Higher Education: A Place for Activism and Resistance?
SRHE International Conference 2024
Monday 2nd December (online) and 4th – 6th December (in-person at the East Midlands Conference Centre in Nottingham, UK).
Higher education has always had a role in engaging with society’s ‘wicked issues’, with academics consciously engaging with or being drawn into politically-charged discussions about a wide variety of issues including climate change, human rights, migration, nationalism, conflict and war-torn societies, medical ethics, resource scarcity, or economic issues (both global and country-specific). The borderland between activism and dialogue is, however, a contested one and gives rise to a number of concerns.
The rise of post-truthism and the erosion of longstanding epistemic structures, for example, are potentially shifting the role that higher education plays in society, particularly with growing pressure on academics to have research ‘impact’ at a time of public contestation of expertise. Universities are being pressed to play ever-increasing roles in addressing societal concerns, but are also challenged by the line between social critique, dissent and insubordination. And while universities are being ‘opened up’, and efforts made to decolonise curricula, this has surfaced issues surrounding academic freedom and freedom of speech on university campuses, including the erosion of secure conditions for academic autonomy. At the same time, we have entered a period where various forms of activism and resistance have become mainstreamed internationally and across the political and social spectrum; movements in which many staff and students in higher education have been involved, either individually or collectively.
This year’s conference seeks to explore the ways in which staff and students are, and have historically been, involved in various forms of activism and ask questions about the future roles that higher education – and the people in it – might take.
Confirmed Speakers
Professor Syed Farid Alatas
Monday 2 December 2024: The captive mind and anti-colonial thought
Biography
Professor Syed Farid Alatas is Professor of Sociology at the National University of Singapore. He headed the Department of Malay Studies at NUS from 2007 till 2013. He lectured at the University of Malaya in the Department of Southeast Asian Studies prior to joining NUS. Professor Alatas has authored numerous books and articles, including Ibn Khaldun (Oxford University Press, 2013); Applying Ibn Khaldun: The Recovery of a Lost Tradition in Sociology (Routledge, 2014), and (with Vineeta Sinha) Sociological Theory Beyond the Canon (Palgrave, 2017).
He has a forthcoming book entitled Decolonial Thought from the Malay World. His areas of interest are the sociology of Islam, social theory, religion and reform, intra- and inter-religious dialogue, the critique of Eurocentrism, and the promotion of autonomous knowledge.
Professor Kathleen Lynch
Monday 2 December 2024: presenting on the ethics of Capitalocentrism to Carecentrism
Biography
Professor Kathleen Lynch is Professor of Equality Studies (Emerita) at University College Dublin (UCD) and a serving member of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC). Over three decades, she played a pioneering role in establishing and directing both the Equality Studies Centre (1990) and the School of Social Justice (2004) in UCD. Both her research and teaching were built on collaborations with social justice activists, inside and outside the University.
A visiting scholar in many of the world’s leading universities, she has authored a several books and academic articles on all types of equality and social justice issues, especially on education, and, more recently, on care and social justice. Her most recent books include New Managerialism in Education: Commercialisation, Carelessness and Gender(2015) (with Bernie Grummell and Dympna Devine) and Care and Capitalism: Why Affective Equality Matters for Social Justice, Polity Press, Cambridge in 2022. Her forthcoming book, A Critique of Human Capital in Education will be published in 2025 by Routledge.
She was awarded the UCD Medal for Pioneering Change, in 2018, and the Irish Research Council, President of Ireland Prize for her research promoting Equality and Social Justice, in 2019.
Outside of academia, Kathleen has been active as a public intellectual. She has served as an Adviser on Education and the Social Sciences to the European Commission (DGEAC), as an Appeals Commissioner in the Department of Education, and as a Board member on many public and voluntary bodies. She is currently a member of the steering committee for the international initiative Human Education in the 3rd Millennium which published a new declaration for education, Educating Humanity for the Third Millennium: A Global Declaration 2024 https://humaneducation.net/declaration
Dr Bernie Grummell
Monday 2 December 2024: presenting on the topic ‘Learning from resistance through praxis in higher and adult education’
Biography
Dr Bernie Grummell is currently an Associate Professor with the Departments of Education and Adult & Community Education in Maynooth University. She is a co-director of the Centre for Research in Adult Learning and Education (CRALE) in the Department for Adult & Community Education. Her research explores the landscape, processes and experiences of equality and transformation across different sectors of education and society, with a particular focus on transformative community development, inclusion in and through education, and adult learning. She has worked on international research and teaching collaborations with universities and communities in Malawi, Zambia, Palestine and a range of European partners, as well as in local and national policy and community engagements
See: https://www.maynoothuniversity.ie/adult-and-community-education/our-people/bernie-grummell
Professor Jan McArthur
Wednesday 4 December 2024: presenting on aspirational thinking for resistance and change within the shrinking world of higher education
Biography
Professor Jan McArthur is Head of Department and Senior Lecturer in Education and Social Justice, Department of Educational Research, Lancaster University, UK. Her research focuses on the nature and purposes of higher education, and how these relate to teaching, learning and assessment, as seen from the perspective of education and social justice, informed by critical theory.
Dr Laila Kadiwal
Thursday 5 December 2024: presenting on Academic Freedom, Activism and Racism as part of a plenary panel.
Biography
Dr Laila Kadiwal, a British Indian critical feminist, is an Associate Professor at UCL Institute of Education. Her work focuses on decolonial critical pedagogies. Drawing on over 20 years of experience as a practitioner, educator, and researcher in the global majority, she has created pedagogical approaches that intertwine anti-colonial, anti-racist, and anti-caste scholarship. Her research delves into feminist and youth struggles against authoritarianism in India, education for critical consciousness, transformative egalitarian knowledge(s) from the margins, and the decolonisation of education and conflict.
Laila’s pioneering initiatives include the “Theatre of the Privileged” movement in education and international development. She co-founded “india & me: engage. reflect. act.”, a decolonial educational programme centred on intersectional justice in India. Laila actively engages with the “International Solidarity for Academic Freedom in India” network, amplifying the voices of incarcerated academics and students while challenging the diminishing academic space for dissent against authoritarianism.
Professor David Ruebain
Thursday 5 December 2024: presenting on academic freedom, freedom of speech and inclusion, the trials and tribulations of belief as part of a plenary panel.
Biography
Professor David Ruebain is Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Culture, Equality and Inclusion at the University of Sussex. He has strategic responsibility for all aspects of Culture, Equality and Inclusion at the University, including dignity and respect. David is Professor of Culture, Diversity and Inclusion in the School of Law, Politics and Sociology. He is also the University’s Free Speech Officer, providing strategic oversight of academic freedom and freedom of speech within the life and operation of the University. David has published widely and taught nationally and internationally on education, disability and equality law and practice.
Professor Alice Sullivan
Thursday 5 December 2024: presenting on academic freedom: activism, politics, and knowledge production as part of a plenary panel.
Biography
Professor Alice Sullivan is Professor of Sociology at the UCL Social Research Institute. Professor Sullivan’s research focusses on social and educational inequalities in the life course. She has made extensive use of secondary data analysis of large-scale longitudinal data sets in her research, with a particular focus on the British birth cohort studies of 1958, 1970 and 2000. She has published on areas including: social class and sex differences in educational attainment, single-sex and co-educational schooling, private and grammar schools, cultural capital, reading for pleasure, social mobility, and health inequalities. She has also written about conflicts between scholarly and scientific values and gender identity politics.
Conference Registration
The Conference will comprise 1 virtual conference day (2nd Dec 2024, online via Zoom) followed by a travel day, and then 3 in-person conference days (4th – 6th Dec 2024, at the East Midlands Conference Centre, Nottingham).
SRHE members can attend the online day free-of-charge and will be able to access a discounted rate for the in-person element. For more about SRHE membership and its benefits, click here.
Delegates are welcome to attend online, in person, or both – please note that attending both formats will require two bookings:
Online conference registration:
Online registration fees | |
SRHE member (including student members)* | free |
Non-member | £160 |
Student non-member | £80 |
*To book your free place as an SRHE member, please ensure you are logged into your SRHE member account at the time of registration.
In-person conference registration:
The in-person conference registration includes:
- All conference sessions over the 3 days, including poster exhibition
- Wed 4th December: lunch, refreshments, evening drinks reception and evening buffet dinner
- Thurs 5th December: lunch, refreshments, evening drinks reception and evening buffet dinner
- Fri 6th December: refreshments and lunch
Please note that conference registration does not include accommodation. This must be booked separately by delegates. Information about accommodation associated with the conference centre can be found on the conference booking page of the website.
In-person conference registration fees* | ||
Rate
|
Early booking (by 23rd September) |
Standard booking (24th September onwards) |
SRHE member | £450 | £510 |
Non-member | £570 | £630 |
SRHE student member** | £350 | £410 |
* Please note: There are NO day rates; full registration fees apply regardless of time spent at the conference.
** A limited number of SRHE Student Member places are available at this subsidised rate. Please email srhe@srhe.ac.uk to enquire about booking.
Registration for the 2024 SRHE conference is now open.
To register for the online day of the 2024 SRHE International Research Conference which takes place on Monday 2 December 2024, click here.
To register for in-person days of the 2024 SRHE International Research Conference, which takes place Wednesday 4th – Friday 6th December 2024 at the East Midlands Conference Centre in Nottingham, UK. click here.
Become a Sponsor
SRHE have a range of sponsorship opportunities available at this year’s International Research Conference, including a sponsor page, networking opportunities with our conference delegates and the chance to share your promotional materials with an audience of international researchers. Find out more about the opportunities available by visiting the sponsorship page.
Contact Us
If you have any queries, please use our live chat (available at the bottom right-hand corner of any page on our website), or alternatively e-mail:
- Dr Rihana Suliman, SRHE Manager: Conferences and Events: rihana.suliman@srhe.ac.uk
- If your query relates to conference sponsorship or other forms of engagement, please include Mariam Ismail, SRHE Engagement and Development Manager, in your correspondence: mariam.ismail@srhe.ac.uk