This talk will describe the work of the Extreme Citizen Science Research Group designing and testing solutions for building effective collaborations with Indigenous People and local communities in the context of local conservation initiatives, extractive industry, human rights abuses, or to address the impacts of climate and environmental change on local livelihoods.

We've known for decades that climate change is an existential crisis. For just as long, we've seen the complete failure of our institutions to rise to the challenge. Governments have struggled to meet even modest goals. Fossil fuel interests maintain a stranglehold on political and economic power. Even though we have seen growing concern from everyday people, civil society has succeeded only in pressuring decision makers to adopt watered-down policies. All the while, the climate crisis worsens. Is there any hope of achieving the systemic change we need?

What is the idea of ‘Multiplicity’? And how convincing are the claims that it can be used to overcome longstanding problems in social and international theory? Since this idea was introduced in 2015, it has been the subject of numerous conference panels, roundtables, workshops, forums, edited volumes and publications by over fifty academics. And yet, arguably, it has also been quite widely misunderstood, even among some of those who have adopted it as a research focus. Why should this be, and what can be done about it?

Reconciliation is often thought of as a religious or quasi-religious enterprise, with religious leaders, perpetrators and victims taking the centre stage. Reconciliation is a process that can bring healing, or support the need to sustain just peace over a long period of time. As such, reconciliation efforts may shape the softer fabric of the long-term capacity for coexistence. While the role of religious leaders can be helpful in shaping post-conflict social relationships, reconciliation is also a political assignment.

April 2024 marks the 75th Anniversary of NATO – the transatlantic alliance as prominent in the Cold War as in the Ukraine conflict today. Its changing political initiatives, military operations, and burgeoning membership from 12 to 31 countries (and counting!) reflect its enduring significance. Helping to explain NATO’s foundations and current role are security studies expert Professor Patrick Porter, scholar and military veteran of NATO missions Seth Johnston, and former senior Army commander and foreign policy expert Jonathan Shaw.