Inaugural Lectures - Professor Nicola Banks and Professor Jonny Huck

On Wednesday 11 December, join the School of Environment, Education and Development at The University of Manchester for inaugural lectures from Nicola Banks, Professor of Global Development and Jonny Huck, Professor of Computational Geography from 4.30pm - 6.30pm.

Following the lectures, guests will have the opportunity to ask questions to our speakers before being invited to join us for drinks and networking from 6.00 - 6.30pm.

The event is in-person with a recording available after the event.

About the inaugural lectures:

• Nicola's lecture is titled "When knowledge is not enough: bridging academia and global citizenship to make finance for development work for communities" and it will reflect on a question that has been at the centre of her academic career in recent years: what is the role of an academic when it becomes clear that knowledge alone cannot change the systems that are holding us back from long-term and transformative outcomes? When systems-change is not enough, can our unique positionality outside the existing system help us to build a new one that works for communities and local actors?
  
  To dive into this question, Nicola will explore how NGOs have become increasingly core actors in ambitious global goals of supporting poverty reduction, empowering marginalised communities and tackling inequality. But how inadvertently they have also become core actors in upholding a hugely unequal system that holds tightly onto decision-making power and resources among Northern actors.
  
  Nicola will argue that this funding system doesn’t work for Southern NGOs and community actors, vulnerable to the priorities, whims and electoral cycles of their Northern donors and International NGO partners. And that ‘change’ might look to be happening in the conversations and debates around localisation, locally-led development and shift the power - but dig below the surface and not much is happening at all.
  

• Jonny's lecture is titled "Computational Perspectives on Geographical Problems: Uncertain, Unrecognised, Unmapped" and it will explore how he has applied computational approaches to Geographical Information Science (GIS) to address significant challenges in a range of global contexts, including: incorporating uncertain data into landscape restoration planning in the UK, discovering unrecognised (and uncertain) patterns of segregation and conflict in Northern Ireland, and delivering public health services in unmapped regions of Uganda.

Accessibility information:
The Cordingley Theatre is located on the ground floor of the Humanities Bridgeford Street building, and can be accessed via stairs and a ramp which is 150cm wide with handrails on both sides. You can find out more accessibility information as well as view pictures of the lecture theatre and the building on AccessAble.