Arts & Humanities
Why we need to reassess the sustainability of aging populations
Modern societies have largely been able to grow and develop due to fossil fuels and monetary systems. However, with more aging populations around the world, questions are starting to be asked about the sustainability of this paradigm. Professor Kozo Torasan Mayumi of the Kyoto College of Graduate Studies for Informatics in Japan reassesses the double-edged nature of fossil fuels and […]
Co-learning, translanguaging and English language acquisition
The US has the largest number of English-speakers in the world, but it is also multilingual: according to 2018 census data, 23% of children aged 5 to 17 speak another language at home. English language acquisition for those who speak English as a second language is therefore an important issue for educators. Mary Amanda Stewart and Holly Hansen-Thomas of Texas […]
The Neuropsychology of How Ritual Creates Religion
The research of Dr James Jones, clinical psychologist and Emeritus Professor of Religion at Rutgers University in the U.S., exists on the border of religion and science. He fuses neuropsychology with philosophy of mind to discover scientific explanations for religion. In his most recent publication, Dr Jones specifically explores how bodily behaviours, such as religious ritual, can affect a person’s […]
Trans-actional autopoiesis: A relational view of human language
Throughout history, and even now, our decisions and worldviews are continually sculpted as we share knowledge with each other by means of language. Dr Mónica Sánchez-Flores at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia argues that the nature of these exchanges is ‘trans-actional’ in the Deweyan sense and rooted in ‘autopoiesis’. Her ideas present important new questions about how we conceive […]
Traversing the minefield: A professional humanitarian for a new world of risk
The inhumanity of war has always put the humanitarian in peril. But today aid workers stand in the crosshairs of armed adversaries with new tactics and targets for their violence, while competition between aid agencies creates even more insecurity on the ground. So, who should the humanitarian be? An altruistic do-gooder governed by feelings of empathy? Or a professional who […]
Gender stereotypes and the recruitment process in Spain
The majority of university degrees are earned by women, yet men far outnumber women in senior workplace roles, and according to the World Economic Forum, it will be at least 100 years before women’s career prospects equal those of men. Research by M. José González, Clara Cortina and Jorge Rodríguez from Pompeu Fabra University in Spain throws important light on […]
IRAND: Helping to preserve children’s and youth drawings of the 20th century
Professor Dr Jutta Ströter-Bender of Paderborn University is co-founder of the International Research and Archives Network (IRAND) that is preserving and archiving children’s and youth drawings of the 20th century. IRAND views these endangered collections as historical documents, worthy of preservation and PhD level research. The network is a Cooperating Institution of the Sub-Committee on Education and Research (SCEaR), UNESCO […]
The return of religion or the end of religion?
Jayne Svenungsson, Professor at the Centre for Theology and Religious Studies, Lund University examines the relationship between religion and secularism and the ideological underpinnings of the European concept of religion. She demonstrates that the term religion is a historical product of a secular but mainly Christian Europe, and that it is now more meaningful as an agent of disunity, and […]
Organisational change through non-traditional approaches
Professor Cliff Oswick and daughter Rosie Oswick, based at Cass Business School, City, University of London, are researching new, non-traditional approaches to organisational change. Their interests are in looking beyond traditional attitudes to organisational change that take a problem-centred approach to issues. A genuine interest in social concerns is not generally incorporated into this top-down approach, whereas a bottom-up, non-hierarchical […]
#SocialScience: Mining Twitter for Social and Behavioural Research
A disaster strikes, somewhere in the world. Within minutes there are millions rushing to their screens, letting out their thoughts and feelings. This makes Twitter, along with other social platforms, a rich and timely resource for social and behavioural research. Surprisingly, however, it is a lot less utilised in the social sciences compared with other fields. Tweeters don’t reflect the […]