Opening up a different conversation about violence

University of Bath Press Release

2023-03-27

(Press-News.org) 20 years on from the invasion of Iraq, nearly 25 years since the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland, and in the midst of war in Ukraine and contested questions about migration and the legacies of war, a brand new Centre for the Study of Violence will launch this week at the University of Bath.

Led by academics across the University’s Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences, including political theorists, development and humanitarian scholars, plus crime, defence and security experts, the new Centre will be the first of its kind in the UK. It aims to help society rethink how violence operates and to find ways to imagine a more peaceful world.

The Centre for the Study of Violence is led by Brad Evans, Professor of Political Violence within the University’s Department of Politics, Languages & International Studies. His work is concerned with addressing the multiple forms violence takes in the world; as well as how this is represented through art.

Brad coordinates the acclaimed ‘Histories of Violence’ project, is a lead editor for violence and arts projects for the LA Review of Books, and also directed the film ‘Ten Years of Terror’. With the new Centre he will lead a new webinar series in partnership with the longest-running philosophy journal, ‘The Philosopher’.

Expertise from other members of the Centre relate, in part, to military and defence. Its co-director is Professor Paul Higate, whose work focuses on military power, whilst other members of the Centre with defence and security expertise have been active in analysing and responding to developments in Russia and Ukraine over the past year.

Aligned with the Centre’s vision to open up a broader conversation about violence, its other members include leading development and humanitarian scholar, Professor Jason Hart; award-winning author on mafias and organised crime, Professor Felia Allum; international peace and conflict resolution expert Professor Timo Kivimäki; and Dr Andrea Purdekova, whose insightful research looks at the politics of displacement in Africa.

Commenting ahead of the launch event – which will address the question ‘What is Violence? How Should Societies Respond?’ and takes place on Wednesday 29 March - Professor Evans said: “Violence demands a conversation. And that is what we are really trying to achieve with the new Centre for the Study of Violence which we are delighted to be officially launching this week at the University of Bath.

“While the importance of violence is quite evident given the state of the world currently, our ambition is to help create a space where difficult conversations can be had on the problem of violence, which should be open to all academic disciplines and should not preclude persons based on ideology or methodology.

“The Centre will develop a series of new outputs and will work to engage multiple stakeholders, from policymakers, humanitarian organisations and the arts and cultural worlds, to help break down differences and better imagine what peace can look like in the 21st Century.”

One of the first major outputs from the Centre will come this autumn, through a major new series looking at the State of Disappearance. This collaborative project will bring together the arts, humanities, social sciences and advocacy groups to bring new attention to the multiple ways disappearance (in all its forms) occurs. Century?

Professor Deborah Wilson, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences added: “The launch of the Centre for the Study of Violence within the Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences brings together a number of our research strengths – from defence and security studies to humanitarianism – to address critical issues of peace and violence affecting all societies.

“The kinds of questions the new Centre will explore could not be more important in the world today, and we are excited to see what impacts the new collaboration will bring in the years ahead.”

The Centre will be launched with guest talks from Professor Kimberley Hutchings (Queen Mary University) and Gareth Owen (OBE, Save the Children).

Professor Hutchings is a renowned theorist on violence and is the author of many books, including recently Can Violence Ever be Justified? and Violence & Political Theory. Gareth Owen is the Humanitarian Director at Save the Children, UK. He has led responses to many major emergencies over the past two decades, most notably in the Iraq conflict, the Asian tsunami, during Cyclone Nargis, but also in Haiti, Pakistan, East Africa, Niger and the Philippines.

To sign up to attend the launch event, which will be livestreamed for those unable to attend in person, see https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/what-is-violence-how-should-societies-respond-tickets-514964331177 .

END

[Attachments] See images for this press release:

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Students who played sports before the pandemic did better during lockdowns

2023-03-27

A history of participating in campus recreational sports can offset stress and contribute to academic competence even during high-stress periods such as a pandemic lockdown, shows a new study. Researchers at the University of Waterloo found that participation in activities such as fitness classes and intramural and drop-in sports before the pandemic was linked to lower levels of stress and higher levels of perceived competence to handle challenges and master school workload during the lockdown. The study used factor and regression analyses based on self-reported ...

What do the elements sound like? (video)

2023-03-26

INDIANAPOLIS, March 26, 2023 — In chemistry, we have He, Fe and Ca — but what about do, re and mi? Hauntingly beautiful melodies aren’t the first things that come to mind when looking at the periodic table of the elements. However, using a technique called data sonification, a recent college graduate has converted the visible light given off by the elements into audio, creating unique, complex sounds for each one. Today, the researcher reports the first step toward an interactive, musical periodic table. The researcher will present his results at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS). ACS Spring 2023 is a hybrid meeting ...

Colorful films could help buildings, cars keep their cool

2023-03-26

INDIANAPOLIS, March 26, 2023 — The cold blast of an air conditioner can be a welcome relief as temperatures soar, but “A/C” units require large amounts of energy and can leak potent greenhouse gases. Today, scientists report an eco-friendly alternative — a plant-based film that gets cooler when exposed to sunlight and comes in a variety of textures and bright, iridescent colors. The material could someday keep buildings, cars and other structures cool without requiring external power. The researchers will present their results at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS). ACS Spring 2023 is a hybrid meeting being held virtually and in-person March 26–30 ...

New ways to measure curls and kinks could make it easier to care for natural hair

2023-03-26

INDIANAPOLIS, March 26, 2023 — Black women and others with curly or kinky hair encounter a vast and confusing array of haircare options. Advice on the best products to use for a certain type of hair is often contradictory, and the results can be highly variable. Now, scientists are bringing order to this chaos by identifying properties such as the number of curls or coils in a given length of hair that could eventually help users pick the perfect product and achieve consistent results. The researchers will present their findings today at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS). ACS Spring 2023 is a hybrid meeting being held virtually and in-person ...

Two meteorites are providing a detailed look into outer space

2023-03-26

INDIANAPOLIS, March 26, 2023 — If you’ve ever seen a shooting star, you might have actually seen a meteor on its way to Earth. Those that land here are called meteorites and can be used to peek back in time, into the far corners of outer space or at the earliest building blocks of life. Today, scientists report some of the most detailed analyses yet of the organic material of two meteorites. They’ve identified tens of thousands of molecular “puzzle pieces,” including a larger amount of oxygen atoms than they had expected. The researchers will present their results at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society ...

The more traumatic the childhood, the angrier the adult

2023-03-26

Scientists have found that depression and anxiety sufferers who have had a traumatic childhood tend to grow up as angry adults, and the worse the trauma, the angrier the adult. This can affect personal mental health and social interaction, but also makes it more difficult to treat the depression and anxiety. This work is presented at the European Congress of Psychiatry in Paris. Previously, the researchers had found that more than 40% of patients with both anxiety and depression had a tendency towards anger. This compares to only around 5% of healthy controls. The present ...

Scientists show that odors from other people’s sweat can help treat social anxiety

2023-03-26

A group of European researchers have shown that exposure to human odours, extracted from other people’s sweat, might be used to boost treatment for some mental health problems. In a preliminary study, the researchers were able to show that social anxiety was reduced when patients underwent mindfulness therapy while exposed to human ‘chemo-signals’, or what we commonly refer to as body odour, obtained from underarm sweat from volunteers. Presenting the results of a pilot study at the European Congress of Psychiatry in Paris, lead researcher Ms Elisa Vigna, of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm said: “Our state of mind causes us to produce molecules ...

Childhood trauma linked to adult mental health problems: women harmed more by abuse, men by neglect

2023-03-26

A new study shows that men and women are affected differently by childhood trauma: women are more affected by childhood emotional trauma and sexual abuse, whereas men are more affected by childhood emotional and physical neglect. Lead researcher, Dr Thanavadee Prachason (from the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands) said, “Our findings indicate that exposure to childhood maltreatment increases the risk of having psychiatric symptoms in both men and women. However, exposure to emotionally or sexually abusive experiences during childhood increases the risk of a variety of psychiatric symptoms particularly ...

Is early rhythm control in atrial fibrillation care cost-effective?

2023-03-26

Sophia Antipolis, 27 March 2023: Patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) benefit from early rhythm control therapy. It reduces cardiovascular deaths, strokes, and other adverse outcomes by 20% compared to usual care. The beneficial effects of early rhythm control were shown by the pan-European EAST – AFNET 4 trial and confirmed by other large health studies. However, what is the price of the new treatment strategy? A cost-effectiveness analysis revealed: the health benefits of early rhythm control come at reasonable additional costs. The analysis was published today in EP Europace, a journal of the European ...

The heart benefits of walnuts likely come from the gut

2023-03-25

A new study examining the gene expression of gut microbes suggests that the heart-healthy benefits of walnuts may be linked to beneficial changes in the mix of microbes found in our gut. The findings could help identify other foods or supplements with similar nutritional benefits. Researchers led by Kristina S. Petersen from Texas Tech University in Lubbock found that introducing walnuts into a person’s diet may alter the gut’s mix of microbes — known as the microbiome — in a way that increases the body’s production of the ...

Opening up a different conversation about violence

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: