Our newly appointed or promoted Professors of the University of Greenwich give an inaugural public professorial lecture to mark this milestone in their academic careers. These events are an important opportunity to celebrate the contribution of the new professor to their subject and the work of the University of Greenwich.
Forthcoming Inaugural Lectures
Making change happen - An Inaugural Lecture by Professor Stacy Banwell - 4th March 2025
Abstract
In this inaugural lecture, Professor Stacy Banwell reflects on her life as a care-experienced woman of mixed ethnic identity, who grew up in rural North Wales during the 1980s. As a child, navigating life as the only person of color at home and at school was challenging. This sense of isolation led Stacy to repeatedly ask her older adopted sister the following question: “when I grow up, will I be white like you?”
During this inaugural lecture Prof. Banwell will share how her early lived experiences of racism, discrimination and injustice informed her academic career. This started with her doctoral research on women’s experiences of violence and victimization within the home. This interest in gendered experiences of violence and victimization continued after Prof. Banwell joined the University of Greenwich in 2007. Over the years Prof Banwell’s scholarship and research-informed teaching has employed an intersectional lens to address experiences of violence and victimization within the home, the sex industry, the conflict zone, and more recently within the animal-industrial complex.
Biography
Throughout her career Prof. Banwell has focused on redressing the harm and suffering inflicted on vulnerable and marginalized groups across the public and private spheres. This work has led to some positive policy outcomes and has been used as evidence by some of the highest institutions: a supreme court in the US, the United Nations, the UN General Assembly and the Ministry of Justice. To respond to the question posed by her four-year-old self, Prof. Banwell is no longer aiming to look or be like anyone else. In her own words: “I am the change that I wanted to see.”
Recent Inaugural Lectures from the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Professor Jorge Lopes Ramos - Serious Play
For a quarter of a century the research of Professor Jorge Lopes Ramos has addressed the fast-growing area of immersive, participatory and interactive theatre. His work is widely recognised as pioneering in the field, and his research contributions have helped advance the subject area, both nationally and internationally. During this lecture he reflected on the desperate need for new approaches to research and invited his audience to roll up their sleeves and dive in to experience his work in the here and now.
From making all the pay-phones in the UK ring at the same time in response to suicide rates, to creating a dating agency using binaural sound, Brazilian-born Jorge Lopes Ramos reflects on the challenges of working with interactive technology and serious games. Jorge considered the cost of his life’s achievements against the pain of burnout and mental exhaustion. Part celebratory lecture - part cautionary tale.
This lecture also formed part of the SOUND/IMAGE Festival 2023
Professor Louise Owusu-Kwarteng - The Power of Multiple Stories
This inaugural lecture from Professor Louise Owusu-Kwarteng highlighted her work around sociological auto/biography. She reflected on the growth of auto/biographical approaches within Sociology, aspects of her own life story and how, together, these factors underpin her interest in this area. She shared how through auto/biographical research collaborations with her students, she uses it as a vehicle for their success. Louise also discussed the international reach of her work, most notably through research partnerships with the Protestant University of Berlin (EHB), and sharing stories and good practice at the Council of Undergraduate Research in the United States.
Professor Maria Arche - The Treasure of Language Analysis
Inaugural lecture from Professor María J Arche on language analysis, what it is and why it is crucial to take it into account to make progress in other fields.
Professor María J Arche spoke about science of language analysis, Linguistics, and the benefits it brings to other realms, from language acquisition research to clinical practice. She spoke about her drive to build bridges with other areas of knowledge and foster spaces where technical specific knowledge can yield new interdisciplinary knowledge. She surveyed her journey as a theoretical linguist who is now involved in promoting linguistics in different sectors (inter)nationally and raising awareness on language needs.
Professor Anastasios Maragiannis - Increasing Inclusion through Participatory Design Ethics: Empowering Marginalised Groups and Vulnerable Citizens
This inaugural lecture from Professor Anastasios Maragiannis showcased his long-term research into participatory and inclusive design practices. He presented an overview of co-design methodologies, demonstrating how embedding inclusivity ethics at the baseline of such processes can result in immediate benefits for the designer and for the end-user. He outlined his belief that mobilising inclusivity ethics, an under-investigated aspect of design training and discourse can make significant improvements in design-practice-research for the 21st-century world we live in.