The Post-Pandemic University, September 18th

September 18th, Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge

Organising committee: Mark Carrigan, Michele Martini, Hannah Moscovitz, Susan Robertson, Milan Stürmer

Social distancing could, perhaps, better be described as ‘physical distancing’, given that we are finding new ways to enjoy social interactions digitally whether or not we are in the same room. Whatever we choose to call it, however, it is just one of the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to pose challenges for universities as the new academic year looms large on the horizon. How exactly will higher education be transformed by these events? What sort of university can we expect – or hope – to emerge from the crisis? And how can we begin to shape that university now?

These are the questions we’ll be addressing in the first Post-Pandemic University conference on September 18th. The conference will take place using Zoom, as we feel this is the most stable option and one which we have institutional support for. Each panel will have 4 or 5 participants and last 1 hour (four participants) or 1 hour twenty mins (five participants) respectively. Participants have prepared blog posts which will be released in advance of the conference on this website and indexed on the conference page. The panels will be a facilitated discussion between the participants, informed by both pre-submitted and spontaneous questions from attendees.

We hope you’ll engage with the contributions before, during and after the conference by sharing them on social media, leaving comments or writing responses. In this sense, we’re trying to decentre the conference, making it a focal point for the intellectual exchange we’re having but facilitating a much wider network of engagement than those who attend on the day. We’re also trying to disaggregate the conference, not least of all because we don’t want to pressure participants or attendees to spend ten hours on Zoom in one day.

Therefore we’re asking you to register individually for each of the sessions you wish to attend. Please see the conference page for the updated list of speakers and links to the blog posts they’ve prepared. Here are registration links for each of the sessions: 

9:00-10:15 BST: Rethinking the University (Chair: Dr. Aliandra Lazzari Barlete)

10:30-11:45 BST: University and Society (Chair: Dr. Jana Bacevic)

11:45-13:00 BST: Reassembling the University (Chair: Professor Susan L. Robertson)

13:30-14:45 BST: Pandemic Pedagogy (Chair: Dr. Michele Martini)

15:00-16:15 BST: The Post-Pandemic Student (Chair: Dr. Hannah Moscovitz)

16:30-17:45 BST: Precarity, Casualisation and Labour (Chair: Dr. Steve Watson)

18:00-19:15 BST: Inequality and Injustice (Chair: Dr. Eva Hartmann)

You’ll receive an e-mail before the conference with a link to a Zoom room, as well as links to the final selection of blog posts for the panel. We strongly encourage you to read these in advance of the session, as we hope speakers will be able to assume knowledge of their approach in order to focus on discussion between participants and attendees. If you have any questions then please get in touch.


Photo by Daniele Levis Pelusi on Unsplash

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