Konstantin Niewerth

Konstantin Niewerth is reading for an MPhil in European Politics and Societies in St Antony's College. His main research interest is in immigrant political participation: his thesis covers the impact of country of origin economic conditions on political behaviour in migrants' host countries.

Before joining Oxford for his MPhil, Konstantin studied Classics at Durham University, with a focus on ancient philosophy and politics. Outside of Academia, Konstantin worked as a Campaign Organiser for the Green Party of England and Wales in the lead-up to the May 2023 local elections.

From ‘closedness’ to ‘closeness’: how changing community values sustains a traditional craft industry

Japan’s craft industries have frequently been cited as one of the main cultural domains affected by the ageing and shrinking population. Adopting new technologies or marketing strategies has shown attempts to maintain them. However, the transformation of community values has gotten less attention. This presentation examines the resilience of the Tamba pottery industry in Hyogo Prefecture by looking at the potters’ collective re-evaluation of their internal social dynamics.

University of Oxford Annual Black History Month Lecture: Ann Pratt, Mary Seacole, and Questioning British History

This year’s Black History Month Lecture, ‘Ann Pratt, Mary Seacole, and Questioning British History’, will be delivered by Dr Christienna Fryar, writer and independent historian of Britain and the Caribbean. This lecture tells the story of two mixed-race Jamaican women, one of whom is widely considered an important figure within Black British history while the other is barely known, and questions the fraught relationship between British history and Black British history.

Rising Powers and the Politics of Status: China and India in the Liberal International Order

Why do rising powers sometimes challenge an international order that enables their growth, and at other times support an order that constrains them? Based on a recently published book, Ascending Order: Rising Powers and the Politics of Status in International Institutions (Cambridge University Press), this talk will offer the first comprehensive study of conflict and cooperation as new powers join the global arena. International institutions shape the choices of rising states as they pursue equal status with established powers.

Julian Jacobs

I am a Political Economy doctoral candidate at the University of Oxford and a Researcher at Google DeepMind, specializing in AI economic impacts.

​My academic work specialises in artificial intelligence policy, the economic impacts of technological shocks, inequality, and worker training programs. For instance, I am currently studying labour upskilling amid AI and the question of 'who can be retrained' in an age of digitally-enabled automation and occupation substitution. This work is supervised by Ben Ansell and David Rueda. 

The Compass Rose meets the Rising Sun: a new era of NATO-Japan Relations

After nearly 70 years of distant relations, ties between NATO and Japan are flourishing. Over the past year alone, an unpreceded level of integration and planned commitment has taken place with the adoption of a number of important initiatives, including high-level political dialogues, joint military training, and cooperation in science, technology, and cyber security. This seminar considers the drivers and objectives of the institutionalization of NATO-Japan relations and their implications for broader global security in both the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific.
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