Global Citizenship Portfolio Lectures 2019/20

We are pleased to announce our Global Citizenship Portfolio lectures for 2019/20, more may be added in the future. Please click on the relevant link to book your place.

What causes migration?
By the Refugee Council

Book here: 14 October 2019,  5 – 6.30pm

Book here: 2 April 2020, 5 – 6.30pm

In first three months of 2015, at height of the refugee crisis in Europe, nearly half a million people arrived at Europe’s Mediterranean shores and made their journey across Europe seeking asylum. With the unprecedented volumes of new arrivals, even the best-prepared European countries reached a breaking point in their ability to offer refuge. This caused political tensions across Europe and led to the increase of anti-immigrant rhetoric in the UK.

In this lecture the Refugee Council will help you understand what causes migration. We will discuss challenges that refugees face on their journey to Europe and the difficulties they face when they arrive here. What is our role as individuals in this and what can we do?

 

Did fake news break the news?
By Dr Lada Price

Book here: 23 October 2019, 5 – 6.30pm 

Book here: 4 March 2020, 5 – 6.30pm  

The former editor of The Guardian Alan Rusbridger stated that there was too much false news, not enough reliable news. Worryingly, he predicted that soon entire communities will find themselves without news, or without news they could trust.

This workshop will focus on the problem of ‘fake’ or false news. We will examine contested definitions, the variety of forms that it takes and its harmful impact on journalism and on society. We will look into how misinformation spreads and the role of online social media in creating and exacerbating echo chambers and filter bubbles.

 

Who needs cultural intelligence?
By Anja Louis

Book here: 13 November 2019, 5 – 6.30pm 

Book here: 11 February 2020, 5 – 6.30pm 

Cultural Intelligence, or CQ, measures your capability to relate and work effectively in culturally diverse situations. Your CQ predicts your readiness for working and relating effectively with people from different cultural backgrounds. The higher your CQ, the more likely you will gain new opportunities, earn higher wages, and experience success working in today’s diverse, globalised world.

In this entertaining lecture Dr. Anja Louis from Sheffield Business School will explain how you acquire cultural intelligence and what happens if you don’t bother!

 

Are you smarter than a frog, or, responding to the climate emergency
By Neil Hanney

Book here: 19 February 2020, 5 – 6.30pm

Most people have heard that if you put a frog into a pan of boiling water it will take action and jump out, but if you put a frog in a saucepan of tepid water and heat the water it will do nothing and just sit in the pan until it dies.

In the current climate emergency most people appear to be behaving like the second frog!

This session will consider a range of factors that are all related to the current climate emergency including:

  • the expected impact on all species on the planet including the timescale for the impacts
  • the evidence and the science behind global heating and climate change
  • possible solutions to the problem including geoengineering
  • exploring what prevents people taking action

Most importantly it will allow you to decide if you are smarter than a frog!

 

Do Human Rights foster global citizenship?
By Thomas Bundschuh

Book here: 23 March 2020, 5 – 6.30pm

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Nelson Mandela’s philosophy will serve as starting points for our enquiry. In 1948, the United Nations declared in Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

In 1971, Nelson Mandela wrote in a letter from his prison on Robben Island: “At a time when some people are feverishly encouraging the growth of fractional forces, raising the tribe into the final and highest form of social organisation, setting one national group against the other, cosmopolitan dreams are not only desirable but a bounden duty; dreams that stress the special unity that holds the freedom forces together – a bond that has been forged by common struggles, sacrifices and traditions.”

 

For more details and to sign-up to the Global Citizenship Portfolio go to shu.ac.uk/GlobalCitizen