Departmental news

Edited by Charlotte Spear and Madeleine Sinclair (Warwick) January 2025

The twenty-first century has been deemed the “Age of Crisis”. We are witnessing the catastrophic unfolding of environmental crisis, financial crisis, pandemic and conflict. But are we to understand these crises as new phenomena? Is their seemingly simultaneous existence purely coincidental? Or rather do they instead form part of a singular, historically produced, unfolding crisis, which only today has reached a generalised consciousness? And perhaps most urgently, how far can we separate the crises of human experience from those exacted upon the land?

The chapters collected in Crisis and Body Politics in Twenty-First Century Cultural Production: Territorial Bodies deploy the framework of “Territorial Bodies” to address urgent social, ecological and political challenges. Examining themes such as (inter)national bodily governance, racialised bodies, eco-feminist movements, spatial justice and bodily displacement, this collection provides a deeper analysis of the interconnected forms of violence perpetrated against marginalised human and non-human bodies, taking this combined violence as the defining feature of contemporary crisis.

We caught up with Simon Huss, a former student of the Department of Economics, who tells us about how his career path has developed and evolved since graduating with a MSc in Economics in 2011.

What career path did you decide on when you completed your Master's in Economics at Warwick?

I graduated with a Master’s in Economics from Warwick in 2011 and my career has taken a few turns, each one bringing me closer to a life that feels more aligned. From management consulting to a tech start-up, I have now found my home in Executive and Life Coaching.

After university I found a natural fit in management consulting, where I could explore different industries and solve diverse problems. I joined the strategy consulting firm L.E.K. Consulting and thrived in the fast-paced, demanding environment surrounded by brilliant people. But after two years, the lack of work-life balance took its toll, and I knew it was time for a change.

Did you manage to achieve a better work-life balance in your next career move?

I moved into independent consulting, which gave me the freedom to choose my projects and work directly with leadership teams. This included work on global strategy and transformation projects with John Lewis, BT, and Coca-Cola. It was intellectually stimulating, financially rewarding, and I had my evenings back. But after a few years, I began to long for something more meaningful.

This led me to a rapidly growing tech start-up, where my work had a direct and immediate impact. In the intensity of the start-up environment I found myself informally coaching other senior executives, helping them to grow as leaders. When I was tasked with building a coaching team to support the company’s growth, I discovered an approach that made personal development both accessible and transformative. Something clicked.

This wasn’t just a solution for the business. It connected to something much deeper in me.

What did you do next to align your personal and professional goals?

For almost two decades I’d been on a personal development journey, exploring meditation, embodiment, spirituality, and building community around these practices. These experiences have enriched every area of my life. Over time, I led workshops and retreats to share this with others, simply because I loved the work. And now I saw a path to turn my passion into a profession.

"Either you take the lead in shaping your life, or someone else’s expectations will do it for you."

What kind of training did you have to undertake to become a life coach?

I trained extensively with leading coaching schools, deepening my expertise and refining my approach. Now, I work with founders, directors, and high-performing professionals who are looking for more, not just success, but fulfilment. I help them to get clear on the life they long for, even the one they may not yet feel they deserve, and I support them to make it real.

After years of following a path, there comes a moment to ask if it’s still yours. Then, taking the lead in shaping your life becomes not just important, but essential.

How can the Warwick Economics alumni community reach you?

I'd love to hear from you if anything in my story resonated. You can reach me at Explore@SimonHuss.com or at https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonhuss/. I’m always happy to connect with fellow Warwick alumni.

We thank you, Simon, for getting in touch with us, and wish you the best for the future.

With a shared commitment to bring together academia and industry in battery research and development, WMG at The University of Warwick and the Faraday InstitutionLink opens in a new window have partnered to deliver a bespoke training programme to help bridge the skills gap in the UK battery sectorLink opens in a new window.

As the UK accelerates towards a more sustainable, electric future there is a rapidly growing demand for skilled researchers and engineers in battery technology and innovation. The Faraday Institution, the UK’s independent institute for electrochemical energy storage research and battery skills development, understands the growing demand for next-generation researchers to help support the ever-evolving battery industry.

Seeking a unique training solution to equip its PhD students and early career researchers with up-to-date knowledge and skills in the latest technological advancements in batteries, the Faraday Institution partnered with the WMG Skills CentreLink opens in a new window to establish the WMG-Faraday Battery School. Now in its seventh year, the industry-aligned 4-day programme recently welcomed 30 PhD students to WMG’s Energy Innovation Centre, bringing the total number of upskilled researchers to 240.

Evidence submitted by Professor Thiemo Fetzer to the Public Accounts Committee’s inquiry into the Use of AI in Government has been cited in the Committee’s final report.

Presenting the report, committee chair Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP said:

“This Committee’s role is to help ensure efficient Government policy delivery through our recommendations. The potential for AI to secure widespread efficiencies is obvious, and the need for digital improvements is a theme that will run through all our inquiries as through a stick of rock.

“Transparency is key here, as public trust that AI will work for them is central to any successful use of it. We still have a long way to go in this area.

“The Government has said it wants to mainline AI into the veins of the nation, but our report raises questions over whether the public sector is ready for such a procedure.

“A transformation of thinking in Government at senior levels is required. We hope the recommendations in our report aid the Government in succeeding in bringing public sector systems into the 21st century for their users, where other efforts have failed.”

In his evidence Thiemo highlighted that successful deployment of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the public sector offers an unparalleled opportunity to redefine the role of the state and revolutionize governmental operations.

He noted that by easing skills constraints, enhancing data integration and management, increasing the accessibility of public services, and improving data collection and dissemination, AI can deliver significant improvements in efficiency, service delivery, and citizen engagement.

His full submission also emphasized that embracing AI thoughtfully and proactively will enable the public sector to meet future challenges effectively, delivering better outcomes for citizens while upholding transparency, accountability, and ethical standards.

Thiemo said:

“I am glad to see that my evidence submission to the Select Committee’s inquiry into Use of AI in Government was referenced in the full report.

“I set out a number of policy implications and also shared some case studies from my experience of trying to work with local councils to collect and analysis some of their data.

“Some simple steps to address the skills gap and give greater flexibility to council staff could break the AI logjam. While big flagship projects may grab the headlines, it’s often the little things that add up to a big difference.

“This is an area where I believe the HE sector can make a unique contribution”

The Government now has two months to respond to the recommendations and points of concern raised in the report.

• Use of AI in Government - Eighteenth Report of Session 2024–25
• Professor Fetzer’s evidence: committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/132636/html/

Dr. Charlotte Allender, Head of the UK Vegetable Genebank at the School of Life Sciences, The University of Warwick has been awarded the Veitch Memorial Medal by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) for her work conserving vegetable crop genetic diversity.

On her nomination, Charlotte said: "I am very grateful to the RHS for this award; to have such a prestigious organisation recognise the value of your work is wonderful.”

This award recognises Dr. Allender’s research into conserving genetic variation of crop species and for her almost two decades-long service to the UK Vegetable Genebank. This work has been vital for food security by preserving these sources of genetic variation that are needed to develop new and robust crop varieties.

Charlotte added: “The conservation of plant genetic resources is vital and underpins the research and breeding activity necessary to develop the new crop varieties needed for a food secure future. I would like to acknowledge that the work of the UK Vegetable Genebank is only possible with a team of skilled and dedicated staff and the support of the University of Warwick and Defra.”

The UK Vegetable Genebank celebrates its 45th anniversary later this year. It currently stores around 14,000 vegetable seed samples, sourced from 128 different countries, making it a globally significant resource.

Press release

Giuseppe Cannizzaro has won the 2025 Adams Prize

Warwick Law School welcomes IAS Visiting Fellow Prof. Sabina Frederic from the Department of Social Sciences, University of Quilmes, UNQ-National Council of Scientific and Technic Research, CONICET in Argentina to our community.

We are excited to share that our team “TIAKong” secured leading positions in the recent PUMALink opens in a new window (Panoptic segmentation of nuclei and tissue in advanced Melanoma) Challenge, organized by the Department of Medical Oncology, University Medical Center Utrecht, in the Netherlands. With over 300 participants from around the globe, this challenge aimed to advance automated panoptic segmentation techniques for H&E-stained melanoma tissue images.

Led by our PhD students Jiaqi Lv and YiJie Zhu, and supported by Brinder Singh Chohan, Shan E Ahmed Raza, with an external collaborator Carmen Guadalupe Colin Tenorio from the Medical University of Vienna. TIAKong achieved first place in Track 1 and second place in Track 2. This outstanding performance underscores the team’s dedication to pushing the boundaries of medical imaging and improving our understanding of advanced melanoma.

We look forward to building on these results and sharing further developments of our panoptic segmentation model in the near future.