IE University brings together international figures from academia, politics and the arts at Hay Festival Segovia 2025

International figures from academia, politics and the arts will share their thoughts and experiences at Hay Festival Segovia 2025. The 20th edition of the event, winner of the Princess of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities, will be held from 11 to 14 September 2025 and will bring together writers, thinkers, artists and representatives of international political and academic life. IE University, through the IE Foundation, will host an extensive program of panels and round tables at its historic Santa Cruz la Real campus in Segovia.

This year’s festival will bring together more than 100 leading personalities from 16 countries at 60 events distributed throughout the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Issues such as international conflict, the role of the European Union in a global context, foreign policy strategies, democracy, AI and the future of political institutions will be addressed. Also under discussion will be the social contract, the power of space and the architecture of the future, as well as the current challenges of historiography and historical memory.

The official opening of the festival will take place on September 11 at IE University with a discussion featuring Josep Borrell, former High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and Dr. José María Beneyto, an expert in European affairs. The session will address international tensions, the role of the European Union in a global context and foreign policy strategies. The second part of the event will be attended by three students from the IE European Union Club – Oleksandr Mysyk, Vanessa Chioaru and Catherine del Río. The event will include the dance show Merina: la creación total, a combination of dance, electronic music and fashion, created by Oteyza in collaboration with the AIDA Foundation.

As part of the FT Weekend Debate, on Friday 12 September Nick Clegg, former deputy prime minister of the United Kingdom and current Chair of Global Affairs at Meta, and Enrico Letta, Dean of the IE School of Politics, Economics & Global Affairs will discuss democracy, AI and the future of political institutions, moderated by Madrid-based British journalist Helena de Bertodano.

Minouche Shafik, economist and former president of Columbia University and the London School of Economics and Political Science, will discuss global disorder, the need for a new social contract in Europe and the role of universities in civic and democratic cohesion with Enrico Letta, moderated by British journalist Anne McElvoy. On the same day, Mexican architect Fernanda Canales and David Goodman, Dean of IE School of Architecture and Design, will explore the power of space and their respective visions for the architecture of the future.

On Saturday, Giles Tremlett, a British historian, journalist and writer who is an expert in the contemporary history of Spain, will participate in a conversation with María José Ferrari, director of the Chair of Hispanic Cultures at IE University, to address the challenges of interpreting history, the tensions between memory and historiography and the relevance of the Spanish past in today's Europe.

Brazilian writer Marcelo Rubens Paiva will talk with actress and director Maria de Medeiros about the recent film adaptation of his family history, I’m Still Here, which won an Oscar in 2025, in a session moderated by Iona de Macêdo, Associate Dean of IE Business School, and presented by Catalina Tejero, Dean of IE School of Humanities. Subsequently, the film will be screened with comments by Sophia Sampaio Teixeira do Amaral, a professor at IE School of Humanities.

Dante, Leadership and the Ethics of Power

Santiago Íñiguez de Onzoño, Executive President of IE University, will participate in a panel of experts on Dante, leadership and the ethics of power, together with the British philosopher and academic AC Grayling and academic Fabio Corsico, moderated by journalist Anna Bosch.

Libyan-born cultural strategist Princess Alia Al-Senussi and Catalina Tejero will participate in the panel Women Shaping the Arts: Collecting, Patronage, and Cultural Legacy, a dialogue on the role of women in art and culture, patronage and cultural influence, which will end with a book signing.

IE University's participation in Hay Festival Segovia builds on a longstanding collaboration between the two institutions that dates back to the festival's earliest editions. This partnership brings together the festival's global reach with the university's academic expertise, establishing Segovia as a leading venue for critical discourse on contemporary issues.

In addition to the events in Segovia, IE University will also host a pre-session on Wednesday, September 10 at IE Tower, the institution's technological and sustainable campus in Madrid, entitled A World Without Wars: Youth, Power and the Future of Global Peace. Sundeep Waslekar, Robert O. Keohane, Sam Elsey and IE University students will be in conversation with Borja Santos, Vice Dean of IE School of Politics, Economics & Global Affairs.