Eastern Arc Conference 2021

Taking Stock: How have the events of the last 12 months affected our work?

Session A: Developing Eastern Arc

Since the second phase of Eastern Arc was launched in 2020, we have achieved a significant amount, from identifying shared strengths, facilitating collaborations, engaging with stakeholders and policy-makers, and developing cross-institutional mentoring.

However, the challenges of Covid and other pressures have presented significant difficulties, as well as some opportunities. EARC Director Phil Ward will give an overview of the aims and achievements of the Consortium, before discussing the collaborative work within the themes with their champions.

Session B: The View from the Academies

The British Academy is both a funder and a forum: it enables research to happen, but also gives researchers an opportunity to discuss and engage with wider issues affecting society and culture, with the findings and outcomes of cutting-edge research, and with the policy that drives and informs the sector.

Vanessa Cuthill is the Academy’s Director of Research. She will look at how the events of 2020 – both globally and within UK research policy – have affected the work and strategy of the BA, and its future direction as a result.

Chair

Prof Fiona Lettice (PVC Research & Innovation, University of East Anglia)  

Speakers

• Phil Ward (Director of Eastern Arc)
• The Eastern Arc Champions
• Vanessa Cuthill (British Academy)

Surviving the Seismic Shift: Sustainable agriculture after Brexit

The UK’s departure from the European Union has presented both challenges and opportunities for agriculture: supply changes have been disrupted and trading relationships redrawn, but it also gives the country a chance to rethink how it supports and subsidises its growers and producers. This comes within the wider context of having to mitigate climate change and move towards a more sustainable way of managing our environment. 

This session will hear from policy-makers, landowners, academics and advocates who will discuss the issues openly and frankly. Andrew Clark is Director of Policy at the National Farmers Union, and will provide the policy framework and the ways in which his organisation is lobbying on behalf of its members; Martin Lines is the Steering Group Chair for the Nature Friendly Farmers Network and will be able to speak collectively on behalf of its members, as well as from his own personal experience; and Archie Ruggles-Brise and Glenn Anderson are implementing change on their estates in Essex and Norfolk, and will talk about how to work sustainably and safeguard their natural capital while also ensuring their businesses are viable.

Chair

Prof Graham Underwood (Professor, School of Life Sciences, University of Essex)

Speakers

• Andrew Clark (Director of Policy, National Farmers Union)
• Archie Ruggles-Brise (Owner and Manager, Spains Hall Estate)
• Martin Lines (Nature Friendly Farmers Network)
• Glenn Anderson (Managing Partner, Dillington Hall Estate)

Culture, Creativity, Covid

The pandemic has had an impact on almost every part of our lives, and we have had to rethink and reimagine how we work, how we live and how we relax.

The cultural sector has been particularly affected: theatres, cinemas and galleries have closed, and many artists, actors, writers and directors have been unable to work creatively with others. How have institutions responded to this challenge?

This session will hear from three key regional cultural centres and organisations (the Sainsbury Centre in Norwich, Metal Culture in Southend, and Turner Contemporary in Margate) to understand the issues and the solutions they’ve developed, and to explore a year of ‘existential reflection’ and ‘live learning’. Has the digital replaced the live experience, or will audiences return to pre-pandemic levels and, if so, how will this be managed?

The second half of the session will extend the discussion and encourage both EARC champions and other delegates to speak from their experiences, to explore ideas of how we engage differently with culture and creativity, from using virtual and augmented reality tools to exploring new methodologies for interdisciplinary work.

Chair

Dr Michael Tymkiw (Senior Lecturer, School of Philosophy and Art History, University of Essex)

Speakers

• Mark Richards (Director, Metal Culture, Peterborough)
• Moya Stirrup (Head of Communications, Turner Contemporary)
• Ghislaine Wood (Acting Head, Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts)

‘Deplorables’ and the Deep Web: Going beyond the liberal consensus

With the rise in populism in the second half of the last decade, together with a widespread belief in conspiracies and the use of social media and other technology to gain access to people, products and services that were previously off-limits, how do researchers engage without being seen as complicit?

In this talk, Prof Alan Finlayson will describe the idea of ‘political theory in the wild’, and how important it is to go beyond the seminar room to engage with disruptive and divisive individuals and movements.

In the second half of the session (13:00-14:00)  academics, researchers and external stakeholders will broaden out the discussion, and we will look at how to undertake research on far-right or ‘extremist’ politics, and navigating cyber sovereignty and coded aggression and the possibilities of ‘cyber peace’.

Chair

Dr Andrew Fagan (Director of the Human Rights Centre, University of Essex)

Speakers

• Prof Alan Finlayson (Professor of Political & Social Theory, UEA)
• Dr Gareth Mott (Lecturer in Security and Intelligence, University of Kent)

Integrated Care Systems: Future changes and opportunities

Integrated care systems (ICSs) are new partnerships between the organisations that meet health and care needs across an area, to coordinate services and to plan in a way that improves population health and reduces inequalities between different groups.

As part of their remit, they will look at the effective use of digital and data to ‘improve productivity and patient outcomes, reduce bureaucracy, drive service transformation and stimulate improvement and research.’

How will the current system of applied health research funding adapt to this new model?

Prof David Croisdale-Appleby was involved at an early stage in the development of ICSs, and will discuss his insights into the future opportunities – and challenges – of the changes.

In the second half of the session, we will look at the immediate and long-term effects of the pandemic on our health and healthcare provision. How do we need to adapt to managing chronic conditions, and what support should there be for the mental health impacts of Covid?

Chair

Prof Tracey Loughran (Professor in the Department of History, University of Essex)

Speakers

• Professor David Croisdale-Appleby OBE (Chair of Royal College of Physicians and Dementia UK)
• Dr Antonina Semkina (Lecturer in Human Resources Management, University of Kent) and Dr Abasiama (Sema) Etuknwa (Research Project Coordinator for the Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) between University of Huddersfield and Swiss Re)
• Dr Lisa Smith (Senior Lecturer, Department of History, University of Essex)