The British Academy Summer Showcase – Saturday

Co-director of the Endangered Language Alliance, Ross Perlin won the 2024 British Academy Book Prize for his book ‘Language City’, a captivating portrait of contemporary New York City through six speakers of little-known, overlooked and endangered languages. In a rare UK appearance, he will discuss the importance of linguistic diversity – and how we can preserve it here in the UK.

Birth rates are falling in the UK and globally, creating new challenges for governments and economies. But what’s driving these changes – and what does it mean for our future?

From rising costs of living and climate concerns to advances in technology and gender equality, delve into the factors shaping reproductive choices around the world. Unpack the social and economic impact of current trends and find out how the humanities and social sciences can help make sense of – and respond to – global population shifts.

Professor Emily Jackson FBA, John Burn-Murdoch (Chief Data Reporter, Financial Times), Professor Rebecca Sear FBA

Internationally renowned MC Rider Shafique will premiere a brand new poem, giving tribute to the late Benjamin Zephaniah Hon FBA.

He will also perform from his longform poems, created from first-person narratives of Human Rights advocates, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion teachers, and undergraduate university students, on the impact of legislation banning anti-Afro-hair discrimination in schools.

Rider Shafique (introduced by Dr Pamela Odih) – British Academy / Leverhulme Small Research Grant

Seeing an animal using a tool can lead us to question what marks humans out as truly unique. This group task-based activity will compare how your cognition and technique differs, or matches, that of a bumblebee.

Gema Martin-Ordas – British Academy / Leverhulme Small Research Grant

How many birds do you notice around you every day? Taking place in our neighbouring park, this creative workshop will take inspiration from its resident pelicans and other non-native birds, while sharing natural history archives, histories of expeditions, and nineteenth century poetry to inspire your own writing.

Clara Dawson – Newton International Fellowship

Step into our Sensory Room and experience three experimental settings: relaxing, emotional, and multisensory, to explores how sensory preferences and stimulation affect mood and well-being. The workshop is accessible to all age groups and participants with special needs.

Rahma Azmi, Dr Letizia Palumbo, Dr Irene Senna – British Academy / Leverhulme Small Research Grant

Creating an accurate facial representation of an offender often helps the police to solve crime. This workshop will explore how eyewitnesses can put together facial composites, and use one of the police systems to build a likeness. Participants can also have a go at naming some facial composites, and sign up to be witness in a facial composite project.

Alejandro J. Estudillo, Emma Portch, Charlie Frowd – Postdoctoral Fellowships

Antimicrobial resistance (or AMR) refers to harmful bacteria becoming resistant to drugs, disinfectants and pesticides. As well as being a biological phenomenon, it’s also a complex social problem. Join in this informal and informative discussion about the implications of AMR – and contribute your own ideas.

Dr Caesar Atuire, Dr Tess Johnson, Associate Professor Sonia Lewycka, Dr Clare Chandler – British Academy / Leverhulme Small Research Grant

Approximately 12% of young people hear voices. Left untreated, it can lead to serious psychological conditions, including schizophrenia. This fascinating, bespoke virtual-reality experience will offer insight into how relationships inform our psychological health.

Preethi Premkumar and Dominic Rees-Roberts – British Academy / Leverhulme Small Research Grant

Ever wonder why we are still reading the Hebrew Bible and its stories? This talk will explore what it means to be resilient, and how this works for a religious community and their God.

Dr Anja Klein – Mid-Career Fellowship

With the mass displacement of over 14 million Syrians from their home since 2011, a new landscape of art has emerged, shaped by personal and collective struggle. This talk will examine how places of memory and belonging have been depicted in the works of art at the time of dictatorship in Syria.

Dr Ammar Azzouz – Postdoctoral Fellowship

This talk will introduce the interdisciplinary concept of Biosecurity, using examples of Biosecurity in Sci-fi to draw out understanding. Explore the definition of Biosecurity via real-life examples, fiction examples and a brief of the relevant policy.

Olivia Ibbotson – British Academy /Leverhulme Small Research Grants

Reconstructing the universe of refugees from Anatolia settling in the Greek countryside after the Asia Minor Catastrophe in the early 1920s, we document the effects of significant uprootedness over the past century, with refugees and their offspring investing considerably more than the autochthonous population into human capital and transferable skills.

Professor Elias Papaioannou FBA

We live at a time of environmental crisis, but what histories need telling if we are to find the way forward? In this short talk,  Sujit Sivasundaram works with the humble cowrie shell, not only to show how it became a widespread currency, as is widely known, but also how all kinds of gendered and symbolic associations became wrapped around the shell. How humans have related to things like seashells might in turn help us return to what lies beneath our exploitative relationship with nature and remind us anew of what nature means and what it means to be live precariously.

Professor Sujit Sivasundaram FBA

This talk will show how from social bonding and play to love and friendship, laughter is one of the most important emotional expressions that we share with each other.

Professor Sophie Scott FBA