Manuel Castells

Manuel Castells is Research Professor at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC), in Barcelona. He is also Professor Emeritus of Sociology, and Professor Emeritus of City and Regional Planning at the University of California, Berkeley, where he taught for 24 years. He is as well University Professor and the holder of the Wallis Annenberg Chair of Communication Technology and Society at the Annenberg School of Communication, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, the Marvin and Joanne Grossman Distinguished Professor of Technology and Society at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Distinguished Visiting Professor of Internet Studies at Oxford University.

He was professor of Sociology at the School for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences, University of Paris (1967-1979), Professor and Director of the Institute of the Sociology of New Technologies at the Autonomous University of Madrid (1988-1993), Research Professor on the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) in Barcelona (1997) and Professor of Sociology and of City and Regional Planning at the University of California, Berkeley (1979-2003).

He has been Visiting Professor in 29 universities around the world and invited lecturer at hundreds of academic and professional institutions in 43 countries. He has authored 22 books, including the trilogy "The Information Age: Economy, Society, and Culture", 1996-2003, published by Blackwell and translated in 23 languages. He has also co-authored and edited additional 23 books. He has received, among other distinctions, the Guggenheim Fellowship, the C. Wright Mills Award from the American Society for the Study of Social Problems; the Robert and Helen Lynd Award from the American Sociological Association; the Ithiel Sola Pool award from the American Political Science Association; the Spain's National Prize of Sociology and Political Science; the National Medal of Science of Catalonia; the Order of the Lion of Finland; the Order of Arts and Letters from the French Government, the Order Gabriela Mistral from Chile, the Order of Santiago from the President of Portugal and Cross of St. Jordi from the Government of Catalonia.

He has received Honorary Doctorates from 13 universities and several honorary professorships and university medals. He is a member of the Spanish Royal Academy of Economics and Finance, a member of Academia Europea, and Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy. He was a founding member of the Scientific Council of the European Research Council, and a member of the Governing Board of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). Among other distinguished appointments he was a member of the United Nations Secretary General's Advisory Board on Information Technology and Global Development, and a member of the United Nations Secretary General's Advisory Panel on the Global Civil Society. In 2005 he was appointed by the European Commission to be a founding member of the Scientific Council of the European Research Council.

See M-2009 Programme, Monday afternoon, 8 June 2009