New lecture series celebrating SOAS's vibrant research community announced

SOAS's new Inaugural Lecture Series will celebrate our academic expertise and the impact of our research begins at SOAS University of London this month. The events are part of marking the achievements of our scholars as they reach professorship status at SOAS. 

The lecture series will showcase the range and depth of SOAS experts with the current line up including talks on the history of development, the impact of Chinese porcelain on global design, post-conflict reconciliation in Rwanda, and the Green Party movement in Taiwan. 

Professor Laura Hammond, Pro-Director of Research and Knowledge Exchange, said:  

“The Inaugural Lecture Series is an important celebration of our new professors, as well as of the vibrant research community that we host here at SOAS. We look forward to sharing the achievements of their amazing work." 

In this first event, Phil Clark, Professor of International Politics, and Dafydd Fell, Professor in Comparative Politics (with special reference to Taiwan), will deliver lectures in their specialist fields on 25 April, 5.30pm 

Upcoming lectures

Rwanda – 25 April 

Professor Phil Clark, who has more than 20 years of field research in Rwanda, assess in his lecture, Rwanda under the Rwandan Patriotic Front: Assessing 30 Years of Post-Genocide Recovery, how far the country has come since the Genocide. As April 2024 marks the 30th anniversary of the Genocide against the Tutsi population in Rwanda, he will examine post-genocide recovery in terms of justice, reconciliation, socio-economic equality and civic freedom. 

Taiwan – 25 April 

Professor Dafydd Fell will discuss how a conversation with a SOAS student led to a decade long journey researching Taiwan's Green political parties. This lecture, Alternative Politics in Taiwan: The Birth of Asia's First Green Party respectively, will the focus on the party's first year, including its formation, first election and relationship with the international Green Party movement. 

Development – 21 May 

Professor Mike Jennings will look back at the first development decade of the 1960s, with particular focus on the ways in which ideas around global solidarity, local action and radical ideas of decolonised practice were reflected in Tanzanian development.   

Chinese porcelain – 12 June 

Professor Stacey Pierson will investigate ways in which fragments of Chinese porcelain, whether formed by accident or intent, have been reused in global design and artistic contexts from the fifteenth century to the present day.