The Festival of the Imagination will take place on campus on 16-17 October 2015 and will be the centrepiece of the University's 50^th anniversary celebrations, showcasing the work we do at Warwick through a diverse programme of events all focused around the central theme 'Imagining the Future'.

As part of this festival, there will be lots of talks and acitivities for staff and students to get involved in.

Highlighted below are some events which might be of particular interest to our Sociology community:

• ‘Is Diversity Academic in UK Universities?’ - Prof. Gurminder Bhambra is on the panel exploring this issue on Saturday 17 October at 2.15pm. This event free, but you should book tickets: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/about/warwick50/events/imagination/talks/diversity/
• ‘Solving Inequality’ - Inequality is one of our most urgent social problems. Poverty in Britain is at a post-war high and set to increase yet further. What prevents us from plugging the gap between rich and poor, and how can we redress the balance? This talk will take place on Saturday 17 October at 12pm. Students can attend for the discounted price of £5. More information and booking can be found at http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/about/warwick50/events/imagination/talks/inequality/

We hope that you'll join us there!

Toxic Expertise: Environmental Justice and the Global Petrochemical Industry

ERC PROJECT LAUNCH, WITH WINE AND NIBBLES

4 November 2015, 5pm-7pm

Zeeman Building (Mathematics) Room MS.04

The ten day festival starts tomorrow! View the complete programme here.

The festival will shine the light on social sciences by providing a variety of events for students, staff members and the wider public.

Here is a snapshot of just a few of the sessions which will take place:

• 12 May, 11.00-13.00: Dr Cath Lambert's 'Centre for Study of Women and Gender: Archive in the making' - R1.13, Ramphal
• 12, 13, 14 May, 19.15: Perfomance: 'Coney's Early Days (of a Better Nation) - Arts Centre. Booking required - book for this event here

So, join us and explore social matters throughout the years, whilst celebrating Warwick's 50th anniversary.

Professor Simon Williams appeared on Radio 4's 'Bringing Up Britain' on the politics of children's bedrooms. To listen to the full episode click on link below:

BBC 4 Radio - Bringing Up Britain

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01ckgfv#synopsis

'Following the introduction of civil partnerships and statistics which indiacte half of all children in the UK are being born outside marriage, it appears that attitudes towards sexuality have greatly relaxed. However, there is one demographic who feel increasingly marginalised in our more openly sexual society; it is estimated that one per cent of people in this country describe themselves as asexual'.

Woman's Hour Wednesday 29th February 2012

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/26/among-the-asexuals

Among the asexuals

'In a society obsessed with sex. It's hard if you have no sexual desire at all. Some are searching for a new form of intimacy'.

The Observer Sunday 26th February 2012

Church of England faces a fresh blow with the loss of leading role in prisons - read full article here

What is it like to be asexual?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16552173

Sam Lyle, one of our PhD students, was recently on local radio talking about the social class aspects of the recent royal engagement of Prince William and Kate Middleton.  To catch up go to:    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00c3gqf#synopsis

Sam says "Speaking on BBC radio, local or national, is one of the more interesting ways that I get to engage people in sociological issues. It's great when events such as the impending royal wedding capture the popular imagination as it's an opportunity for sociologists to stimulate their own and the general public's sociological imagination."

Dr Eric Jensen co-organised a groundbreaking public engagement event at Durrell Wildlife Park in Jersey (Channel Islands) on the 25^th October 2010. Commissioned by the world-leading conservation society Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust (www.durrell.org) and the European Commission-funded EU-Zoos-XXI project (www.euzoos-xxi.org), Dr Jensen presented on a meta-analysis of previous research on learning in zoos and facilitated the successful event. Twenty visitors spent just over five hours giving their views on how zoos could better communicate a conservation message to other zoo visitors. Their views will be analysed by Dr Jensen and form the basis of a ‘demonstration project’ in which their ideas will be put into action at Durrell through a complete re-design of educational materials in the Reptile and Amphibian House. This unique project aims to shift the direction of zoo education towards a more two-way, dialogical approach that takes account of public input and ideas to better engage visitors with wildlife conservation.