Prof. Marcel Swart participates in the continuation of the International Dialogue Project 
by the Young Academy of Europe. This Dialogue project was started by Anne Buttimer and Torsten Hagerstrand during the 1970s, and consisted of a large number of video interviews with eminent scientists in Geography and other fields of science, which provide fascinating insights into the academic world of these different fields.
Young researchers can benefit tremendously from lectures by leading senior colleagues, when they outline not just their scientific achievements, but also discuss the personal and professional choices that led them to where they are. However, such lectures are rare and reach very limited audiences – thus a lot of accumulated wisdom could be lost. To remedy that, members of the YAE obtained funding from the Academia Europaea’s New Initiatives (Hubert Curien) Fund to perform video interviews with a series of outstanding academics (the majority of whom are also members of the Academia Europaea). The motivation of this project is that as successful senior colleagues, the selected academics have a wealth of experience to share with the broader scientific community, and it is important to make their voices heard.
With the help of Prof. Anne Buttimer and Prof. Maria Dolors Garcia Ramon for the construction and execution of the interviews, and with support from the Barcelona Knowledge Hub of the Academia Europaea, the first six interviews have taken place in Barcelona and Stockholm between October and December 2015. These videos were directed by Rubén Duro and Mark Harris and are now available on the YAE channel on Youtube:
- Interview of Lourdes Beneria by Lynn Kamerlin at the National Library of Catalunya (28/10/2015)
- Interview of Genoveva Marti by Marcel Swart at the Chapel of Santa Àgata (29/10/2015)
- Interview of Salvador Giner by Alexander Fidora at the Institut d’Estudis Catalans (29/10/2015)
- Interview of Sven Lidin by Lynn Kamerlin at the Grand Hôtel Stockholm (10/12/2015)
- Interview of Michael Levitt by Marcel Swart at the Grand Hôtel Stockholm (10/12/2015)
- Interview of Anne Buttimer by Alexander Fidora at the Cercle de Liceu (10/12/2015)
In the coming months more interviews will be taking place.