Re-imagining the future university: hope amid Covid and climate change?

In this #whisperfest2020 session, Inger Mewburn (@thesiswhisperer) talks with Tamson Pietsch about how to (re)imagine the future of the university by reflecting on its past. Tamson is an expert in the past university, particularly the British academic networks and practices from 1850 - 1939 (see her amazing book 'Empire of Scholars'). As a historian, Tamson keeps a keen eye on the present and the future and has just finished doing a podcast series called 'The New Social Contract' where she thinks through the issues with a list of interesting guests. In this 'zoom fireside chat' Tamson will share her insights on the future of the academy with Inger Mewburn (@thesiswhisperer).

Zoom details: https://anu.zoom.us/j/99979917764?pwd=M0g0b0hOZmxRKzI4amdMQi9uc0hXQT09

Meeting ID: 999 7991 7764

Password: 2602

• Check the session time in your location!

Tamson Pietsch is Associate Professor in Social & Political Sciences and Director of the Australian Centre for Public History at UTS.

Tamson's research focuses on the history of ideas and the politics of knowledge in international contexts. She has a particular interest in higher education. Tamson is the author of Empire of Scholars: universities networks and the British academic world, 1850-1939 (Manchester, 2013) and the co-editor of The Transnational Politics of Higher Education (Routledge, 2016). Tamson is currently writing a book about the 1926 world-cruise of the "Floating University" as well as leading an ARC project on expertise in interwar Australia. She is the Director of the UTS audio unit, Impact Studios, and host of the History Lab podcast.

Tamson received her DPhil from the University of Oxford, where she studied as a Rhodes Scholar and then held a Junior Research Fellowship at New College and lectureship at Corpus Christi College. Prior to coming to UTS, Tamson was ARC DECRA Fellow at the University of Sydney and Lecturer in Imperial and Colonial History at Brunel University, London.

Since 2006, Inger has worked exclusively with PhD students and early career academics, helping them finish complex research projects with (sometimes very) demanding stakeholders. She’s passionate about helping people reach their potential as researchers and helping to create a kinder, more inclusive academy.

Inger is currently the Director of Researcher Development at The Australian National University where she oversees professional development workshops and programs for all ANU researchers. Aside from creating new posts on the Thesis Whisperer blog, she writes scholarly papers, books and book chapters about research education, with a special interest in post PhD employability. She is the co-inventor of the PostAc platform.