The University will hold a number of events in the week beginning 19 June 2017 to mark a year since the referendum vote to leave the EU.
With the general election not clarifying the UK government’s position on Brexit, academics in the School of Politics and International Relations (POLIR) have assembled a guest list to tackle the challenges of the UK’s future relationship with Europe. Events will take place on the Canterbury and Brussels campuses.
Canterbury events include Devolution in England: International Perspectives, Politics and Policy Ideas after Brexit. This will take place in Woolf College on 20 and 21 June. It is free and open to all but participants must register.
Keynote speaker John Denham, former MP and Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, who is now Professor of English Politics and Identity at the University of Winchester, will be joined for the event by:
- academics – Professor Vernon Bogdanor (KCL), Professor Jane Wills (Queen Mary London), Professor Meg Russell (UCL) and Dr Cesar Colino (Oxford)
- senior politicians – Lord Glasman, Andrew Percy MP (tbc) and Jon Cruddas MP
- practitioners and policy analysts – Phillip Blond (ResPublica), Rupak Chattopadhyay (Canada), Willi Haag (Switzerland), Jonathan Carr-West (LGiU), Ben Rogers (Centre for London, tbc) and Nicholas Whyte (Brussels)
Canterbury events will conclude with a roundtable on Friday 23 June from 14.00-15.30 in Rutherford Lecture Theatre 2. Entitled Brexit – a year after the vote (Implications for Peacebuilding Practitioners), this discussion is free and open to all. Chaired by POLIR’s Dr Nadine Ansorg, lecturer in International Conflict Analysis and Dr Toni Haastrup, lecturer in International Security, it will focus on the consequences of the UK’s decision to leave the EU and the challenges it presents for those working directly on peace and conflict-related issues.
Speakers include:
- Phil Vernon, Director of Programmes, International Alert
- Ben Moore, Assistant Director European Peacebuilding Liaison Office (EPLO)
- Teresa Dumasy, Director of Policy and Learning, Conciliation Resources and Conflict Analysis Research Centre (CARC) Senior Research Fellow
- Judith Large, CARC Senior Research Fellow and Independent Peacebuilder.
Brussels events include the policy workshop Brexit – Security and International Order on Thursday 22 June. Taking advantage of the University’s Brussels School of International Studies’ location and connections this event includes speakers Professor Sven Biscop from Egmont in Brussels, Dr Jamie Shea, Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges at NATO Headquarters, Brussels, as well as the University of Kent’s Professor Richard Whitman and Professor Trine Flockhart.