EDITORIAL Intercultural education: new century, new needs This special issue of Intercultural Education entitled ‘Intercultural education: new century, new needs. Conceptual and empirical challenges’ is a selection of invited contributions, which were presented at the International Conference ‘Intercultural Education: Paideia, Polity, Demoi’, hosted in Athens from 22 to 26 June 2009. The aim of the conference was to highlight the diversity of perspectives within the field of intercultural education (Paideia) in modern multicultural societies (Polities) in order to explore the role of migrant populations (Demoi) as modern citizens. It was an honour for Greece that this significant international conference was held in Ath- ens, the birthplace of modern day Democracy. The International Conference ‘Intercultural Education: Paideia, Polity, Demoi’ was organised by the International Association for Intercultural Education (IAIE) together with the former Hellenic Migration Policy Institute, with the support of the Department of Early Childhood Education at the University of Western Macedonia. In addition, UNESCO – Division of Education and Culture, Athens Municipality – Division of Equality and Social Integration, the former Institute of Education of Repatriated and Intercultural Education at the Greek Ministry of Education and Life Long Learning, the International Association for the Study of Cooperation in Edu- cation, the Hellenic American Educational Foundation, Athens and Psychico Col- lege, the Greek Institute for Language and Speech Processing and Evens Foundation also supported the event. The conference included two days of pre-conference workshops followed by three days of presentations and social events. Some 500 people, from 40 different countries, attended. The conference was not only a gathering of experts on education, but fore- most a social event, where people from all over the world had the chance to get to know each other, to start new cooperation and make new friends. This international gathering also set the basis for the consequent establishment of the Hellenic Associa- tion of Intercultural Education (HAIE) as local chapter, affiliated to the IAIE in Greece. Its official establishment took place in the summer of 2011. Professor James A. Banks and Professor Jagdish Singh Gundara were the key- note speakers and their contributions set the tone for the rest of the conference. James Banks is Professor of Multicultural Studies, Director of the Center for Multi- cultural Education at the University of Washington. Emeritus Professor Jagdish Singh Gundara, University of London-Institute of Education, is Head of the Interna- tional Centre for Intercultural Studies, UNESCO Chair in Intercultural Studies and Teacher Education and also President of the IAIE. It was an honour for the confer- ence to have two of the founders and pioneers of multicultural/intercultural educa- tion in the USA and in Europe as keynote speakers. Special thanks go to Barry van Driel (as Secretary General of the IAIE at that time) and Fokion Georgiadis as administrator of the Conftool electronic platform of Intercultural Education Vol. 22, No. 4, August 2011, 227–230 ISSN 1467-5986 print/ISSN 1469-8439 online Ó 2011 Taylor & Francis http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14675986.2011.617415 http://www.tandfonline.com