About this Event
For nearly a century now, Institutes of Advanced Studies have been set up across the world to foster curiosity-driven research “with no view to its immediately utility or the expectation of meeting predetermined goals”.1 They institutionalised the principle of research freedom proliferating to anywhere between 200 and 250 globally. Many of them are now embedded within universities, an arrangement generally seen as well suited for incubating new ideas and forms of cooperation, in sync with the aspirations of changing university structures.
Yet it is this very changing university structure that has come to question the rationale of the IAS as seen in our case. Just a decade old, UCL’s IAS was explicitly established as a space for intellectual debates and critical thinking. Through its 20-odd research centres and an enviable support space for visiting research fellowships, all held together by an annual theme, our IAS became a widely confirmed and thriving presence devoted to the advancement of knowledge.
With its looming closure, we are concerned about its legacy, especially given that institutional memory can be notoriously short. Across the sector, funding concerns have made people so focussed on trying to predict what might be ahead that they rarely take stock of what is being left behind. This one-day Reflections Symposium is a deliberate act of looking backwards to reveal countless intangible artefacts with IAS’s signature – achievements that didn’t go into the REF submissions or into the consideration of the institute’s future but nevertheless are enduring as testimonials of the IAS’s worthiness. The Symposium is not so much about marking the closure of the IAS as to signpost its accomplishments, ones that will be seen across UCL as those associated with the IAS carry on in their respective departments and faculties with a commitment to what IAS did best - preserving the tacit and the unspoken.
A vegetarian lunch, with vegan options, will be provided. All welcome, but please register to attend.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
IAS Common Ground, G11, South Wing, Gower Street, London, United Kingdom
GBP 0.00
