The Day of the Family was celebrated worldwide on May 15, a date established by the UN 26 years ago in recognition of its value as a basic pillar of society.

This year the focus was on ‘Families and Climate Action’, an issue that undoubtedly affects the planet as a whole and has a negative impact, not only on the economy but also on the lives of people.

The Family Studies Institute, The Family Watch, held a roundtable on May 14 at the Spanish Parliament in Madrid, to discuss the role of the home in relation to climate change and to explain to those who legislate what practices can be carried out to mitigate this threat. Our Project and Media Manager, Angela de Miguel, participated in the debate, which drew many of the conclusions that we already reached at our International Conference on Home and Sustainability, held in London in 2011.

Without sustainable homes, there is no sustainable planet. It is essential to teach our children the importance of caring for the environment and to act as an example to them. If we do not learn to take care of our home, we will hardly take care of everything else. This planet is not just ours, it will be inherited by future generations. If we give it the value it deserves, we will take better care of it.

If one thing is clear to us at the Home Renaissance Foundation, it is the importance of a social and cultural transformation in terms of sustainability. We wish to promote change and to be catalysts through research, as we urgently need to apply sustainable practices so as not to deplete the resources offered by nature. If you want real advice or good practices to follow in your home, you can follow us on Instagram @smarthomemanagement There you will find many helpful ideas on management and home care.

Press Contact: 
Ángela de Miguel
Email: press@homerenaissancefoundation.org
Telephone: + 44 020 7490 3296

25-26 February 2019 | At The Royal Society of Medicine, London

How are the new technologies changing our homes, our lives, our relationships?

The focus of this third Experts Meeting was on the contribution of Artificial Intelligence and the new technologies to the life and work of the home – “The Home in the Digital Age.”

Paper givers and respondents were distinguished academics and professionals working in the area of AI. The focus of the meeting was to address, among other related questions:

• How are these new technologies changing the perception of our bodies, our biographical perception and social relationships?
• What are the new factors in play and how can they be employed to serve the ends that we consider worth preserving in the case of the home and household?
• What might be the specific benefits and the specific costs of how the new technologies can enhance children’s growth, their social integration, intergenerational relationships in the domestic environment, and the care of the elderly?

Details of paper givers, respondents and proposed papers:

Professor Luisa Damiano | Associate Professor. University of Messina, DICAM, Department of Ancient and Modern Civilizations
Respondent: Dr Ioana Ocnarescu,  Strate Ecole de Design, Paris
Focus: Homes as connectors: modelling living spaces in the era of human-robot co-evolution

Mei-Lin Fung | Co-founder with Vint Cerf of the People Centered Internet, World Economic Forum
Respondent: Dr Gloria O. Pasadilla Senior Analyst, APEC Policy Support Unit in Singapore
Focus: Digital Home – Recognize the Perils and Realize the Promise

Professor Gamal Abdelmonem  Director, Centre for Architecture, Urbanism and Global Heritage (AUGH). Nottingham Trent University, UK
Respondent: : Homayoun Alemi, Architect. RIBA.
Focus: Contested Homes in the Age of the Cloud: The changing socio-spatial dynamics of family living and care in the 21stcentury

Professor Francesca Toni | Leader of Computational Logic and Argumentation, Imperial College, London
Respondent: Professor Matilde Santos. Complutense University, Madrid
Focus: Survey of AI for the home and society at large

Dr Mia Mikic | Director Trade, Investment and Innovation Division. United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok
Respondent: Dr Joy Malala, Strathmore University, Kenya
Focus: The impact of A.I. on employment

Dr Stephen Davies | Head of Education at the Institute of Economics Affairs (IEA), London
Respondent: Professor Sophia Aguirre, Catholic University of America, Washington DC
Focus: AI, automation & the home

Key Note and Q&A: Digital families: grand hopes, growing fears, everyday struggles
Professor Sonia Livingstone OBE FBA, London School of Economics, UK
Q&A Facilitator: Professor Rosa Lastra

The tried and tested format of the Experts’ Meeting hosted by HRF with the generous support of STI, allowed for a high level of presentation and discussion on this very topical and relevant area to both individuals and society – it all starts in the home.

Read the Press Release here

Since the early 1970s, interest in the quality of life (QoL) concept has increased significantly in clinical practice and research. QoL has been of paramount importance for evaluating the quality and the outcomes of health care. Despite its importance, there is still no consensus on the definition or proper measurement of QoL. The purpose of this article is to analyze how QoL is being used in medicine and in philosophy to understand its current status.

The term QoL began to be used in the early 1960s following changes in the health and the demographic profiles of “late modern” societies. Traditionally, public health has been concerned, not to say preoccupied, with mortality. Public health frameworks in the first half of XX century were developed and articulated to help cope with the complex patterns of “premature” mortality, and, to a lesser extent, the incidence and prevalence of morbidity. In other words, medicine focused its attention on quantity of life.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE RESEARCH

The Kamalini Vocational Training Centre, an initiative from Protsahan Charitable Trust, is an institute dedicated to preparing young women to support themselves and better manage their own homes in a secure and well-located area in New Delhi, India.

Home Renaissance Foundation has been working with Protsahan Charitable Trust on this project since 2009 to promote quality-focussed and service orientated vocational training. A recent visit by HRF’s Executive Director, Mercedes Jaureguibeitia and Projects Associate, Charlene Ching saw the progress this initiative has made since the collaboration, including the development of the existing centre as well as the plot where a new training centre will be built. This new training centre will also include a hospitality training centre.

The campus is envisaged to be a model project in human ecology where recycling and harvesting solar energy and saving water will be encouraged to maximise the use of natural light and minimise energy requirements.

The Centre has grown consistently and now runs two vocational training centres in urban villages of Delhi while main compound offers courses with two main objectives:

• To supplement basic education through Open School, Tuitions, English language.
• To impart training in skills to facilitate employment and improve the quality of life at home

Kamalini also provides vocational training courses in cutting and tailoring, basic computers and nutrition, cooking and housekeeping.

While paid staff members provide the core education for the students, Kamalini also accepts volunteers to provide personal encouragement and coaching to the students and teaching short courses. Volunteers are offered periodic leadership workshops, and student volunteers are able to fulfil their National Social Service community service hours at the project.

For further information on the Kamalini Vocational Training Centre or to donate or volunteer, you can visit their website

Wavecrest College of Hospitality is a project of the not-for-profit Women’s Board, Educational Cooperation Society of Nigeria.

This project offers women education and training in the areas of hospitality and tourism and hopes to create an awareness of the impact of hospitality services on the quality of life of the individual, the family and ultimately on the development of society. Home Renaissance Foundation has been involved with Wavecrest since 2007.

Wavecrest offers academic training from Certificate to Higher National Diploma level on Hospitality Operations and Hospitality Management. Shorter training courses are also offered in Hospitality Training, Culinary Training and Professional Home Management.

For further information on Wavecrest College of Hospitality and their courses, please visit their website.  

Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic and Ecuador were the first countries where the HRF and our two main partners presented the first report of the Global Home Index.

Last May, we were launching the results at the United Nations where Professor Patricia Debeljuh discussed the findings which you can find here.

This first report is a comparative study of 20 countries. The main objective was to evaluate how the amount of work required to build and care for healthy, thriving home environments is understood and valued.

If you have not yet completed it, please click here to participate, as your views make a valid contribution to society.

bla bla

This blog is Home Renaissance Foundation’s loud-speaker for fostering a renewal of the culture of the home in society, together with the responsibility of families in caring for the young and the elderly.

The BeHome blog maintains that the home is the place where individuals grow and develop, so it is in society’s best interest to look after it. Concerned that sometimes the world outside the home may absorb us completely that the home and the work of the home will become unimportant, the Foundation found that interesting and effective content on the blog was worthwhile channel for catalysing recognition of the home.

All articles, interviews and news on the BeHome blog show the ‘professional’ vision we give to the home and a firm belief that a professional approach to housework can enhance the wellbeing of present and future generations. Therefore we also assert that homemakers, whether stay-at-home or working parents, deserve better as they are crucial in creating a good home environment and thus happy families.

Home Renaissance Foundation’s Media Relations team is increasing the impact of the blog. Joanna Roughton is putting her extensive experience in journalism as Senior Editor at Reuters in Hong Kong and Singapore, and Head of Foreign News at Sky News in London in helping the organization spread its important message. Rosemary Roscoe is putting her experience as journalist and mother in… Angela de Miguel a Spanish radio journalist and digital consultant is updating the current affairs on the blog and on social media.

Read here our posts.