At a time when the world is facing a critical historical juncture, marked by rising inequalities, ecological disruption and geopolitical fragmentation, the International Network for Political Ecology ( POLLEN ) will hold its biennial international conference in Barcelona from 29 June to 3 July 2026, organized by the University of Barcelona and the Universitat Autònoma de Catalunya. The event will bring together more than 1,500 people from the fields of research, activism and civil society organizations from around the world to analyse contemporary crises and explore pathways towards fairer and more peaceful alternatives.
The welcome reception and the first sessions will take place on Monday 29 June at the UB's Faculty of Geography and History, where a large proportion of the conference's activities will be held. The organizing committee is headed by the experts Camila del Mármol, head of the Department of Social Anthropology at the UB's Faculty of Geography and History; Dan Brockington, David Gilbert, Esteve Corbera, Isabelle Anguelovski and Maria Pastor, from the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA-UAB); and Ismael Vaccaro (CSIC).
Critical reflections, challenges and lessons learnt
The main focus of the POLLEN 2026 conference will be the three plenary sessions, which will feature short keynote presentations followed by brief, complementary contributions, moving away from the usual expert panel format. The sessions are designed to encourage a wide-ranging debate with the audience on issues ranging from anti-capitalist resistance to authoritarian capitalism. The full programme, speakers' profiles and detailed abstracts are available on the conference's official website.
