Queen's Policy Engagement

Post-Brexit Clinic March 2022 at Queen's
2022-03-03 12:30 - 13:45 (Europe/London) | Online
Following on from our long-running series of Brexit Clinics at Queen’s, this new series of public engagement events looks at the latest developments in the UK’s post-Brexit relationship with the EU and at the implementation of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland.
Join Professor David Phinnemore, Professor Katy Hayward, Dr Viviane Gravey, Dr Billy Melo Araujo and Lisa Whitten for more insight and analysis.

Queen's on Gender website and report launch
2022-03-08 16:30 - 18:30 | Riddel Hall, 185 Stranmillis Road , Belfast, Co Antrim , BT9 5EE, United Kingdom
You are invited to a celebration of ongoing work by the Centre for Gender in Politics related to gender at Queen’s University Belfast. This event marks the launch of the project Queen’s On Gender with the publication of the website as well as related report.
Queen’s on Gender brings together leading academics from Queen’s University who can provide an authoritative voice on gender, the many policy areas affected by gender, and a look at the ongoing work by civil society related to gender.
Please join to mix and mingle. Event includes light snacks and drinks. Registration is via Eventbrite.

**Car Parking at Riddel Hall**
Please note, due to the ongoing construction at Riddel Hall, car parking is currently unavailable.

Conflict Graffiti: From Revolution to Gentrification
2022-07-06 16:00 - 17:30 | TR6 Graduate School at Queen’s, Main Campus, Belfast, Antrim, BT7 1NN, United Kingdom
John Lennon is Associate Professor of English at the University of South Florida. His research interests span across working-class literature, social movements and film, and is principally concerned with how marginalised individuals exert a politicised voice in collectivised actions. He is author of Boxcar Politics: The Hobo in Literature and Culture 1869-1956 (UMASS Press, 2014) and co-editor of Working Class Literature(s): Historical and International Perspectives Volume I and II.
His newest book, Conflict Graffiti: From Revolution to Gentrification (University of Chicago Press, 2021), dives into the many permutations of graffiti in conflict zones—ranging from the protest graffiti of the Black Lives Matter movement in Ferguson and the Tahrir Square demonstrations in Egypt, to the tourist-attraction murals on the Israeli Separation Wall and the street art that has rebranded Detroit and post-Katrina New Orleans.
For more details contact Professor Ramona Wray, QUB, on r.wray@qub.ac.uk

The Annual Senator George J. Mitchell Peace Lecture 2022
2022-10-13 16:00 - 17:30 | Canada Room and Council Chamber, Queen's University Belfast, University Road, Belfast, BT7 1NN, United Kingdom
Human Rights, Justice and Negotiating Peace with Terrorists: The Case of Afghanistan
Speaker: Nader Nadery (Asser Institute, Center for International and European Law)
Chair: Professor Richard English (Queen’s University Belfast)

The Lecture
On December 4, 2001 a peace agreement for a post Taliban government was signed in Bonn, Germany. The accord was facilitated by the UN after US and collation forces launched a military operation against the Taliban in response to the 9/11 terrorist attack of the United States. Within a month the Taliban’s first rule ended and Afghanistan embarked on a new path of stability, democracy and constitutional rule where rights and freedom of its citizen was promised to be protected and promoted.
In two years Taliban that were considered defeated, were provided safe havens across the Durand line, regrouped and begin to launch two decades of deadly insurgency against Afghan government and NATO forces in the country. Finally the US and Taliban signed a agreement on Feb 29, 2020. The agreement known as the US-Taliban Doha agreement was negotiated for over two years and in the absence of the then Afghan government. The direct talks between the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan delegation and the Taliban were one of the four provisions of the US-Taliban Doha agreement.
On September 12, 2020, the intra-Afghan Peace Negotiation began in Doha capital of the State of Qatar. The two large delegations of 21 members each, met to find a peaceful settlement after nearly two decades of conflict. However, the US-Taliban negotiation changed the political and military realities of the country and as a consequence incentives for a political settlement within the newly created political and military reality, has reduced significantly in Taliban.
The two sides negotiated for 11 months until the Islamic Republic government collapsed on August 15, 2021.
With the collapse of the republic, most of the gains in the field of Human Rights protection specially of women rights are being rolled back. There is now a systematic apartheid against Afghan women by the Taliban rulers.
The past two decades of international intervention in Afghanistan give many important lessons learned in the field of justice and human rights. This lecture will tell the story of Afghans’ struggle for institutionalization of human rights principles, their fight for justice and the international community’s failure to side with them. It will tell how it looked like to negotiate peace with a group that was conducting terrorist activities and does not believes in human rights and the citizens freedom. It will tell the history of heartbreak and the story of resilient of people in their quest for dignity and justice in the face of unimaginable adversity.

The Speaker
Mr. Nadery was Member of Peace Negotiation Team for Afghanistan Peace Process in Doha (Sep 2020 to Aug 2001). He also served as chairman of the Independent Civil Service Commission of Afghanistan (April 2017 to June 2021). Prior to joining the Commission he was Senior Advisor to the President on Human Rights and Strategic Affairs. He was also presidential envoy for protection of freedom of expression.
Mr. Nadery served as director of Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU) 2012 to 2016. AREU is Afghanistan’s globally ranked research institute. He served as Commissioner of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC)2004-2012.
Prior to his appointment at the AIHRC Mr. Nadery served as the director of Afghanistan programs of Global Rights, Partners for Justice ( 2002 to 2004). He is also the founder and was chairman of the Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan (domestic election observation body). He also served as the Spokesperson for the Emergency Loya Jerga (Grand Assembly) that elected head of transitional government in 2002. During this time Mr. Nadery was also elected as a delegate for the ELJ and served as representative of civil society. He represented Afghan youth at the main UN peace talks for Afghanistan in the Bonn Conference in 2001, where the Post-Taliban interim government was formed.
Mr. Nadery co-founded Afghan Civil Society Forum, and foundation for civil society and culture.
He has written extensively on politics, human rights, women rights and democracy in Afghanistan. Mr. Nadery thought constitutional law at the American University of Afghanistan in 2012.
He was member of Global Agenda Council on Fragile States of World Economic Forum. Mr. Nadery served as chief of mission for No Peace without Justice Support missions in Libya after the 2012 revolution there. He is also a member of Board of Editors of the International Journal on Transitional Justice and appears regularly on BBC, New York Times, Washington Post and other international media. In 2005 Mr. Nadery was recognized as an “Asian Hero” by Time Magazine and named as Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2008. He was awarded the 2004 Rebok Human Rights Award.
Mr. Nadery, studied law and political sciences at Kabul University and earned his master’s degree in International Relations from George Washington University, he also studied leadership at Kennedy school of government at Harvard University. He speaks, English, Persian/ Dari, Pashto, Baluchi and has a basic knowledge of Dutch.

About the Annual Senator George J. Mitchell Peace Lecture
The Senator George J. Mitchell Peace Lecture Series celebrates and recognises Senator Mitchell’s contribution to the Northern Ireland peace process and to conflict resolution in the Middle East. His aim of transforming conflict and promoting social justice in Northern Ireland and across the world is shared by our Institute.
The Annual Peace Lecture series was inaugurated in 2018 with a lecture from President Mary Robinson on climate justice. President Robinson has subsequently become Chair of The Elders and has held prestigious posts in Ireland and the United Nations.
Previous speakers include Mamphela Ramphele (2019) and Professor Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela (2020).

Critical Domesticities Symposium: Retro & Hetero? The Housewife of the Year
2023-05-26 13:00 - 19:00 | 20 University Square, 20 University Square, Belfast, Antrim, BT7 1PB, United Kingdom
Book via Eventbrite
Please join us for an afternoon of presentations and discussion reflecting on the Housewife of the Year and taking a critical and creative look at the evolving role of women in the domestic sphere on the island of Ireland.
The event will involve a mix of formal talks and informal discussions and will include artist Rachel Fallon and a conversation with the Housewife of the Year 1972 winner Jane Kelly, both of whom we are delighted to welcome to Queen’s. The event will culminate in a poetry reading on the topic of ‘home’, presented by creative writing students at the Seamus Heaney Centre.
Our schedule is as follows:
1.00-3.00 Session 1: Framing the Housewife of the Year
Gemma Carney, ‘From ‘Butterwomen’ to Farmers’ Wives and Exotic Dancers: The Hardy Housewives of Twentieth-century Ireland’,
Shonagh Hill, ‘Housewives over the Years: Mid-Twentieth Century Irish Feminisms’,
Trish McTighe, ‘Revisiting the Homely-sexuals: Framing Difficult Cultural Objects’,
Artist respondent: Rachel Fallon.
3.00-3.30 Coffee break
3.30-5.00 Session 2: In-conversation with Jane Kelly, winner of the 1972 Housewife of the Year Competition,
Chaired by Gemma Carney
5.00 Food and wine reception
The event will culminate in SHC Presents… HOME a poetry reading on the topic of ‘home’, presented by creative writing students at the Seamus Heaney Centre, starting at 7pm in the Brian Friel Theatre, 20 University Square. Please note that these are separately ticketed events; to book a place at the SHC event, please use the following link:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/shc-presents-home-tickets-633959338447
This event is a collaboration between the School of Arts, English and Languages, the School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work and the Seamus Heaney Centre at QUB. The symposium is the second in a series of Critical Domesticities events led by Shonagh Hill and Trish McTighe at QUB School of Arts, English and Languages. This year they are joined by gerontologist Gemma Carney (Ark Ageing Programme, QUB School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work).
This public event is funded with support from the School of Arts, English and Languages and the ESRC Impact acceleration fund and Queen’s Policy engagement.

Post-Brexit Clinic at Queen's June 2023
2023-06-29 12:30 - 13:45 | Online
For analysis from the Post-Brexit Governance NI project team and a review of the state of play in the ongoing Protocol talks between the UK and the EU, join David Phinnemore, Katy Hayward, Billy Melo Araujo and Lisa Whitten for the latest Post-Brexit Clinic at Queen’s.
Following on from our long-running series of Brexit Clinics at Queen’s, this series of public engagement events looks at the latest developments in the UK’s post-Brexit relationship with the EU and at the implementation of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland.

Post-Brexit Clinic at Queen's February 2024
2024-02-22 11:30 - 13:45 | Online
Join us for the latest Post-Brexit Clinic at Queen’s University Belfast.
For analysis of developments around the Protocol/Windsor Framework and the findings of the most recent @LucidTalk polling on the Protocol/Windsor Framework for the Post-Brexit Governance NI project, join David Phinnemore and Katy Hayward for our February Post-Brexit Clinic at Queen’s. The Clinic will be streamed on YouTube. The link will be shared prior to the event.

Post-Brexit Clinic June 2024 - Online
2024-06-21 12:30 - 13:30 | Online
How do Northern Ireland voters view the Protocol/Windsor Framework
With the UK general election approaching and with the Northern Ireland Assembly due to hold a ‘democratic consent’ vote on its future later this year, how do voters in Northern Ireland currently view the Protocol/Windsor Framework? Have voters’ views changed in light of the Safeguarding the Union deal? Will views on the Protocol/Windsor Framework matter for how people will vote in the General Election? How does the Protocol/Windsor Framework rank in terms of voters’ current concerns? Who do voters trust to manage Northern Ireland’s interests on the Protocol/Windsor Framework?
Join Professors Katy Hayward and David Phinnemore for analysis of the findings of their most recent @LucidTalk polling on the views of voters in Northern Ireland on Brexit and the Protocol/Windsor Framework.
