About Us

How We Started

The Observatory: Centre for Australian and Transnational Studies was established in 2017 by resolution of the Rector of the University of Barcelona. Founded by Dr Susan Ballyn, the Centre had begun in 1990 as the Australian Studies Programme (ASP), a programme that formed part of the larger framework of Postcolonial Studies at the Department of English Studies. It grew in size and scope by organizing conferences, seminars, publications, etc., and was finally recognized by the University of Barcelona as a centre of research, under the name Observatory: Centre d'Estudis Australians (CEA) in 2007. So as to respond better to the wide-ranging signs of our globalizing times, in 2017 the CEA became the CEAT or Observatory: Centre for Australian and Transnational Studies. With the introduction of new statutes in 2022, the acronym OCEAT has also been used to refer to the Centre.

 

Membership

Membership is free and will give you a discount on any events for which we charge. You will also regularly receive a circular with events going on around the world in Australian and Transnational Studies as part of your membership.

 

Objectives and activities

• The aim of the observatory is to promote interdisciplinary, international, academic research activities within the fields of Australian and Transnational Studies, with the aim of having social impact in these areas through the organization of regular academic exchanges of both teachers and students; of congresses, of seminars and of presentations and publications as a result of shared projects and activities at the national and international level.