Professor Lori Peek | When Children Lead in Crisis: What the Pandemic Revealed About Young People, Empathy, and the Future of Disaster Literacy

Professor Lori Peek | When Children Lead in Crisis: What the Pandemic Revealed About Young People, Empathy, and the Future of Disaster Literacy

In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, a familiar narrative took hold across the world. Children, it was often said, were among the most vulnerable. Their schools closed, their routines vanished, and their social worlds shrank overnight. Yet beneath this narrative, another quieter story unfolded, one that challenges how we think about children in times of crisis. Instead of remaining passive recipients of care, many young people stepped forward as helpers, problem-solvers, and advocates for others at risk of the deadly virus.

Prof. Marjorie Wonham | The Power of Crossing Disciplines: How Blending Arts and Sciences Transforms Education

Prof. Marjorie Wonham | The Power of Crossing Disciplines: How Blending Arts and Sciences Transforms Education

In many people’s minds, the arts and the sciences still occupy separate worlds. Science is often imagined as precise, objective, and technical, while the arts are seen as expressive, subjective, and emotional. These stereotypes are reinforced by the way higher education is organized, with students urged to specialize early and remain safely within disciplinary boundaries. Yet the challenges that shape contemporary life rarely respect those boundaries. Climate change, biodiversity loss, public health crises, and social inequality are problems that demand not only data and analysis, but also imagination, empathy, and the ability to communicate across cultures and perspectives to achieve meaningful change. In this context, the growing movement to integrate arts and sciences in higher education is not a luxury or an experiment. It is a necessity.

Prof. Neil Roughley | Being on Someone’s Side: What It Means to Act and Feel on Behalf of Others

Prof. Neil Roughley | Being on Someone’s Side: What It Means to Act and Feel on Behalf of Others

What does it really mean to act or feel on behalf of another person? The phrase is familiar in everyday life. Parents apologise on behalf of their children, lawyers speak on behalf of their clients, and friends feel anger or pride on behalf of those they care about. These cases seem ordinary, yet they raise difficult questions. Whose action is this, exactly? Whose feeling is being expressed? And what sort of relationship makes this kind of representation possible? In his paper “On Behalfness: Siding with Others in Action and Emotion,” philosopher Prof. Neil Roughley at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany argues that these everyday practices reveal a distinctive form of alignment between people that deserves careful philosophical attention.

Dr. Michael Hauser | After the Death of God: Reimagining the Divine with Alain Badiou

Dr. Michael Hauser | After the Death of God: Reimagining the Divine with Alain Badiou

What if the most honest way to speak about God today is to begin by admitting that the old images no longer work? For centuries, many believers pictured God as a supreme being who rules the universe from beyond it, guarantees meaning, and stands as the ultimate explanation for everything that exists. Yet modern history, philosophical critique, and even theology itself have steadily eroded this picture. The result is not simply atheism in the popular sense, but a profound theological crisis.

Dr Suzanne Coyle | Weaving Spirituality into Psychotherapy: How Stories Help Healing

Dr Suzanne Coyle | Weaving Spirituality into Psychotherapy: How Stories Help Healing

As the practice of psychotherapy increasingly embraces the spiritual dimensions of the human experience, therapists are investigating new ways to weave faith and meaning into healing. Dr Suzanne Coyle, a licensed pastoral counsellor and family therapist, explores the role of spirituality in psychotherapy and how this intersection can support the journey of healing. Her work provides practitioners with the tools and knowledge to meaningfully integrate spirituality into clinical practice.

Prof. Satoshi Abe | The Unexpected Symbols Driving Iran’s Environmental Movement

Prof. Satoshi Abe | The Unexpected Symbols Driving Iran’s Environmental Movement

If you walk through the bustling streets of Tehran, you might first notice the traffic, the densely packed apartments, or young people weaving through the city on motorbikes. But if you look a little closer, you may notice banners stretching across overpasses, tiny flags lining the perimeters of parks, or posters taped to walls, and you might just begin to sense something else humming quietly in the background: a story about nature, identity, and the nation itself. According to Prof. Satoshi Abe of Tottori University, Japan, who has researched environmental activism in Iran, the country is experiencing not just an environmental crisis, but an environmental reimagining. Iranians are not simply debating water shortages, air pollution, or endangered species, though they are certainly doing that. They are also wrestling with questions about what “nature” means within the story of Iran.