Hosted by Swinburne University over two days, this policy-focused conference will bring together Australian and international practitioners, policymakers and researchers to explore whether and how combining multicultural and intercultural approaches could enrich diversity policy in Australia.

Australia is widely recognized as a successful multicultural society.  However, global migration and geopolitical trends in the 21st century are throwing up new diversity challenges. The Making Connections conference will explore the role the ‘intercultural cities’ approach at the local government level could play in addressing rising diversity challenges internationally and in Australia.

We invite practitioners, stakeholders, policymakers at all levels of government and academics to join in conversation with international and local experts to explore the complementarity of multiculturalism and interculturalism and the experience of intercultural cities in Australia, Canada and Spain.

Day 1: Multiculturalism and Interculturalism: alternatives or mutually supporting approaches?

• What is the difference – in theory and in practice – between multicultural and intercultural approaches to diversity policy?
• Does Australia need an intercultural component in its diversity policies?
• How could multicultural and intercultural approaches be combined in Australia?

Day 2: Intercultural Cities in Global Context: Australia, Canada and Spain

• Australian Intercultural Cities showcase: Salisbury (South Australia) and Ballarat (Victoria).
• Preliminary findings of the International Intercultural Cities Comparative Study: Ballarat and Salisbury (Australia), Sherbrooke (Canada) and Sabadell (Spain).

Keynotes:

Prof Fethi Mansouri, Director, Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, UNESCO Chairholder, Cultural Diversity and Social Justice, UNESCO UniTwin Convenor, Inter-religious Dialogue and Intercultural Understanding (IDIU).

Ms Irena Guidikova, Head of Division, Inclusion & Anti-Discrimination Programmes, Council of Europe, former Director, Intercultural Cities

Assoc Prof Anthony Moran, Associate Professor, Sociology, Department of Social Inquiry, HUSS School Director of Graduate Research, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, La Trobe University, Bundoora

Speakers:

Ms Lynda Ford, Director, iGen Foundation, ICC Expert, Australia

Ms Vesna Haracic, Manager Community Health & Wellbeing
Community Health & Wellbeing

Dr Glenda Ballantyne, Senior Lecturer, Sociology, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, School of Social Sciences, Media, Film, and Education, Swinburne University, Co-coordinator, Australian Intercultural Cities National Network, Curator, Victorian Multicultural Commission Multicultural Film Festival.

Prof Bob White, Department of Anthropology, University of Montreal, Director of the Laboratory for Research on Intercultural Relations (LABRRI), Coordinator, Réseau des municipalités en immigration et relations interculturelles du Québec (RÉMIRI),  

Prof Ricard Zapata-Barrero, University of Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Director Interdisciplinary Research Group on Immigration (GRITIM-UPF) and Coordinator  Euro-Mediterranean Research Network on Migration (EuroMedMig).  

Professor Robyn Eversole, Howard I. Scott Professor of Practice in Social Entrepreneurship, Bucknell University

Dr David Radford, Senior Lecturer (Sociology), Research Degree Coordinator, UniSA Justice and Society, University of South Australia

Dr Kiros Hiruy, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Social Impact, Swinburne University of Technology