Pedro Cifuentes

Sentido de la maravilla, motor educativo del siglo XXI

I am a Social Science teacher at the Jaume I high school in Borriana (Castelló, Spain), as well as author of educative comics such as “History of art in comic” (three volumes, Desperta Ferro Ediciones) and “Instructions to save the world” (two volumes, Random House). I launched my last project in October: History of Spain in comic, the first volume being dedicated to “Prehistory in the Iberian Peninsula” (Desperta Ferro Ediciones). And moreover, I published “A travel through literature” (Harper Kids) in November, a tour on the history of universal literature!

I give training and talks about education and graphic narrative in the classroom. I still believe that education can change the world. “The opposite of funny is not serious, the opposite of funny is boring”, Chesterton said, and I try to apply this every day in my class.

Laura Tedesco

Un desafío inesperado a la democracia

PhD Warwick University, es Profesora Asociada en el Departamento de Ciencia Política y Relaciones Internacionales de Saint Louis University/Madrid Campus. Especialista en liderazgo político en América Latina. Junto a Rut Diamint (Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, Buenos Aires) publicó en inglés y castellano los resultados de una investigación en cinco países (Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela y Uruguay) sobre líderes políticos ¿Demócratas o Usurpadores? Un análisis de líderes sudamericanos (EUDEBA, Buenos Aires, 2019) y Latin America´s Leaders (ZED Books: London, 2015). Desde 2016 dirige una investigación sobre escenarios políticos y el rol de las fuerzas armadas en Cuba.

Ana Patricia Romay Febres

The Work Song, music as an ancestral response to labor

My name is Ana Patricia Romay and I am a 20-year-old undergraduate student at SLU-Madrid, double majoring in Political Science and International Studies and minoring in Ibero-American studies, taking part in the Honors Program. I was born and raised in Venezuela, where I worked and volunteered for non-profit organizations, and obtained awards for academic performance and municipal civic engagement. I studied and sang popular music and traditional Venezuelan music since the age of 7, later obtaining the title of Professional Singer in 2017, after 4 years of study in the Solo Tu Voz singing and performance academy in Caracas. I was also part of the Compañía de Actores Fábula where I obtained preparation in acting and musical theater. I came to SLU-Madrid under a Director’s Scholarship with the goal of sharing a part of Venezuelan culture and I have since taken part in the musical ensemble at the university and have performed as a soloist. I am currently taking part in Saint Louis University’s Undergraduate Core Fellowship in the representation of the student body. I have published creative writing works in the university’s Mad Convivium magazine and have written articles for the Political Science department’s Observatory of Contemporary Crises. I have volunteered with the ONG Rescate in Madrid and am currently leading the soup kitchen volunteering initiative at SLU-Madrid, as well as the Club Francophone. By presenting and singing traditional Venezuelan music in the form of Simón Díaz’s tonadas, or work songs, I want to share Simón Diaz’s legacy, Venezuela’s culture, and the universality of music as a tool to deal with the unexpectedness of modern life and connect with our humanity, labor, and nature.

Luis Borruel Navarro

My coincidental journey on reason and art

Luis Borruel is has been working on applied research for more than 20 years on different multidisciplinary fields and international teams. He holds a Ph.D. and BEng in Telecommunications Engineering and an MSc in Physics. He has always been fascinated by computers, algorithms, and problem-solving. In the last years, an active area of learning has been the use of deep neural networks and the developments in blockchain technologies.
Beyond those traditional technical areas, topics of his interest are public communication and photography, where he has been doing travel photography for two decades. In recent times he has experimented in the area of algorithms and art.

César Astudillo

Screw plans, mind your posture

César Astudillo formula su actual misión profesional como “ayudar a los líderes a tener éxito de forma responsable en un mundo en transición”. Reconocido diseñador estratégico internacional con más de 100 proyectos en su historial, César ha ayudado a líderes empresariales, de Administraciones Públicas y de organizaciones del Tercer Sector a abordar problemas estratégicos complejos y novedosos en escenarios de gran incertidumbre en más de 15 sectores. César es miembro del Grupo de Trabajo de Diseño y Administración Pública del Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, fue nombrado miembro del jurado de los Premios Nacionales de Diseño en 2019, y ha ejercido como profesor invitado y conferenciante en más de 30 instituciones.

Track Dogs

Comprised of 2 Irishmen, 1 Englishman and 1 American the band came together in 2011 to make their unique brand of acoustic music; a veritable 4×4 of voices and instruments identified by their dynamic fusion of styles including folk, Latin, Americana & even some Bluegrass. Track Dogs sing with four voice harmonies backed by guitar, bass, cajón and trumpet, in place of the standard electric guitars and drum set.

The music of the Track Dogs, whose artistic name derives from the maintenance crews of the dark subterranean world of New York’s subway system, reflects a wide mixture of styles. They are based in Madrid, and the infusion of Iberian and Latin riffs that emanate from the capital are captured and reincarnated through Howard Brown’s trumpet. Robert K. Jones’ roots from the United States are also evident, not only through his Bluegrass banjo playing, but also in the lyrical references to mountains and trains. Garret Wall’s voice has been compared to that of Freddy Mercury, and his compositions have been said to carry an echo of Van Morrison, but the driving force and American flavor of the Track Dog sound comes from the bass playing of Dave Mooney, an unashamed admirer of James Jamerson’s Motown’s.

At present the group is preparing its tenth recording to be edited in October 2023. On April 10, they will be performing in the infamous Royal Albert Hall in London.