Are you conducting (or interested in) research that tackles global challenges and benefits developing countries? The Global Challenges Doctoral Centre (GCDC) is delighted to announce the launch of ‘GCDC Hangouts’ – a monthly, interdisciplinary event focusing on research that addresses global challenges.

The Centre’s first GCDC Hangout will take place on Wednesday, 13 November, from 13.00-14.00 in CE329 (third floor of Cornwallis East), and everyone is welcome – whether you are a GCDC-funded PhD, a GCDC affiliate student, a Master’s student, a postdoc, a supervisor or just vaguely interested in research that addresses global challenges, do come along! The session will include a catered lunch and plenty of time for networking and discussion.

The inaugural session will be led by GCDC director, Dr Beth Breeze and is entitled, ‘Philanthropy and the Sustainable Development Goals: what role for private donors?’. Beth will discuss the pros and cons of philanthropic individuals and institutions becoming involved in tackling global challenges and invite you to share your perspectives.

More information about the session and the GCDC is available here and you can book your place by emailing Grace Grussenmeyer at: kentgcdc@kent.ac.uk.

Join us for The Rutherford Grass Roots Lecture, organised in conjunction with the Former Staff Association, on Wednesday 13 November 2019 at 18.00 in Rutherford Lecture Theatre One.

The lecture is entitled ‘The Enduring Appeal of Holy Relics, The Case of St Thomas Becket’ by John Butler.

Based on his new book, The Relics of Thomas Becket, John Butler’s lecture explores the continuing fascination that the Church of England has with holy relics.

For more information please see the alumni webpages.

The second in our series of free lunchtime concerts continues on Weds 13 November with a performance by the Preston Ensemble.

Formed in 2016 by string players in the south east, previous concerts include at the Assembly Rooms in Faversham. For this performance, the group brings Mendelssohn’s Octet to the concert-hall.

The performance starts at 13.10; admission is free, with a suggested donation of £3.

The Lunchtime Concerts series is generously sponsored by Furley Page Solicitors.

To mark the launch of the new ‘Postcolonial Europe Group’, there will be an all-day symposium on the 2nd of November 2019 at the University of Kent, with contributions from scholars, activists and artists from the UK, Netherlands, Denmark, Italy, and Malta.

At a time when Europe is being questioned culturally and politically, there is a need to re-think its significance. Adopting a postcolonial lens, this event will bring into the spotlight a different map of Europe that is not solely shaped by its colonial legacy but also by different dynamics of subalternity, conditions of un/belonging, cultural, economic and geographical displacement.

The event will bring disciplines and fields together to re-think critically and creatively the significance of Europe. It will focus particularly on a number of contested conjunctural spaces: from Europe’s Southern frontiers to its inner cities. The interventions will be followed by a round table discussion centred on the objectives of the network, and a talk by artist Agnese Purgatorio.

Speakers include:

Professor Lars Jensen (Roskilde University): ‘Writing Postcolonial Europe’

Professor Sandra Ponzanesi (Utrecht University): ‘Phantoms of Europe: Intellectual Legacies and Cultural Transitions in Postcolonial Europe’

Dr Norbert Bugeja (University of Malta): ‘The Edge(s) of Memoir in an Ageing Europe: Postcolonial Notes’

Professor Miguel Mellino (Università degli Studi di Napoli L’Orientale): ‘Policing The Refugee Crisis: Neoliberalism between Biopolitics and Necropolitics’

Dr Paula McCloskey (University of Derby) and Dr Sam Vardy (Sheffield Hallam University): ‘The Eile Project; a place, of their own’

Dr Maria Ridda (University of Kent): ‘Remaking Europe from its Lawless Frontiers’

Agnese Purgatorio (artist, Podbiesky Contemporary, Milan): ‘The Immobile Nomad’

Register here. The event is free but places are strictly limited and will be allocated on a first-come first-served basis.

Dr James Newton, Lecturer in the Department of Media Studies, has just released a new entry in his podcast series, Newton Talks.

In the series, James discusses topics (mostly) related to cinema, television, and culture. His guests will be from the world of academia, as well as filmmakers and other artists, and each podcast will take the form of an unscripted discussion.

The latest episode features prolific Welsh horror and exploitation filmmaker Andrew Jones. Andrew, through his company North Bank Entertainment, has directed nearly thirty profitable movies, including The Curse of Robert the Doll (2016), Werewolves of the Third Reich (2017), Bundy and the Green River Killer (2019), The Manson Family Massacre (2019), The Curse of Halloween Jack (2019), and many more. In this podcast, James talks to Andrew about his career in micro-budget filmmaking.

To listen to this instalment, please see the page here.

Congratulations to Dr Rocio von Jungenfeld, Lecturer in Digital Media at the School of Engineering and Digital Arts on winning the BCS AI Award at The Lumen Prize awards in London on 24 October. The BCS AI Award is conferred for excellence in the use of some form of artificial intelligence to produce an outstanding piece of art.

Her project – Lichtsuchende – was a collaboration with Dave Murray-Rust (University of Edinburgh). The project can be accessed at the Lumen Prize website.

The Lumen Prize for Art and Technology celebrates the very best art created with technology through a global competition, exhibitions and events worldwide.

Photo credit: Chris Scott @chrisdonia