In conversation with...
Our academics work on issues that span the globe. Here's your chance to find out more about their research and ask them questions about their work.
Each conversation is in two parts:
- Presentation - watch their video where an academic explores a global issue close to their hearts
- Discussion - join the academics in an online discussion where they'll answer your questions and you can express your own views
The conversations
Engaged Buddhism
(Philosophy)
What makes a great story?
(English and Creative Writing)
What's Hollywood's role in the climate crisis, and what can we do?
(Cultural, Media and Visual Studies)
Translating Harry Potter
(Modern Languages and Culture)
What’s so interesting about borders?
(American and Canadian Studies)
Father of Islamic Terrorism? Ibn Taymiyya on Time, Creation and God
(Theology and Religious Studies)
The Religion of Science and Technology: Silicon Valley’s Obsession With Death and Salvation
(Theology and Religious Studies)
"Engaged Buddhism" with Dr Ian Kidd
Western audiences often like Buddhism because they think it encourages political activism. The Buddha, they think, wanted to overcome suffering and this means taking part in social movements aimed at changing the world. I argue that this is false. The Buddha did not encourage social activism. In fact, a good Buddhist should stay away from political concerns.
About Ian
Ian James Kidd is a lecturer in philosophy at the University of Nottingham UK campus. His interests include South and East Asian philosophies and the philosophy of illness. Find our more about Ian on his website: ianjameskidd.weebly.com
"What makes a great story?" with Dr Lucy Hamilton
Lucy is interviewed by Applied Linguistics student, Pan, who asks about Lucy's writing, research, and what she thinks makes a great story. She also gives advice to anyone wanting to develop as a writer.
About Lucy
Lucy Hamilton is a writer and English Literature academic, specializing in post-colonial narrative. She joined University of Nottingham, Ningbo, China in 2020 after completing a PhD at the University of Sheffield. She now teaches in Stylistics and runs a creative writing group for students. Her novel, The Widening of Tolo Highway, set in 2014 Hong Kong, is now available worldwide with Penguin Random House SEA.
"What's Hollywood's role in the climate crisis, and what can we as scholars and media consumers do?" with Dr Leora Hadas
Leora will address the environmental footprint of media production.
About Leora
Leora Hadas is a University of Nottingham doctoral graduate, interested in media industries, production cultures, and cultural value. She is the author of "Authorship as Promotional Discourse in the Screen Industries: Selling Genius". Her current research deals with the environmental impacts of film and television production, and the challenges and opportunities of a green transition in the media sector.
"Translating Harry Potter" with Dr Martyn Gray
Join Martyn on a journey into the wonderful world of Harry Potter and find out how certain aspects of the books and films have been translated into French, German and Spanish - as you can imagine, a dictionary or Google Translate are only of limited use when you are dealing with with muggles, galleons and quidditch!
About Martyn
Martyn Gray is an Assistant Professor in Translation Studies, within the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures at the University of Nottingham. He teaches French and German.
"What’s so interesting about borders?" with Dr Stephanie Lewthwaite and Prof Gillian Roberts
Stephanie and Gillian from the Department of American and Canadian Studies at University of Nottingham UK share their thoughts on the borders between Mexico and the United States, and Canada and the United States.
About Stephanie and Gillian
Stephanie Lewthwaite is Associate Professor of American History and the author of "Race, Place, and Reform in Mexican Los Angeles: A Transnational Perspective, 1890-1940" (2009) and "A Contested Art: Modernism and Mestizaje in New Mexico" (2015). She has written articles on Mexican American and contemporary Chicanx visual culture in the Southwest borderlands, including “Modernism in the Borderlands: The Life and Art of Octavio Medellín,” Pacific Historical Review 81(3), and “Recovering Mestiza Genealogies in Contemporary New Mexican Art: Delilah Montoya’s El Sagrado Corazón (1993),” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies. 37(1).
Gillian Roberts is Professor of Contemporary Literature and Culture in American and Canadian Studies at UNUK. She has published three books on the Canada-US border: a monograph, Discrepant Parallels: Cultural Implications of the Canada-US Border (2015); and two edited collections, Parallel Encounters: Culture at the Canada-US Border (2013), with David Stirrup, and Reading between the Borderlines: Cultural Production and Consumption across the 49th Parallel (2018).
"Father of Islamic Terrorism? Ibn Taymiyya on Time, Creation and God" with Dr Jon Hoover
Ibn Taymiyya is best known today as the primary pre-modern inspiration for Muslim jihadi groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda. After exploring this side of Ibn Taymiyya, we will take up another controversial aspect of his thought: how he introduces time into the essence of God. This will show that Ibn Taymiyya is a much more complex figure than is often portrayed by both his advocates and his opponents.
About Jon
Jon Hoover is Associate Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Nottingham UK campus. He teaches modules called ‘Interpreting Islam’, ‘Islamic Theology and Philosophy’, and ‘Muslims and Others’, and he carries out research on Islamic intellectual history.
"The Religion of Science and Technology: Silicon Valley’s Obsession With Death and Salvation" with Dr Michael Burdett
Many technology leaders in Silicon Valley (Jeff Bezos, Amazon) are putting significant money into research that seeks to prevent natural death and treats technology as salvific. What is the religious significance of this? This conversation focuses on how rampant religion is in our modern world and that our common conception that science and technology contribute to the decline of religion just isn’t sufficient given the clear religious motivations of tech leaders.
About Michael
Michael Burdett is an Assistant Professor in Christian Theology in the of Faculty of Arts. He is a systematic/constructive theologian who specialises in the image of God/theological anthropology and eschatology. He also has a strong interest in religion and science with a focus on Science and Technology Studies. He also does some work in religion and culture with interests in aesthetics and secularisation.