In our latest blog, we reflect upon the projects, events, and partnership initiatives that the Queen Mary Global Policy Institute has led upon and collaborated with in 2021.
It has been a year of impactful events, exciting new projects, and the commencement of a range of new partnerships as part of our mission to be a leader in global research and policy solutions, upholding Queen Mary’s commitment to positive social change, community participation and diversity of views.
To map out our journey we have looked back on the year to date.
In January, Professor Valsamis Mitsilegas, Professor of European Criminal Law and Global Security and Deputy Dean for Global Engagement (Europe), gave evidence to two parliamentary committees on the impact of the Brexit Agreement on law enforcement and security co-operation.
Watch the evidence sessions below:
Watch the House of Lords European Union Security and Justice Committee session on BBC iPlayer
Watch the House of Commons Northern Ireland Affairs Committee session on parliamentlive.tv
In February, a new research project aiming to explore the role of civil society in supporting migrant populations during the coronavirus pandemic was agreed. Academics from Queen Mary's Global Policy Institute were awarded funding from the University's Strategic Research Priorities Fund to undertake a cross-regional study exploring the role of civil society organisations supporting vulnerable migrant populations in Brazil and India in the context of Covid-19.
Discover more about this research project.
In March, as the debt position of many countries and its long-term sustainability had been extensively scrutinised – and debt interest have increased as a result – the importance of assessing the real need to incur new debts and to improve transparency in sovereign borrowing has been also recognised.
Hence the theme of this Queen Mary Global Policy Institute event Good Practices in Sovereign Debt Borrowing, held in partnership with the Institute for Global Law Economics and Finance (IGLEF) at Queen Mary, brought together global experts on sovereign debt.
Watch the recording of the event.
Onto April, many low and middle-income countries (LMICs) were struggling to get their vaccination programmes off the ground. But with a National Healthcare System, national laboratories, and a track record of successful immunisation campaigns, Brazil should be different, say Giuliano Russo of Queen Mary University of London and Mário Scheffer of the University of São Paulo.
Global and local factors are holding back its COVID-19 vaccination efforts. Understanding the nature of Brazil’s delays is critical to get vaccinations efforts off the ground in many LMICs.
Read their thoughts in full
In May, funding was announced for early career researchers to take part in a pre-COP26 climate challenge workshop on ‘Delivering Battery Revolution: Reducing The Drivers of Climate Change in Indonesia’.
The aim of the Climate Challenge Workshop was to harness the power of people all over the world – particularly young people and those most vulnerable to the effects of climate change – to connect and collaborate through culture and education to combat climate change.
Recap on this story
In June our event explored how the world is facing an unprecedented level of sovereign debt – and the amount is continuing to pile up in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Global Policy Institute (GPI) and the Institute for Global Law Economics and Finance (IGLEF) hosted an online seminar where Professor Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal and Professor Paola Subacchi set out the findings of their latest research on creating a sustainable debt management framework.
Watch the event again
Education for girls in low-and-lower-middle income countries (LMICs) is often a lifeline, which reduces their likelihood of early pregnancies, premature marriage, susceptibility to abuse and violence, as well as financial instability, hardships, and dependencies later in life, wrote our Policy Fellow Nina Prusac in June.
With the closure of schools during the coronavirus pandemic, an estimated 11 million girls will not return to education, losing this lifeline and changing the course of their lives.
Read this article in full
As July began, the first major Resilient Futures India Initiative event was held virtually, this roundtable brought together individual voices and shared experiences to shape not only a collective understanding of resilience but also to accelerate a post-Covid-19 recovery and progress towards fairer, more inclusive societies.
Professor Colin Grant, Vice Principal for International at Queen Mary University of London, summarised:
“This partnership is an expression of resilience. This summit is our preparation for a strong recovery.”
August highlighted that during a pandemic that resulted in audience restrictions, the role of the spectator at the Olympic Games was more apparent than ever.
Spectators are a significant financial factor in the Games, and the £815 million costs that were to be offset by tickets will now have to be absorbed elsewhere. However, there are other things about the live spectatorship that are significant and harder to quantify.
Read this blog in full
As we turned to September, our attention turned to an event that focused on technology and ethics. The phrase “artificial intelligence” was first coined in a proposal for a study submitted by a team of researchers from Dartmouth College, Harvard University, IBM and Bell Telephone Laboratories. In America, the workshop that originated from that proposal is understood to be the birth of the field of AI, although in the UK it is accepted that the seed was planted by Alan Turing in his “Computing Machinery and Intelligence”.
October brought the publication of our global debt report. The causes and consequences of debt accumulation issues on a national scale were expertly examined in this new paper from the Queen Mary Global Policy Institute and The Institute for Global Law, Economics, and Finance.
The report’s authors Professor Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal (Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London) and Professor Paola Subacchi (Chair of the Queen Mary Global Policy Institute Advisory Board, Queen Mary University of London) collaborated to draw a set of guidelines (the “Guide”) to assist countries in implementing good practices for responsible and transparent borrowing in order to prevent unnecessary or over-indebtedness.
Read the paper here
With the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic reverberating around society and significant developments around critical infrastructure in recent years, there is a need to address the importance of Critical Infrastructure and Resilience.
At this first event as part of our expert series focusing on resilience, a panel of international influencers convened to define, dissect and refine the key drivers that impact on global critical infrastructure
Hosted by the Queen Mary Global Policy Institute in partnership with the Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils and the Japan Science and Technology Agency.
Find out more about this event
As COP26 arrived in November, The Queen Mary University of London Global Policy Institute published four Climate Change Policy Briefs covering the history of the international community’s response to climate change and the global evolution of the climate change regime. From the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1992 to the present day, our Policy Briefs put the COP26 summit in Glasgow in context.
The four Policy Briefs cover the development of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) from 1990-1992 right up to the 26thConference of Parties to the UNFCCC – or COP26 – held in Glasgow between 31 October and 12 November 2021.
Read our Climate Change Policy Briefs
With COP26 in full motion in Glasgow, our Senior Policy Fellow Farida Fortune argues that the industrialised Global North should look to our history and the developing world for solutions to climate change.
She highlighted that if we appreciate how others live – their resilience and their adaption to the changes wreaking havoc with the environment – we can learn how to work and live together.
Read the full version of this blog
In December at our latest international resilience seminar with Queen Mary Global Policy Institute, the Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils (GFCC) and the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) we explored how vital cybersecurity is for the global community, their key stakeholders, and society on an international scale.
At this timely event, our panel reflected on how cybersecurity has become one of the most important concerns across countries and economies globally.
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