IAS News

Christopher Strelluf, University of Warwick IAS Young Leader Academy Fellow, has co-edited a new open-access special issue of the International Journal of the Sociology of Language with Michelle Waldispühl (University of Oslo).

Titled “Publicly engaged historical sociolinguistics and present-day conflicts,” the issue brings together research developed through an EUTOPIA Connected Research Community Incubator involving five European universities. The projects explore how knowledge of multilingualism, language conflict and language policy can help address contemporary social tensions.

The collaboration has also generated podcasts, workshops and ongoing public impact, including a Migration Policy Institute feature and ESRC-funded learning materials for new migrants in London.

We are looking forward to appointing 12 new postdoctoral fellows at Warwick, along with 12 at CERGY Paris and 6 at Monash Prato, having successfully applied for the EUTOPIA-SHIFT (Shaping Higher Education and Innovation for Future Talents) programme.

The IAS would like to congratulate the first winners of our Outstanding Postdoctoral Researcher Award. The award has been created to recognise exceptional postdoctoral researchers who have made significant contributions both to research and to the wider postdoc community over the past year and shines a spotlight on the individuals whose work embodies the spirit of Warwick’s Research Strategy: ambitious, collaborative, impactful, and driven by a commitment to positive change.

Awardees:

Dr Sally Holloway (History)

Dr Aditya Singh (Physics)

Dr Linda Wanika (Engineering)

We very much look forward to seeing how our winners continue to represent the postdoctoral community at Warwick over the next year, and we hope that details of next year’s nomination process will follow soon.

Early Career Fellow Dr Oluwatosin Orababa was awarded the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine Faculty Thesis Prize in 2025. His PhD thesis was titled “Optimisation, antimicrobial efficacy testing and mechanism of action of a natural product cocktail inspired by a historical remedy”

Congratulations to our ECF Jacopo Francesco Mascoli, who was selected to present a paper titled 'Zavattini reloaded: participatory documentary practices in the Mediterranean migration emergency' at the 34th International Screen Studies Conference, organised by the journal Screen and held at the University of Glasgow from Friday 26 June to Sunday 28 June 2026.

The paper addresses the influences of the Italian Neorealism mastermind Cesare Zavattini on contemporary film collectives that engage in participatory modes of filmmaking with migrants. Jacopo's paper explores how involving migrants directly in the filmmaking process challenges traditional notions of authorship and creates alternative distribution networks. Ultimately, the paper demonstrates how these participatory screen practices connect local activism to wider Mediterranean networks, shifting the political stakes of contemporary screen culture from mere representation to active, collective mediation.

Here is more information on the conference screenstudiesconference.comLink opens in a new window

Our associate fellow Dr Emrah Atasoy, currently a Heritage Collections Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh's IASH, organised and hosted the interdisciplinary panel ‘Narratives of the Future II' at The University of Edinburgh's The Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities on 12 June 2026. The panel was chaired by Dr Atasoy (current Fellow at IASH, University of Edinburgh), and featured presentations by Professor Siân Bayne (Moray House School of Education and Sport and Edinburgh Futures Institute, University of Edinburgh), Dr Elsa Bouet (English, Edinburgh Napier University), and Professor Dr Volker Stümke (current Fellow at IASH, University of Edinburgh).