LECTURE SERIES
 

THE PERFECT STORM

Perspectives on a World in Flux

 

THU 5, 12, 19 AND 26 NOV, AND 3 DEC – 19:30 TO 21:30

Karl Dittrich Hall, Student Services Centre, Bonnefantenstraat 2

Miriam Meissner, PhD
Assistant Professor of Culture and Political Ecology
Prof. Anique Hommels
Professor of Sociohistorical Technology Studies
Annika Richterich, PhD
Associate Professor in Digital Culture
Anna Herranz-Surrallés, PhD
Associate Professor in International Relations
Gergana Noutcheva, PhD
Associate Professor in International Relations and European Foreign Policy
All Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, UM

Geopolitical tensions, wars, the rise of illiberal politics, climate change, technological changes, energy insecurity – the world is facing several crises at the moment. Crises that are not isolated developments, but which interact with one another, producing new forms of instability and political tensions. This situation is described by the British historian Adam Tooze as polycrisis. Climate change affects migration and geopolitics; digital technologies accelerate disinformation and polarisation; economic uncertainty fuels authoritarian tendencies, and existing institutions seem inadequate to manage this dynamic.

In this lecture series, we explore a number of these crises from perspectives within the humanities and social sciences.
 

The individual lectures

1. Why we Live in a Burnout Economy, and Why Self-help isn't Helping (Meissner / 5 Nov)
2. How Cities Address(ed) Geopolitical and Climatic Disasters through Public Shelters and Bunkers (Hommels / 12 nov)
3. Why AI is Costing the Earth: The Environmental Price of Artificial Intelligence (Richterich / 19 Nov)
4. Energy: Its Role in Geopolitical Tensions and the Pursuit of Independence (Herranz-Surrallés / 26 Nov)
5. Shifting Fault Lines: How the War in Ukraine is Redefining European Security (Noutcheva / 3 Dec)

Cost of the whole series
UM students €10 / UM employees and students from other schools €25 / Others €50

Registration
www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/sg