Space Exploration
People, Science, and the altering complexion of Early Modern-day Space Exploration
Butterflies
Featured Poem
GCR Presidents
In Conversation Joel LozanoPerez and Anthony Jones
Housing Crisis
Building a Better Future: The Fight Against Durham’s Housing Crisis
Photographers
Ciel Qin
Writers
Glenn McGregor, Yan Peng, Isha Saxen, Joel Lozano-Perez, Anthony Jones
Arjmand Khaliq, Akmaral Karamergenova, Dom Birch, Halima Akhter, Mahmudul Hasan, Ipshita Chatterji, Xinyue Li, Yuanyi Xu, Laura Curran, Dan Lonsdale.
Editors
Katie Anne Tobin.
Special Thanks
Paula Furness, Sarah Rosen.
Design
curious12.com
The Ustinovian magazine and blog is written by Ustinovians, for Ustinovians. The views, opinions and positions expressed by the authors and those providing comments in the articles do not necessarily reflect the views of Ustinov College or Durham University.
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If you would like to submit to the next edition of the Ustinovian, please email ustinov.publication@durham.ac.uk
Kickstarting a gorgeous British summertime, this edition’s theme is ‘Resilience’, showcasing the bravery and determination of our student body. Submissions from this issue include a conversation with incoming SU President Dan Lonsdale and current Welfare and Liberation Officer Laura Curran about the ongoing Durham housing crisis and how hope may be on the horizon. There’s also a feature on the Ustinov Annual Conference, and this year’s theme is energy and environmental sustainability. Of course, it wouldn’t be an issue on resilience without showcasing the best of our International Women’s Day celebrations that took place in college.
On that note, I want to thank the wonderful contributors for this edition. We received so many fantastic contributions – particularly from our flourishing international community –and it was such a squeeze trying to fit them all in this issue! Thanks, as always, to the wonderful Paula Furness for her patience and compassion while working with me on the Ustinovian. And, on a personal note, many thanks to the wonderful Café des Arts team, Thea Nikolova and Darach Sharkey. For those of you interested in contributing to our next edition on the theme of ‘Regeneration’, please drop an email at katie.a.tobin@durham.ac.uk. In the meantime, enjoy the sunshine!
Tobin
Candidate
I trust you enjoy this edition of the Ustinovian, the theme of which is ‘resilience’
As always, life at Ustinov College is exciting with much happening on both the scholarly and social fronts. This year, as before, I have enjoyed the vibrant programme of seminars and other events offered under the auspices of our Global Citizenship Programme (GCP)and the great range of activities delivered by the Graduate Common Room (GCR).
Nationally and internationally, we continue to build our profile as a College that provides a safe, motivating and enjoyable environment which supports the world-leading research done by our students, facilitates inter-cultural communication and understanding and nurtures global citizenship and collegiality. These are some of the things that make up the Ustinov identity in addition to our cornerstone set of values including respect, trust, responsibility, fairness, integrity, humility, open-mindedness and objectivity. As you may have often heard me say, these traits leave no doubt in my mind that I am a believer in Ustinov as a great place to be a postgraduate student.
By the time you read the next edition of the Ustinovian I will be well into a period of research leave. I will be spending the 2023 – 2024 academic year away from Ustinov completing a book on heatwaves, an update on the World Meteorological Organisation’s guidance for developing heatwave and health early warning systems and undertaking a couple of research projects with colleagues in Japan on Japanese heatwave. While I am away Sarah Prescott our Vice Principal will be stepping up as Principal of Ustinov College for the year.
I trust you enjoy this edition of the Ustinovian, the theme of which is ‘resilience’. In simple terms, this is an individual’s or community’s ability to bounce back from adversity, adapt to change, and maintain well-being in the face of challenging circumstances. How this attribute manifests in a variety of forms is articulated nicely in this edition of the Ustinovian.
Glenn McGregor Professor of Climatology and Principal of Ustinov College
Hello all and welcome to the Spring edition of the Ustinovian.
While I am away Sarah Prescott our Vice Principal will be stepping up as Principal of Ustinov College for the year.
I still remember the first day in Durham, looking forward to a whole new life in a foreign country. That was when I first arrived at Ustinov.
I have to admit that I love the observatory hill, which I take as one of the most important parts of Ustinov. It is near the college. Students walk through to the University, enjoying the gorgeous scenery of Durham Cathedral.
The tree in the centre of Sheraton Park must be the most beautiful tree in the world. From summer to winter, sunny to cloudy, dawn to dusk, it’s always standing there. Each time when I see it, I know that I have arrived home.
I am so lucky that I am in a room with perfect scenery outside of my window. I see the old leaves fall off the trees, growing new ones, the colourful sky changing through day and night, and sometimes, even the snow falling.
I live in an ensuite with several flatmates, and we become good friends! I love the kitchen as a common room for our flat, we cook, talk, and celebrate the festivals and each other’s birthdays together.
To be honest, the GCR and gym membership fee is the most worthwhile money I’ve ever spent in Durham. 25 pounds enable you to use the gym for the whole year! I’m pretty sure that I am getting stronger.
Castle formal, Ustinov live, Christmas celebration, Halloween party, GCR trip, I couldn’t imagine a more colourful life in a university.
Most Sundays, my friends and I meet in the music room in Observatory, playing and having fun together. Those hours relieve me from my research and stressful thoughts, bringing more meaning to my Ustinov life.
I knew that I was going to miss Durham and Ustinov since the first day I have been here. I love Ustinov. And I know Ustinov loves us, just like the sun shines on everyone without exception.
Content Note: this piece contains mentions of rape and domestic abuse. If you have been impacted by the following please contact: Sexual Misconduct and Violence - Durham University for sources of report/support at the University or the following external specialist services:
RSACC offers free confidential counselling and support to survivors who have experienced any form of sexual violence - RSACC (rsacc-thecentre.org.uk)
Newcastle and national domestic abuse services | Safe Newcastle Guide to support options for abuse - Mind
I grew up in the city of Agra in India, seeing the Taj Mahal, a monument of eternal love. I am the daughter of a handicapped teacher and a soldier, and from a young age, I was taught the value of hard work, discipline and dedication. With my parents’ guidance and inspiration, I excelled in school and was a stellar student. But even as a child, I struggled to confide in my parents.
Before enduring rape at the age of 23, I was a bubbly and friendly person who trusted everyone. After that, it was difficult for me to open up, as though I had been thrust into a world of darkness, with no one to turn to for comfort or support. But, despite the pain, I refused to let my experiences define me.
I was determined to pursue higher education, and I left for the UK to complete my Master’s degree in Sustainable energy. It was there that I met a man who I thought would be my rock - someone who would support and love me like Sahjahan loved Mumtaz. But as time passed, I realized that he was not who he claimed to be.
My partner’s violent and abusive behaviour left me feeling isolated and alone once again, but I refused to give up. I found the strength to seek help from my university where I started pursuing my PhD. My partner was arrested for what he did to me. I was advised not to continue my PhD at the same university, but I decided to go against all odds.
before. I know that my experiences have given me a unique perspective on life, and I am determined to use that perspective to help others. Even though I had achieved so much, the pain of what had happened to me never truly went away. I still struggle with depression and anxiety, and there are days when I wondered if I would ever truly be happy. But then I thought
On my first solo trip to the Isle of Wight, I met the little girl in me who was lost years ago. It was as though I had found a lifeline. I threw myself into her studies, and as I worked towards my goal, I also began to rebuild my relationship with my family. I realized that they had always been there for me, even if I had not been able to confide in them in the past. Today, I am closer to my family than ever
about all that I had overcome, and all that I had achieved despite everything. My story is a testament to the power of resilience and determination. I have overcome pain and trauma, but through it all, I have refused to give up. I will continue to fight for justice and equality for as long as I live.
My story is a testament to the power of resilience and determination. I have overcome pain and trauma, but through it all, I have refused to give up.
In this exclusive interview, we bear witness to a quick Q&A between the President and Vice President, the two helmsmen entrusted with steering the GCR forward. With the questions is Anthony Jones, the next President for 2023-2024 (and current Vice-President), alongside the outgoing 20222023 GCR President, Joel Lozano.
Anthony: So it’s been a successful year here in Ustinov, and a big thank you to you from everybody on the completion of your term in office. So, Joel, you start a new job on Monday, and my first question is…do you think you’ll have more fun working in Cuth’s CMT than as GCR President?
Joel: I hope it will be as fun! It’s a very different job, so I don’t know what to expect. We’ll see…
Anthony: That’s good to hear that you’ll miss us. I think we’re going to miss you too. After the previous President left, we didn’t see too much of them again. Are you going to disappear from Ustinov’s life? Are you ready to head into hiding?
Joel: No, I’m living in the college until December. I hope the new President invites me to events…
Anthony: Oh, I’m certainly inviting you; in fact, I offered you a job to restructure welfare in the GCR because you are extremely approachable, and I think it’s something we could do better, but you cruelly decided to take a job with the
You know it’s a good party when you get a noise complaint!
Cuth’s CMT because of the financial reward for your efforts!
Joel: No, that wasn’t my motivation! I mean, I’m a postgrad, so the money is helpful, but to answer the first part of that question, I have considered your offer a couple of times. Let’s see what happens.
Anthony: Interesting, not an outright refusal… you’re going to keep me guessing. You’ve been the face of the college for the year. Is it nice that so many people know your name?
Joel: Yes, it was funny at the beginning, particularly as it’s the biggest college so it’s a lot of people, plus my experience has been really good, secretly we all like it when everyone says hello. And I think you’ll like it too!
Anthony: But you’re happy with your term; you think time well spent?
Joel: I think there are always areas for improvement but no regrets.
Anthony: My experience has been really positive feedback on almost all events. What has been your favourite?
Joel: If I organise the event, I like to have fun, so I find it difficult to choose just one. And there were nights when, even though I was working, I had so much fun, but to answer the question, I think the Halloween party. It was then that I started seeing students bonding, the different groups forming, and the direction each student takes in terms of friendships.
Anthony: You know it’s a good party when you get a noise complaint!
Joel: Well, we learnt from that and from it as a team. We took action that night and managed it well, and since, it’s been universal praise inside and outside the college.
Anthony: So you mention the team; you’ve done a great job this year in getting a great team of people around you, the biggest committee ever and beyond that, the college is so much more than just the people who sign up to help the GCR, it’s all the people who spend time in the common room and get to know everyone and be really welcoming. How did you achieve building this atmosphere?
Joel: It’s partly that this was the first full post-COVID year with no threat of testing or restrictions; that’s important. And the second part is the scale and range of events. We were ambitious and did lots of good things.
Anthony: So, who have you enjoyed working with most on the committee (besides me, of course)?
Joel: I shouldn’t say any names, but it’s no secret that one of my best friends is Christeen (the Social Secretary); she
is a fantastic friend. She has supported me inside and outside the GCR, and I can’t thank her enough. And, of course, I would say it’s the collective as well; I’m going to miss so many people, too many to name.
Anthony: If they were to build a statue of you to acknowledge your presidency, where would you have them put it?
Joel: Sculpture garden.
Anthony: So a new tradition that the sculpture garden is filled with expresidential faces…
Joel: I’ll mention that to the CMT.
Anthony: So you come into the job very excited and with much to learn. What would be your advice to me and the presidents that will follow us?
Joel: Build a good team and then share the workload.
Anthony: Sounds sensible; I’ll take note of that. Now if you had to use three words to describe Ustinov?
Joel: Diverse…
Anthony: That’s interesting because that’s the first word I wrote down to answer this question for an introductory video I am planning. Sorry for interrupting; carry on…
Joel: Inclusive. Belonging.
Anthony: I went with friendly and fun. I think it’s a very friendly college; we’re very lucky. So what’s the best thing about living in Ustinov?
Joel: Finding people you can count on, especially since most of us are away from home, and it’s difficult to find that support.
Anthony: What’s your favourite college drink?
Joel: Well. Interesting you ask; there is a college drink named after me. It’s called The Lozano.
Anthony: And they call me a narcissist.
Joel: I am not a dictator, so I wouldn’t have proposed it myself. It’s silly, and the exec liked it. It’s nice to see when people have that drink.
Anthony: What’s something you know now that you didn’t know when you started your term?
Joel: So much happens behind the scenes; it’s a lot of work.
Anthony: What’s your first memory of Ustinov?
Joel: Halloween party, back in 2019. I had no idea what a college was; it was a fun night. Thanks to that first party, I got a very good idea of what a common room is and how life in college is.
Anthony: What advice would you give to an incoming student?
Joel: Make the most of every moment. It’ll fly past, savour every minute.
Anthony: Another silly question, if you were to make one rule for Ustinov, what would you do?
Joel: That you can’t change the name of The Lozano!
Anthony: Where do you see Ustinov in three years?
Joel: I think it’ll be in a much better state. The continuity between this year and next year with you and Jamie will make the college even better. I’m excited to see what you’ll do.
Anthony: I’ll try my best, buddy. Thanks for your time.
Joel: Good luck!
Well. Interesting you ask; there is a college drink named after me. It’s called The Lozano.
By Arjmand Khaliq and Akmaral Karamergenova
The Ustinov Annual Conference provides an interactive and fun space for dialogue between students, faculty, and practitioners to explore questions of global citizenship at the intersection of academic theory and real-life practice. The Ustinov College Annual Conference will be held on June 15th, 2023, and this year’s theme will focus on energy and environmental sustainability.
The sustainable development goals provide worldwide guidance for addressing the global challenges facing the international community. They are about better protecting the natural foundations of life and our planet everywhere and for everyone, as well as preserving people’s opportunities to live in dignity and prosperity across generations.
Our Ustinov College students, Arjmand Khaliq and Akmaral Karamergenova, are both Engineering Students and holders of the Ustinov GCP Scholarship for 2022-2023. They have decided to organize the conference in the context of their major and background. The conference theme this year is “Powering the future we want – Global Innovative approach in sustainable energy and environment.” Invited keynote speakers are members of the Durham Energy Institute.
Professor Douglas Halliday is a Professor in the Department of Physics and the Director at the Durham Energy Institute. He is an expert in materials physics and conducts research on next-generation thin-film photovoltaic (solar) devices. He is passionate about educating future energy leaders and holds the position of Director of the Centres for Doctoral Training in Energy and Global Challenges Research. He is also the Chair of the European Universities Association Energy and Environment Platform.
Professor Simone Abram is a Professor in the Department of Anthropology. She is a social anthropologist with a background in Electrical Engineering. Her work brings together different disciplinary perspectives on energy and society, ethical and just transitions, and the changing social and political significance of energies, particularly electricity. She currently serves as the Chair of the Association of Social Anthropologists (UK). The Durham Energy Institute is sponsoring cash prizes for students participating in the conference.
They say that we’re like butterflies ---all glorious renewal and colours that Come out, somehow, brighter than before.
But the things you shed have meaning Family, friends, beliefs and attitudes; Textures of a former you Entire worlds all routed through This one thing that is No longer yours.
They say that we are hiding That our malignant presence lingers In public spaces or some obscure Corner of the internet As if eye-shadow and patience; As if eye-shadow and patience… But it’s not, we’re not---,I mean, I’m not That.
It’s a forcible act of becoming An attrition of overcoming
You wait in doctors’ rooms
You wait at home
You wait in some fictionalised space that barely makes sense and doesn’t exist.
And you learn.
You learn to have a new language and friends. You learn to see danger in the smallest signs, to find joy in the most ordinary shit. You learn medical jargon, to distinguish different shades of magenta, and to be suspicious of people you otherwise like.
You learn to look in the mirror.
And after all of that you’re different. But you’re not a butterfly or a vampire.
You are you.
You are you.
You are finally you.
By Halima Akhter
Ustinov Intercultural Forum (UIF) organized an event on March 10, 2023 ( 18.30 to 20.30) at the Ustinov Seminar Room to celebrate the International Women’s Day.
This event is globally celebrated on March 08 annually focusing on women’s right movement, bringing attention to issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence and abuse against women. The theme of the UIF event for this year was Empowered women, Empower women aimed to bring together women from all walks of life to discuss and share their personal or academic experiences of empowering other women or themselves. The idea
was to provide a safe platform to everyone who identifies as a female and start a healthy and engaging conversation on what it is like for them to be a woman? There were also some academic presentations lined up to share the history of women’s day and about women in different fields. Around 30 women participated in the event including the students of Ustinov college and some representative members from the International Women Group (IWG)
hosted by the UIF. Postgraduate students and IWG participants from UK, Canada, Bangladesh, Lebanon, India, Iraq, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, USA, China etc. shared their own stories of empowerment and empowering other women based on their own struggles, socio-cultural barriers, ways of overcoming, and becoming successful in their own career path or personal space. This event played a significant role both for the current students of Ustinov and women from different parts of the world to realize the diversity in women’s struggle and success towards the path of empowerment.
After three years of my PhD, the Royal Statistical Society (RSS) Conference became my first chance to attend a major in-person event following the restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic. The RSS serves as a prominent platform for researchers from various disciplines to present their statistical work, and I feel privileged that my work has been accepted in one of the contributed sessions amidst numerous submissions. The RSS conference provided a remarkable chance for me to connect with researchers from diverse backgrounds, spanning academia to industry.
The journey from Durham train station to Aberdeen train station was a captivating experience, as I revelled in the breath-taking beauty of nature, particularly the scenic North Sea beaches. During my presentation, I showcased one of the key contributions of my PhD thesis, which revolves around developing a comprehensive statistical framework to maximize utility in the agricultural sector. Conventional agricultural field experiments have encountered challenges due to escalating costs, intensive labour requirements, and significant time commitments.
To address these issues, our work utilized a crop simulation model as an alternative to conventional field experiment data. However, we encountered complexities arising from the high dimensionality of the models and the mixed input data structure. In response, we constructed
a mixed inputs emulation framework incorporating factors such as soil, steepness, and weather. This framework aimed to achieve maximum expected utility by considering both yields and pollutants. By offering a viable option to enhance profitability in the agricultural sector, this general statistical framework holds great promise.
I am deeply honoured to have the opportunity to present my work and extend my sincere appreciation to Ustinov College for their support in facilitating my conference presentation, in collaboration with the Mathematical Sciences department. Travel awards like this play a pivotal role in advancing research and bolstering the overall reputation of Durham University.
Outer Space, for a good part of human history, either as a definitive concept or simply as an illustrious fraction of the scientific and literary inquiry of extra-terrestrial realms, has long captured the conscious inquisitiveness of the human mind. Early modern-day space exploration was fundamentally structured around military protection and competitive science between nations either in active or passive conflict.
Birthed from the imagination of launching life to an alien environment, engineering sophistication in technologies that could actualize this was at the forefront of a decadelong race in space. The United States and the U.S.S.R. (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics), the two primary contestants of the space race, showcased what seemed like a theatrical playdown of besting the other which in turn caused the highest exponential growth in the expansion of any scientific discipline within a few years. Science had once again started to witness a chaotic rise in ideas, experiments, and disappointments after the world had witnessed the political strife to gain control over electricity almost a century ago.
The early days of modern space exploration saw war messaging at the forefront of most scientific endeavours. The establishment of NASA (National
Aeronautics and Space Administration) was more of a response, than a mere grand venture, to the launch of Sputnik-1 of the Soviet Space Program. Sputnik-1 was the first artificial satellite that comprised of a radio transmitter contained within the core of an intercontinental ballistic missile. Such ballistic missiles were incidentally being developed by the Soviet Union to transport nuclear weapons in the background of the Cold War. NASA specifically focused on recruiting combat pilots as astronauts as they were perceived to not only be the elite that would be fluent with sophisticated spaceflight operations but would also demonstrate the valour expected of them. One such combat pilot, Neil Armstrong, was himself made of ‘the right stuff’, being a war veteran, having flown 78 combat missions in F9F-2 jet fighters during the Korean War.
Science during this time was observing a dynamic shift and fortuitous advancement in culture and equity. A typical statistical absence of women existed in physics and mathematics. The space race saw a collision of competency, necessity, and a dispassionate approach towards building a new workforce - two gigantic economies were at war and women scientists and officers were not only enabling space travel but were also liberating themselves of what was thought to be possible for them. While Russia launched Valentina Tereshkova, the first and the youngest woman ever to travel in space, NASA saw women like Katherine Johnson and Pamela Donaldson fundamentally contributing to enable space flight for American astronauts. Johnson identified that the trajectory of a spaceflight mirrors the mathematical behaviour of a parabola. NASA was not equipped with high-speed computing systems back in the 1950s and employed female mathematicians straight out of university to perform calculations in orbital mechanics. Johnson famously used a celestial training device at
the time which uniquely makes use of Earth as the centre to navigate positions in space in an angular fashion and achieved terrific accuracy with her calculations. During the launch of Mercury 7, astronaut John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, famously asked Johnson to doublecheck the calculations from one of the then-developed IBM systems. Although women did make contributions to various space missions back then, nobody would have their name printed on the mission report. Katherine Johnson became the first woman who had her name printed on the scientific reports she made contributions to, including the Apollo 11 report.
Manned missions were not only a challenge to physics and engineering but also biomedical applications. Space flight meant that not much could be done about the external environment of the vacuum of space. The lack of gravity causes a net redistribution of blood throughout the human body which disrupts the nervous system’s understanding of blood quantities as bodily sensors
Sputnik-1 was the first artificial satellite that comprised of a radio transmitter contained within the core of an intercontinental ballistic missile.
detect more blood in unusual areas causing disruptions essentially in movement. Pamela Donaldson, one of NASA’s key developers of space suits, designed a crucial stage in an astronaut’s training regime which is prevalent to this day. She proposed that when astronauts are made to wear inflated spacesuits in big water tanks, the buoyancy makes an average walk more like a jump making it like the presence of microgravity.
Theoretically, science seemed to be a little confused during the space race. There seemed to be a strange difficulty in drawing clear distinctions between scientists and engineers working for the space agencies. However, this confusion seemed to have been very advantageous to researchers at universities who demanded increased federal funding for projects looking into space research, whether they were from the physical sciences or enrolled in an engineering course. Scientists were people who would discover while engineers were people who would apply the discovery. However, when hired, young engineers, enthusiastic to craft with their hands saw themselves seated at desks, writing papers. A sort of new, unfamiliar area within engineering slowly started to
formulate – aeronautical and space technologies engineering, popularly known to be deep-seated in theoretical research today.
However, callousness can often turn around the narrative of even the most glorious stories. The flourishing of science and culture, under the competitive spirit of the space race came with certain repercussions of over-zealous objectives. Soon after the success of Apollo 11, NASA attempted to launch American citizens into space. The 1986 Challenger mission was an attempt to showcase the role of educators in inspiring students to pursue careers in science and technology and civilian Christa McAuliffe, a social studies teacher was chosen to be an astronaut with other specialist crew members.
The rocket boosters of Challenger were engineered to be sealed by ‘O-shaped’ high-performance rubber rings. The material properties of the rings were such that they would inevitably fail at temperatures lower than 10 degrees Celsius. After being postponed a few times, Challenger was set for launch on the 28th of January 1986. The outside temperature was approximately negative 1.6 degrees
Celsius (approximately 29 degrees Fahrenheit). There was debate and contemplation around the decision to go ahead with the launch. However, NASA had to maintain an ambitious schedule of shuttle launches – after all, this was a famously publicized mission, and the world was eagerly waiting to witness the next leap in manned missions to space. NASA officials were confident of having checked every statistical graph in the context of “O-ring successes”. However, the statistical probability of “O-ring failure” was 13 percent below sub-zero temperatures. Challenger exploded within the first 73 seconds of launching killing all seven of its crew members, making it one of the worst possible disasters to have ever occurred in human spaceflight history. The incident proved to be a lesson well-learned in the ethics of space exploration, for any nation aspiring to achieve the next best thing.
History has been a spectator to nations coming together in the pursuit of scientific advancement simply and perhaps naively, due to the wideeyed eagerness that humanity has always had toward the exploration of outer space. The revolutionary impact that the space race brought with it – emerging academic areas, a surge of women scientists in the stem industry, and a distraction from direct engagement in warfare, does not render the wide-eyed eagerness towards space exploration just for the sake of it. Today, space exploration is witnessing collaboration and privatization as an omnipresent theme. Collaboration as a theme gained relevance with the setting up of the International Space Station (ISS) when Russia sent the first space shuttle to the ISS to supply fuel. Interestingly, the two nations that caused tensions in space also initiated cooperation. The world is eagerly waiting for the return of the Perseverance Rover’s samplesthe first rock samples from another planet to have ever been possessed by mankind. Exciting times lie ahead of us, but they will only do good if met with responsibility.
After being postponed a few times, Challenger was set for launch on the 28th of January 1986.
Rubber O-rings, nearly 38 feet (11.6 meters) in circumference; 1/4 inch (6.4mm) thick.
Estimated launch temperature 29˚
By Xinyue Li
My PhD research, titled ‘Quantizing Geoeconomics: Achieving a Pluralistic Reconciliation Between Security Protection and Economic Liberalization Through a Quantum Worldview,’ aims to establish an innovative and interdisciplinary theoretical framework called ‘quantizing geoeconomics.’
This framework seeks to conceptualize the emerging geoeconomic order through a quantum worldview. The thesis represents an intellectual adventure during an extraordinary period in human history, comparable to the birth of Newtonian laws of gravity. When the University of Cambridge closed due to the Great Plague of London in 1665-1666, Sir Isaac Newton, leaving Trinity College, went back to his family farm in Lincolnshire. It was during a moment of reflection in the garden, perhaps appreciating nature while unconsciously contemplating his academic career, that an apple falling to the ground sparked his thoughts on the gravitational system. This epiphany, along with many others, eventually led to the publication of the Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (often referred to as Principia) decades later, guiding classical mechanics-based intellectual and practical pursuits for centuries. Thus, it seems that critical times of entangled crises in universal values, peace and security, public health, global economic order, scientific and technological innovation, environmental sustainability, and human rights are when human wisdom is most willing to surpass conventional limits and explore new frontiers.
However, crafting an ‘ambitious’ novel modeling program as a PhD thesis is a complex endeavor. It was never meant to be as ambitious as my fellow international law scholars may have suggested, and it has never followed a strict plan. The plan I have pursued over the past seven years since 2016 has been nothing more than a general direction of argument. I aim to creatively digest a fundamental, enduring, everevolving, and contentious legal
debate: the reconciliation of national security with economic liberalization. Throughout my work, the program has taken unexpected turns, and my direction has changed along with the passage of time. Specifically, it has been influenced by the paradigm shift in the global economic order from neoliberalism to geoeconomics, the emerging quantum turn in international relations (IR) known as the ‘two externalities,’ and my humble aspiration to incorporate quantum
theories into the conceptualization of international economic law and international law as a whole, referred to as the ‘one internality.’ This is the sole ambition I must claim, and it is best seen as an exploratory experiment that generates more questions than answers.
However, it seems appropriate to acknowledge that this program is conceived to address two specific concerns I had about the state of national security protection in international economic law. Firstly, the traditional analysis of economicsecurity issues in international economic law has failed to capture, or at least not in a timely manner, the observations I have made regarding the changing paradigm of geoeconomics. This paradigm shift is characterized by the resurgence of security protection and regional competition. None of the existing standard scholarship or international jurisprudence adequately conveys the simultaneous significance of legal formalism and realism, sociology and normativity, or the technical and conceptual aspects of international economic law and international law in general. These elements seem
strikingly relevant in the emerging geoeconomic order.
Secondly, as a devoted member of the new generation of international law enthusiasts, I see no good reason why the field of international economic law, and international law as a whole, should be intellectually confined to a single school of thought. The profession historically evolved as a cosmopolitan horizon of transcendence, grappling with essential questions of universal value, global justice, international peace, national welfare, organizational operations, and individual rights. However, by the end of the 2010s, when this scholarship was conceived, it had transformed into a mere technical practice that obscured the evolving political commitment that animated its finest representatives. The geoeconomic order, or whichever theoretical framework describes our current global order, is both a consequence and a laboratory of this transformation. I aim to revive a similar sense of commitment to meaningful international legal practice through an experimental scholarship tailored to the international order of our time.
Firstly, the traditional analysis of economicsecurity issues in international economic law has failed to capture, or at least not in a timely manner, the observations I have made regarding the changing paradigm of geoeconomics.
In essence, there are both conceptual and normative concerns underlying this scholarship. Throughout my research, I realized that reaching any meaningful conclusions would be impossible without the support of our research community, through criticism, inquiry, and communication, often accompanied by laughter. Consequently, I applied for the visiting scholar program at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law at the University of Cambridge, with generous support from both the Durham Law School Postgraduates Support Fund and the Norman Richardson Postgraduate Research Fund from Ustinov College.
My time at the Lauterpacht Centre turned out to be an invaluable experience for my scholarly journey. I had the opportunity to engage with fellow idealists, realists, and those who fell somewhere in between, who showed a genuine interest in my work. Whether during formal events like the Visiting Scholar Workshop or informal occasions like coffee
mornings, college lunches, outdoor theatres, and numerous shared meals and drinks, I exchanged thoughts and insights with talented and wonderful colleagues at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law and my multidisciplinary housemates at Robinson College. These interactions enabled me to address two key responses that the program received from its critics. One focused on the theoretical implications of quantising geoeconomics, while the other examined its normative benefits and practical contributions to international legal practice. It was truly a moment of ‘singing aloud in the splendor of starlight.’
As a result of this three-month visit from July to September 2022, I successfully completed my PhD thesis, with one article published in an SSCI journal and another one forthcoming, laying a solid foundation for future research. Furthermore, my recent research has been accepted for presentation at the Socio-Legal Studies Association (SLSA) 2023 Annual Conference. As an ‘exotic’ or ‘ambitious’ endeavor, this research has received support from the beloved international law community and the broader research community. With great dedication and enthusiasm, I am ready to pass on the baton and continue the journey.
I had the opportunity to engage with fellow idealists, realists, and those who fell somewhere in between, who showed a genuine interest in my work.
I was awarded the Normal Richardson PG Research Fund during the academic year of 2021-2022. As a PhD student in Marketing, this fund has been instrumental in enabling me to conduct crucial research for my thesis.
Thanks to the generous support of this fund, I was able to conduct an online experiment and collect a significant amount of data for my research. Moreover, the fund allowed me to identify a key factor that potentially explains the effect I observed in my previous experiments. This success not only allowed me to put my thesis into a complete story but also to present my work at the Association for Consumer Research, one of the most prestigious conferences in the field of marketing, held in Denver, US.
I am truly grateful for the opportunity and resources provided to me through the Normal Richardson PG Research Fund. This fund has not only facilitated my research but also served as an affirmation of my academic work and achievements. The experience has been invaluable to my growth and development as a researcher.
By Katie Tobin
In late October last year, Durham made headlines after hundreds of students were pictured queuing up outside of a letting agents in the city centre. “The drop”, as it’s locally known, is the annual event where letting agencies release available properties for the next academic year. As to be expected, mass hysteria and panic ensue after every drop, but finding housing in 2022 proved to be unprecedentedly chaotic. As a June BBC article reports, the 2022/2023 academic year had a higher-than-anticipated intake than before thanks to the “unexpected shifts” in the grading of A-levels, meaning that countless students reported being left unable to find a home for the following year.
In February I spoke to forthcoming DSU President Dan Lonsdale, who was President of the Working Class Association and helped organise the protest against the university’s response to the housing crisis in October. “We started off trying to build a movement,” Dan told me, “which began with a general online outreach to student societies and student groups who are historically activists and have been involved in things along these lines. This is all following on from the housing crisis really exploding from that BBC article with photos of our students camping on the streets outside of letting agencies, queuing at 2am in the morning when they opened at 9am. When the university published a response to the cost-of-living crisis which was, at best, inadequate, it completely misunderstood the context of the situation.”
I asked Dan what he means by this, and he said: “An example of this was when they told students to get a job, not realising that every less privileged student already had a job, some of whom were working 30-hour weeks. It really did feel like we were being ignored, and the people at the top of the university guiding our policies didn’t seem remotely understanding of what the situation was.”
On the success of the online campaigns, Dan said that “when we didn’t feel like we were getting anywhere with polite social media posts, so we turned to protests instead. We had a very good turnout.”
Dan informed me that one of the core aims of this protest and his presidency is ending university expansion. “Since 2017 they’ve had in place what they called an ‘estates masterplan’ which includes academic faculties, new
buildings, accommodation facilities, and this is also linked to the expanding community of international students,” he said. “They bring in more tuition fees, so it’s understandable why they want them. Our demands included an international housing guarantor as well as it costs them, unlike home students, and it’s also useful to have every student on the same guarantor.”
I asked Dan if he can tell me a little more about the masterplan, which he claimed was hindered by Covid, but they still managed to “earmark sites like the business centre despite the fact that we’re in the middle of a crisis of housing.” He continued: “Our big thing has been looking to challenge university expansion by ending the masterplan and ending part-time employment for students as a necessity for them to survive.”
headlines and got so much support from the city,” Dan claimed. “We’ve organised auxiliary housing for students who couldn’t find any, and we’ve had business contact us offer to happily step in. Every stakeholder the university could possibly consider and the entirety of the local community against management policies, as this affects every Durham citizen, not just out students.”
Since meeting with Dan in February, things have changed considerably. This is all down to the outgoing SU officers, and Laura Curran, Welfare and Liberation Officer, in particular. They tell me that: “One of the priorities for myself and Durham SU this year has been student housing. It’s something that the SU will continue to prioritise in the long term with its upcoming strategy for 2023-27, and the very
While the lingering effects of October’s drop will persist until the end of the tenancy cycle next year, the housing crisis has brought out an unexpected sense of solidarity between locals and students in Durham. Dan told me that MP Mary Foy has been exceptionally helpful, and “happy to take testimonies from students and present them in Parliament.”
As for the future of Durham’s housing crisis, there’s an air of hope on the horizon. “In the end, although we haven’t had as many victories as we might want, we made insane levels of
nature of Durham housing compelled us to get the ball rolling this year. The work that I have done this year has culminated into a Housing Code of Practice being developed, with the aim that it acts as a long-term measure for housing in Durham.”
Continuing, she tells me: “As an explanation, the Code of Practice will be an opt-in agreement which will commit the University, SU, Durham County Council, landlords, and estate agents to specific actions in an effort to improve the state of the housing
In the end, although we haven’t had as many victories as we might want, we made insane levels of headlines and got so much support from the city...
market in Durham. The final version of the document will soon be live and ready for stakeholders to sign, but as an overview, it will include the following:
• A joint annual meeting to decide a ‘no earlier than’ date for the release of student housing (with suggested month of November), as well as looking at the previous cycle, issues students faced, and the demand/ supply of housing
• Not releasing copies of the same contract to multiple groups of students
• Allowing at least 2 working days for students to sign a contract (extended to 5 for those who need to find a UK-based guarantor)
• A joint information campaign on housing and the changes the Code of Practice will bring.”
I asked Laura if she would be able to explain about how the housing problem in Durham came about, and she tells me that: “The student housing market has been a continuous issue, yet this year saw the market at its very worst. From major concerns over capacity arising over the summer,
to students queuing overnight for overpriced houses in October, there was no doubt that the market was in crisis. As a result, I launched a call for student stories – a chance for students to share their experiences with the housing market – and responses soon started to rush in.”
They continue: “In the following months, the data gathered from students was discussed with various parties, which ultimately led to a Housing Code of Practice being created. During March, I organised a meeting with Durham’s estate agents and presented them with the information students had sent in (alongside local data on the prices students were currently facing and national data on student finances and maintenance loans). It was in this meeting that the idea of a Code of Practice was first raised, and there was a consensus that, if it worked properly, this could be a potential solution to the issues students have been facing. “Minutes from the meeting were presented to the University, who were planning a follow-up meeting for May. From here, we worked together on what this Code of Practice would consist of, and these ideas were presented by the University to estate
agents, landlords, and PBSA staff at their meeting, chaired by Mary Foy MP. Again, there was agreement throughout the room that the ideas suggested could work once stakeholders signed up to them. This is the first time I’ve seen the University step up in such a significant way when it comes to student housing and hearing them express how they are in fact the biggest landlord in Durham was refreshing from an accountability sense.”
Hope is finally on the horizon for the students of Durham, Laura tells me. “Now, we’re in the final stages of the Code of Practice document which will soon be live for parties to sign,” she says. “This is by no means the last step Durham can take on housing, but instead is the first crucial step towards improving the market for students in the long term.”
It’s progress that the university wouldn’t have seen without the invaluable resilience of its student body and representatives. Let us hope that, with the implementation of the Code of Practice, next year’s drop is markedly less stressful and all students will be able to secure somewhere local to live.
This is by no means the last step Durham can take on housing, but instead is the first crucial step towards improving the market for students in the long term.
