Dr Montserrat Gas-Aixendri, director of the Institute for Advanced Family Studies at UIC Barcelona, was the opening speaker of the first Interdisciplinary Congress on Family and Childhood, organised by the Universidad de los Andes (Chile), on 6 and 7 November.

The paper presented by Dr Gas-Aixendri dealt with family and childhood, addressing current challenges and opportunities from a European perspective. The lecturer made some reflections on the cultural and social framework that currently affects the family in Europe. She pointed out how individualism, the ‘debiologisation’ of family ties and the influence of the technocratic paradigm are marking a new stage where the focus of public action is not on the family but on the isolated individual: “It is therefore necessary to propose alternatives to recover the role of the family for the development of people and society,” said the expert.

These alternatives, according to Dr Gas-Aixendri, consist of the importance of the return to the valuation of natural bonds, which are not simply biology. The director of the IESF, who is also a lawyer and lecturer at the Faculty of Law of UIC Barcelona, said that “the welfare of children must be put at the centre of law and family policies”.

Her presentation ended with a reflection on the growing individualism and loneliness that we find in many societies: “We have to work to help create strong and stable personal bonds, especially in the family environment,” said the lawyer.

The Institute for Advanced Family Studies is the first institute of its kind in Spain at university level its actions and activities are primarily concerned with family policies. As well as offering a postgraduate course in Family Coaching and Guidance, the Institute is dedicated to research, teaching, dissemination, networking and consultancy with public and private entities.