Queen's Policy Engagement

Any new events will be held online due to the pandemic.
2020-03-18 08:00 - 2020-09-30 17:00 (Europe/London)

A Women's Constitution: Won for All?
2020-03-04 13:00 - 14:30 | Edgar Graham Room, Main Site Tower, 02.002, School of Law, QUB, University Square, Belfast, Antrim, BT7 1NN, United Kingdom
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY EVENT
Conversations on the constitutional status of Northern Ireland are flourishing in public and behind the scenes. So far, most of these conversations have focused on UK union, Irish unity and their implications for rights, equality, health, education and the economy. The impacts of constitutional change on women’s and other marginalised lives are rarely considered. This International Women’s Day event is an opportunity, open to all, to consider the following: what would a woman-friendly constitution look like? Would a women-friendly constitution benefit other marginalised groups? How might it happen? Other questions are very welcome.
All welcome
Contributors:

Dr Fidelma Ashe, Ulster University
Catherine Cooke, Co-ordinator Foyle Women’s Information Network
Dr Myrtle Hill, Historian (former Queens University)
Susan McCrory, Manager Falls Women’s Centre
Anne McVicker, Director Women’s Research & Development Agency
Eileen Weir, Outreach Worker Shankill Women’s Centre

Chair: Eilish Rooney (Emeritus Ulster University)
Register here

Queen's Policy Engagement Post-Brexit Clinic - February 2020
2020-02-04 12:30 - 14:00 | Canada Room and Council Chamber, Queen's University Belfast, University Road, Belfast, BT7 1NN, United Kingdom
The UK’s request to extend the Brexit deadline to 31 January 2020 was agreed in 2019 but the UK can also leave before then if a deal is agreed by Parliament. However, as things stand, the 1st February 2020 will mark the first day of the transition period for the UK and the beginning of a very tight timeframe for negotiating the UK’s future relationship with the EU before the 31 December deadline.
Join us on 4 February 2020 for the latest updates from our resident Brexit experts, led by Professor David Phinnemore. Will the UK have exited the EU on the 31st January? Has Boris simply kicked a cliff-edge Brexit down the line? Will the new withdrawal agreement create a border in the Irish Sea?
To register, click here.
We look forward to seeing you then.

Repowering Democracy? Community participation in the energy transition
2020-01-09 15:30 - 17:00 | Canada Room and Council Chamber, Queen's University Belfast, University Road, Belfast, BT7 1NN, United Kingdom
As yet another round of global climate talks end in failure and we are poised to set another emissions record in 2019, efforts turn again to alternative mechanisms to build a just climate future. Energy transitions need to play a central role in future emissions reductions but ensuring transitions are deep, resilient and effective requires a change in social infrastructure as much as it does technological infrastructure. In this talk, Dr MacArthur examines the practice and theory of energy democracy internationally.

Recent research highlights how democratic innovations from citizens policy forums to direct asset ownership and control in ‘community power’ may contribute to much needed energy transitions away from fossil fuels and contribute to addressing the current global climate crisis. They may also play a role in reinvigorating civic spaces and contributing to economic democracy with benefits far beyond the current climate crisis. However, significant debates exist as to who constitutes the ‘community’ in diverse contexts, how large a role these actors can play, and how transferrable models are between nations. In this interactive session we explore these questions and what they might mean for the future of citizen energy in Northern Ireland. To register, click here.

Bio:
Dr Julie MacArthur is a Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations and the Master of Public Policy program at the University of Auckland where she teaches environmental politics and public policy. She is the author of Empowering Electricity: Co-operatives, Sustainability and Power Sector Reform in Canada (UBC Press, 2016), as well more than 20 articles and book chapters on sustainable community development, participatory environmental governance, and comparative energy policy. Dr MacArthur has won SSHRC and RSNZ Marsden Fund grants for her research on the contribution of community energy initiatives to climate change mitigation and local development, as well as an Early Career Research Excellence Award from the University of Auckland to study the role of gender in energy transitions. Julie is currently a research associate with the University of Auckland’s Energy Centre and its Public Policy Institute.
This seminar is jointly held by the Community Climate Action Working Group of Belfast Climate Commission (part of the Place-based Climate Action Network https://pcancities.org.uk/) and the Centre for Sustainability, Equality and Climate Action, Queen’s University Belfast.

Brexit, Citizens’ Assemblies and the future of Democracy in the UK
2020-01-06 18:00 - 19:30 | Canada Room and Council Chamber, Queen's University Belfast, University Road, Belfast, BT7 1NN, United Kingdom
Event from 6pm, with lecture starting 6.30pm.

The Brexit process has put the UK’s democratic system under great strain, pitting competing democratic visions against each other and exposing weaknesses in each.

This special event will examine those weaknesses and consider possible ways of addressing them. Could the 2016 referendum have been designed differently to create a less polarised process? How could the grievances with current politics that the referendum result highlighted be tackled?
In particular, we will examine whether citizens’ assemblies – randomly selected groups of people who meet over several weekends to learn about, discuss, and make recommendations on selected issues – could make a difference. The strengths, and also the limitations, of this approach will be explored and possible paths forward proposed.
About Dr Alan Renwick
Dr Alan Renwick is Deputy Director of the Constitution Unit at University College London. He led the 2017 UK Citizens’ Assembly on Brexit and in 2019, with Michela Palese, published a major report on strengthening democracy, Doing Democracy Better: How Can Information and Discourse in Election and Referendum Campaigns in the UK Be Improved? Alan is now project lead for the Working Group on Unification Referendums on the Island of Ireland.
To register, please click here.

GE2019: Post-election Analysis and Brexit Clinic
2019-12-17 12:30 - 14:00 | Bell Lecture Theatre, Lanyon Building, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BT7 1NN, United Kingdom
Boris Johnston ‘s call for a general election was finally heard and as we all know by now, UK voters are off to the polls on the 12th December for what commentators are calling the most important election in a generation!
Join us at Queen’s University on the 17th December when Dr Jamie Pow, lecturer in the School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics will offer some post-election analysis while our resident Brexit experts, Prof David Phinnemore and Dr Katy Hayward, will look at the implications of the election results on the Brexit process.
Will the Prime Minister get the majority he needs to force his deal through or will history repeat itself and leave us with a hung parliament and even more uncertainty? And what about Northern Ireland’s 18 Westminster seats?
To register, please click here.
We look forward to welcoming you then.

Sex work and the law: The implementation of the Nordic Model in N. Ireland
2019-11-09 14:00 - 15:30 | Old Staff Common Room, Queen's University Belfast, University Road, Belfast, BT7 1NN, United Kingdom
In 2015, Northern Ireland adopted the ‘Nordic’, or ‘Criminalisation of the purchase of Sex’ model in regards to sex work.
This is a controversial approach to controlling sex work; and is the subject of some debate. Four years after its implementation, the Department of Justice funded a review of the law.
At this event, the researchers who conducted the review will disseminate their findings. Their presentation will be followed by a Q&A session.

Climate Jobs and a Just Transition: Responding to our Climate Emergency
2019-11-09 09:30 - 17:30 | Canada Room and Council Chamber, Queen's University Belfast, University Road, Belfast, BT7 1NN, United Kingdom
As a society we have passed a ‘tipping point’ on addressing the climate and ecological crisis; politicians and decision-makers globally are ‘playing catch up’ with recent mobilisations demanding greater and faster action on our climate crisis. The most recent climate science stresses the scale and urgency of reducing greenhouse emissions.
In order to meet the goal of the 2015 Paris Agreement to stay below two degrees warming, global emissions will have to peak less than a year from now and thereafter reduce by more than seven percent annually. If we want to meet the goal of the 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that is the lower and safer 1.5 degree warming target, we require ‘far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society’ with reductions of between 30-50 percent in global emissions by 2030 in energy, land use, transportation and agriculture. We desperately need leadership to meet this challenge.If we are serious about creating a green and sustainable economy, we need to transition to a green economy though policies such as a Green New Deal and a Just Transition. The trades unions have a vital part to play in this transition and struggle for a more sustainable, climate resilient and less unequal economy.
Some questions this conference addresses includes:
At this time of growing popular and political acceptance of the scale and urgency of the climate crisis, do we need a ‘wartime mobilisation’ ?
And does this mean nationalisation of the energy system to deliver a just transition?
How doe we ensure that in moving from fossil fuels to renewables, no community is left behind or that working families bear an unfair burden?
What energy technologies do we need?

Social enterprises in Northern Ireland: Promoting business for social good
2019-11-08 10:00 - 15:30 | Riddel Hall, 185 Stranmillis Road , Belfast, Co Antrim , BT9 5EE, United Kingdom
The social enterprise sector is hugely attractive to people wanting to create innovative solutions to local and global problems.
In an increasingly globalised world, there has been a shift from a pure focus on either the private, public or non-profit sectors. Social enterprises bridge the gap between these sectors, providing solutions that serve a social purpose, while achieving financial sustainability.
This event considers why social enterprise organisations that set out to meet societal needs through positive social impact are of such high interest to students, entrepreneurs, academics and government policy makers. Using examples from practitioners and research studies, we will consider what makes a sustainable social enterprise.
The session will be a dynamic, informal and very practical event; designed to inspire, inform and motivate school leavers and members of the general public wanting to understand more about the positive impact businesses can have on society.

Creating our sustainable future
2019-11-07 19:00 - 21:30 | Canada Room and Council Chamber, Queen's University Belfast, University Road, Belfast, BT7 1NN, United Kingdom
Climate breakdown is one of the biggest issues facing our socio-ecological world. The complexity of the climate issues facing our planet can often leave us wondering what we can do, and where to even begin. ‘Creating our Sustainable Future’ is an interactive workshop which offers participants the opportunity to consider these pressing socio-ecological issues in a hands-on, stimulating environment.
Opening with a short quiz, participants will work together to share their knowledge of the environment and society (eco-prizes are available for winners). Through discussion, group work, and engaging with ‘Anna’s Journey’ (a new short play about unsustainability co-written and performed by QUB staff and students), participants will discuss climate breakdown and other related environmental degradation and socio-economic inequalities; examining causes, consequences and alternatives to help us move towards a sustainable future.
Facilitated by staff and students from across the University, participants will work in small groups to create a piece of art (visual, poetry, storytelling, etc.) to communicate their vision for a greener, healthier and sustainable future; using the UN Sustainable Development Goals and pressing environmental and social issues as inspiration. The workshop will conclude with a discussion and refreshments.

The art of health and well-being
2019-11-06 19:00 - 21:00 | Sunflower Public House, 65 Union Street, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BT1 2JG, United Kingdom
Historically, the arts have been seen as the remit of the talented few, with most of us putting down our paintbrushes, tidying away our dancing shoes and closing our poetry books after we have left school.
This event aims to challenge that notion, showing that not only can everyone engage with the arts, but that art and creativity can be inherently beneficial to our health and wellbeing.
We will showcase the artistic work of both healthcare professionals and people living with chronic illness; who will describe the benefit that the arts have had on their health and wellbeing.
The event will include live music performances, photography and poetry. Additionally, we will showcase artistic work created by patients during haemodialysis sessions, produced as part of a research project led by Queen’s University Belfast.

The Arts: Forms of engagement, questions of value
2019-11-06 17:00 - 19:00 | Brian Friel Theatre, 20 University Road, Belfast, Antrim, BT7 1NN, United Kingdom
At this event, arts and culture researchers, policymakers and practitioners will showcase new research exploring the ways in which people engage with the arts. We’ll also explore approaches to identifying and valuing that engagement.
The keynote speaker will be Dr Ben Walmsley, Associate Professor of Audience Engagement at the University of Leeds. Dr Walmsley lectures on audience engagement, arts management, arts marketing, cultural policy and cultural value. Prior to his academic career, Dr Walmsley managed a small touring theatre company before working as Producer at the National Theatre of Scotland.
Other speakers will include Molly Goyer Gorman, and former and current postgraduate students from Queen’s University Belfast.
There will also be a Q&A panel facilitated by Dan Hull, Senior Researcher for the NI Assembly.
The event will be followed by a light reception allowing guests, students, researchers, practitioners and policymakers to mingle with one another.

Northern Ireland's place in Europe post-Brexit
2019-11-05 12:30 - 14:00 | Ulster Museum: Belfast Room, Botanic Gardens, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BT9 5AB, United Kingdom
At this event, academics from across Queen’s University Belfast will share their thoughts on the ever-shifting dynamics of Brexit and its impact on key areas.
Whether your interest is in human rights, free movement, the environment, agriculture or business; this is a great opportunity to hear from and engage with senior researchers and academics from Queen’s.
Panellists will discuss what has been called the greatest constitutional challenge the UK has faced in generations, and explore “what next?” for Brexit.

‘Have you got what it takes to start a revolution or are you a sheep!!’ QUB Sustainability Lecture with Sir Tim Smit
2019-10-23 16:00 - 18:00 | Peter Froggatt Centre Room OG/007, Queen's University, Belfast, Antrim, BT7 1NN, United Kingdom
Tim Smit is Executive Vice-Chair and Co-founder of the multi award-winning Eden Project in Cornwall. Since its opening in 2001, over 20 million people have come to see a once sterile pit, turned into a cradle of life containing world-class horticulture and startling architecture symbolic of human endeavour. Tim is also Executive Co-Chair for Eden Project International which aims to have an Eden Project on every habited continent by 2025.
This event is free and open to the public
To register please click here.
For more details please email John Barry: j.barry@qub.ac.uk

When aid is not enough: integrating conflict prevention in humanitarian resilience programmes
2019-10-21 12:00 - 13:30 | Old Staff Common Room, Queen's University Belfast, University Road, Belfast, BT7 1NN, United Kingdom
Join us for the Belfast launch of the Christian Aid/Mitchell Institute report, “Integrating Conflict Prevention in Humanitarian Resilience Programmes,” based on preliminary fieldwork conducted in Burundi, DRC, South Sudan, and Myanmar. This research was designed to assess the integration of conflict sensitivity and prevention in humanitarian resilience programmes with the aim of building resilience in conflict settings.
Findings indicate that conflict analysis can help to enhance the conflict sensitivity of resilience programmes by contributing to understanding of how the conflict context and the resilience
programmes interact. This understanding helps aid organisations, local partners, and communities work together to maximise the positive potential of programmes in conflict settings while minimising potential negative outcomes, especially those that further contribute to conflict.
Further information

The featured image has been used courtesy of a Creative Commons license.

Growing a healthy society- The role of food
2019-09-18 17:00 - 19:30 | The Great Hall, University Road, Belfast, Antrim, BT7 1NN, United Kingdom
Queen’s University Belfast and Oxford Farming Conference are co-hosting a discourse on food, nutrition and impact on human health.
The Institute for Global Food Security, in partnership with the Oxford Farming Conference, invite you to attend the inaugural Grand Challenge Debate. This lecture is being organised in advance of the 2020 Oxford Farming Conference (7-9 January) which has selected “Growing a Healthy Society” as it’s key theme. The 2020 theme is all about strengthening the relationship between the population, the land and the people who produce the nation’s food. OFC 2020 will challenge delegates to look not just at how they can strengthen the health of their businesses and their soil but also how they can develop their own physical, mental and professional resilience.
This joint event will focus on “Food, diet and health”, seeking to highlight the impact of a sub-optimal diet on non-communicable disease mortality and morbidity and opportunity to connect agriculture, food, diet to improve health outcomes.
The keynote lecture will be delivered by Professor Nita Gandhi Forouhi, a physician and academic, specialising in nutrition and epidemiology. She is Professor of Population Health and Nutrition at the University of Cambridge, the programme leader of the nutritional epidemiology programme of its MRC Epidemiology Unit, and an honorary consultant public health physician with Public Health England.
The event will commence at 17:00 with a welcome reception. The event will be hosted at Queen’s University Belfast in the magnificent Great Hall.
Interest is expected to be high so early registration is recommended.

Patten 20 Years On: Young People, Policing and Stop and Search
2019-09-04 10:00 - 15:30 | The Great Hall, University Road, Belfast, Antrim, BT7 1NN, United Kingdom
This is a joint event between the Crime and Social Justice Group at Queen’s, Include Youth and the Children’s Law Centre.
Taking place on Wednesday 4 September, 10.00am – 3.30pm in the Great Hall, this one-day conference will explore the current agenda and evidence around the policing of children and young people in Northern Ireland, with a particular focus on police stop and search powers.
For full details and to register, please follow this link.
Speakers include:

Prof. Ann Skelton, member of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child;
Katrina French, Chief Executive of StopWatch UK
Prof. Ben Bradford, Director of the Jill Dando Institute for Global City Policing
Koulla Yiasouma, Commissioner for Children and Young People in Northern Ireland

More speakers to be announced. The conference will be chaired by Alyson Kilpatrick, BL.

June 2019 Brexit Clinic
2019-06-19 12:30 - 14:00 | PFC 02/026, Peter Froggatt Centre, Belfast, Antrim, BT7 1NN, United Kingdom
The next Brexit Clinic from Queen’s Policy Engagement will take place on:

Wednesday 19 June 2019 at 12.30pm in the Peter Froggatt Centre, Room 02.026 (Second Floor), Main Campus, Queen’s University Belfast.

Since our last Clinic, Theresa May’s Brexit deal was once again rejected by Parliament, she has been given an extension until 31 October and her subsequent negotiations with Labour on a way forward for her deal have collapsed. European Parliament elections are also due to take place on 23 May and Nigel Farage’s Brexit party is racing up the poles. So what does all this mean for what happens next?
Join our panel from Queen’s as they talk through the latest developments in the Brexit process which, given what has been happening to date, will no doubt be changing by the day!
With Professor David Phinnemore and Professor Dagmar Schiek and Dr Mary Dobbs.
We look forward to welcoming you then.

The McCosh Lecture Annual Religious Studies Lecture at Queen’s with Baroness Onora O;Neill
2019-05-10 14:00 - 16:30 | Great Hall, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, BT7 1NN, United Kingdom
Baroness Onora O’Neill will deliver this year’s McCosh Lecture at Queen’s University Belfast on Friday 10 May from 2pm. This is a free event and requires no registration.
WHAT OUGHT WE DO?
Ethical inquiry in Western traditions traditionally asked what we should do, and offered accounts of various types of required action or duty. However, since the early twentieth century concern with duty has often been seen as problematic and rejected. Subsequent normative inquiry has typically addressed narrower questions. A great deal of writing in political and legal philosophy focuses on rights and entitlements, while construing the rest of ethics as a ‘merely’ personal matter. A great deal of writing in ethics either focuses on subjective conceptions of virtue and preference, or addresses aspects of ‘applied’ ethics that assume
institutional preconditions. Baroness O’Neill shall argue that this narrowing of horizons is unnecessary and can be reversed.

PROGRAMME
2.00 pm Welcome by Professor David Livingstone (Chair, Religious Studies Forum)
2.05 pm Introduction by Professor Richard English,(Pro-Vice Chancellor for Internationalisation and Engagement)
2.10 pm Lecture – What Ought We Do?
3.00 pm Discussion and Open Forum
3.45 pm Refreshments

History in the Making: The Ulster Museum and the ‘Troubles and Beyond’ with BBC’s Marie-Louise Muir
2019-05-08 19:30 - 21:30 | Crescent Arts Centre, 2-4 University Road, Belfast, Antrim, BT7 1NH, United Kingdom
The Centre for Public History, Queen’s University Belfast, invites you to join us for
HISTORY IN THE MAKING: A MASTERCLASS IN DIALOGUE
On Good Friday 2018, the Ulster Museum opened its doors, and its collections, to a new commemorative exhibition ‘The Troubles and Beyond’. Displayed across hundreds of objects and images, the gallery documents social, political, and cultural changes in Northern Ireland from the civil rights era to today’s post-conflict society.
But what influenced the curators’ interpretations of the Troubles? And what historical and curatorial challenges did they encounter as they brought the realities of that past from collection to final exhibition?
Join BBC NI’s Marie-Louise Muir as she asks these and other revealing questions in an exclusive interview with the creators of the Ulster Museum’s ‘The Troubles and Beyond’ exhibition, William Blair and Karen Logan.
Refreshments served on arrival.
The Centre for Public History at Queen’s. Putting history to work @qubpublichist

Reflections on Policing with the Community: people, partnerships and public confidence with George Hamilton QPM
2019-05-07 18:00 - 19:30
Queen’s University is delighted to welcome George Hamilton QPM, Chief Constable Police Service of Northern Ireland, to deliver a public lecture at the University. The event will be hosted by Professor Kieran McEvoy, Queen’s University Belfast.
About the speaker
George Hamilton was appointed Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland on 30 June 2014.
Chief Constable Hamilton’s policing experience started in 1985 when he joined the Royal Ulster Constabulary. Since then he has gained a wide range of experience in a variety of operational roles.
In 2009 he was appointed as an Assistant Chief Constable in Strathclyde Police in Scotland, with responsibility for serious and organised crime, public protection and counter terrorism investigations.
Prior to his appointment in Strathclyde he had been Chief Superintendent and District Commander in ‘B’ District (South and East Belfast).
He also served as a Detective Chief Inspector and Detective Superintendent in the PSNI where he was involved in a number of high profile and complex investigations. During a three secondment in England he worked on a range of training and organisational development projects.
Chief Constable Hamilton holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Politics and Economics and a Masters in Business Administration. He is a member of the Institute of Directors and the FBI Law Enforcement Executive Leadership Association.
In 2015 he was awarded the Queen’s Police Medal in the Her Majesty’s Birthday Honours list.
In January 2019 he announced his intention to retire from policing in June 2019.

Imagine: The UK's Future Relationship with the EU
2019-03-27 13:00 - 17:00 | Canada Room and Council Chamber, Queen's University Belfast, University Road, Belfast, BT7 1NN, United Kingdom
As the date for the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union draws ever closer, EU leaders have agreed the political declaration that sets out the broad aspirations for the kind of relationship the UK and the EU envisage having after Brexit. But what will this so-called ambitious, broad, deep and flexible partnership actually look like? And how will it and more immediately UK withdrawal from the EU impact on the many areas of collaboration that have been built up over 45 years of UK membership of the EU?
Join us at Queen’s University Belfast on Wednesday 27 March from 1pm as academics from across the University share their thoughts on the ever-shifting dynamics of Brexit and its impact on key areas. Whether your interest is in human rights or public health, borders or business, this is a great opportunity to hear from, and engage with senior researchers and academics from Queen’s as they discuss what has been called the greatest constitutional challenge the UK has faced in generations and explore “what next?” with Brexit.
This special event will take place from 1pm-5pm on Wednesday 27 March in the Canada Room and Council Chamber at Queen’s University Belfast and is part of the Imagine Belfast Festival of Ideas and Politics 2019.
Further information on the Festival can be found at imaginebelfast.com

"The Border: The Legacy of a Century of Anglo-Irish Politics" - A Public Talk by Professor Diarmaid Ferriter (UCD)
2019-03-11 17:45 - 19:00 | Bell Lecture Theatre, Lanyon Building, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BT7 1NN, United Kingdom
Join us for the latest in our series of public talks, this time being given by Professor Diarmaid Ferriter from University College Dublin.
Diarmaid Ferriter is Professor of Modern Irish History at UCD. His books include The Transformation of Ireland 1900-2000 (2004), Judging Dev: A Reassessment of the life and legacy of Eamon de Valera (2007), Occasions of Sin: Sex and Society in Modern Ireland (2009) Ambiguous Republic: Ireland in the 1970s (2012) A Nation and not a Rabble: The Irish Revolution 1913-23 (2015) and On The Edge: Ireland’s Offshore Islands, A Modern History (2018).
His latest book is The Border: The Legacy of a Century of Anglo-Irish Politics (2019). He is a regular broadcaster on RTE television and radio and a weekly columnist with the Irish Times.
Registration is not required and seats will be issued on a first come, first served basis.

Enhancing the democratic debate in the era of fake news with Stephen Nolan
2019-02-26 18:00 - 19:30
Queen’s University Belfast is delighted to welcome Stephen Nolan, radio and television presenter, to deliver a public lecture at the University on 26 February at 6.00pm in the Emeleus Lecture Theatre.
To register, please click here.

Judging Carson and Redmond
2019-02-25 16:30 - 18:15 | Canada Room and Council Chamber, Queen's University Belfast, University Road, Belfast, BT7 1NN, United Kingdom
Queen’s University Belfast, in partnership with the Royal Irish Academy, is delighted to welcome Professor Alvin Jackson for this special public debate.
100 years ago the balance of power in Westminster was held by Northern Irish politicians. John Redmond and Edward Carson remain two of the biggest names in modern Irish history. At the peak of their careers as senior members of the British parliament, they were locked together in combat over Home Rule. Divided by the union with Britain, they had surprisingly much in common. Contemporaries saw them together, and routinely judged them in comparative contexts.
But with the partition of Ireland and independence, they have been disconnected, viewed wholly apart, and seen in political contexts scarcely imagined by people at the time. This event is the first to assess them as contemporaries would have done. It uses both new approaches and much new evidence to shed fresh light on their sometimes fraught private lives, their professional and political achievements, and their stands on violence and war. The result will be a strikingly original reassessment of the two men and their legacies.
About the Speaker
Alvin Jackson is one of the most prominent historians of modern Ireland. He is Richard Lodge Professor of History at the University of Edinburgh, and has been lecturer in history at University College Dublin and Queen’s University Belfast. He is the author of seven books, including Judging Redmond and Carson (2018), The Two Unions (2013), and he has also recently edited the Oxford Handbook of Modern Irish History (2017). Among his awards, he is an honorary member of the Royal Irish Academy.

Registration is not required and seats will be issued on a first come, first served basis. Refreshments will be served in the Canada Room following the debate.

Queen's Policy Engagement Brexit Clinic February 2019
2019-02-22 12:30 - 14:00 | Moot Court Room, School of Law, Tower Building, Belfast, Antrim , BT7 1NN, United Kingdom
The next Brexit Clinic from Queen’s Policy Engagement will take place on the following date:

Friday 22 February at 12.30pm in the Moot Court Room, Main Site Tower, Main Campus, Queen’s University Belfast.

To register, please click here.
Since our last Clinic, Theresa May’s deal has been voted down in Parliament, she has survived a vote of no confidence and been given a mandate by Parliament to seek alternative arrangements from the EU with particular reference to the backstop.
Will a deal be secured before 29 March? Will there be an extension to Article 50, or will the UK fall over the cliff edge of a no-deal Brexit? And what are the implications for the Good Friday Agreement?
Join our panel from Queen’s as they talk through the latest developments in the Brexit process which, given what has been happening to date, will no doubt be changing by the day!
Chaired by Professor Lee McGowan, with Professor David Phinnemore, Dr Viviane Gravey and Dr Katy Hayward.
We look forward to welcoming you then.

The Purpose of Universities Today - Public Lecture
2019-02-14 17:30 - 19:00 | Canada Room and Council Chamber, Queen's University Belfast, University Road, Belfast, BT7 1NN, United Kingdom
Speaker:
Professor Shane O’Neill
Shane O’Neill is a Visiting Research Professor at the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice at Queen’s University Belfast. He is a political philosopher and critical social theorist who worked at Queen’s from 1994 to 2016. He served for an extended term on the University Executive, as Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, and he was instrumental in establishing the Institute. Since 2016 he has been Professor of Political Theory at Keele University in England, where he also serves as Pro Vice-Chancellor for Planning and Advancement and Executive Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.
About the Lecture
Public debates about the role of universities have tended to be polarised in recent years. On the one hand neo-liberal views present universities as institutions with a singular focus, which is to compete with each other by demonstrating how effective they are at equipping students or research partners to succeed in market society. On the other hand, traditional accounts of the intrinsic value of university education and research that have challenged such neo-liberal thinking can often appear to be either nostalgic or elitist. We need to reconstruct the purpose of the university today by moving beyond this unhelpful debate. The argument presented here suggests that the most fruitful way to do this is to present universities as instruments of social freedom.
Tea and coffee will be served in the Canada Room from 5.00pm.
The lecture will take place in the Council Chamber at 5.30pm.

Public Event: ‘Brexit’ – Trade Union Perspectives
2019-01-30 18:00 - 19:30 | Canada Room and Council Chamber, Queen's University Belfast, University Road, Belfast, BT7 1NN, United Kingdom
Trade Union panel and open floor discussion on the UK withdrawal from the EU. To register, click here.
(Tea/coffee served from 5.30pm – car parking available in the car park at the back of the QUB main building)
As part of the university’s ongoing contribution to the debates around UK withdrawal from the EU, there will be an event open to the public exploring the views within the trade union movement on how best to defend and advance the interests of their members in the present state of relations between the UK and the EU.
The event will be chaired by Merav Amir, President of the University & College Union at Queen’s.
Katy Hayward (leading Queen’s expert on ‘Brexit’) will start off the discussion by giving a brief ‘user friendly’ technical summary of where negotiations and future prospects are at the time of the event.
That will be followed by opening comments from a panel of leading trade union speakers representing a range of positions within the trade union movement on ‘Brexit’, including the Irish and GB dimensions alongside the focus on Northern Ireland:

Owen Reidy – Assistant General Secretary, Irish Congress of Trade Unions
Davy Thompson – Regional Coordinating Officer, Unite
Alex Gordon – Past President, RMT
Paddy Mackel – President, Belfast & District Trades Union Council

Speakers will give their views (10 minutes each) on how to protect and advance trade union interests in the coming year .
The discussion will then be opened up to the floor.

Simon Coveney: 'Maintaining the habit of Co-operation'
2019-01-09 18:30 - 20:00
Queen’s University Policy Engagement Lecture Series provides a platform for meaningful discussion, engaged debate, and open dialogue on a range of today’s most pressing issues. It honours the commitments made in the University’s Social Charter to engage civic conversations, knowledge exchange and intercultural dialogue.

Queen's Policy Engagement Christmas Brexit Clinic
2018-12-12 12:30 - 14:00 | LAN 01/052, Lanyon Building, QUB, Belfast, Antrim, BT7 1NF, United Kingdom
The next Brexit Clinic will take place on the following date:
Wednesday 12 December at 12.30pm in Room 01/052, above the Senate Room, Main Campus, Queen’s University Belfast.
The Clinic will take place just before the December meeting of the European Council and it will be an opportunity to reflect on where we will be by that stage in the Brexit process. Will Theresa May have managed to make any final changes to the draft Withdrawal Agreement? What about Parliament’s reaction to the deal? What are the EU Member States thinking about it?
Chaired by Professor Lee McGowan, Professor David Phinnemore, Dr Viviane Gravey and Dr Katy Hayward will present their analysis on the Withdrawal Agreement and the likely implications for Northern Ireland. And seeing as it’s Christmas, we’ll even throw in a mince pie or two!
We look forward to welcoming you then. To register, please click here.
