On April 28–29, 2025, more than 200 international experts and representatives from 50 universities and institutions will come together to design a Common Action Plan aimed at advancing media literacy and intercultural dialogue.
The event will take place in Barcelona, hosted by the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), during the Second International Conference on Media and Information Literacy and Global Understanding (MILID & Global Understanding). This global forum will serve as a key platform for developing strategies to counter disinformation and hate speech in today’s digital society, while fostering cooperation and shared understanding across cultures.
The conference is organized by the Arab Academy and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) – through the MIL Institute and Gabinete de Comunicación y Educación– within the framework of the UNESCO MILID International Cooperation Program. It also receives institutional support from INCIBE (Spain’s National Cybersecurity Institute) and the collaboration of the UNESCO MILID Network and UNESCO MIL Alliance.
The upcoming conference builds on the success of its first edition, held in Cairo in 2024 under the auspices of the Arab League and UNESCO. That inaugural gathering established a strong consensus on the crucial role of Media and Information Literacy (MIL) and intercultural dialogue in fostering global peace.
One year later, amid escalating global tensions and growing polarization, the Barcelona conference seeks to move from discussion to concrete action. Its central goal is to develop a Common Action Plan that will serve as a reference framework for advancing media education, international cooperation, and ethical digital governance.
Key Objectives
The conference will focus on two major challenges:
Strengthening Global Cooperation by creating an international platform that connects MIL organizations and networks.
Establishing a Common Action Plan to provide a structured roadmap for promoting critical thinking and intercultural dialogue in the digital era.
Core Initiatives within the Common Action Plan
- Developing a Global MILID Research Agenda to inform education policies and strategies.
- Formulating an Ethical and Civic Commitment to responsible engagement with digital media and artificial intelligence.
- Introducing New Methodologies for Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue through digital platforms to foster mutual understanding worldwide.
Conference Structure and Methodology
The program combines plenary sessions and interactive workshops designed to analyze the evolving media landscape and produce actionable solutions.
- Plenary sessions will address the impact of emerging media ecosystems on global discourse.
- Workshops will focus on shaping the Common Action Plan, organized around three main themes:
MILID & Intercultural Dialogue
MILID in Research, Education, and Action
MILID, Digital Rights, Cybersecurity, and Artificial Intelligence
A Milestone for Global Digital Citizenship
Through collaborative engagement and strategic dialogue, the Second MILID & Global Understanding Conference aspires to become a milestone event in the worldwide effort to combat disinformation and hate speech—while advancing an informed, critical, and responsible digital citizenship for the 21st century.
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