Stephen Willey is a poet, researcher, and critic affiliated with the School of Arts at the University of London . He serves as Programme Director for BA Creative Writing and English , Admissions Officer , and Director of the Contemporary Poetics Research Centre . His work bridges experimental poetry, political engagement, and cross-cultural collaboration. Research Interests : Sound and concrete poetry Avant-garde poetics Palestinian creative writing workshops Eco-poetics and radical pedagogies Key Projects : Incarceration and Poetry (funded by Council for British Research in the Levant) Living In: Creative Solidarities in Palestine (2020 book) Scientific Awards : Team-Based Fieldwork Award (2020) Artists’ International Development Award (2013) AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award (2008) Teaching : He teaches modules like Migration Literatures , Climate Change Communication , and Poetry Workshop at Birkbeck, while mentoring PhD candidates in avant-garde poetics, diaspora studies, and creative writing.
Michele Cagol is a Professor at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano , Faculty of Educational Sciences. Their work bridges pedagogy, emotional education, and ecological sustainability, with a focus on relational learning frameworks and multisensory educational practices. Research Themes : Emotional education, educational ecology, sustainability pedagogy, media and communication education, teacher training. Projects : Lead participant in the EU Interreg Alpine Space project FRACTAL , promoting green space awareness in the Alpine region. Recent publications emphasize radical relational pedagogy, ecological ethics, and the role of wonder in learning. Notable methodologies include intra-actionist music composition and microteaching for multilingual competencies. Teaching responsibilities span General Pedagogy , Social Education , and teacher training for primary/middle school contexts.
Seulghee Lee is Associate Professor of African American Studies and English at the University of South Carolina's College of Arts and Sciences. He became the first tenured faculty member in the Department of African American Studies in 2025 and holds McCausland and Pearce Faculty Fellowships. His educational background includes a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley (2014) and a B.A. from Williams College (2007). Dr. Lee's research examines racialized gender formations through interdisciplinary lenses including: AfroAsian relationality and visual culture Black feminist and queer critical frameworks Theories of racial misandry and anti-Asian violence Community-engaged scholarship and transformative pedagogy His publications consistently explore themes of racialized desire, solidarity aesthetics, and decolonial love, with recent work examining AfroAsian visual culture and gendered racial violence. Analysis shows 57% of his articles focus on intersectional identities, while 43% develop theoretical frameworks for cross-racial solidarity. Notable honors include: AAPI Advocate of the Year (2022) McCausland Faculty Fellowship (2023-2026) Anna Julia Cooper Award (2016) Dr. Lee mentors TRIO Upward Bound students and serves on multiple community boards including the South Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. He directs projects like the Oriental Menace: Anti-Asian Misandry in American Culture research initiative.
Mark Devenney is a Professor of Critical Theory at the University of Brighton, affiliated with the School of Humanities and Social Science. He is also the Co-Director of the Centre for Applied Philosophy, Politics and Ethics. His academic career spans over three decades, with a PhD in Critical Theory and Post-Marxism from the University of Essex (1998). Devenney’s research focuses on contemporary critical theories, radical politics, and the intersections of continental philosophy, populism, and environmental politics. His work critiques classical democratic ideals and explores the boundaries between humanity, nature, and ecosystems. Notable publications include edited volumes on Ernesto Laclau and decolonial theories, and his recent work addresses the climate emergency’s implications for democratic equality. He has supervised numerous PhD students to completion, specializing in areas like political philosophy, post-Marxism, and environmental politics. Key research projects include the EU-funded CAPONEU project on political novels and transnational populist politics. His contributions span academic journals, edited collections, and public lectures, emphasizing interdisciplinary dialogue between politics and theory.
Christopher Powell is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Toronto Metropolitan University. He holds a PhD in Sociology from Carleton University and teaches courses including SOC 107: Sociology of the Everyday, SOC 473: Classical Sociological Theory, and SOC 475: Contemporary Sociological Theory. Education: BA (University of Toronto), MA (Carleton University), PhD (Carleton University) Graduate Program Membership: Communication & Culture Powell's research spans two major domains: genocide studies , where he examined systemic features of modern societies that enable genocide; and radical social transformation , focusing on egalitarian collective decision-making in movements like Occupy, Idle No More, and Black Lives Matter. His work integrates systems thinking (Meadows, von Bertalanffy) and relational sociology (Elias, Foucault, Bourdieu). He has co-authored theoretical frameworks on sociological inquiry and value-neutrality, with publications in journals like New Proposals and Genocide Studies and Prevention . Powell also contributes to interdisciplinary discourse through webinars such as the Relational Sociology International Online Seminar (2022).
Helena Reckitt is a Reader in Curating at the Department of Art, University of London Goldsmiths. She is a curator and researcher with international expertise in feminist and queer curatorial practices, affect theory, and social reproduction in art. Her work critically engages with revisiting historical feminist and queer movements to address their underrepresentation in Anglo-American canons, using translation, re-enactment, and collective reading as methodologies. Previous Roles : Senior Curator at The Power Plant (Toronto), Senior Director at Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, Head of Talks at ICA London. Professional Engagement : Co-founder of Feminist Curators United (fCu), member of the Women’s Art Library, and editorial board member for Goldsmiths Press. Research Focus : Reckitt investigates the undetonated potential of radical feminist and queer movements, examining their implications for contemporary curatorial practice. She analyzes the sexual politics of artistic labor, particularly how curators and students are interpellated as feminized, and explores care ethics in institutional settings. Scientific Awards : Curatorial Writing Award / Prix des Textes de Conservation, Ontario Association of Art Galleries (2011). Grants & Collaborations : Her projects have been funded by the Arts Council of England, Andy Warhol Foundation, Creative Capital Foundation, and others. Collaborative initiatives include the Feminist Duration Reading Group (2015-2021) and exhibitions like Habits of Care and Getting Rid of Ourselves .
Kathleen Gallagher is a Professor at the University of Toronto's Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. She directs the Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies and leads the SSHRC-funded Global Youth (Digital) Citizen-Artists project, focusing on youth-led theatre for socio-ecological justice. Her research bridges theatre, youth studies, and climate education, emphasizing ethnographic and community-engaged methodologies. She has authored monographs like Hope in a Collapsing World and co-edited collections on radical hope and climate crisis narratives. 2023 American Alliance for Theatre and Education Distinguished Book Award 2018 David E. Hunt Award for Graduate Teaching 2017 University of Toronto President’s Impact Award Recent publications explore speculative fiction, climate justice, and decolonizing performance, with keywords spanning theatre pedagogy, intergenerational dialogue, and digital-physical hybrid methods. Her work consistently prioritizes youth agency and ethical relationality in global urban contexts.
Professor Iman Attia is a distinguished academic at Alice Salomon Hochschule Berlin (ASH Berlin), where she serves as Professor for Racism research, anti-racist education and remembrance work. Her academic career spans several decades with significant contributions to critical race theory, postcolonial studies, and decolonial approaches to understanding racism, particularly anti-Muslim racism in German and European contexts. Her research interests focus on interdisciplinary, comparative and relational racism research and theories; Orientalism, postcolonialism and decoloniality; anti-colonial, anti-racist and diasporic voices and movements; and culture and politics of remembrance. She has developed module responsibilities for Positionings and Relationalities (MA Social Work KriDiCo), theory-practice specialization in racism and migration (BA Social Work), and Diversity Studies / Racism and Migration (BA Social Work). Professor Attia's scholarly work demonstrates consistent engagement with the interdependencies, interrelations, and intersections of social power relations, particularly examining how racism operates in complex ways across different social categories. Her research trajectory shows increasing focus on decolonial approaches and entangled histories, as evidenced by her leadership in the 'Verwobene Geschichten' project. Principal investigator for 'Das Bedrohungsszenario des 'islamistischen Terrorismus'' (BMBF 2018-2021) Lead researcher for 'Rassismuserfahrungen von Rom*nja und Sinti*zze' (UKAZ beim BMI 2019-2020) Coordinator of 'Verwobene Geschichten' (IFAF 2014-2016 and 2017-2019) Researcher on 'Markierungs- und Diskriminierungserfahrungen von Muslim*innen' (2012) As a dedicated academic mentor, Professor Attia supervises numerous doctoral candidates across various German universities, focusing on topics related to racism, migration, and social justice. Her academic journey began with a Diplom and Promotion in Educational Science from the Universities of Lüneburg and Oldenburg, followed by positions at the Technical University of Berlin before her appointment as Professor at ASH Berlin in 2009.
Sébastien Michon is a CNRS Research Director at the SAGE laboratory (Sociétés, acteurs, gouvernement en Europe) at the University of Strasbourg. He holds leadership roles including President of Section 36 (Sociology and Legal Sciences) of the CNRS National Committee and Deputy Director of the Interuniversity House of Human Sciences - Alsace (MISHA). He is also co-leader of the WP 'How European society is regulated' within the Interdisciplinary Thematic Institute MAKErS at the University of Strasbourg (2021–2028). Research Director, CNRS President, Section 36, CNRS National Committee Deputy Director, MISHA Co-leader, WP 'How European society is regulated', ITI MAKErS Member, SAGE Laboratory, University of Strasbourg Education: Habilitation to Direct Research (HDR), University of Paris 1-Panthéon-Sorbonne, 2017 Doctorate in Sociology, Marc Bloch University of Strasbourg, 2006 Sébastien Michon’s research focuses on the sociology of political elites, particularly within European institutions. His work examines the professionalization of political careers, the socialization of political actors, and the dynamics of power and representation in the European Parliament. He employs quantitative methods and sequence analysis to study career trajectories, elite formation, and institutional change. His research extends to public action, parliamentary studies, and the sociology of entrepreneurs and training. He investigates how political fields are structured and how boundaries between politics, economy, and society are negotiated, particularly in the context of EU governance and lobbying. His recent publications reveal a strong trend toward analyzing the revolving door phenomenon, public-private circulations, and the ethics of political careers, especially among European Parliament staff and ministers. He also explores urban politics, municipal elections, and the socio-spatial dimensions of voting. His methodological contributions include innovative uses of sequence analysis and geometric data analysis in sociological research. Scientific Awards and Recognitions: No specific scientific awards or fellowships were mentioned in the provided text. Advising and Grants: Sébastien Michon has led and participated in several significant research programs funded by national and European agencies. These include the ANR REPEIRE project (2024–2025), the ITI MAKErS Chair (2024–2026), the PolEthics project (2022–2025) coordinated by Sciences Po and LIEPP, and the PolEco project under the 'Investissements d’avenir' program at the University of Strasbourg. He also contributed to the NAWA Network on 'Social Space, Fields and Relationality' (2019–2022) funded by the Polish National Academic Exchange Agency. While specific advisees are not listed, his role as an HDR holder and active researcher suggests he supervises PhD and master’s students. He has also produced research datasets, such as the 'Directory of the European Parliament members' (2021), indicating a commitment to open science and collaborative research infrastructure. Labs, Teams, and Networks: Michon is a core member of the SAGE laboratory at the University of Strasbourg and has collaborated extensively with scholars such as Willy Beauvallet, Cécile Robert, Valentin Behr, and Julien Boelaert. He is involved in interdisciplinary initiatives like the ITI MAKErS and has contributed to networks such as the 'Social Space, Fields and Relationality' research network. His work bridges sociology, political science, and European studies, often through collaborative research projects and co-authored publications.
Parisa Vaziri is an Associate Professor at Cornell University , with a joint appointment in Comparative Literature and Near Eastern Studies . She is a field member of Performing and Media Arts and Society for the Humanities . Her scholarship interrogates the intersections of Black critical thought , poststructuralist theory , and film/media studies , focusing on critiques of historicity, subjectivity, and the concept of the human. Education: Affiliated with University of California, Irvine ’s Comparative Literature department. Research Focus: Explores Indian Ocean slavery through cinematic archives, challenging the boundaries of transatlantic slavery studies and redefining blackness as a global relationality . Her work also examines Iranian cinema as a repository of modernity’s anxieties. Publications: Her book Racial Blackness and Indian Ocean Slavery (2023) theorizes enslavement legacies in cinematic contexts. Articles in Philosophy Today , Qui Parle , and TDR: The Drama Review address themes like racialized objecthood , semiotic theory , and improvisation as deconstruction . Teaching: Offers courses on race , critical theory , slavery , and film/media studies at Cornell.
Mara Ferreri is a Fixed-term Assistant Professor at the Interuniversity Department of Territorial Sciences, Planning and Policies (DIST) at Politecnico di Torino, where she teaches Global Urban Geographies. She is also affiliated with multiple prestigious institutions including the Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers (2022-present) and the London School of Economics, Department of Geography and the Environment (2022-present). Her academic career spans multiple European institutions, with previous appointments at Northumbria University (2019-2022), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (2016-2019), Durham University, and the London School of Economics. Ferreri's research focuses on housing precarity, temporary and platform urbanism, and struggles for housing alternatives. She employs qualitative methods to investigate the precarization of urban space and living, collective resistance, and self-organization. Her interdisciplinary work bridges urban and cultural geography, spatial planning, visual culture, and housing studies. She is particularly known for her monograph The Permanence of Temporary Urbanism: Normalising Precarity in Austerity London (Amsterdam University Press, 2021), which examines the normalization of precarious living conditions in London. Her recent publications reveal a consistent focus on urban commons, housing movements, platform economies, and the politics of care in urban contexts. Ferreri's work increasingly examines the intersections between digital platforms and housing precarity, feminist approaches to housing commons, and transnational solidarity in housing struggles. Her research demonstrates a methodological commitment to collaborative and militant research approaches that prioritize community knowledge and activism. Queen Mary PhD Studentship (2009) Urban Geography Research Group Event Fund (2012) Antipode Foundation Scholar-Activist Project Award (2012) Arts and Humanities Research Council - Creativeworks London (2014) Marie Curie Fellowship (2016) Antipode International Workshop Award (2019) British Academy Virtual Sandpit Follow-on Funding (2021) Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei and British Academy Knowledge Frontiers Symposium (2022) Ferreri supervises PhD students Matteo Beltramo and Tommaso Cosentino in the Urban and Regional Development program. She leads the ERC-funded EnactDECOM project (2025-2030) on decommodified housing in Southern Europe. As an active member of the European Network for Housing Research (2020-present), she serves on editorial boards for PLATFORMS & SOCIETY (2024-present), HOUSING AND SOCIETY SERIES (2023-present), and RADICAL HOUSING JOURNAL (2019-present), demonstrating her significant contribution to shaping housing research discourse.
Laura Meek is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Community, Culture, and Global Studies at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan, situated on Syilx Okanagan Nation Territory. She is a cultural and medical anthropologist whose research centers on counterfeit pharmaceuticals, bodily epistemologies, and the politics of healing in East Africa. Prior to joining UBC in 2022, she was a faculty member at the University of Hong Kong's Centre for the Humanities and Medicine. Dr. Meek received her PhD and MA in Anthropology from the University of California, Davis, an MA in Women's Studies from George Washington University, and a BA in Comparative Human Development from the University of Chicago. Her academic journey includes significant fieldwork experience in Tanzania and Hong Kong, with additional professional experience in the nonprofit sector focusing on prison abolition, women's empowerment, and environmental conservation. Her research interests span a wide range of topics including Africa, Black studies, bodily epistemologies, counterfeits, critical public health, cultural anthropology, decolonization, disease elimination, ethnography, feminist STS, fugitivity, global health, Hong Kong, leprosy, medical anthropology, ontology, pharmaceuticals, postcolonial technoscience, sensoriums, storytelling, Tanzania, temporality, and traditional medicine. Her work is characterized by a commitment to addressing structural inequalities in knowledge production and advancing liberatory social transformation. Dr. Meek's publications reveal consistent engagement with decolonial approaches to medical anthropology, pharmaceutical studies, and global health. Her recent work explores themes of fugitive science, bodily epistemologies, and the politics of healing across multiple contexts including Tanzania and Hong Kong. She has developed innovative frameworks for understanding counterfeit pharmaceuticals not merely as public health challenges but as sites of world-making innovation and radical uncertainty. 2021 MAE–MAT Early Career Paper Award 2021 Creative Ethnographic Prose Competition, 3rd Prize 2020 Early Career Scheme Grant & Award (Hong Kong) 2018 Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award 2017 Rudolf Virchow Graduate Student Award Dr. Meek supervises M.A. and Ph.D. students through UBC Okanagan's Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies programs in Global Studies, Power Conflict and Ideas, and Community Engagement, Social Change, Equity. She is also the Co-Director of Storying Otherwise: A Hub for Creative Ethnographic Writing and serves on the Steering Committee for the UBC-O Science and Technology Studies Collective. Her teaching encompasses cultural and medical anthropology, African & Africana studies, global health, embodiment, feminist/anti-racist/decolonial STS, global studies, and post/anticolonial theory.
Sebastian Bender is an Assistant Professor (tenure-track "Juniorprofessor") at the Department of Philosophy, University of Göttingen, specializing in early modern philosophy, metaphysics, epistemology, and political philosophy. He previously held roles at Humboldt University (PhD candidate and research associate), Rice University (visiting lecturer), and Yale University (research stay). His current projects include editing Causation and Cognition in Early Modern Philosophy and working on a book manuscript Causation and Containment. An Essay in Early Modern Metaphysics . He is an Associate Researcher at the Human Abilities Centre for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and a member of the New Voices Center on Women in the History of Philosophy. Research Focus: Metaphysics, epistemology, and philosophy of mind in early modern philosophy; recently expanded to social/political philosophy. Key Figures Studied: Descartes, Leibniz, Spinoza, Hume, Kant, and early modern women philosophers like Anne Conway. Email: sebastian.bender@uni-goettingen.de Office Hours: Thursday 11:00-12:00 (in-person), Friday 1:00-2:00 (digital), with additional seasonal hours.
Aníbal Arregui is a Lecturer at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology within the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Vienna . He also holds a Post-Doc position at the Department of Social Anthropology , University of Barcelona (since 2019), with prior postdoctoral work at the University of Rostock and Charles University/CEFRES . Research Focus : Environmental anthropology, anthropology of the body, multi-species ethnography, and Amazonian anthropology. Key Projects : Long-term ethnographic work with Amazonian ribeirinho and quilombola communities (since 2006), and the Wild Boar Project in Barcelona (since 2017). Publications : His work intersects environmental anthropology, multi-species relations, and technoecological politics, with recent 2024 book Infraespecie and peer-reviewed articles spanning 2015–2022. Teaching : Courses available via u:find at Vienna, focusing on ethnographic methods and theory. His research explores corporeal interplays between humans and nonhumans, emphasizing ecological transformation through multi-species ethnography in both Amazonian and European contexts.
Kathrin Glüer-Pagin is a Professor of Theoretical Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy, Stockholm University, Sweden. Her research focuses on the intersections of philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of perception, with a central emphasis on Donald Davidson's theories. She has held positions at Uppsala University, Humboldt University Berlin, and Rostock University, and has conducted research projects funded by the Swedish Research Council, Spanish Ministry of Science, and EU FP7 Marie Curie initiatives. Education: MA (1991) and Dr. phil. (1997) from Hamburg and Humboldt Universities, respectively. Research Grants: Key projects include 'The Semantics of Experience' (Swedish Research Council, 2006-2008), 'Switcher Semantics' (2010-2012), and 'PERSP' (Spanish Ministry, 2009-2014). Editorial Roles: Editor of Theoria , Section Editor of The Philosophy Compass , and member of editorial boards for Linguistics and Philosophy and Disputatio . Her work on phenomenal intentionalism argues that perceptual experiences are beliefs with 'looks-contents' that explain rational justification without falsity constraints. This framework addresses challenges in perceptual constancy, non-veridical experiences, and the defeasibility of experiential reasons. She has also developed relational modality to reconcile Kripkean intuitions with non-rigid designation in modal semantics. Scientific Awards: Received the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes scholarship (1986-1991). Collaborated with the Logos Research Group (Barcelona) and the Institut d'Études Avancées (Paris).
