Many of the ideas defended and promoted by Juana de Vega (1805–1872), a worthy heiress to the Enlightenment and a firm advocate of liberalism, remain fully valid and continue to influence social evolution today. The modernity of these ideas put the study of liberalism and of nineteenth-century history at the centre of the interests of the Cátedra Juana de Vega. The Cátedra, whose creation was sponsored by the Fundación Juana de Vega, forms part of the Departamento de Historia Contemporánea of the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Its current director is the professor in that department Justo Beramendi, who also directs the Cátedra’s collection of publications. The collection aims at the dissemination of the works made within the Cátedra, which derive either from conference proceedings or from the research awards (in two categories, A y B), organized and decided by the Cátedra’s board of directors itself.
The series Actas publishes, as its title suggests, collective works bringing together papers presented at conferences or seminars organized by the Cátedra under its own name.