Professor of Development Politics and Economy & DPU Director, Faculty of the Built Environment, UCL Michael is Professor of Development Politics and Economy and Director of UCL's Development Planning Unit (DPU). He has twelve years' experience in senior management in the private sector and lectures in 'market-led approaches to development' (a module titled 'Society and Market: Private Agency for Development') and was responsible for teaching development management at DPU ('Development in Practice'). He is actively involved in a number of groups, including the Anglo-Somali Society, Somaliland Focus (UK) and Kayd Somali Arts and Culture Ltd. He has worked in New Zealand and the UK and has also been involved in development work in Somalia/Puntland/Somaliland, Ghana, Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya. Research, consultancy and teaching interests lie in the related areas of development management and governance, including: state formation in developing countries; post-conflict reconstruction; state-led development and approaches to regulation of the market to promote equitable development; livelihoods in informal economies – especially African cities; frameworks for understanding and measuring development and wellbeing; and the ethical foundations for development intervention. Michael has established a particular focus on the Somali areas and Ethiopia within the Horn of Africa.
Professor of Parasitology and Epidemiology, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta Uwem Friday Ekpo is a Professor of Parasitology and Epidemiology at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria. He has a PhD and certificates in Bayesian Disease Mapping in Epidemiology, University of Basel, Switzerland and Epidemiological Methods. His research focus is on the epidemiology and control of neglected tropical diseases with special interest in schistosomiasis and soil transmitted helminth.
Professor of Contemporary Literature and Thought, Royal Holloway University of London I’m Professor of Contemporary Literature and Thought at Royal Holloway, University of London, and I’ve published widely on contemporary literature, European philosophy and on Holocaust and Genocide studies. I also write for non-academic audiences, and have spoken at many literary festivals and public events. My most recent books are: The Broken Voice: Reading Post-Holocaust Literature (Oxford UP, 2017), Literature: Why it matters (Polity, 2019) and Truth and Wonder: a literary introduction to Plato and Aristotle (2022) and, as editor or co-editor, Brexit and Literature (London: Routledge, 2018), English: Shared Futures (English Association Essays and Studies: Boydell and Brewer, 2018) and The Routledge Companion to Twenty First Century Literary Fiction (Routledge, 2019). I’ve also written a free-access policy pamphlet ‘Powerful knowledge’, ‘cultural literacy’ and the study of literature in schools (Oxford: Wiley, 2021) for the Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain.
Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow, University of Sheffield Dr Cayenna Ponchione-Bailey is an academic and orchestral conductor committed to advancing social justice and environmental sustainability within music both on and off the podium. Cayenna’s bold orchestral initiatives fuse the local with the global, amplify leading environmental research, and engage with the pressing issues social issues of our time. She holds postgraduate degrees in orchestral conducting, percussion and musicology and a doctorate from the University of Oxford. Her research is focused on the social-psychological and socio-political aspects of orchestral music-making -- from the intricacies of co-performer communication in modern and historically informed contexts, to the politics of participation and orchestras' geo-political significance. Cayenna is Director of Research for Oxford Conducting Institute where she has established the International Conducting Studies Conference series. She has worked as a professional conductor for 18 years in the US, UK and in Europe, is currently the Conducting Fellow of the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra and was recently featured in the Swedish documentary film about female conductors Call Me Madame Maestro (2021). Research publications include ‘The Body Orchestral’ (2018), a book chapter exploring the cognitive mechanisms underpinning co-performer communication, ‘Digital Methods in the Study of the Nineteenth-Century Orchestra’ (2020) in the journal Nineteenth-Century Music Review, 'Technologies for investigating large ensemble performance' (2021) in the book Together in music: Participation, coordination, and creativity in ensembles, and ‘Agency, Creativity and (Inter)action in Orchestra Performance’ in the forthcoming edited volume Making Music Together: Analytical Perspectives on Musical Interaction. Cayenna is currently collaborating with musicians and academic colleagues from Afghanistan to research the historical and contemporary orchestral activities of the country.
Lecturer, Children's Health and Community, Charles Darwin University I am an Indigenous woman from Kirrae Whurrong/Gunai Kurnai Country in Victoria. I am living and working in Alice Springs as a Lecturer in Community Services, Children's Health and Community for Charles Darwin University.
