To say that this has been a busy year with regards to public events and extra-curricular activities would be an understatement. Over the last semester, Politics and International Relations in collaboration with students have successfully organised several public lectures, featuring high-profile political practitioners, activists, journalists and political analysts on a range of pressing contemporary social and political problems. Some of the events were the following:

1. ‘Brexit Roundtable’, with Dr Sarah Lieberman (Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at Canterbury Christ Church University) and Professor John Macgregor (former British diplomat; visiting Professor at Canterbury Christ Church University). The event was chaired by Stephen Fidler (Brexit editor of Wall Street Journal; visiting Professor at Canterbury Christ Church University).
2. ‘The Privatization of Warfare’, with Nicolai Due-Gundersen (political commentator, analyst and former adviser to the Arab Institute for Security Studies)
3. ‘Socialism: A world of common ownership and free access’ with members of the Socialist Party of Great Britain.
4. ‘Meet the Candidates: 2019 Parliamentary Hustings for the Canterbury Constituency’. The event, which was held in collaboration with the Centre for European Studies (CEFEUS) at CCCU, the Canterbury and District Inter-Faith Action (CANDIFA), the Ethnic Minority and Independent Council, and Canterbury Society, featured candidates from the Conservative Party, the Labour Party, Liberal Democrats, and independent candidates, who made their case to the audience as to why they should be elected to represent Canterbury as Member of Parliament. The event was attended by more than 470 University students, members of staff and the public, as well as students from Canterbury Academy and St Anselm’s, and was covered by Reuters, BBC Kent, and Kent Online.  

These events, which serve as an important networking opportunity for students, embody and reflect the ethos of our Programme – our conviction that effective teaching and learning should also occur beyond the rather narrow confines of the classroom, and our endeavour to engage students and members of the general public in thought-provoking, and current political issues and problems on the one hand, and to deliberate on these issues and problems together, on the other.