Liberal Arts News

The annual International Conference of Undergraduate Research (ICUR) 2019 took place on the 24th and 25th of September in The Oculus building on campus, showcasing the best undergraduate research from around the world via internationally video-linked sessions.

The International Conference of Undergraduate Research (ICUR) is an annual academic conference, led and sponsored by the University of Warwick and Monash University, that connects student researchers globally using video conferencing technology.

ICUR encourages participants to rethink their own work in an international context. As a forum, it requires presenters to consider the perspective of students from different backgrounds, and to anticipate what may be shared across cultures and local contexts. This challenge also translates to research questions, encouraging students to examine global and regional trends in their research field, and how these might conflict with local concerns and specificities.

This year, the forum will take place on the 24th and 25th of September in the Oculus building, where several students from the School for Cross-faculty Studies will be presenting their research.

After 20 years working at our University and five years leading our School, Prof Cathia Jenainati has left Warwick University to take up a new role at another University.

As a colleague of tremendous intelligence and loyalty, and an extremely supportive and energetic Head of School, Cathia will be sorely missed. She has been a wonderful friend and colleague, the true backbone of our School. We wish her the very best for a successful future!

Dr Stéphanie Panichelli-Batalla has now assumed the role of the Head of School, and she is looking forward to leading Liberal Arts staff and students to further success. We believe this to be very exciting news, and we wish Stéphanie well in this new phase of her academic career!

In the last week of July 2019, Liberal Arts teamed up with Politics and Sociology to deliver a Warwick Sutton Trust Summer School on the theme of “The Colonial Hangover”. The Colonial Hangover project was established by colleagues in Politics and International Studies to work with students to pose questions about the hidden legacies of Empire in everyday life, and we were keen to collaborate!

May 2019 saw the bicentennial of the American poet Walt Whitman’s birth. Born in 1819 in Long Island, Whitman would radically challenge the poetic conventions of his time and open to the door to experimental and free verse poetry. Bursting onto the literary scene in 1855, his self-published collection Leaves of Grass captivated and repulsed readers in equal measure. Famed for his frank, sensual expression and queer egalitarianism, Whitman has had a profound impact on readers, poets and activists in the years since his death.