When discussing with my supervisor what I wanted to gain from my research, I was really keen for it to focus further than academic writing, as researchers may not fully engage with other disciplines that are involved. I enjoy public speaking (while it is also quite nerve-wracking!) so we decided to hold a symposium event, which is essentially a meeting to discuss a subject. Academics, researchers, policy-makers, charity organisations, students and the wider public, in my opinion, need to work together to find solutions to problems like the rise of the far-right and to spread their research to be used for change. This formed the basis of the symposium. 

The wider project, headed in the UK by Dr Anna Grimaldi, my supervisor, focuses on how narratives, discourses and other symbols of the past are mobilised by the Far Right to garner support and drive their political agendas. The project is international and interdisciplinary, with work going on in Argentina for example, headed by Francisco Garcia Chicote. We are holding a symposium on Tuesday 29th August at the University of Leeds/online, to bring researchers, organisations and students together to discuss these themes in more depth, with the objective of seeing how our perspective might better support initiatives to reckon with Far Right radicalism. There will be guest speakers, facilitated discussion and collaborative group activities and I know some really positive connections can be made  

I wanted to bring your attention to the fantastic guest speakers we have for the event, who are going to be presenting on their research and how this relates to the idea of the ‘past’. If you are interested in this topic and wider far-right discussions, please do have a look at their work; they are involved in vital research and support and you will learn such a lot from them: 

• Claudia Wallner, research fellow at the Far-Right Extremism and Terrorism programme at the Royal United Services Institute,
• Erica Capecchi, AHRC PhD candidate at Bristol and Cardiff Universities, and Cardiff Interdisciplinary Research on Antifascism and the Far-Right associate member,
• Kazim Ukka, researcher at The Community Policy Forum,
• Cath Stinton, University of York PhD candidate,
• Vicky Bradbury, Operations Manager at Exit Hate.

Please see the eventbrite for more details and for the full schedule of the event: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/symposium-the-far-right-and-its-uses-of-the-past-tickets-684678821787?aff=oddtdtcreator . It is not too late to sign up!

It would be amazing to see some of the Laidlaw community supporting a fellow scholar’s research!