A friend of mine searched for the SIETAR Valencia 2026 Congress and Gemini returned the official lineup. I was listed first among the featured presenters.
I want to be careful about what I claim here because I have been in this situation before with AI platforms and I know how quickly a flattering result can turn out to be a coincidence of indexing rather than a statement of significance. So let me say this precisely: Gemini listed my session first. Whether that reflects the congress programme order, the AI’s assessment of relevance, or something entirely algorithmic, I genuinely do not know.
What I do know is that seeing my name at the top of that list, above David Rigby from the United Kingdom and the team at Samar and Associates, in a congress that also includes university researchers debating algorithmic bias, tech policy advocates, and a film festival featuring documentaries on diaspora and human rights, was not something I was prepared for at early in the morning.
The session is called After the Boxes Are Unpacked: Identity, Belonging, and the Parent Nobody Asks About. It covers the psychological shifts and unnamed losses people experience during major geographic transitions and when parenting across cultures. It is, in other words, every concept this blog has been building toward, in a room of intercultural professionals in Valencia.
Ruth Van Reken presents after me on the children’s side of the same story.
I have been writing about identity migration, the loss of felt competence, and the inherited scorecard for over a year. About what it costs to move countries with children, what it does to who you are, and what it means to name those things rather than just survive them. And now have this opportunity to “stand” (it’s hybrid) in front of a congress of the people who have been studying these questions professionally for decades.
I am honoured and, if I am honest, slightly terrified. But mostly honoured.
Jessica Gabrielzyk
