In our opening episode of this season of Making sense of EU, we discussed with professor Ramona Coman, principal investigator of the project RED-SPINEL the ambitions of the consortium that brings together 11 partner organisations from 8 European countries.  

Today, we want to dig deeper into the core concept of “dissensus” and will try to make sense of why it is at the center of the Horizon Europe research project coordinated at the Institut d’études européennes.  

For this Making Sense of EU welcomes Nathalie Brack, who is associate professor of political science at the Université libre de Bruxelles and Visiting Professor at the College of Europe in Bruges. Her research interests include EU institutions, EU decision-making process, Euroscepticism, sovereignty, Brexit, political representation and comparative politics. 

Joining us again is Ramona Coman, who leads RED-SPINEL and is professor of political science at the ULB and former President and Director of the Institut d’études européennes.   

Making Sense of Dissensus Over Liberal Democracy: Conceptualization in Research

In an article in the July/August edition of Foreign Affairs magazine, “Might Unmakes Right: The Catastrophic Collapse of Norms Against the Use of Force”, Oona Hathaway and Scott Shapiro look at the history of the prohibition of the use of force between states and discuss what they see as the current assault on this prohibition.

To discuss her article, in July 2025 the Phelan US Centre spoke to Professor Oona Hathaway, the Gerard C. and Bernice Latrobe Smith Professor of International Law at Yale Law School. They spoke about the shift in US foreign policy since the return of the Trump administration, the historic move from war being a legitimate diplomatic tool to being constrained by law, and the role of sanctions in enforcing international norms about the use of force.

This episode was produced by Chris Gilson and Luke Digweed.  

Further reading and resources

•	Follow Professor Oona Hathaway on X (@oonahathaway), Bluesky (‪@oonahathaway.bsky.social‬‬) and LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/oona-hathaway) 
•	“Might Unmakes Right: The Catastrophic Collapse of Norms Against the Use of Force”, Oona Hathaway and Scott Shapiro, Foreign Affairs, 24 June 2025
•	“The Dangerous Rise of “Dual-Use” Objects in War”, Oona A. Hathaway, Azmat Khan & Mara R. Revkin, The Yale Law Journal, June 2025
•	“War Unbound Gaza, Ukraine, and the Breakdown of International Law”, Foreign Affairs, Oona Hathaway, 23 April 2024
•	The Internationalists: How a Radical Plan to Outlaw War Remade the World Oona Hathaway and Scott Shapiro (Simon and Schuster, 2017)


LSE: The Ballpark | Might unmakes right with Professor Oona Hathaway

Selina and Caswell chat with Professor Adrian Isaacs from the UK Dementia Research Institute at UCL to talk Frontotemporal Dementia — from how fruit flies are helping, to the role of DNA repeat expansions in disease, and why lipids might protect the brain.

Presenters:  Caswell Barry and Selina Wray
Guests: Professor Adrian Isaacs
Producer: Patrick Robinson

Date of episode recording:  2025-07-28
Duration:  00:38:48
Language of episode: English 


Brain Stories - Episode 21:  Professor Adrian Isaacs on Frontotemporal Dementia

Beyond the 9 to 5: Rethinking the modern work week.

What if the key to better mental health, stronger families, and a more sustainable society was working less? In this episode, Xand van Tulleken and Rochelle Burgess explore how reducing the working week could transform not just our work-life balance but public health more broadly. They’re joined by: - Joe Ryle – Director of the Four Day Week Campaign, advocating for a shorter working week with no loss of pay - Professor Anna Cox – Professor of Human-Computer Interaction at UCL and Head of the eWork Research Group, whose work explores how technology impacts productivity and wellbeing.

In this episode: - How overworking is driving burnout, stress, and poor health outcomes - What flexible and remote working has taught us post-COVID - The role of digital technology in balancing work and life - Why a shorter week could be good for the environment and the economy - Whether AI might finally deliver on the long-promised work-life revolution.  

This episode also asks a deeper question: what would it take to truly shift our culture away from valuing busyness and burnout, and toward health, connection, and rest?

Date of episode recording: 2025-07-02

Duration: 00:37:45

Language of episode: English

Presenter:Xand van Tulleken; Rochelle Burgess

Guests: Joe Ryle; Anna Cox

Producer: Produced by: UCL Health of the Public; Editor: Annabelle Buckland, Decibelle Creative

Link to transcript:  https://www.ucl.ac.uk/health-of-public/news-and-events/public-health-disrupted/season-5-ep-4-beyond-9-5-notes-and-transcript

Season 5 - The Future of Work: Rethinking the 9 to 5

As the importance of climate justice grows, UCL Generation One asks the question: can we address the past for a fairer future and are historic injustices to blame for today’s climate inequalities? 

In this episode, Mark and Simon discuss the landmark ruling from the International Court of Justice, which declares nations are legally obligated to protect the environment from greenhouse gas emissions. This gives the countries most affected by climate change – many of which are former colonies – the legal right to hold major polluters accountable.

Lawyer and climate activist Farhana Yamin provides context on the ICJ’s decision, explaining the link between climate change and colonialism, and how activism combined with legal action can tackle systematic inequalities.

We then hear from Raffaella Fryer-Moreira (UCL Department of Anthropology), who works with indigenous communities in Brazil. Raffaella reveals how traditional academic practices often enforce historic dynamics, and explores how research projects might include rather than marginalise indigenous knowledge.

Transcript: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/climate-change/podcasts-videos/ucl-generation-one-climate-podcast

Date of episode recording: 23 July 2025
Duration: 00:38:38
Language of episode: English 

Presenters: Professor Mark Maslin and Dr Simon Chin-Yee 

Guests:
Raffaella Fryer-Moreira (UCL Department of Anthropology)
Farhana Yamin (Climate Justice – Just Transition Donor Collaborative)

Producers: 
Adam Batstone
Caitlin Mullin

Season 5, Episode 8 - Decolonising climate action: addressing the past for a fairer future

Dr Mehiyar Kathem speaks with Dr Mohammed Jassim on rebuilding Mosul University’s Central Library after ISIS.

Date of episode recording: 2025-08-01
Duration: 24:08
Language of episode: English

Presenter:Mehiyar Kathem
Guests: Dr Mohammed Jassim
Producer: Mehiyar Kathem

Transcript link:  
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/nahrein/media/podcasts/transcript-conversation-dr-mohammed-jassim



MOSUL LIBRARY; REBUILDING KNOWLEDGE - A conversation with Dr Mohammad Jassim

Across the world, far right ideas, once confined to the political fringe, have entered the mainstream. They spread through social media feeds and dominate tabloid headlines. Many fear they’re transforming politics, threatening democracy and tearing at the fabric of society. 
Joanna Bale meets Imam Adam Kelwick, whose Liverpool mosque was surrounded by an angry mob after the murders of three young girls in nearby Southport. He tells an extraordinary story of bravery and reconciliation. She also talks to Tim Bale, Professor of Politics at Queen Mary University of London, about the booming popularity of Nigel Farage. Marta Lorimer, Visiting Fellow at LSE’s European Institute and Lecturer in Politics at Cardiff University, discusses how millions are voting for far right parties across Europe. And Michael Vaughan, Research Fellow at LSE’s International Inequalities Institute, dissects Elon Musk’s far right political agenda. 
Contributors: Professor Tim Bale, Imam Adam Kelwick, Dr Marta Lorimer, Dr Michael Vaughan.
Research links: 
Tim Bale: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0263395718754718
https://theloop.ecpr.eu/why-we-need-to-halt-hard-right-in-its-tracks/
https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/reform-members
Marta Lorimer: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/europe-as-ideological-resource-9780198892366?cc=gb&lang=en&
 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00323217251346639
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nana.13001
Michael Vaughan: https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/22639
LSE iQ is a university podcast by the London School of Economics and Political Science.


How is the far right shaping our future?

With the growth of the capability of artificial intelligence (AI), there is growing concern that this technology could make millions of jobs – and their workers – obsolete. 

In the third episode of The Ballpark’s miniseries on AI and the US, the Phelan US Centre explored the impacts AI is already having on the workforce with Baobao Zhang, Maxwell Dean Associate Professor of the Politics of AI in the Political Science Department at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. Professor Zhang’s research and work focuses on trust in digital technology and the governance of artificial intelligence  

The discussion covers how recent advances in AI have shifted the landscape when it comes to labor automation, the anxiety that many people are feeling about the potential for AI to affect jobs and industries through automation, and what students should be doing to best prepare for a career in workplaces that will be affected by AI in the coming decades. 

This episode was produced by Chris Gilson and Luke Digweed.   

Further reading and resources 

Lee, Y.S, Soroushian, J., Bullock, J., Carroll, M., Dokko, J., Dominski, J., Hinds, R., Holzer, H., Horrigan, M., Munyikwa, Z., Oschinski, M., Radsch, C., Rock, D., Rossi, M., Seamans, R., Zhang, B. (2025). “Proactively Developing and Assisting the Workforce in the Age of AI.” Americans for Responsible Innovation and the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame. 

Zhang, Baobao and Dafoe, Allan, Artificial Intelligence: American Attitudes and Trends (January 9, 2019).  

Zhang, B., Anderljung, M., Kahn, L., Dreksler, N., Horowitz, M.C. and Dafoe, A. (2021). Ethics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence: Evidence from a Survey of Machine Learning Researchers. Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research,  

Baobao Zhang. 2022. No Rage Against the Machines: Threat of Automation Does Not Change Policy Preferences. In Proceedings of the 2022 AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society (AIES '22). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 856–866. https://doi.org/10.1145/3514094.3534179 

LSE: The Ballpark | AI automation and the workforce with Dr Baobao Zhang

Episode title: Ageing Playfully: Transforming perspectives on growing older

In this episode of Public Health Disrupted, host Rochelle Burgess is flying solo, and dives into the transformative power of play in the context of ageing. 

Joined by Rachel Colles, a professional performer and ‘Elderflower’ with Hearts and Minds, and Dr Carrie Ryan, a lecturer in Creative Health at UCL, the discussion explores how playfulness can disrupt conventional narratives surrounding ageing. Rochelle, Rachel, and Carrie challenge the societal tendency to associate play solely with childhood, revealing how embracing play in later life can foster joy, creativity, and meaningful connections. They share insights from their experiences, including engaging with people living with dementia and the profound impact of playful interactions (and bingo!) in care settings. 

The conversation highlights the importance of validating emotions, and how play serves as a vital public health intervention, encouraging a shift in perspective on ageing. This episode also touches on the significance of fostering genuine connections, ultimately advocating for a more playful approach to public health. 

Featured in this episode: 

Host: Rochelle Burgess – Community Health Psychologist and Professor at the UCL Institute for Global Health 

Guests: Rachel Colles– Professional Performer and Elderflower, Hearts and Minds 
Dr Carrie Ryan – Lecturer in Creative Health, UCL Department of Arts and Sciences Resources and mentions: ‘Extravagant Acts for Mature People' by Phoebe Davies (as mentioned at the end of this episode by Dr Carrie Ryan!) 

Date of episode recording: 2025-07-23
Duration: 00:42:57
Language of episode: English
Producer: Produced by UCL Health of the Public and edited by Annabelle Buckland, Decibelle Creative

Link to transcript:  https://www.ucl.ac.uk/health-of-public/news-and-events/public-health-disrupted/season-5-ep-5-ageing-playfully-notes-and-transcript

Season 5 - Ageing Playfully: Transforming perspectives on growing older

In this episode of The Bartlett Review, Professor Dame Henrietta Moore, Founder and Director of the Institute for Global Prosperity, and Arthur Kay, Advisor to Innovo Group and founder of several technology and urban design companies, discuss their new book, Roadkill: Unveiling the True Cost of Our Toxic Relationship with Cars. They explore the social, financial, ethical, and environmental impacts of cars, challenge common myths, and share practical ideas for rethinking the way we use them to improve our cities and freedoms. While cars are often sold as symbols of freedom, Henrietta and Arthur show how they restrict choice, limit city life, and impose hidden costs on health, communities, and the planet. They share real-world examples, challenge myths about electric and autonomous vehicles, and offer practical ideas for rethinking how we use cars.
Order your copy: https://getroadkill.com/

The Bartlett Review. Roadkill, unveiling the true cost of our toxic relationship with cars

L’IEE-ULB est un centre d’excellence interdisciplinaire en enseignement et recherche. Il se concentre sur les questions européennes.

Making Sense of Dissensus Over Liberal Democracy: Conceptualization in Research

IEE-ULB

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