4th Annual Research Festival on Global Challenges and Social Justice

09:30-09:45

Arrival and coffee (Juniper/Medlar Rooms)

09:45-10:00

Welcome and introduction

10:00-11:30

Engaged geographies

Geography and Environmental Studies panel Chair: Dr Colin Lorne (The Open University)

Roundtable speakers:
Dr Lucy Baker (The Open University) 'Of money, mobiles and off-grid solar'
Dr Marion Ernwein (The Open University) 'Site-thinking with plants: An engagement experiment at a long-neglected urban heritage site'
Dr Alessandra Marino (The Open University) 'Engaging Sustainable Futures: Village Sustainability Plans in Indigenous territories'
Prof Shonil Bhagwat (The Open University) 'BEYOND: Broadening the engagement of young people in the environment'
Prof George Revill (The Open University) 'Listening with publics: sonic creative practice and environmental engagement'

This Roundtable will talk about the different modes and media through which we are undertaking ‘engaged’ geographical research – different ways of engaging publics, audiences and the like through creative, public and popular modes of geographical and environmental research.

11:30-11:45

Coffee break

11:45-13:15

Crime, Harm and the State

Criminology panel Chair: Dr Keir Irwin-Rogers (The Open University)

Roundtable speakers:
Dr Lynne Copson (The Open University) 'Producing Crime, Harm and the State'
Dr Matthew Melsa (The Open University) 'Why are nonhuman animals victims of harm?'
Prof Steve Tombs (The Open University) 'The Intellectual Origins of Crime, Harm and the State'

This Roundtable will showcase contributions in the recently published book, Crime, Harm and the State (Bristol University Press), which was originally produced for the OU third level module, DD311.

13:15-14:15

Lunch on the Mulberry lawn followed by beverages in the Juniper/Medlar rooms

14:15-15:45

Researching Socio-Cultural Change

Sociology Panel Chair: Prof Umet Erel (The Open University)

Speakers:
Dr Kevin McSorley (The Open University), 'Breathing, Chemosensation and Atmospheric Violence'
Prof Sophie Watson (The Open University), 'A sad decline: Socio- cultural change and fishing communities in the UK'
Jude Wilson-Hughes and Dr Emma Clarence (The Open University), 'In the Spaces Between: Module-Adjacent Tutorials and Sociomaterial Relational Pedagogy in Distance Higher Education'

15:45-16:00

Wrap up

09:30-09:45

Welcome- Dr Gunjan Sondhi (The Open University)

09:45-11:00

When Does a Crisis Begin (and End)? Rethinking Europe’s so-called Refugee Crisis

Chairs: Dr Agnes Czajka (The Open University) and Dr Evgenia Iliadou (Surrey)

Speakers:
Elena Boukouvala
Dimos Sarantidis
Dr Maqboul Sidiqi

This roundtable revisits what has often been framed as the 2015 ‘refugee crisis’. Rather than taking 2015 as its temporal anchor, the discussion challenges the assumption that the crisis began at that moment. Bringing together scholars, practitioners, refugees and activists, it asks: When does a crisis begin or end, and who decides? The roundtable seeks to challenge linear and Eurocentric understandings of crisis by tracing its longer genealogies of displacement, bordering, and violence.

11:00-11:15

Break

11:15-12:30

Global Challenges in local contexts: Historical and contemporary perspectives in the UK and Romania

Chair: Dr Maria Nita (The Open University)

Speakers:
Dr Maria Nita (The Open University), 'Intersecting global and local challenges of climate mitigation and food security in the UK'
Dr Mariana Cojoc (“Ovidius” University), 'Multilevel governance in the Black Sea region, geopolitical dimensions, and the strategic role of Constanța as a city-harbour'
Dr Adriana Cîteia (“Ovidius” University), 'Transgenerational ethics, the interplay of memory and identity, and the political-philosophical construction of identities in local and European contexts'
Dr Rãzvan Victor Pantelimon (“Ovidius” University), 'Public opinion on the migrants and refugees' issue and the political consequences of it. Comparative study of populist discourse in the UK and Romania'.

This panel seeks to explore global challenges - both as concept and public perception - in specific local contexts, focusing on key case studies in Milton Keynes (UK) and Constanța (Romania). We will discuss historical trajectories and contemporary developments in urban settings, emphasizing communities experience. The panel will conclude with a general discussion on implications for solutions and interventions for sustainable development, equity, and resilience, with a focus on mitigating the local impact of global challenges across generations and borders.

12:30-13:15

Break

13:15-14:45

Roundtable: Values and Reasons: Current Research in Philosophy

Chair: Dr Mark Pinder (The Open University)

Speakers:
Prof Sophie Grace Chappell (The Open University)
Dr Azita Chellappoo (The Open University)
Prof Derek Matravers (The Open University)
Dr Sean Cordell (The Open University)

This panel outlines some of the cutting edge thinking about philosophy undertaken at The Open University.

14:45- 15:00

Break

15:00-16:00

Keynote Prof Anand Menon, UK in a Changing Europe/KCL 
'Brexit: where have we got to and where are we going?'

In conversation with Prof Jamie Gaskarth (Open University)

Anand Menon is Professor of European Politics and Foreign Affairs at Kings College London. He is a Director at Public First and directs the UK in a Changing Europe project (www.ukandeu.ac.uk), which has established itself as the leading source of impartial, research based evidence on the UK and its relationship with the EU. He has published numerous academic books and articles, including the Oxford Handbook of the European Union (OUP, 2012), and Brexit and British Politics (Polity 2018). He contributes regularly to both print and broadcast media and has appeared on most major radio and television news outlets including the Today Programme, Newsnight and Question Time. He is a trustee of Full Fact a member of the Strategic Council of the European Policy Centre, a Council member of the European Council on Foreign Relations and an associate fellow of Chatham House.

16:00- 16:15

Break

16:15-17:45

Economics for a fairer world

Chair: Prof Susan Newman (The Open University)

Speakers:
Dr Kevin Deane (The Open University), ‘The Social Determinants of Health and Economics’
Dr Janet Cole (The Open University), ‘Economics as if people matter’
Dr Jerome De-Henau (The Open University), ‘Towards a caring economy for a more equal and sustainable world’
Prof Susan Newman (The Open University), ‘What would an economics programme for popular power look like?’
Dr Alan Shipman (The Open University), ‘Why it helps to be heterodox’.

The economics discipline at the OU has a long history in advancing and promoting heterodox economics traditions and pluralist economics education. At the heart of this is a shared critique of neoclassical welfare economics and its amorality that continues to underpin conventional approaches to policy intervention. In this roundtable discussion, colleagues from the economics discipline will share their perspectives on what economics in scholarship and in practice should look like if equity and sustainability were prioritised over narrow concepts of economics efficiency.

17:45- 18:00

Closing remarks- Dr Gunjan Sondhi