Dear friend,
I hope this newsletter finds you well. As I write we are on the verge of summer once again, though it seems only yesterday that I was sending greetings for the New Year. It has been a busy and productive six months.
When we start projects, especially when we carry them out with other institutions, we set very specific objectives to make the most of these opportunities. Even so, it is very gratifying when more than has been planned is achieved. I am referring to the study carried out with the ICWF of the IESE Business School.
We started collecting data two years ago and launched the first results at the beginning of this year with a presentation at the Espacio Fundación Telefónica in Madrid on 16 May. We were delighted with the incredible success of this event in terms of both on-site and online attendance, and record here our renewed thanks to Telefonica for their support. The video of the entire event, with the participation of María Zabala and the Ordenatriz, among others, is uploaded on youtube and has 1426 views to date. Thank you for your support in this too.
Also as a result of this first stage of research, a game to play as a family has been developed as an enjoyable way of promoting homemaking and good relationships. This summer we will participate in training and piloting the game via the engagement of family associations. We shall keep you up to date with this exciting new project.
In April, we published our annual Communication Project. We wanted to disseminate the book Happiness and Domestic Life in a slightly different way. Experts concluded that the home is the cradle of happiness and we wanted to find out from ordinary people what they thought. The result was a very special and creative response to the abstract concept of happiness – the value of family at all stages and all stations of life. The project is in two languages and you can read it here.
We are at a very important stage with our Experts Meeting in Nottingham, which we are organising together with Nottingham Trent University and the United Nations, as we begin to receive papers from contributors. These will stimulate what we know will be a very valuable discussion on the Home and Climate Change. The main topics are here so that you are aware of the specific areas we will be researching in order to present a report to the United Nations for the 30th anniversary of the International Day of Families in 2024.
In the past three months, we have also attended conferences related to care and the importance of the home as a source of stability for the individual, including one at the invitation of the University of Catalunya. An account is given in a recent Be Home Blog, where we also talk about our beginnings with María Sahuquillo. It is always encouraging to see how work pioneered by HRF is beginning to take its proper place at the heart of academic discourse.
Finally, we are very pleased to let you know that we will be presenting our book ‘Happiness and Domestic Life’ at the IESE Conference on Work and Family held in Barcelona next week, where the board will also take the opportunity to meet and set new milestones for the rest of the year.
I hope you all have a good and restorative summer and can relax for a while with your families.
With best wishes,
Bryan K. Sanderson
BeHome Blog 