The University of Barcelona will officially kick off the 2025/26 academic year for the Catalan university system with an event attended by representatives from all universities in the country and the highest authorities, led by the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa. In addition to hosting the event, the University of Barcelona will celebrate its 575th anniversary, adding special significance to the occasion. The event will be open to everyone and will have a choral and activist character.
Choral, because rectors from leading Catalan, Spanish, and European universities will join voices to read the 17th-century inaugural speech by Scottish professor John Leslie, Laconic Sophomachia or the War of Science against Ignorance, a message still relevant today.
Activist, because four centuries after John Leslie, the inaugural lecture will be delivered by a young female student: Yaiza Moreno Castro. One of the greatest struggles of the 21st century is feminism, and women are leading an unprecedented social transformation. Yaiza Moreno Castro is a brilliant graduate in Law and Philosophy, currently a predoctoral student and student representative on the drafting committee of the new UB Statute.
The event will be hosted by communicator Juliana Canet and will feature a hologram show, adding a unique sense and spectacle to the occasion.