Humanising Space: Why Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities are Important in Space Exploration
Thu 23 May 2024 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Bennett Lecture Theatre 1
Description
Humanising Space: Why Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities are Important in Space Exploration (Hybrid Event)
Chair: Professor Emma Bunce, Director of Institute for Space, University of Leicester
Grounded in the proposition that technology is changing the way we relate to outer space, this panel will discuss the human elements of space engagement. Space has already impacted human society and this change and impact will only accelerate over the next decades. Space exploration, satellite applications, security, and space governance need to be sustainable and equitable to realize a more peaceful world. The aim of the session is to consider the relevance and importance of space to a wide range of disciplines and vice versa. This seminar will begin with an overview of the importance of space research at the University of Leicester and highlight that other disciplines (both here and elsewhere) are working in this area, e.g. sociology of space, politics of space, archaeology of space and what these disciplines bring to our wider understanding. From space weaponry and tourism, to satellite surveillance – space is being humanised and a new interdisciplinary understanding is required to ensure that space is for everyone.
Professor Henrietta O’Connor University of Leicester: Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor. Prior to taking up this role in August 2023, she was Head of the College of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities, a post she held for five years.
Henrietta is a Professor of Sociology and joined the University’s Centre for Labour Market Studies in 1997, before moving to the School of Media, Communication and Sociology in August 2014. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and an Academic Fellow of CIPD. She received her undergraduate degree in Human Geography from Queen Mary, University of London and was awarded an MLitt from Trinity College, Dublin. Henrietta completed her PhD at the University of Leicester. Her principal research interests focus on the sociology of work, in particular debates around transitions to and from the labour market.
Professor John Goodwin University of Leicester: Cosmic Sociology: Sociological Intersections of Biography, History and Space
John Goodwin is a Professor of Sociology and Sociological Practice at the University of Leicester, where he has worked for over thirty years. He has a broad range of research interests, including youth, autobiographical methods and analysis (using data such as correspondence, film, family photographs, biographies, art and social media), data reuse and non-standard data in sociological analysis. His work is influenced by the sociology of Pearl Jephcott, Norbert Elias, and C Wright Mills, as well as the social psychology of Stanley Milgram. Along with Laurie Parsons, he is completing two books, Doing Sociology Through Film and Literature and How to Conduct Research Using Auto/biographical Materials as well as editing a handbook on Sociological Practice. In relation to space, John is interested in how humans have derived meaning from the cosmos and the ways in which space intersects with history and biography.
Dr Monica Truninger University of Lisbon: Unpacking space food: laying the foundations for a research programme in the sociology of space food
Mónica Truninger, an interdisciplinary sociologist with a PhD from the University of Manchester, joined ICS-University of Lisbon in 2008 where she is a Senior Researcher and leads the research group SHIFT: Environment, Territory and Society. She specialises in the sociology of food and sustainable consumption, securing funding for research projects and working with the food retail industry. She coordinates, at ICS, the Sustainability Science PhD programme. She is now forging collaborations with planetary and space scientists for joint research proposals. Her work is contributing to the development of social studies of outer space in Portugal, with a specific focus on space food systems and imaginaries.
Dr Jack Lampkin York St John University: From Astro-Green Criminology to Space Criminology?
Jack Lampkin is a Lecturer in Criminology at York St John University, UK. He is a leading academic in the areas of space criminology and astro-green criminology. A former police officer in the UK with West Yorkshire Police, Jack has both specialist practical knowledge of policing and criminal justice, as well as a keen interest in human interactions with outer space. Jack is the author of several academic publications in the field of space crime, the most influential of which is his book “Space Criminology,” published in 2023 alongside award-winning Australian Professor Rob White from the University of Tasmania.
Location
Bennett Lecture Theatre 1