Dabating Development

Shakin’ up the Ivory Tower: Imagining the university as the subject of social transformation

Description

Do you feel anxious about the future in the context of growing social inequality and climate and ecological breakdown? What should your university equip you with in the face of these challenges? Why does it matter how knowledge gets produced and funded? In this year’s Debating Development series, we will assess and discuss the potential, limitations and responsibilities of universities and higher education institutes in contributing to social transformation, rather than merely preparing students for the labour market or feeding them with scientific knowledge void of any actionable change.

Program

​Weekly evening sessions, Stadscampus UAntwerpen, 18.30 – 20.30. ​

Monday 2 October (18.30 - 20.30, R.002)

Universities, social transformation, and the politics of knowledge

• Willem Schinkel, Professor of Social Theory at Erasmus University Rotterdam
• Amber Murrey, Associate Professor of Human Geography at University of Oxford
• Swati Kamble, Doctor of Social Sciences (Public Policy Analysis) and independent researcher activist

Tuesday 10 October (18.30 - 20.30, R.002)

The neoliberal university and the commodification of knowledge

• Willem Halffman, Senior lecturer Science & Technology Studies at Radboud University Nijmegen
• Maddie Breeze, Senior Lecturer Sociology at Queen Margaret University

Monday 6 November (18.30 - 20.30, R.201)

The extractive nature of academic research and partnerships

• Adriana Moreno Cely, Postdoctoral Researcher at the Educational Sciences department at Vrije Universiteit Brussel
• Swati Kamble, Doctor of Social Sciences (Public Policy Analysis) and independent researcher activist

Tuesday 14 November (18.30 - 20.30, R.002)

Ongoing colonial histories of universities amidst attempts towards decolonization

• Patricia Daley, Professor of the Human Geography of Africa, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford

Tuesday 21 November (18.30 - 20.30, R.002)“(Anti-)racism and gender (in)equality at the university”

• Remi Joseph-Salisbury, Senior Lecturer Sociology at the University of Manchester
• Dounia Bourabain, Assistant Professor of Sociology at University of Hasselt
• Sophie Withaeckx, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Centre for Gender and Diversity at Maastricht University
• Naoual El Yattouti, PhD-student, Faculty of Law, University of Antwerp

Tuesday 28 November (18.30 - 20.30, R.002)

The responsibilities of higher education: Community engagement towards social justice

• Bojana Ćulum Ilić, Associate Professor at the University of Rijeka (UNIRi) in Croatia, at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Education
• James Kennedy, Professor History at Utrecht University
• Kaat Somers, Project Coordinator Education & Service-Learning at UCSIA, University of Antwerp

Tuesday 5 December (18.30 - 20.30, R.002)

Reimagining the university: Alternative spaces of education

• Sayan Dey, Assistant Professor Language and Literature at Alliance University, Bangalore
• Clod Marlan Krister Yambao, PhD-student, Conflict Research Group, Ghent University

Tuesday 12 December (18.30 - 20.30, R.002)

Academic ties with industry: contradictions with a sustainability discourse?

• Jan Rosier, Full Professor of the Business of Biotechnology School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science, University College Dublin
• Barbara Van Dyck, Associate Professor of Political Agroecology, Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience, Coventry University
• Sam Gee, Organiser with the Campus Climate Network, and Cambridge Climate Justice, and Natural Sciences student at the University of Cambridge, UK
• Vincent Bellinckx, Post-doctoral researcher, Institute for Environment and Sustainable Development (IMDO), University of Antwerp

Tuesday 19 December (18.30 - 20.30, R.002)

Intra- & interuniversity solidarity for justice