Category: Academic Analysis
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Blame the shutdown on citizens who prefer politicians to vanquish their opponents rather than to work for the common good
Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA – By Robert B. Talisse, W. Alton Jones Professor of Philosophy, Vanderbilt University Who is really responsible for the longest government shutdown in history? iStock/Getty Images Plus The United States was founded on the idea that government exists to serve its people. To do this, government must deliver…
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A bold new investment fund aims to channel billions into tropical forest protection – one key change can make it better
Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Jason Gray, Environmental Attorney, Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, University of California, Los Angeles Cattle, the No. 1 cause of tropical deforestation, roam on tropical forest land that was stripped bare in Acre, Brazil. AP Photo/Eraldo Peres The world is losing vast…
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Five key issues at the UN climate summit in Brazil – and why they matter to you and the planet
Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – UK – By Alix Dietzel, Senior Lecturer in Climate Justice, University of Bristol The world’s most important climate summit – known this year as Cop30 – has begun in the Amazonian port city of Belém, Brazil. It promises to be contentious: key countries haven’t submitted new climate plans, and…
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Why has the BBC’s director general resigned and what could happen next?
Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – UK – By Colleen Murrell, Full Professor in Journalism, Dublin City University Just when the BBC should have been basking in its success at the record 12 million viewers who watched the Celebrity Traitors finale, the corporation has been brought to its knees. Tim Davie, BBC director general, and…
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Why threats to academic freedom are growing – and how universities can respond to intimidation
Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – UK – By Kirsten Roberts Lyer, Chair, Human Rights Program, Associate Professor, Central European University Mongkolly/Shutterstock Recent accusations that China pressured a UK university into pausing research on alleged human rights violations have raised questions about the state of academic freedom. In early November 2025, it was reported that…
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Medieval women’s legacies live on in Britain’s towns and cities
Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – UK – By Rachel Delman, Heritage Partnerships Coordinator, University of Oxford A new statue of Dervorguilla of Galloway was installed in the Master’s Court of the University of Oxford’s Balliol College in September. She was the 13th-century cofounder of Balliol and its first benefactor. Carved from a single block…
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Trust in the BBC is heavily tied to political identity
Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – UK – By Steven David Pickering, Honorary Professor, International Relations, Brunel University of London Tim Davie, the BBC’s director general, and Deborah Turness, its news CEO, have resigned over accusations of political bias in the corporation. Most notably, these relate to the editing of an episode of Panorama about…
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Will China win the AI race?
Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – UK – By Greg Slabaugh, Professor of Computer Vision and AI, Director of the Digital Environment Research Unit, Queen Mary University of London “China is going to win the AI race,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has told an AI summit in London. The Taiwanese-born boss of the chipmaker, the…
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Horses at 50: three reasons why Patti Smith still cuts to the bone
Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – UK – By Ryann Donnelly, Assistant Professor in Art History, School of Media, Arts and Humanities, University of Sussex Today is the 50th anniversary of Patti Smith’s album, Horses. I feel honoured to reflect on this work, but also a tremendous amount of pressure to capture what it is…
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Can brain training really shave ten years off brain ageing, as a recent study suggests?
Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – UK – By Yolanda Lok Yiu Lau, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Dementia and Neurodegenerative Diseases, Queen Mary University of London A ten-week online brain training programme helped older adults’ brains act as though they were a decade younger, a recent study has found. Much like exercise for the body, regular…