Festival
Online
Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
The Politics and International Relations Festival is an annual series of events held by the School of Humanities and Social Sciences for everyone interested in how politics shapes our lives.
The festival celebrates research highlighting how the world of politics and international relations enables us to understand and tackle issues like inequality, poverty and government decisions on education, health, and economic development.
Enjoy a wide range of events that bring together UK and international policymakers and activists to debate many of the pressing challenges currently facing political leaders – including panel discussions with local politicians and expert analysts, workshops with human rights and development practitioners, discussions with journalists and environmental activists, and poetry readings.
This year, our festival will be a mix of on campus and virtual events. Come join us as we discuss some of the world’s most challenging political issues of the day!
Week 1
14:00-15:00 International Women's Day Event: Breaking the Bias. Biases beyond Gender.
The event will focus on the multiple biases that women of colour face, looking at how sexism and racism intersect and manifest in discrimination in education, employment and health. The event will discuss meaningful allyship and consider how those that do not experience racialised gender bias can be better allies to those who do.
Speakers include Prof Vini Lander, (Director of the Centre for Race, Education and Decoloniality at LBU), Dr Maria Maynard (Reader in the School of Health and Chair of LBU’s Race Equality Forum), Rachel C Boyle. Head of Interdisciplinary Studies in the Carnegie School of Education and Incoming Dean of the School) and Misan Jekhine (MA Student in the School of Events, Hospitality and Tourism and member of LBU’s Race Equality Charter Student Subgroup).
13:30-14:30 Graduate Recruitment; the employer's viewpoint
Vice president People in Sage Group plc. Ms Emma Ayton and Early Careers Talent Specialist Ms Victoria Rowland will give a talk on the attributes employers are looking for in potential candidates and on how these are currently assessed in practice during the recruitment process.
The talk will be followed by a Q&A session. The Sage Group plc. is a multi-billion pound multinational software enterprise headquartered in the North-East of England and employing approx. 12,000 people worldwide. Potential opportunities for Leeds Beckett graduates within the Sage Group plc. will also be highlighted.
12:00-13:00 A feminised crisis? Gendered leadership styles and support for COVID-19 emergency measures and leaders
As the media praised female leaders’ responses to the pandemic Dr Jessica Smith from the University of Southampton interrogates this claim. She proposes COVID-19 presents a ‘feminised crisis’ and examines the impact of different gendered styles in response to the pandemic on public support for leaders and their COVID emergency measures.
Book here
15:00-16:00 Advances in Gender Justice: The Women's Court for the former Yugoslavia
International Women’s Day 2022 encourages us to #BreaktheBias and imagine a diverse, equitable, and inclusive world. Challenging gender-based violence and discrimination is a crucial challenge for countries emerging from violent conflict. In this talk, Maria O’Reilly explores the role of grassroots truth-telling initiatives in securing justice for women affected by war. She highlights the Women’s Court for the former Yugoslavia, which was established by women’s organisations with the aim of making visible women’s experiences of violence and providing justice to victims of war-related violations and harms.
11:00-12:00 Rachel Julian - Involving people's voices in the midst of armed conflict
Professor Rachel Julian has 25 years of experience working internationally in peace and conflict including disarmament, peacebuilding, nonviolence and Unarmed Civilian Peacekeeping. She spans the practice-research divide by maintaining strong connections to the practice of creating peaceful communities as well as innovative research in understanding how local people are key to success in preventing violence and sustainable peace.
Professor Julian will speak about her current work which centres on listening to the voices of those involved in and affected by violence and conflict.
16:00-17:00 Terrorist Drone
Terrorist Drones: Building upon recent fieldwork in the Middle East and the Sahel, Dr James Rogers will explore the evolution and impact of terrorist drone use.
From terroristic actors during the 1990s, through to the rise of ISIS drones and Houthi precision strike capabilities, this talk will outline the ways in which weaponised drones have been acquired, deployed, and impacted global security.
13:00-14:00 The role of education in peacebuilding: Lessons from Sierra Leone
Final year PhD student Yi Yu of the University of Warwick will present an overview of her research, focusing on peace education and its role in the peacebuilding process in Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone is widely regarded as a success story for peacebuilding, having escaped from recurring civil war and holding four cycles of peaceful elections since the early 2000s. This presentation will explore the role of peace education as an essential component of the peacebuilding process in this formerly war-torn country.
Prior to commencing her PhD at Warwick, Yi Yu completed an MA in Peace and Development at Leeds Beckett.
14:00-15:00 Ukraine and the World Economy - A Marxist Analysis
What’s really driving the Russian invasion of Ukraine? How are the EU and NATO powers likely to respond? How will the crisis affect a global economy already reeling from COVID? Michael Roberts explores how a Marxist understanding of the global economy helps us to unravel the complex politics of this unfolding crisis.
Michael has written several books on the global economy, including The Great Recession (2009) and the upcoming Pluto Press title Capitalism in the 21st Century, with Guglielmo Carchedi (2022) and is the author of the influential blog thenextrecession.wordpress.com
17:00-18:00 Working for a ThinkTank
LBU Alumni Sean Benstead will speak about his career journey and working as a researcher at CLES the National Organisation for Local Economies. Sean joined CLES for their innovative and ambitious approaches to municipal economic transformation, their commitment to harnessing and implementing fresh ideas from civil society alongside the propensity for CLES’s work to build popular coalitions of mass political support.
Following the ground-breaking work of the Liverpool City-Region Land Commission, he is particularly excited by the opportunity to work on exploring how local authorities can look to alternative models of land ownership and land use to influence more equal socio-economic and environmentally responsible outcomes.
Week 2
Rethinking Security
Details to be confirmed
14:00-15:00 Public attitudes and the politics of poverty (on campus)
Second year PhD student Ruth Woolsey will talk about her experience of transitioning from an MA programme to a PhD, and introduce her research looking at attitudes towards poverty and its relationship to public policy.Building upon work started as part of her MA dissertation, Ruth’s PhD project explores public perceptions around the causes of poverty, and the relationship between public attitudes and the politics surrounding poverty in the UK. Drawing upon in-depth qualitative data, the study will explore the extent to which there is a direct link between public perceptions, political discourse and ultimately public policy decision-making. The answers to these questions may ultimately have implications for our understanding of the policymaking process, and the extent and nature of the linkage between grassroots public opinion and high-level decision-making in the UK political system.
14:00-15:00 Once Upon a Time in the Global South (on campus)
Society is currently impacted by a Western "Once upon a time (...)" tale of benevolent dominance and purposeful wilding of power over everyone and everything in the Global South.
Thus, it is undeniable the current lack of recognition in academia of postcolonial literature is nonetheless due to coloniality and the scars of Western violence.
This workshop, run by Jamila Pereira, will analyse the narrative surrounding African postcolonial literature and its lack of cognizance around the Globe.
15:00-16:00 Solutions not Sides talk (on campus)
In August 2021, Eleanor Green, a current Level 6 student, attended the Solutions not Sides student leadership program. The program was a five-day event where a group of 20 students learnt about conflict solutions, interfaith and the Israel/Palestine conflict.
During the talk, she will be highlighting what she learnt, how it was helpful to her (and how it will be helpful for future applicants from our university) and how it relates to PIR.
Also, Dr Robin Redhead will be discussing the charity’s work. If you are interested in peacebuilding, leadership and creating social change- this event is for you! There will be a chance to ask questions.
11:00-12:00 7 Myths that sustain in the global arms trade (Myth 1): Higher defense spending equals increased security. Video screening & workshop with Demilitarise Education (on campus)
Every year, military spending increases. But do you feel more secure?
Demilitarise Education Ltd. (@dED_UCATION/dED - pronounced like “dead”) is a community and guide for modern day peacemakers, working to see universities break from the global arms trade and commit to world peace.
They will be presenting the first of their new seven-part video series, based on the book ‘Shadow World: 7 Myths that sustain the Global arms trade’. The session will include a 10-minute video screening and discussion about security, defence, and the arms trade.
From the military industrial complex to the war on terror, this workshop is to equip you with valuable knowledge for promoting peace and demilitarisation.
14:00-15:00 Asumani Susho (on campus)
Details to be confirmed
15:00-16:00 The Screening of 'British Born Chinese' documentary based on the work of Dr Elena Barbantseva (on campus)
'British Born Chinese' is a film about the experiences of Daniel and Kevin, two boys born to Chinese migrants and living in Manchester (UK). The film is based on the work of Dr Elena Barabantseva, and it represents the way Elena has used filmmaking for fieldwork, both as a tool of exploration and expression. Made over the course of two years in experimental reflexive and participatory style, the film explores the complexity and challenges faced by the boys seeking to reconcile Britishness with Chineseness.
16:00-18:00 Politics Society Social and Writing Prize Awards (on campus)
Details to be confirmed
