Plenary Speakers

PROFESSOR KATHRYN CRAMERI (Stevenson Chair of Hispanic Studies, University of Glasgow)

Kathryn Crameri became the Head of the School of Modern Languages and Cultures on 1st January 2014 and holds the Stevenson Chair of Hispanic Studies. Her research focuses on Catalan Studies, with particular interests in contemporary Catalan literature, cultural policy, and Catalan nationalism. Her publications include “Goodbye, Spain?” The Question of Independence for Catalonia (2014).

PROFESSOR ADRIAN GUELKE (School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy and Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation and Social Justice, Queen's University of Belfast)

Adrian Guelke is a Visiting Research Professor at the Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation and Social Justice (Queen’s University Belfast). After an academic career in which he was Professor of Comparative Politics at Queen’s University of Belfast and before that Jan Smuts Professor of International Relations at the University of the Witwatersrand, Adrian Guelke retired in September 2012 and is an Emeritus Professor in the School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy who is attached to the Institute. He is the editor of the journal, Nationalism and Ethnic Politics and a member of the Board of Research Committee 14 (Politics and Ethnicity) of the International Political Science Association, which he chaired between 2006 and 2012. He has a longstanding interest in the politics of deeply divided societies. This arises in part out of specialization throughout his career on the politics of South Africa and of Northern Ireland, particularly from an international perspective. Another area of his research has been on political violence, most particularly on terrorism, including its impact on politics at the global level.

DR DIEGO MURO (Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals, IBEI)

Diego Muro prior to joining the Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals (IBEI) was Associate Professor in European Studies at King’s College, London (2003-2009). He obtained his PhD from the London School of Economics (LSE) and was Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute (EUI) and Santander Fellow at St. Antony's College, University of Oxford. He is the author of Ethnicity and Violence (Routledge, 2008) and The Politics and Memory of Transition (Routledge, 2011). His work has also been published in Ethnic and Racial Studies, Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, Nations and Nationalism, Politics, South European Society and Politics, and Studies in Conflict and Terrorism. His main research interests are comparative politics, ethnic conflict and asymmetric warfare. He is currently working on a MINECO funded comparative study of terrorist disengagement in Southern Europe.

PROFESSOR ROBERT A. SAUNDERS (Farmingdale State College, a campus of the State University of New York, SUNY)

Robert A. Saunders is a Professor in the Department of History and Political Science at Farmingdale State College, a campus of the State University of New York (SUNY), where he teaches courses in comparative religion, international relations, and world history. He is also Chair of the Science, Technology and Society (STS) program. His geographic areas of focus include Europe and post-Soviet Eurasia, and his research explores the impact of popular culture and mass media on geopolitics, nationalism, and religious identity. His articles have appeared in a variety of peer-refereed journals including Nations and Nationalism, Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, Progress in Human Geography, and Geopolitics. He is the author of Ethnopolitics in Cyberspace: The Internet, Minority Nationalism, and the Web of Identity (2010) and The Many Faces of Sacha Baron Cohen: Politics, Parody, and the Battle over Borat (2008), as well as the co-author of the Historical Dictionary of the Russian Federation (2010). He recently completed work on his most recent manuscript, Nation Branding and Popular Geopolitics in the Post-Soviet Realm which explores the tension between Western pop-cultural representations of the former Soviet republics and their own attempts at country branding.