19 November 2026 | 16:15–17:30 (UK time) | University of Kent, Canterbury and online
The Centre for Global Science and Epistemic Justice (GSEJ) is delighted to announce the publication of BioGovernance Commons and China’s Role in Global Risk Governance (Springer Nature, 2026), marking an important milestone for a bottom-up science diplomacy initiative that began in 2021.
To celebrate the publication, GSEJ is hosting a hybrid book launch, ‘Commoning in an Age of “Perpetual Crisis”’, bringing together founders and key contributors from the US, China and Italy to reflect on the possibilities, challenges and limits of international scientific cooperation.
BioGovernance Commons began in 2021 as an experiment in bottom-up science diplomacy. Initiated by a group of academics amid escalating geopolitical tensions and the narrowing of opportunities for scientific exchange during the COVID-19 pandemic, it sought to keep channels of dialogue open across political and disciplinary divides. Initially focused on UK–US–China relations, the initiative gradually attracted colleagues from Europe, South Asia and Southeast Asia, developing into an international platform for exchanging perspectives on science, biosecurity, emerging technologies and global risk governance.
The circumstances that prompted the initiative have hardly disappeared. Geopolitical competition, technological disruption and growing inequalities continue to challenge international scientific cooperation. Drawing inspiration from Kant’s idea of ‘perpetual peace’, the book launch asks whether we are instead living in an age of ‘perpetual crisis’ — one in which the very systems designed to generate prosperity, security and progress can also reproduce fragmentation, competition and mistrust. Against this backdrop, we ask what it means to pursue the common good through science without taking either the common good itself or the conditions for achieving it for granted.
Meet the speakers
The discussion will feature three contributors bringing perspectives from biosecurity, bioethics and comparative law:
- Kathleen Vogel, Arizona State University, USA — Co-founder of BioGovernance Commons and expert in biosecurity and science policy.
- Haidan Chen, Peking University, China — Expert in bioethics and the governance of emerging biomedical technologies.
- Simona Novaretti, University of Turin, Italy — Expert in comparative Chinese law and author of Law and Bioethics: The Beginning of Life in China.
The event will be chaired by Professor Joy Y. Zhang, Director of GSEJ and co-founder of BioGovernance Commons.
Together, the speakers will reflect on the initiative’s journey, the lessons emerging from its cross-border conversations and the possibilities for sustaining meaningful scientific dialogue in an increasingly fragmented world.
Join us in Canterbury or online
Date: Thursday 19 November 2026
Time: 16:15–17:30 (UK time)
In person: Cornwallis North West Seminar Room 6 (map: https://www.kent.ac.uk/maps/canterbury/canterbury-campus/building/cornwallis-north-west/cnwsr6)
Online: Zoom
The event is open to colleagues, students and anyone interested in science diplomacy, global governance and international scientific cooperation.
Register for the hybrid book launch
We warmly invite you to join the conversation — and to help keep dialogue open across divides.