University of Birmingham

This month I am delighted to welcome IAS Distinguished Fellows, Dr Theresa Blume, Professor Michael Herzfeld, Professor Eóin Killackey and Professor Said Sidki; details of activities are below and I wish our fellows a productive and stimulating visit to our city and University.

Good luck to Dr David Gange who is currently participating in The University Based Institutes of Advanced Study (UBIAS) Intercontinental Academia on the topic of Time at the Institute for Advanced Research, Nagoya University. As part of this intensive workshop, following a keynote lecture by former Princeton IAS Director, Professor Peter Goddard, ‘IAS: Its Legend and Future’, Professor Jonathan Reinarz will be taking part in a panel discussion on the future of the UBIAS network. Details of the programme can be found on the UBIAS website; also David reflects on the experiences of the São Paulo phase of the workshop in his blog, ‘What might a historian succeed in gleaning from equation-laden explanations of time in quantum gravity?’

Mike Hannon
Director, Institute of Advanced Studies


Forthcoming IAS Distinguished Visiting Fellows
Professor Mahlberg
Dr Blume leads the Hillslope and Ecohydrology research group at the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), Potsdam. During two visits this Spring, Theresa will be working with Dr Stefan Krause and the Birmingham Institute of Forest Research (BIFoR).
Dr Willis
Professor Michael Herzfeld is the Ernest E. Monrad Professor of the Social Sciences, Director, Thai Studies Program, Asia Center and Curator of European Ethnology, Peabody Museum Harvard University and is hosted by Professor Mike Robinson. Details of Professor Herzfeld’s research round table ‘Resisting Global Hierarchies of Value in Cultural Heritage: No Escape?’ and public lecture ‘Deploying Culture and History in the Age of ‘Asian Values’: Material Debates on Heritage in Thailand and Elsewhere’ are in our events section below.
Dr Willis
Professor Eóin Killackey is Associate Director of Orygen, the National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne.

Professor Killackey is widely known for his research in helping young people with mental illness recover well, with a particular focus on physical and vocational outcomes. Hosted by Professor Stephen Wood, this visit will build on collaborations concerning the role of social cognition in maximising the success of vocational interventions.
Dr Willis
Professor Said Sidki, Universidade de Brasília (UnB), is one of the most prominent Brazilian algebraists, founder of the biannual Escola de Algebra and is a Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. We are looking forward to welcoming Said back for his second visit to continue his collaboration with Professor Sergey Shpectorov and details of their project can be found on Said’s page on the IAS website.

Forthcoming workshops and events
Professor Mahlberg
‘Resisting Global Hierarchies of Value in Cultural Heritage: No Escape?’
17 March 2016

The aim of this roundtable is to explore how individuals, communities, sites, regions and nations are seen to resist global hierarchies of value in, and through, their heritage and traditions by virtue of different strategies and tactics.

If you would like to take part in this workshop please email Sarah Jeffery.

Professor Mahlberg
‘Deploying Culture and History in the Age of ‘Asian Values’: Material Debates on Heritage in Thailand and Elsewhere’
17 March 2016 5.30–6.30pm
Lecture Room 4, Arts Building

Building on his recently published research in Bangkok (Siege of the Spirits: Community and Polity in Bangkok, 2016), IAS Distinguished Visiting Fellow Professor Michael Herzfeld will demonstrate the ways in which certain widespread terms associated with heritage – ‘vernacular architecture’, ‘tangible/intangible’, ‘historic conservation’ and even ‘culture’ – have become tools in the ongoing battle to determine the future shape of citizenship and sovereignty.

To register to attend this lecture please email Hannah Stretton: ironbridge@contacts.bham.ac.uk

Professor Mahlberg
Mental health and transitions in adolescence and early adulthood
12 April 2016

Following a keynote from IAS Distinguished Visiting Fellow Professor Eóin Killackey, Professor Stephen Wood and Dr Nathan Hughes will draw together colleagues with expertise in the field of adolescent mental health, from Psychology, Psychiatry, Neuroscience, Health Economics, Public Health, Social Care, Social Policy, Education, and Philosophy.

If you would like to take part in this workshop please email Sarah Jeffery.
Professor Mahlberg
The Global Middle East in the Age of Speed
2–3 June 2016

This workshop seeks to explore a major gap in the historical literature on the Middle East and will draw upon expertise from Geography, African Studies, Anthropology, and Civil Engineering.

If you would like to take part in this workshop please email Sarah Jeffery.

‘The Stunt Biker’, Copyright by permission of Walid Rashid (photographer)

If you would like to propose a workshop we welcome applications at any point during the year. Please contact Sue Gilligan for guidelines.

You can view further details and who to contact to attend workshops and events at the IAS Workshops page.


University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
Telephone: 0121 414 5908
Email: ias@contacts.bham.ac.uk
Web: www.birmingham.ac.uk/ias
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