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Wednesday 15 January 2025
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Welcome back to Research at Sussex, a new fortnightly round-up of the latest research news, insights and discoveries at the University of Sussex.
As a Sussex member of staff, you will receive the first few editions of this newsletter directly to your inbox. To continue receiving Research at Sussex on an ongoing basis, you can subscribe here.
This newsletter is also open to anyone outside the University, so feel free to share it with friends, colleagues, and collaborators who might be interested in keeping up with our latest research highlights.
In this edition:
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Leading Sussex economist to receive honorary doctorate |
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Professor L Alan Winters CB, Emeritus Professor of Economics at the University of Sussex and a leading specialist on international trade, will be made Honorary Doctor of Laws at the University’s winter graduation ceremonies later this month.
Alan, who retired last year after 26 years at Sussex, was a founding director of Sussex’s
UK Trade Policy Observatory (UKTPO). The UKTPO was set up within days of the UK’s Brexit referendum to assist in the analysis and understanding of trade policy for the UK after leaving the European Union. |
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“I suddenly realised that at Sussex we had exactly what the country needed,” he recalls. “We already had a study group on the world trading system, which was interdisciplinary. I believe our analysis changed the narrative about the predicted economic benefits of Brexit.”
Alan has held many other influential positions, including Chief Economist at Department for International Development (DFID), and Director of the Development Research Group of the World Bank.
He has published over 250 articles and chapters, and 30 books in areas such as regional trading arrangements, trade and poverty, non-tariff barriers, international migration and agricultural protection.
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Exploring reproductive freedom and ethics |
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Professor Maya Unnithan has been awarded a Leverhulme Trust major research fellowship to explore the ethical, legal, and cultural dimensions of reproductive freedom, examining the right to reproduce and the right to avoid reproduction.
While philosophers and feminist scholars have long studied reproductive rights, anthropology has not yet fully explored how these rights are shaped by different social, moral and legal systems. |
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Maya's project, titled Reproductive Freedom and Ethics: A Comparative Study on the Making of Self, will investigate how reproductive decisions are influenced by religious, legal, and ethical frameworks in cultural contexts. By analysing case law in the UK, US, and India, as well as religious and ethical perspectives on reproductive freedom, she aims to better understand how reproductive aspirations are framed and navigated.
She said "I have worked for a long time on rights issues to do with the body, conception and contraception. Now I am really excited about exploring this through the idea of freedom which provides a broader moral and inclusive vision." |
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How Darwinism shapes popular culture |
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Professor Jim Endersby has been awarded a Leverhulme Trust major research fellowship to explore how different groups, from mothers and progressive activists to spiritual thinkers, interpreted and used Darwin’s ideas - shedding new light on how scientific ideas shape culture, past and present.
Jim's project, titled Darwinian Fans: Reading, Responding to, and Reimagining Evolution, |
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challenges the traditional view that science spreads only through experts and education. Instead, he reveals how people outside the scientific community, including many women, creatively adapted Darwin’s theories to fit their own beliefs.
The research builds on themes from his recently published book, The Arrival of the Fittest, which studies how an early 20th-century idea, Mutation Theory, captured the public imagination. These ideas helped shape stories that still resonate today, from Brave New World by Aldous Huxley to the X-Men movies.
He said “As a historian of science, I have always been fascinated by understanding how science becomes part of public conversations and beliefs, given that most of us don’t understand very much about science."
This is alongside Dr Johnathan Moss who received a Leverhulme Trust grant to explore how political attitudes change over time and Dr Laura Morosanu receiving funding to study what makes children of migrants feel valued and included in the workplace. |
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Comment: Why we need to track the uses of green energy critical minerals |
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By Dr Steve Rolf
The shift to green energy relies upon large volumes of critical minerals and raw materials to be extracted and processed—from lithium and cobalt in electric vehicle batteries, to the quartz and rare earth minerals needed for semiconductors in digital technologies.
The European Union (EU) recently passed
the Critical Raw Materials Act (2024), which |
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mandates the EU to secure and diversify its critical minerals supply chains by, amongst other things, signing raw material partnerships with external governments. Recently concluded memorandums include those with Australia, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chile, and Canada.
However, concerns about this European green agenda are growing. The environmental and social damage of critical mineral extraction and processing can be severe, as outlined in the 2023 UN Energy Policy Brief: Aligning CRMs. It is important to know exactly which minerals are needed and for what purposes – but the EU looks increasingly compromised on this issue.
Some have pointed to how fossil fuel, aerospace, and defence firms have successfully lobbied for minerals mainly relevant to their industries to be included in EU agreements, as detailed in the Blood on the Green Deal investigation. Moreover, a report on niobium supply chains I recently co-authored with partners from Greenpeace, the Transnational Institute, and Resource Matters (Niobium and the EU | Transnational Institute) found that despite being touted as a green transition mineral, niobium is primarily used for fossil fuel industry, automobile, aerospace, and weapons manufacturing.
To help ensure social and environmental justice in the green transition, I am proud to have co-founded, with Dr Julian Germann, a new observatory to map critical mineral supply chains and end uses. The Critical Minerals Observatory will partner with stakeholders to examine where resources are coming from, under what conditions, and what they’re being used for.
Transparency alone is no curative but can help empower civil society to lock-in a course correction on which minerals are deemed critical, and for what purpose.
Dr Steve Rolf is ESRC Principal Research Fellow at the Digital Futures at Work (Digit) Research Centre in the University of Sussex Business School. |
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Professor Carol Alexander’s prediction that Bitcoin could reach $200,000 in 2025 has been featured in international media, including CNBC and Sky News Online. Known for her accurate Bitcoin forecasts, she cites supportive US regulation as a reason for bitcoin’s boost.
Professor Anil Seth featured in Philomena Cunk’s BBC Two mockumentary Cunk on Life, tackling satirical questions on consciousness and imagination. (first appears from 23.40)
Finally, The Guardian covered Professor Dan Hough’s new book, Foul Play, which examines football’s integrity problem and offers models for tackling corruption and unethical behaviour in the sport. |
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