In May 2001 a group of enthusiasts coming from all over Spain gathered at the University of Burgos, answering the call from Inés Praga made some months before about the possibility of creating a Spanish Association for Irish Studies. Then and there a few dozens of scholars founded AEDEI, a forum of knowledge and research on Ireland that has never ceased to summon its members for their annual meeting in May each year. Only in 2007, when the EFACIS international conference was held at the University of Seville, that year’s conference was postponed until the following academic course.In every gathering academics, writers, scholars and students, all sharing an interest in Ireland, its culture and history, have offered their insights and knowledge to promote a better understanding about Ireland in Spain. The interdisciplinary nature of the association has been the trademark of AEDEI since the very beginning: classic authors, cinema, new developments in literature, landscape, music, social trends. have been discussed and analyzed.
There is a long list of distinguished academics and writers who have attended our conferences. Among them Fintan O’Toole, Louis de Paor, Margaret Kelleher, Deirdre Madden, Bill Rolston, Roy Foster, Dermot Bolger, Christine St. Peter, Medbh McGuckian, David Pattie, Jamie O’Neill, Éilís Ní Dhuibne, Peter Cunningham and Declan Kiberd could be mentioned.