Humanities Week at IE - 5 Schools, 5 Deans, 5 Perspectives to understand the world

IE’s acute awareness of the key role humanities play in developing a critical and global vision of the world has led it to invite international experts to join IE’s five deans in spending the week of April 9-13 examining the importance of humanities in an automated world, in the legal profession, in the architecture sector, in the post-millennial generation, and in peacekeeping efforts.

Participants in IE Humanities Week will include the deans and senior directors of IE Business School, IE Law School, IE School of Human Sciences and Technology, IE School of Architecture and Design, and IE School of International Relations, and the event will be run in collaboration with IE Campus Life. The overriding aim of this initiative is to drive a critical vision of the world and redefine reality in order to explore the limits of knowledge and contemporary culture.  Throughout the week, insights will be shared by participating experts like Alessandra Chichi, EVP and General Counsel of HBO Europe, who will be analyzing the link between creativity, storytelling, and the legal profession. Marta Garcia Aller, journalist and author of ‘El fin del mundo tal y como lo conocemos (The end of the world as we know it)’, will be sharing her vision of the role humanities will play in an automated world. Architectural photographer Whit Preston will explain the keys to photographing architectonic spaces. Victor Cobos, co-founder and CEO of M&C Saatchi Sponsorship, will present the book “Risk, Realism and Ritalin – A study of the Post-Millennial Generation” about the post-millennial generation.

Pianist Isabel Pérez Dobarro, who represents the Sustainable Development Solutions Network Initiative, SDSN Youth, will take a look at the role of humanities in peacekeeping. The actress and coach Assumpta Serna and the producer Scott Cleverson will participate in a workshop on Storytelling and Leadership. And Begoña Gonzalez-Cuesta, Dean of Communication and Media, IE School of Human Sciences and Technology, will analyze the power of Brand Storytelling. This series of activities will foster reflexive dialogue in the IE community, as well as an exploration of diverse ideas to find new solutions to questions raised by a global world in continuous change.

The key objective of our Humanities Week is to reflect alongside our students and graduates on the pivotal role of humanities in understanding a complex world by means of critical thought and breadth of vision,”  says Santiago Iñiguez de Onzoño, president of IE University. “The humanities help us to transform the world and make us better people.”

IE’s campus will also celebrate the event with a mural depicting the meaning of humanities created by Japanese artist Masaaki Hasegawa. The mural is designed to connect people from different world regions and cultures, with an emphasis on the importance of the term “humanity”. “IE University has students from 140 countries, and the education they receive reduces any boundaries that might exist among the different schools and specializations,” says Hasegawa. “This collaboration with IE is a result of the importance of humanities within the institution, and to demonstrate how art can go beyond barriers to connect with people.”

The humanities form an integral part of IE’s identity.  The study of humanities permits the student to question pre-established concepts, redefine realities, and develop a critical vision of the world. Hence IE has launched multiple initiatives designed to integrate the humanities into every aspect of academic and professional life.  Key events include the annual IE Foundation Prizes in the Humanities in recognition of the best written and audiovisual work of IE students and graduates and aimed at encouraging them to express themselves using a different voice and from different perspectives, thereby bringing a vision only humanities can provide.