Before 2020, the UK was seen as well prepared for a crisis. In the first half of 2020, this belief was sorely tested. With “long emergencies” likely to be an increasing feature of our modern world, what can governments learn from COVID-19 to prepare for future crises, whether health-related or not?

Join us online to hear about a new report by Professor of Practice Ciaran Martin and colleagues examining aspects of how the first six months of COVID-19 played out in the UK and in four comparator countries: Italy, Germany, Australia and Singapore.

Dhanya is co-founder and editor-in-chief of The News Minute, and the recipient of the 2022 Chameli Devi Jain Award. Under her leadership, The News Minute has grown to become one of the most trusted and widely read news portals in South India, with a focus on providing in-depth coverage of regional news and politics. Dhanya is also known for her active presence on social media, where she often shares her views on current affairs and social issues.

Louisa is a PhD candidate at University College Cork studying the phenomenon of contemporary exile journalism through interviews with journalists exiled from East Africa and Latin America. She has previously worked with Burundian exiled journalists in Rwanda and done further research on topics including internet shutdowns, local conflict reporting, press freedom in (post-)conflict settings, and genocide denial. We'll hear about her findings from Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Eritrea and Burundi.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government attempted to overhaul Israel's judiciary and form a national guard in March, triggering the largest demonstrations seen in a decade. Noa Landau, deputy editor of Haaretz and member of the Reuters Institute Advisory Board, explains how her newspaper is covering developments.

David is an award-winning journalist and co-founder of OjoPúblico platform in Peru. Based in Lima, OjoPúblico is non-profit investigative journalism website covering issues including human rights, corruption, drug trafficking, environment, health and transparency. He explains the site's award winning collaborative approach to covering environmental news.

Rishad Patel is a product and design professional who co-founded Splice Media. His newsletter, Frames, gives a weekly overview of the latest media products and design trends. During a 20-year career, he has designed and developed products for the web, mobile, radio, advertising, newsrooms, newspapers, magazines, and podcasts in Singapore, India, New Zealand, Europe, and the United States. Hear how Asian newsrooms are adapting to ChatGPT and other evolutions in AI.

Camille is the co-founder of 9 Millones, a Puerto Rican crowdfunding and publishing initiative that has raised $55,000 for independent journalism, distributed to 31 projects. She is a Columbia J-School grad and worked at El Diario and NowThis before creating 9 Millones.

Carmella Boykin is part of the team that has pioneered the use of TikTok at the Washington Post. Previously, she worked as a local TV news reporter in Rochester, New York. Their channel has 1.6 million followers, 74 million likes, and has won three Webby Awards. With the threat of a U.S. TikTok ban looming, we ask what lessons can be learnt from this team, and whether they can be applied to other platforms.

Oxford has been a men-dominated space for centuries and it still shows today. We want to discuss how gender shapes our experiences at DPIR and in academia more generally. What are the underlying reasons for the imbalanced gender ratio of senior academic staff at our Department? How does gender impact the manner of seminar discussions? What counts as rigorous (political science) knowledge and methodology and how is this informed by socialised gender expectations? And, importantly, how does gender intersect with other social identities to create unequal chances and experiences?