The 20^th International Conference of the International Federation for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (Federación Internacional de Estudios sobre América Latina y el Caribe – FIEALC), which took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, concluded on Friday, 22 September 2023. Nine people, including faculty members, laboratory teaching staff, postgraduate students, and PhD candidates, represented the Department of Spanish Language and Literature—and the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA)—at the conference.

It is worth noting that the NKUA’s Department of Spanish Language and Literature successfully organized this renowned biennial international conference in Athens in 2009, with many different countries participating. Appropriately, from 2009 through to 2011, Professor Emeritus Efthimia Pandis-Pavlakis was President of the International Federation for Latin American and Caribbean Studies.

FIEALC’s 20^th International Conference helped promote research and strengthen relationships amongst academic teams from across our planet. The high level of participation from the Department of Spanish Language and Literature emphasized again the importance placed on the internationalization and extroversion of our Department in particular and NKUA in general.

Throughout the conference, the Department of Spanish Language and Literature received numerous honours, proof of the excellent level of education provided by NKUA and the high-quality research produced in our country.  

Of particular importance for NKUA and its School of Philosophy were the following:

1. Professor Dimitrios Drosos was appointed member of the Scientific Council of the Center for Research in Latin American Studies for Development and Integration (Centro de Investigaciones de Estudios Latinoamericanos para el Desarrollo y la Integración – CEINLADI), Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
2. Professor Dimitrios Drosos and Professor Emeritus Efthimia Pandis-Pavlakis received an Honorary Distinction from the Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, for their permanent cooperation and high-quality scientific work.
3. PhD candidate of the NKUA’s Department of Spanish Language and Literature, Nikoleta Bougou, was awarded the ‘Premio Leopoldo Zea’ (FIEALC’s international prize) for her excellent speech on Latin American Literature on a topic connected to her ongoing doctoral research.

All the above distinctions are tangible proof of our country’s recognition concerning research and the production of knowledge in Latin American Studies and a credit to the NKUA’s Department of Spanish Language and Literature and its people who received honours at an international level.