EIMAD returns to Castelo Branco to consider the future of research in Music, Arts, and Design
From 9 to 11 July, the Higher School of Applied Arts of the Castelo Branco Polytechnic Institute hosts EIMAD’26 – 10th International Meeting on Research in Music, Arts and Design, a space for scientific exchange, critical reflection, and interdisciplinary dialogue around the contemporary challenges of creation, research, and society.
This edition is held under the High Patronage of His Excellency, the President of the Portuguese Republic, and benefits from the High Patronage of UNESCO, within the framework of the Creative Cities – UNESCO Network, a recognition that reinforces the event’s institutional, cultural, and international significance.
Over three days, EIMAD’26 will bring together teachers, researchers, professionals, and students, both national and international, connected to the fields of design, music, and the arts, as well as their intersections and overlaps. The programme includes parallel sessions and plenary conferences, offering opportunities to present experiences, processes, and research outcomes developed across various academic, artistic, and professional contexts.
This year’s edition is guided by the United Nations 2030 Agenda and the European New Bauhaus initiative, promoted by the European Commission. These two references invite reflection on the role of research, creativity, and artistic practice in building more sustainable, inclusive, and culturally meaningful responses to today’s global challenges.
The 2030 Agenda highlights the urgency of promoting development approaches that integrate social, economic, and environmental dimensions and advocating for fairer, more peaceful, and more resilient societies. Meanwhile, the European New Bauhaus proposes an approach that integrates science, technology, art, and culture, valuing solutions that are simultaneously sustainable, inclusive, and aesthetically refined, in close alignment with the principles of the European Green Deal.
In this context, EIMAD’26 aims to debate how design, music, and the arts can contribute to improving quality of life, transforming communities, and promoting new ways of inhabiting, creating, and coexisting. More than isolated disciplinary areas, these fields are understood here as spaces for thought, cultural intervention, and mediation, capable of generating knowledge and stimulating changes with social impact. The programme will feature the participation of international speakers Christian Guelleri, Kristina Niedderer, and Ruth Piquer, who will contribute to the debate from different disciplinary and methodological perspectives. Their interventions will reinforce the international and transdisciplinary nature of the event, fostering the exchange of ideas and the circulation of innovative research practices.
With this 10th edition, EIMAD consolidates its position as a leading forum for research in Music, Arts, and Design, and reaffirms the importance of these areas in building more sustainable, creative, and human futures. The event will also be an opportunity to reflect on medium- and long-term investment in culture, artistic education, and applied research as drivers of social transformation and sustainable development.
EIMAD ’26 is organised by the Higher School of Applied Arts of the Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco.