Keynote speakers

The keynote speakers are international leaders in contrasting areas of intercultural practice and research. They will present relevant, vivid examples of interculturality and the research-practice relationship from their own work and experience. Their presentations will be plenary, that is, not parallel with any other conference event. There will be four international and four local keynotes.


International keynotes

Ulrich Kattmann taught teaching methods in natural sciences at the University of Oldenburg. His research focuses on human biology, evolution and genetics and includes explorations of the intertwined constructions of ‘human race’ and ‘racism’.

 Kattmann
Manju Jaidka is Professor of English at  Panjab University, Chandigarh, India. She is best known for her contribution to American Studies in India, but her research also addresses diasporic writing from India, narratives and narratology, and contemporary world literature. As co-founder of MELOW,  the Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the World, she aims to bridge distances between scholars across international borders. Manju Jaidka
Waldemar Martyniuk is Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. Teacher trainer, author of textbooks, curricula, and testing materials for Polish as a foreign language; visiting professor and lecturer at universities in Germany (Bochum, Giessen, Göttingen, Mainz, Münster), Switzerland (Basel), and in the USA (Stanford University); translator of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages into Polish (2003); since October 2008 Executive Director at the European Centre for Modern Languages of the Council of Europe, based in Graz, Austria.
 Waldemar Martyniuk

Richard Stanton worked as a researcher on issues from international development to local government and led work for the Mayor of London on immigration and asylum policy from 2000 – 2008. He is co-founder of MigrationWork CIC, a new community interest (not-for-profit) consultancy that aims to "help communities, practitioners and policy-makers to respond to migration, in ways that ensure both migrant and ‘host’ communities can benefit …  and move towards integration."

 Stanton



Local keynotes

Local keynotes will present leading examples of applied interculturality research in Graz and Austria. 

Ulrike Bechmann is head of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Graz. Her research focuses on ecumenism and interfaith dialogue, especially among Judaism, Islam and Christianity, and addresses the role of religion in identity, gender, politics, law, conflict and violence. Ulrike Bechmann

Wolfgang Benedek teaches international law with a focus on human rights. He is director of the European Training and Research Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Graz and chair of World University Service Austria, committed to the right to education. He has extensive  experience in higher education and human rights in the Balkans and Africa.

 benedek

Christiane Hartnack is Chair of the Center for Intercultural Studies, Danube University, Krems, Austria. She has been working in a highly international environment including the University of Iowa (Center for International and Comparative Studies) and the Zakir Hussain Centre, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Her research topics are intercultural communication and contemporary India with a particular focus on India’s cultural diversity and the synergies between indigenous and Western cultural elements.

hartnack

Ursula Hemetek is an ethnomusicologist at the Institute for Folk Music Research and Ethnomusicology, University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna. She researches the music of Austrian minorities including Roma, Burgenland Croats and recent immigrant groups and is chair of the Study Group “Music and Minorities” of the International Council for Traditional Music. She collaborates with NGOs such as Initiative Minderheiten.

Ursula Hemetek