Being a Public Intellectual: Possibilities and Responsibilities
Wednesday, January 28^th, 10:00-13:00, Beech Grove House (seminar room)

This event will be geared towards early career researchers but is open to all research staff and students. You must register for this event by emailing Say Burgin (s.burgin@leeds.ac.uk).

This workshop will be the second within the Re-Thinking Justice, Ethics and Research Impact Series. It will open up a conversation around what it means to be a public intellectual and the possibilities and social responsibilities of such a role. Academic professions  provide possibilities for community- and justice-based research, as well as for using one’s voice and expertise to reflect on contemporary rights issues. However, because of heavy workloads and concerns about gaining further employment and/or promotion, early career researchers often feel less able to use their posts in these ways. Moreover, while academic associations and universities often offer ethics-based training for new researchers, there are few opportunities to reflect on more expansive, justice-based visions of scholarly responsibilities to students, research participants and wider communities. Led by Distinguished Professor of Political Science Jeanne Theoharis (Brooklyn College, CUNY), this workshop will provide a space to reflect on these notions of responsibility and voice. Theoharis will open up the discussion by reflecting on her efforts in co-founding Educators for Civil Liberties and No Separate Justice and how she strives to nurture sustainable and ethical relationships with community groups and media outlets. She’ll also provide guidance and answer questions about generating publicity and managing public relations, touching specifically on how she developed relationships with major popular news outlets like The Nation magazine and Huffington Post.