazine.

– Cristina Muñoz @FromCristina worked on Política europea sobre cuotas de mujeres en los consejos de administración de las empresas: Policy Networks and this digital magazine.

– Anaïs Leiner, @AnasL3 worked on “Política pública de agua en Francia” and this digital magazine prepared for the Office National de l’eau et des Milieux Aquatiques, Ile de France.


What do students get following this approach?

They develop specific open content, some of a very high quality. Students from political science and international relations degrees using their digital portfolios have been invited to join granted programs with firms such us McKinsey&Co; other students got very good reviews from firms such as Oracle or Mastercard. Some focus on NGOs or developing a project of their own.

Positive leadership, initiative and passion at heart

Artifacts and quality are not enough. Given the same quality of work, students really effective targeting possible clients or interested stakeholders develop during the course skills having to do with an entrepreneurial attitude, being positive towards total connectivity, and constant innovation.

Very important parts of the ecuation have to do with fostering initiative, creative capacity, passion and positive leadership.

In collaboration with innovative universities

I have tested this method in collaboration with innovative universities, together with a program aimed at the global branding of the institution. This has been the case, for instance, with UNIA (Universidad Internacional de Andalucía), were I developed a course to qualify professors teaching postgraduate courses to use digital tools for teaching purposes.

The work with 20 motivated and very competent students added up more than 6.000 cites about the university in the Web over a period of seven weeks.

This course, taught on line, was devised together with Prof. Jean-Charles Blondeau @jeancharles, and had as special guests: professors from both sides of the Atlantic, including Dolors Reig @DReig, Esperanza Román @ERomanMe, Cecilia Gañán de Molina @ceciliaganan; Philippe Boukozba @heuristiqment, and Juan Domingo @JuanDoming as dinamizers.

All in all, the general purpose is to contribute to develope skills to prepare students to become professionals for a new brave world. I leave you this presentation on some of the topics we do analyze in our practical classes, and I very much welcome comments and suggestions on it:

Posted in Diferenciación, Education for the Future, Innovación, Politica Comparada, Trends 1 Comment »

Ciclo de Conferencias Aspectos Políticos y Económicos de la Crisis. Hoy 14 de marzo: Greek Euroscepticism Since the Crisis

Organizado desde la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, ha dado comienzo el Ciclo de Conferencias Aspectos Políticos y Económicos de la Crisis: 10 conferencias impartidas por expertos internacionales, que tienen como foco fundamental Grecia, aunque no exclusivamente. Los directores del ciclo son Irene Martín (Abajo, en la foto) e Ignacio Tirado. El programa es interesantísimo, hoy 14 de marzo, por ejemplo, Susannah Verney hablará sobre “Greek Euroscepticism Since the Crisis” a las 18h. Susanna trabaja en la Universidad de Atenas y es editora de South European Society & Politics. Algunas de las conferencias son en inglés.

Para asistir a sesiones sueltas, el CEPC requiere que se confirme la asistencia antes de cada sesión utilizando el formulario disponible en este enlace (en la columna de Actividades). El control de seguridad requiere presentar el DNI o pasaporte.

A continuación figuran fechas y programa, y al final de la entrada el lugar de celebración e instrucciones para confirmar asistencia.
Jueves. 28 de febrero
La crisis económica en España y Grecia en perspectiva comparada

Yannis Karagiannis, Instituto Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals (IBEI)
Orestis Troumpounis, UC3M
Federico Steinberg, UAM y Real Instituto Elcano

Lunes. 4 de marzo
El impacto político y económico de la crisis griega en los Balcanes
Jesús Nieto, Doctor en Historia, UAM

Martes. 5 de marzo
Emerging spaces of commoning in Athens, a city in crisis
Stavros Stavridis, Escuela de Arquitectura de la Universidad Politécnica de Grecia

Jueves. 7 de marzo
El auge de la extrema derecha
Elias Dinas, Universidad de Nottingham

Martes. 12 de marzo
SYRIZA and the left in Greek politics
Myrto Tsakatika, Universidad de Glasgow

Jueves. 14 de marzo
Greek Euroscepticism Since the Crisis
Susannah Verney, Universidad de Atenas y editora de South European Society & Politics

Martes. 19 de marzo
El doble terremoto electoral de 2012
Elias Nicolacopoulos, Universidad de Atenas y Opinion

Miércoles. 20 de marzo
Economic crisis or the crisis of the state. Reflections on contemporary Greece Nikiforos Diamandouros, Defensor del Pueblo Europeo y U. de Atenas

Dirección del curso: Irene Martín Cortés. Vicedecana de Relaciones Internacionales. Profesora de Ciencia Política. Facultad de Derecho. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.

Lugar de celebración: Centro de Estudios Políticos y Constitucionales. Plaza de la Marina Española 9; Metro: Opera y Plaza de España.
Hora: 17:45 hs.

Posted in Economy&Trends, Education for the Future, Finance, Politica Comparada, Trends No Comments »

Jóvenes Investigadores de la Política

Este fin de semana se ha celebrado la décima edición del Seminario de Jóvenes Investigadores del Departamento de Ciencias Políticas y Relaciones Internacionales UAM (18 y 19 de Enero) en el recinto de La Cristalera de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. A destacar: este departamento figura el primero en Ciencia Política en España en el Ranking de El Mundo 2012 -con lo que esto implica para la formación de futuros líderes. A destacar también que el número de doctorandos en este departamento es muy importante.
La península ibérica se ha visto afectada este fin de semana por una ciclogénesis explosiva. Podemos decir que en La Cristalera el nivel de las discusiones ha alcazado, por su interés, a la ciclogénesis meteorológica. En esta edición ha destacado la gran participación del profesorado y la incorporacion de los nuevos socios del Instituto de Políticas Públicas del Centro Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC). Los jóvenes ponentes: Rosa Mº Navarrete, Cristina Vintilla, Marta Burgos, Paolo Cossarini, Pablo Castillo, Marta Paradés, Ilke Toygur y Alejandro Salinas (en orden de intervención). Podéis recuperar algunas de las actualizaciones sobre el seminario en Twitter con la etiqueta #politicaUAMsif12

Los temas tratados han incluído: Izquierda y Derecha en Europa Occidental; Ciudadanía Europea e Implicación de los no Ciudadanos en Política Local; La construcción de Identidades Horizontales: el Caso de Israel; Emociones y Orden Político; Tratados de la Unión Europea; Identidad Europea; Compartamiento Electoral de los Parlamentarios Europeos; Democracias y Legados Autoritarios.
En el seminario también se anunció que dos jóvenes investigadoras del departamento, Rosa Navarrete e Ilke Toygür, han sido elegidas para integrarse en el Graduate Student Network Committee del European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR). Este Comité está compuesto por sólo seis representantes, elegidos por miembros del ECPR. Su objetivo es generar un espacio inclusivo de debate y de colaboración en la difusión del conocimiento para la comunidad de jóvenes investigadores europeos.

Los coordinadores de esta décima edición del seminario de jóvenes investigadores, Gema García e Iván Medina han recibido felicitaciones por un trabajo excelente. El compromiso de la directora del departamento, Carmen Navarro, y de los investigadores senior, incluídos catedráticos de la UAM, el CSIC (Carlos Alba, Carlos Closa, Jose Ramón Montero, Luis Sanz-Menendez, Fernando Vallespín) y los contraponentes, ha determinado la alta calidad de los resultados de las discusiones científicas.

Con anterioridad a esta etapa, los coordinadores del Seminario de Jóvenes Investigadores (SIF) han sido Ignacio Molina (2007-2012), Irene Martín y Angel Rivero. En palabras de Ignacio Molina, el seminario es “una actividad central para el trabajo colectivo del departamento de ciencia política.” La organización de Gema e Iván ha sido calificada de impecable.

Ignacio Molina destaca que “las propuestas de cara al futuro incluyen animar más la implicación de los doctorandos-no becarios -a los que va también dirigida esta edición de invierno, y que han constituido la mitad de los ocho ponentes- y la preparación de la edición de verano, dirigida a los miembros formales del Seminario de Jóvenes Investigadores (SIF) que utilizan el foro para rendir cuentas de los avances en sus tesis.”

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Education for the Future, Politica Comparada No Comments »

Getting involved to become main actors improving the rules of the game in town: From higher education to employment, citizenship and entrepreneurial spirit

We are heading towards the end of the Fall semester in the three campus where TicWisdom education programms were prepared to teach under Olga Gil´s direction. Evaluations for the work developed in progress by students, strictly following Bolonia are now key. Bolonia is a model that we like: 50% theory plus 50% on-hands-practicioning. Results from students might become very relevant out of teacher´s drawer in a model like this. Two of our students have goot a first job opportunity with the course work developed. One of them has been invited by McKinsey&Co to join the stagier programm in London this summer. This is a result of the work developed in class, where students who decide to do so are presenting the on-going academic essay/report as a proposal to participate on different contest. Thus we have engrained education to employment as part of the courses. Students getting their first opportunity during the course play a very importat role. For their fellow mates they are alive proofs: getting results is possible -against the pesimistic flow.
UNDEF programm to encorage participation of all groups in democratic processes.

We are very pleased we are working against the pesimistic flow –and some inadecuate attacks to public teaching
And we are even getting fine results: Some students will have a job as a result of the work we are developing together. Have a look at how interesting it is the rage of topics they have choosen to work on and how students have become involved –this is just work in progress and final results will be attained by January 2013.

The world today is full of opportunities for those who dare to fetch them.
Rules are changing. Understanding the new rules and having the courage to play and participate in the built up of new rules might well position a complete generation of Spanish youth among the best in the world. I see them not just playing on the Champions League, but inventing new games.

Actually, the crisis might help us to recover a otherwise lost generation, lacking values for compromise, and reflecting those of the elder generation: a lack of ethics for the XXI century. Lack of interest in the world, to know other cultures and to learn how things are done in different societies. The crisis has changed all this. We want so share with you this link to a different idea about Marca España. This has to do with jobs for Spaniards… and all the possibilities linked to built up networks abroad for a very well prepared generation that just has to dare. It is a job site.

We work each day with the convinction that defining new games is a possibility

For these capable men and women, in all the seminars and workshops. Students keep up to expectations indeed. We mentioned one result above, but the list of topics, the quality and originallity of the works they are working in progress is enticing. They are focusing on real challenges: energy politcy, education policy, tech policy, water policy, participation policy, development policy… and also following our advise, they are focusing on the client (party, level of government, institution, NGO…) and specially they focus were the money is –following the insight to INSEAD business school.

This semester TicWisdom has furthered the foundations

We are adding up collaborations with five different campus. Most of themm are based in Madrid, Spain: UNED (worldwide), Cantoblanco (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid), Colmenarejo (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid), Getafe (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid) and UNIA (Universidad Internacional de Andalucía). Students are asked to do the readings with anticipation for all the classes under syllabus developed by us, with inputs from TicWisdom education team for the labs part in the four courses (including digital literacy):

  • Comparative Politics
  • Comparative Public Policy
  • Introduction to Political Science and
  • Comparative Multilevel Governance (Estructura Territorial del Estado).

In all the cases bibliography tends to catch up with recent publications.

We consider that the word changed quite decisively in 1989 and I will not be the same after the breakdown of trust inflicted by commercial banks the United States in 2008 and 2009. Therefore, politics are changing, economics are drastically changing, and society is reshaping. Geopolitics are also changing, with the US losing interest in the Middle East, with important and *dangerous* consecuences for the Mediterranean in the midterm.

Thus, readings and class discussions should reflect upon the current challeges of politics and humanity. According to the students in the comparative politics class, our challenges today have to do with governance, with democractic governance. Their vision on what they should concentrate on from the point of view of the practicioning of political science (and not only from the Academia) is the following:

Students to become main actors improving the rules of the game in town

We also hope our courses have lighten up the flame of interest for them to get involved and to become main actors improving the rules of the game in town. Whether they decide to involve in politics -which for the most part disregard- or working form civil society following Elisabeth Murdoch say: “Comprometerse y darlo que podemos a la comunidad es lo mas importante que una persona puede hacer”

However, this is not a static proposal. Students have a 50% responsibility … to make this proposal a useful one. They have to buy the idea, compromise, and take the responsibility of leadership. They are not always prepared to do so. And there are many other ideas we should keep up with, in order maintain this model upfront. The courses have to change to adapt to the very changing process we encounter today. See just one example.

In our LABs on #education #trends we work in progress and we are currently preparing a course for Universidad Internacional de Andalucía (UNIA): social media por teachers and educators to give tools to educators to built up digital literacy for sustainable global competition. Follow our updates on education via twitter @TicWisdom #edu #labs

For useful documentation see also:

Communication and Leadership: Learning with Open Technologies:


For enquires contact olgagil at olgagil dot es or call 609 448 309.
Comments to this post are very welcomed and we warmly thank RTs.

Posted in Education for the Future, Olga Gil, Politica Comparada, Trends 1 Comment »

Estado, Políticas Públicas y Desarrollo. La clase del 14 de Noviembre

El 14 de Noviembre ha sido convocada una huelga general en España. Hemos decidido suspender las reuniones con empresas previstas en la capital ese día. También estamos preparando clases para los estudiantes, avanzamos en los programas de estudio incluso si hay problemas de desplazamiento a los Campus. Vamos a trabajar en el programa, como lo hacemos de manera habitual. Pondremos foco especial en temas que tienen que ver con el rol del Estado, políticas públicas comparadas y cuestiones relacionadas con desarrollo. Temas centrales para que el crecimiento necesario en las economías más desarrolladas y en desarrollo se produzca. Lo haremos trabajando sobre este video, en el que el sociólogo y economista Manuel Castells cubre los tres temas. Se trata del discurso pronunciado en la recepción del Holberg Prize 2012, conocido como el premio Nobel de las ciencias sociales.

Este es el video, y estas son las preguntas que estaremos respondiendo:

Por favor, preparen respuesta a estas preguntas que el Dr. Manuel Castells cubre en su discurso. Intenten contestar en tres lineas máximo a cada una de las preguntas, ocupando como máximo una página. Traiga la página impresa con su nombre para discusion y para evaluación por la profesora.

1. Cual es el rol que juega el Estado, de forma comparada, según Castells? Cita ejemplos?
2. Como define Castells el poder?
3. Cómo define Castells la globalizacion? Tienen cabida las políticas publicas?
4. Es la globalizacion como la conocemos una elección, según castells?
5. Que quiere decir Castells con el concepto de t mass self communication?
6. Cómo se explicaría el concepto de swinching power usado por Castells? Qué aplicación tiene en aspectos de políticas públicas comparadas?
7. Cómo explica Manuel Castells la creación de comunidades en la sociedad segun el Pr. Castells?
8. Qué significa para Castells el concepto de fatigue democracy?
9. Tras escuchar el discurso, cómo podrían explicarse las políticas públicas orientadas a abordar las crisis a nivel mundial?
10. Cúal es su tema de investigación? Qué puede incorporar del marco de Castells a su investigación?

Adiconalmente, están invitados a dejar comentarios sobre el video así como sobre el 14M, en su relacion con el Estado, las políticas públicas y el desarrollo.

Posted in Cambio Global, Economy&Trends, Education for the Future, Politica Comparada, Trends No Comments »

Manuel Castells Holberg Lecture on Power, State, Development, Freedom and Democracy.

In 14th November a nation wide strike has been called upon in Spain. We are dropping the meetings with firms that we had that day in the capital, Madrid, and preparing alternative classes to cover our due work with students.

For student purposes, we will be working on the programm as usual, tapping into issues having to do with State, develpement and democracy.. We will also cover issues having to do with power and freedom -as related to development. We will do so by listening to this video where sociologist and political economist Manuel Castells covers these issues when receiving what is know as the Nobel prize for the humanities: the Holberg Prize 2012. This is the video, and following it, you might find the questions we will be addressing:

Please prepare answers to these questions, addressed by Manuel Castells in his speech. Try to answer in three lines maximum each of the questions –maximun one printed page. Bring the page to the next class for discussion and to hand out to the professor:

1. What role does the State play, according to Castells?
2. How does Castells defines power?
3. How do Castells defines globalization?
4. Is globalization as we know it a choice, according to professor Castells perspective?
5. What does Castells means by the concept mass self communication?
6. How do you explain the concept of swinching power used by Castells?
7. Are social movements free under Manuel Castells view and why?
8. How are communities created in society according to Pr. Castells?
9. How many current crisis idetifies Castells? Please, name them.
10. What is the level of trust in governemnts, political parties and politicians in countries nowadays, according to Castells? Does he names any exception?
11. What does fatigue democracy means for Pr. Castells?
12. How would you explain the public policies aimed at facing the crisis worldwide?
13. What is your subject fo research and what may you apply from Castells approach to your particular research? Any insight?

You are kindly invited to leave comments here on the video, the 14M strike, power and the State, and links to intersting materials related to all these themes in a civilized manner.

Posted in Art and Building New Society, Economy&Trends, Education for the Future, Politica Comparada, Sustainabiity, Trends No Comments »