Four free public lectures
Wills Memorial Building
November/December 2006
Immigration, Diversity and Belonging
Lectures by
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
Sir Digby Jones
Professor Lord Bhikhu Parekh
Bristol – Science City
Lecture by
Professor Eric Thomas
The lectures are part of the University’s contribution to the celebrations marking
the 200th anniversary of the birth of Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
Background
Isambard Kingdom Brunel, one of the world’s great engineering geniuses, was born 200 years ago. His impact on the South West, and particularly on Bristol, was huge, and the city has been the focus of major celebrations throughout 2006 co-ordinated by Brunel 200 – an initiative led by the Bristol Cultural Development Partnership.
The University of Bristol has played a key part in these celebrations. To give an example, the Department of Civil Engineering took the lead in re-running the Clifton bridge design competition that was won by Brunel in 1831. More than 600 aspiring Brunels from across the world entered. The winner was from Egypt.
Inspired by the often-overlooked fact that Brunel was the son of an asylum-seeker (his French father, Marc, avoided the guillotine by fleeing to America and then to Britain), the University decided that it would also be appropriate to arrange a series of lectures on the theme of Immigration, Diversity and Belonging. We have found three highly regarded speakers who will explore such issues as the impact of immigration and diversity on the life and economy of the UK, the condition of civil liberties at a time when there seems to be more heat than light in the public discourse on these matters, and other social and political dimensions of the subject.
We also decided to organise a fourth lecture on a very different but equally Brunel-relevant theme: Bristol – Science City. In March 2005 Gordon Brown announced that Bristol had been chosen to join an elite group of six ‘Science Cities’ in the UK. These are cities that have exceptional strengths in science, engineering and technology, that are already major drivers of economic growth and that are poised to make an even greater impact regionally and nationally. But what does this actually mean for Bristol and the South West? What could Bristol, the Science City, become? We think these are questions that would have intrigued Brunel.
We hope you find the lectures interesting. All four are free of charge, and everyone is welcome (but see ‘Reserving seats’ later on).
BT
Immigration, Diversity and Belonging
Lecture 1:6pm, Monday 20 November 2006
Reception Room, Wills Memorial Building,
Queen’s Road/Park Row
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
Whose Island Nation?
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown came to this country in 1972 from Uganda and completed her MPhil in literature at Oxford in 1975.
She is a journalist who has written for The Observer, The New York Times, Time Magazine, Newsweek and many other newspapers, and is a regular columnist on The Independent and London’s Evening Standard. She is also a radio and television broadcaster. Her much-praised book, No Place Like Home, was an autobiographical account of a twice-removed immigrant.
From 1996 to 2001 she was a Research Fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research, which published True Colours, her report on the role of government in influencing racial attitudes. Tony Blair launched it in March 1999. She is a Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Centre, and in 2000 published Who Do We Think We Are? Imagining the New Britain – an acclaimed book on the state of the nation – and another work, After Multiculturalism, which looks at the globalised future. In 2001 came the publication of the paperback edition of Who Do we Think We Are? and of Mixed Feelings, a highly regarded book on mixed-race Britons.
She advises various key institutions on race matters and is an international public speaker. In 1999 she received an honorary degree from the Open University for her contributions to social justice. She is a Vice-President of the United Nations Association UK and a special ambassador for the Samaritans. She is President of the Institute of Family Therapy.
In 2001 she was awarded an MBE for services to journalism. She won the George Orwell Prize for Political Journalism 2002. In 2003 Liverpool John Moores University made her an Honorary Fellow. In the same year she returned her MBE as a protest against what she saw as the new empire in Iraq and a growing republicanism. In 2004 she was awarded an honorary degree by Oxford Brookes University.
In 2004 her film on Islam for Channel 4 won an award, and in the same year she received the EMMA award for best print journalist for her columns in The Independent. In 2004 a collection of her journalistic writings, Some of My Best Friends Are…, was published by Politicos. In 2005/06 she was on stage with her one-woman show, written and performed by her and commissioned and directed by the Royal Shakespeare Company.
In 2005 she was voted the tenth most influential black/Asian woman in the country, while another poll placed her among the UK’s most powerful Asian media professionals.
She is married with a 28-year-old son and an 11-year-old daughter.
Immigration, Diversity and Belonging
Lecture 2:6pm, Wednesday 22 November 2006
Reception Room, Wills Memorial Building,
Queen’s Road/Park Row
Sir Digby Jones
Immigration – the Value Added in the Developed World
Digby Jones was born in Birmingham in 1955 and graduated in law from UCL. He joined corporate law firm Edge & Ellison in 1978, rising to Senior Partner in 1995. In 1998 he joined KPMG as Vice-Chairman of corporate finance.
He became Director-General of the CBI in January 2000 to serve a non-renewable, five-year term. This was extended at the request of members and his term has only recently ended. As CEO of the UK's 'voice of business', he visited businesses around the UK and across the world, taking their views back to those who make the rules. He made frequent appearances in the media.
His numerous roles outside the CBI have included Non-Executive Director of mhl support plc; Director of Leicester Tigers Rugby Club; Director of Business in the Community; Member of the Advisory Board of the Commonwealth Education Fund; Commissioner on the Commission for Racial Equality; President of the Tourism Alliance; Member of the National Learning and Skills Council and of the Skills Alliance; Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and of the Royal Institution; Companion of the Institute of Management; and Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers.
He is a Fellow of UCL and an Honorary Fellow of Cardiff University, and has received honorary degrees from eight other universities. He is President of the University College London Campaign.
He has performed a huge range of charitable roles, including Vice-President of UNICEF; Chairman of the Cancer Research UK Ambassadors; President of the Diversity Works initiative; Patron of Hospice of Hope, Romania; Patron of Lifecycle UK; Chairman of the Corporate Development Board of Sense; Patron of the Campaign for Learning; Patron of WellChild; Diamond Ambassador for Mencap’s WorkRight initiative; Corporate Ambassador of the Royal British Legion; Member of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Development Trust; and President of the Ambassadors for the West Midlands region.
In 1998, as Chairman of the Birmingham Hospice Appeal, he personally raised £218,000 by cycling from John O'Groats to Lands End. In 2005 he raised £191,000 for both Cancer Research UK and UNICEF by running the Flora London Marathon. He was knighted in 2005.
His post-CBI roles include Senior Adviser to Barclays Capital; Chairman of the Deloitte Industries Group; Corporate and Governmental Adviser to Ford of Europe and Premier Automotive Group; Adviser to JCB; Corporate Affairs Adviser to Bucknall Austin; Non-Executive Director of Alba plc; and Chairman of the Cancer Research UK Corporate Board.
Sir Digby is married to Pat. He enjoys the theatre, many sports and military history.
Immigration, Diversity and Belonging
Lecture 3:6pm, Tuesday 5 December 2006
S H Reynolds Lecture Theatre, Wills Memorial Building, Queen’s Road/Park Row
Professor Lord Bhikhu Parekh
The End of Identity
Bhikhu Chhotalal Parekh was born in India. He took his first and second degrees at the University of Bombay and gained his PhD at the University of London in 1966.
He taught at the LSE, the University of Glasgow and the University of Hull, becoming Professor of Political Theory at Hull in 1982 and remaining in that post until 2001. He has been a visiting professor at many universities in the USA, Canada and Europe and was Centennial Professor at the London School of Economics between 2001 and 2003. He has been Professor of Political Philosophy at the University of Westminster since 2001.
He is a Fellow of the British Academy and President of the Academy of Learned Societies for the Social Sciences.
He was Deputy Chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality between 1995 and 2000. He served on the Commission on the Rise of Neo-Fascism in Europe and on the National Commission on Equal Opportunities, and he chaired the Commission on the Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain. He is or has been a trustee of the Runnymede Trust, the Institute for Public Policy Research, the Gandhi Foundation and the Anne Frank Educational Trust.
He has written several widely acclaimed books on political philosophy, including Marx’s Theory of Ideology, Hannah Arendt and the Search for a New Political Philosophy and Colonialism, Tradition and Reform. His latest book, Rethinking Multiculturalism, was published by Harvard University Press.
Asian Who’s Who named him British Asian of the Year in 1991. He is the recipient of the BBC’s Special Lifetime Achievement Award for Asians and of the Political Studies Association’s Sir Isaiah Berlin Prize for Lifetime Contribution to Political Philosophy. He holds eight honorary doctorates. Last year he received India’s highest honour, Pravasi Bhartiya Sanman, from the President of India.
He was created a Labour Peer in the House of Lords in 2000.
His interests include reading, music and walking.
Bristol – Science City
Lecture:6pm, Monday 4 December 2006
Reception Room, Wills Memorial Building,
Queen’s Road/Park Row
Professor Eric Thomas
Bristol – Science City. What would Brunel have thought?
Eric Thomas was born in Hartlepool, County Durham, in 1953 and studied medicine at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.
He taught and researched at Sheffield and Newcastle universities before being appointed Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Southampton in 1991. In the same year he became a Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at Southampton University Hospitals Trust. He was made Head of Southampton's School of Medicine in 1995 and Dean of its Faculty of Medicine, Health and Biological Sciences in 1998.
In 2001 he was appointed Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bristol and he remains in that role. He is Chairman of the Worldwide Universities Network – an alliance of 16 research-intensive universities in the UK, the USA, Europe and China. He is also leading a group that is exploring the potential of Bristol’s designation as a Science City.
He chaired the Task Force on Voluntary Giving to Higher Education, which reported to the government in 2004. He is a member of the Board of the South West Regional Development Agency. He is also Chair of the Research Policy Committee of Universities UK and ex officio a member of its Board, as well as a member of the South West Science and Industry Council, the South West Regional Sports Board and the Council of the Academy of Medical Sciences. He is a Trustee of the Council for Industry and Higher Education. He is a Director of the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service and a Patron of the Enuresis Resource and Information Centre.
He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, the Royal Society of Arts and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG). He was RCOG’s Convenor of Scientific Meetings from 1992 to 1995 and chaired its Scientific Advisory Committee between 1998 and 2000. He was Non-Executive Director of Southampton Hospitals Trust in the late 1990s and of Southampton and South West Hampshire Health Authority in 2000 and 2001.
He holds honorary degrees from the universities of Bristol and Southampton and is Deputy Lieutenant of the City and County of Bristol. In 2005 he received the Chief Executive Leadership Award from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (Europe).
He is married with two children and lists his recreations as keeping fit, reading and Newcastle United.
How long?
Each lecture will last about 40-45 minutes. The speakers will probably be happy to take questions at the end. You will be welcome to stay on afterwards for refreshments.
Where?
All the lectures take place in the University’s Wills Memorial Building – the tall, Gothic tower at the top of Park Street (but which is actually in Queen’s Road/Park Row).
Reserving seats
Please see the ‘Reserving seats’ form.
Special needs
If you have any special needs, please let us know in good time by telephoning Bristol (0117) 928 8895 and we will do our best to cater for you.
Lecture series organised by
Communications and Marketing Services
University of Bristol.
Reserving seats
Admission to the lectures is free, but space is limited and demand may be high. You are welcome to take your chances and see whether you can gain admission on the door, but it would be safer to reserve a seat in advance by completing and returning this form. Your free tickets will be held for you on the door.
Name: ………………………………………………………………………………………
Email address: ………………………………………………………………………………
Telephone number: …………………………………………………………………………
Please reserve free tickets for me as follows (insert number of tickets required):
Immigration, Diversity and Belonging series
20 November Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
22 NovemberSir Digby Jones
5 DecemberProfessor Lord Bhikhu Parekh
Bristol – Science City
4 DecemberProfessor Eric Thomas
Please mail the completed form to: Public Relations Office, Communications and Marketing Services, University of Bristol, Senate House, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TH. Or you can fax it to Bristol (0117) 929 2396. Or email your booking to .
Twenty miscellaneous facts about the University of Bristol
- Its precursor was University College, Bristol, which opened at 32 Park Row on 10 October 1876 with two professors, seven lecturers and fees of seven shillings per course. Thirty men and 69 women registered for a total of 15 subjects.
- The University of Bristol opened in October 1909, having gained its Royal Charter from King Edward VII the previous May. Henry Overton Wills, a great benefactor of the University, was its first Chancellor.
- His sons, George and Henry, paid for the design and construction of the Wills Memorial Building in memory of him. The bill exceeded £500,000. King George V and Queen Mary opened the building, with its magnificent 215-foot tower, in June 1925.
- Sir Winston Churchill became Chancellor in 1929 and continued in the role for more than a quarter of a century.
- The University now has about 11,500 full-time undergraduates and 5,000 postgraduates.
- In terms of the number of applicants per undergraduate place, Bristol is probably the country’s most popular university.
- There are some 2,000 international students from about 100 countries.
- The University has about 5,500 staff.
- There are about 370 University buildings.
- The University owns 400 hectares of land.
- There are 30 Fellows of the Royal Society and nine Fellows of the British Academy on the active and emeritus staff. Very few universities can match that.
- Thirty-six academic departments were graded 5* or 5 in the last Research Assessment Exercise. Seventy-six per cent of all academic staff work in departments independently rated world class or internationally excellent for research.
- Twenty-one companies have been spun out from University research.
- The University was awarded the highest level of confidence in the last institutional audit by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, confirming that a Bristol degree is something to be reckoned with.
- The University is a member of the 19-strong Russell Group of research-intensive universities and of the 16-strong Worldwide Universities Network.
- The University was placed seventh in The Times 2006 league table of UK universities.
- About 1,000 student volunteers contribute a total of 90,000 hours to the community each year.
- Students raise £100,000-plus for charity per annum.
- There are some 133,000 Bristol alumni in about 160 countries.
- The University is planning to invest at least £300 million over the next six years in infrastructure and staff so that it can consolidate and build on its all-round excellence.
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