This research project presents an analysis of discourses presented by school students under the banner of the movements: Fridays for Future, Youth for Climate and School Strike 4 Climate.  It contends that these movements go beyond just presenting a vision of an inescapable future, or a simplistic request for adults to listen to science.  Instead, their vision is constructive of a better world as they challenge the failures of politicians, and arguably the adult public, demanding to play an active role in policymaking when it comes to the climate crisis.

The video essay below is an immersive experience (please listen to it with headphones if you can) and highlights some of the key issues that young people are raising and the complexity of the solutions they are grappling with. This was presented at “Taking Care in the Climate Crisis” Conference 2021.

The research argues that this movement is constructed of critical utopian discourse.  It considers how the anxiety in the Student Strike movement creates optimism, and the narratives of cathedral thinking are demonstrative of an open-ended utopian process. It aims to give an academic voice and documentation and represent the work and future imaginings of these movements, bringing the voices of young people, rather than their problematic media representations into spaces where power is held and change can be made.

What Next? Responding to the Pandemic
There has been concern over a turn away from climate activism during and after the pandemic leading to excuses to pursue business as usual. Youth protests have a vital role to play in re-emphasising the immediacy of the climate crisis. The movement initially relied on school children absconding from school on Fridays but the movement has had to find new modes of engagement during the pandemic. This has included moves to digital protest in the pandemic, movements such as @fff.digital have grown in popularity during the pandemic, there have been online streaming events, digital pickets and digital teach-ins. The movement has aligned with Black Lives Matter and continue to link colonial and capitalist oppression and violence with the climate crisis. An alliance of organisations conducted hybrid protests in Germany during the digital strike for climate change on 24 April 2020 as #FightEveryCrisis. Nineteen thousand joined the online live stream with contributions from activists, artists, and scientists. Alternative occupations took place where banners from 70 local groups were spread out in front of the German Bundestag. The UK Student Climate Network has used the time to build up systems and strategies, work on campaigns, and develop educational resources.

Magnetic Ideals are interested in continuing research and connecting with youth protestors about both their democratic demands and their modes of activism during and following lockdown. If you are interested in being involved in this research please get in touch.

Heather McKnight (PhD, Legal Studies)

heather@magneticideals.org

Read the full article ‘THE OCEANS ARE RISING AND SO ARE WE’: EXPLORING UTOPIAN DISCOURSES IN THE SCHOOL STRIKE FOR CLIMATE MOVEMENT in Brief Encounters journal: http://briefencounters-journal.co.uk/BE/article/view/217

Pending conference paper: 2021 – Critical Legal Studies, Conference, University of Dundee – Educating Utopia: The School Strike for Climate Crisis and their Legislative Visions

“SAVE THE FUTURE” – Utopian Temporalities of the School Strikes for Climate Crisis, H McKnight, Renewal Journal 28 (3) Political Temporalities, 2020

Back on Track for Researchers

The ‘Back on Track’ coaching programme provides a motivational intervention for doctoral researchers in the humanities and arts struggling to find ways of working during the ongoing pandemic. This programme is different from other programmes that were in place for researchers before lockdown. It is not focused on long-term goals (which can be unsettling in such uncertain times) or training in particular skills. Instead, it focuses on finding ways to work that are specific and person-orientated to get back on track in the present moment.

Mental health and isolation issues are well known to be problems while completing a PhD; such issues have become heightened in the pandemic. In a survey of 76 institutions, 94% of PhD students reported disruption to research due to Covid-19 outbreak and subsequent public lockdown.[1] The disruption has disproportionately impacted on those with childcare responsibilities and disabilities. Research students reported suffering financial concerns, lack of resources, a lack of support, loss of access to training and skills development.  These have compounded mental health difficulties, research restrictions and stress, leading to one in five students reporting that they are considering leaving their studies.[2] 

Present government guidance has noted that research students should work from home if they can do so.[3] Thus the above disruption looks set to continue, and students face additional stress with many having to make substantive research adjustments.

Back on Track

The aim of this ‘Back on Track’ programme would, through five one-to-one coaching sessions, get research students who are struggling during lockdown to get ‘back on track’ with their research work. The programme would aim to help them establish work-life patterns that are healthy, realistic, balanced and productive within the limitations of their current circumstances.

The programme consists of five one-to-one coaching sessions; researchers receive full notes of the session discussions highlighting their reflections, agreed actions for the following week, and links to any useful resources and contacts. Sessions are also a space where the researchers can share concerns and worries, and provide an opportunity for signposting to additional services whether they relate to wellbeing, social connection or academic support.

At present spaces are only available for researchers at CHASE institutions. We are planning to extend this programme for community leaders and community researchers in the coming months, please get in touch if you are interested and we will keep you posted as developments take place!

Contact: heather@magneticideals.org

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[1] “The Impact of Covid-19 and the UK Public Lockdown on Postgraduate Research Students in the UK,” accessed January 25, 2021, https://www.bera.ac.uk/blog/the-impact-of-covid-19-and-the-uk-public-lockdown-on-postgraduate-research-students-in-the-uk.

[2] “The Impact of Covid-19 and the UK Public Lockdown on Postgraduate Research Students in the UK.”

[3] “Students Returning to, and Starting Higher Education, in Spring Term 2021 – Guidance for Higher Education Providers” (Department for Education, January 2021), https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/950583/Students_returning_to_and_starting_higher_education_in_Spring_Term_2021_FINAL_v3.pdf.

The pandemic and lockdown have impacted on us all.  From personal illness, tragic losses, anxiety, isolation, fieldwork postponement, financial anxieties, childcare/caring responsibility increases, lack of access to research resources, or partners, family and friends.  We find ourselves forced into the occasionally uncomfortable work of online communication, which can feel like inviting strangers into your home, sometimes breaking and sometimes creating social barriers and stress. Difficult decisions around housing have an emotional impact; where to stay, sometimes in which country, and for some, the decisions were not theirs to make.  For many of us, it is making us think about ourselves, our futures, our connectivity with others, our writing, creativity and our research in different ways.

Lockdown is a feminist issue.  Decisions made at a government and institutional levels, as ever, are dispossessing those already at the intersections of oppression in more violent ways. Coronavirus pandemic exacerbates inequalities for women, non-binary and marginalised genders, BAME groups, those with visible and invisible disabilities, those with childcare and caring responsibilities, and those struggling economically. These groups are highly represented in precarious work and the care industries; for example, women represent 70% of the global health workforce.  We have already seen huge increases in domestic violence in the UK and difficulties in accessing reproductive healthcare.

Sharing stories is a powerful feminist practice and one that can help us relate to each other in these unsettling and disruptive times and spaces.  The CHASE Feminist network would like to provide a forum which is a safe space to share our lockdown experiences, express anxieties and communicate critical and creative responses.

The CHASE Feminist committee invites posts for our blog relating to the pandemic and your experiences of lockdown. This is a very open call and your blog can be in the form of personal reflections, political responses, a discussion of how the pandemic/lockdown relates to your research or creative practice.  We would also welcome creative responses such as prose, short stories, video, sound, photography or other visual art.

We ideally recommend that written pieces are no longer than 800 – 1000 words (although we will consider exceptions for longer pieces if they are submitted).  All work published will be under a creative commons license, and all copyright remains with the author.  Here are some articles so far, but please do not feel limited by the format!

If you are interested in writing a blog, please submit your idea or completed blog post to chase.feminist@gmail.com with the email title: Everyday Feminist Lockdown Blog.

Please note: We value, respect and encourage contributions from members of this network and beyond, from all marginalised genders, including women, trans women, trans men, nonbinary genders, and also from feminist allies. We recognise and respect the intersectionality of feminism and the various levels of oppression experienced by women and nonbinary individuals across class and racial lines — especially the vulnerability of those with disabilities and transgender women of colour.

🏳️‍⚧️ 🏳️‍🌈 ✊🏿 ✊🏽 ✊🏻

We realise these are tough times. some of us can’t leave home because of health issues, both physical and mental, visible and invisible. For those of us well enough to help there are numerous local projects looking for help.

Brighton and Hove Food Partnership – services & volunteering, includes a list of local orgs that are looking for volunteers
https://bhfood.org.uk/coronavirus-update/
Food Banks in the area – https://bhfood.org.uk/resources/referring-to-a-food-bank/

A food delivery/volunteering initiative in East Brighton / Bristol Estate – details at
https://www.eastbrightonfoodcoop.uk/?page_id=2
https://www.facebook.com/groups/BECACIC/permalink/2505071109742470/

Brighton & Hove Community Works (covers B&H / Adur & Worthing) latest bulletins with info on volunteering etc.
– https://www.bhcommunityworks.org.uk/coronavirus-covid-19-27-march-update/
– https://www.bhcommunityworks.org.uk/coronavirus-covid-19-30-march-update/

Student Action for Refugees has collated some really useful information on supporting people from refugee and asylum backgrounds
It includes links to translated guidance produced by the Big Leaf Foundation and Doctors of the World
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IfLzSQW9jVOg8zMizp7j8d_ObQevbqE-9wL0QZuqcxY/edit#heading=h.4sozw1wze4t

Working with Your Trade Union

This one day course aims to give staff, officers, and students an understanding of the relevance of Trade Unions both inside and outside of education. It tackles some of the problems and conflicts that can emerge when working locally, and also identifies potential benefits that are possible when these organisations work together. It takes a holistic approach, recognising that recent struggles have in some cases brought unions together locally, and in others caused considerable difficulty.

Learning Outcomes

Participants will be able to:

• Outline the purpose of trade unions, and their relevance in a precarious working climate
• Explore Trade Union recent history in relation to Students’ Unions
• Identify some of the potential conflicts and barriers to joint working
• Explore the value of Trade Unions for students as workers
• Evaluate which of the joint campaigning priorities of National Union of Students and Trade Unions Congress are relevant locally
• Determine which projects and priorities of the Students’ Union could benefit from joint working with local Trade Unions
• Generate a plan for joint working that will also respond to the needs of the student body

Cost

6 – 12 participants £650

12 – 20 participants £850

Please contact heather@magneticideals.org for further details or to book your session.  Let us know if there are ways we can tailor this training to respond to the specific needs of your organisation!

We encourage organisations to work together in partnership to allow training to happen and are happy to train multi-organisation cohorts.

10% discount for courses run in August 2018.

 

This training course runs over one day and can be run for between 6 – 20 student participants, and prepares students to carry out student-led research for Students’ Unions.

This training will introduce student researchers to:

• The purpose and motivation for student-led research activity
• Basic research ethics, including confidentiality
• An articulation of what critical discourse analysis is, and why it is useful
• A basic introduction to interviews, surveys and desk-based research approaches
• Value and limitations of quantitative methods
• Coding as a method of qualitative analysis

It can also be modified to include specifics of the research project, including background knowledge and terminology.

Cost

6 – 12 student participants £650

12 – 20 student participants, £850

Please contact heather@magneticideals.org for further details or to book your session.  Let us know if there are ways we can tailor this training to respond to the specific needs of your organisation!

We encourage organisations to work together in partnership to allow training to happen and are happy to train multi-organisation cohorts.

10% discount for courses run in August 2018.

 

An introduction to making funding applications and developing the skills to pitch your project ideas. These dual skills that must go hand in hand to make your funding application successful. This event is ideal for those working in the Students’ Union, community, voluntary or social enterprise sectors looking to develop their skills to achieve funding for projects.

All of our courses are interactive, creative and focused on reflecting on your working practice, and developed in consultation with the community sector.

Learning Outcomes:

• Understanding different funding streams available and how to access/identify them
• Gain experience through looking at example grant forms from small and large funders and understand what they are asking for
• Develop insight to establishing an evidence base for your applications
• Evaluate the use of partnership working for projects
• Understand and apply the principles of making an effective presentation/pitch

If you have specific funding streams you are looking at we can tailor the training so that participants are working with the exact forms and guidance that they will need to be using.

Course Schedule:

• Day 1 – Introduction to funding, limitations and opportunities – how to source finding, different types of funding (including grant funding and crowdfunding) and how to access this; Unpicking the process, looking at different application forms and what they ask for, what different funders expect and how you might evidence the need for your project
• Day 2 – Partnership Working and Presentations, how you can work with others to increase your chance of funding success alongside looking at what makes an effective presentation;  Making your pitch, in the final week everyone will get a chance to apply skills learning and do a short presentation on a funding idea and get feedback from the rest of the group

We deliver the course in-house in your organisation, it runs over 2 days for up to 12 participants.

Overall cost – £1350

10% Discount for August Only! For booking and further details contact heather@magneticideals.org

Demonstrating Impact Course

Effective and Innovative Research and Evidence Gathering for Annual Reporting, Funder/Sponsor Reports and Funding Applications

We deliver the course in-house in your organisation, it runs over 2 days for up to 12 participants.

Overall cost – £1350

10% Discount for August Only! For booking and further details contact heather@magneticideals.org

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” – Maya Angelou

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” – Albert Einstein

The value of creative thinking for workplace productivity and personal wellbeing is something that is understood but all too often not cultivated.  This course looks at how creativity used daily can improve working practices, to build confidence, facilitate collaborative working, inspire innovative thinking, and foster well-being. It will engage with different ideas of what creativity is, how the working environment can be made more creative and will leave each participant with a plan of how to personally become more creative in your own working practice  This training will be delivered in your organisation over two days, for up to 12 attendees.

The course is interactive, creative and focused on reflecting on your working practice.  All  our courses are developed in consultation with the community sector,

Learning Outcomes:

• Identify ways to create a more creative working environment
• Develop an understanding of the connection between wellbeing and creativity
• Be able to inspire creativity in others
• To have a grasp of different creative facilitation techniques and how you can use these
• Be able to have a clear plan of how you can apply different techniques to increase your personal creativity

Course Schedule:

• Day 1 – Defining creativity, art, inspiration, and connectivity, what does it mean in different working situations, why is this useful in the workplace? What does and doesn’t work and why; A creative environment – overcoming fear and workplace wellbeing, creating a balance: the role of confidentiality and the importance of space of sharing, team working, networking and diversity
• Day 2 – Techniques for becoming more creative: exercise’s in lateral thinking, divergent thinking, metacognition; More creative facilitation techniques for mitigating power structures and encouraging engagement; Going further – looking at the actions you will take improve creativity in your workplace and making a personal creativity plan

This course can be delivered in-house for up to 12 attendees.  We encourage organisations to work together in partnership to allow training to happen and are happy to train multi-organisation cohorts.

Total delivery cost for 2 days and up to 12 attendees: £1350

10% discount for courses run in August 2018.

If you are interested and would like to know more please get in touch! heather@magneticideals.org