When the Russo-Ukrainian war erupted in 2014 a small group of foreigners rushed to join both sides of that conflict. At that time, they were mostly seen, and to a large degree rightly, as a band of misfits or pariah, often associated with the far-right or the far-left, who went to Donbas to find meaning in their lives.

Adam Mestyan is Associate Professor of History at Duke University. His works include Modern Arab Kingship – Remaking the Ottoman Political Order in the Interwar Middle East (Princeton University Press, 2023), Primordial History, Print Capitalism, and Egyptology in Nineteenth-Century Cairo (Ifao, 2021); and Arab Patriotism: The Ideology and Culture of Power in Late Ottoman Egypt (Princeton University Press, 2017).

A gripping, intimate story of one heartbreaking day in Palestine that reveals lives, loves, enmities, and histories in violent collision

Milad is five years old and excited for his school trip to a theme park on the outskirts of Jerusalem, but tragedy awaits: his bus is involved in a horrific accident. His father, Abed, rushes to the chaotic site, only to find Milad has already been taken away. Abed sets off on a journey to learn Milad's fate, navigating a maze of physical, emotional, and bureaucratic obstacles he must face as a Palestinian.

There has been a rise in majority nationalism globally, often linked to the rise of populism and (causing?) democratic backsliding. Many of the countries within South Asia have also seen a rise in religious majoritarianisms in recent decades. Majoritarianism(s) have challenged the liberal attributes of democracy across the subcontinent; justifying the curtailment of civil liberties, such as limiting the freedom of expression or association and to restrict citizen access to alternative sources of information.

A week before COP28 convenes in Dubai, we’re teaming up with the Oxford Climate Journalism Network to speak to Friederike Otto, Senior Lecturer in Climate Science at Imperial College and one of the leading climate scientists worldwide.

Dr Otto will be in conversation with Mitali Mukherjee, Director of Journalist Programmes at the Reuters Institute, and the event will feature expert contributions from Diego Arguedas Ortiz, Associate Director of the RISJ's Oxford Climate Journalism Network and Dr SanYuMay Tun, Research Fellow at Green Templeton.