People, Places, Engagement and Change
This cluster encompasses research on neighbourhoods, cities and regions, within and beyond the UK; citizenship, migration, refugees and asylum; immigration and asylum law; freedom of movement of persons; culture, environment and identity; popular education; comparative and historical studies in politics, education and society; informal and non-formal learning in communities and workplaces; the role of the media in politics and society (including issues of censorship and freedom of expression); digital futures of learning; cultural and religious change; changes in family law; housing systems and tenures; learning cities/regions and social capital development; place management; place-making and urban design; local power structures and mechanisms for political engagement; the interaction between the global/local.
Some 40 academics across the college have expressed a desire to be involved in collaborative research across one or more of these themes.
60 min brainstorms
We propose a series of inter-disciplinary sessions during 2012/13 providing an opportunity to discuss common interests, catalyse new intellectual connections and map out potential research avenues around a series of themes.
The first of these is listed below and will hopefully stimulate further suggested topics for discussion.
60 Brainstorm 1: Education and the Urban Environment
Synopsis: The existence of spatially concentrated pockets of educational under-achievement strongly suggests that neighbourhood and wider socio-economic and environmental factors have an important role in determining the educational career of young people. [Notes from the discussion]
Topics for brainstorming: (i) the two-way links between educational achievement and the urban environment; (ii) how local crime, poverty, health, segmentation etc. drive and are affected by educational attitudes and outcomes; (iii) areas for fruitful collaboration and advancement; (iv) potential for data linkage and sharing; (v) whether there is sufficient interest to take this area forward and how.
Who should attend? Anyone enthusiastic about research in these and related themes, and interested in being actively involved in new research in this field.
How can I suggest further topics for brainstorming? Simply email your ideas and suggestions (either related to this first topic, or ideas for future topics) to Mike Osborne and Gwilym Pryce and they will get back to you.