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Security, terrorism and human rights- making London resilient, 5-March-2015
12 February 2015
In our first public event of 2015 we aim to tackle the challenging issue of Security, terrorism and human rights - making London resilient at an IRDR Panel Discussion.
This event is open to all UCL staff and students and to members of the public. It will be followed by a drinks reception in the Haldane Room, North Cloisters.
Venue: Anatomy JZ Young Lecture Theatre, University College London, Gower Street.
Time: 6.00pm to 7.30pm.
Registration is through Eventbrite.
Reception: Haldane Room, North Cloisters, 7.30pm to 9.00pm.
Fresh from the terrorist outrage in Paris there are, what some would argue, draconian proposals by the British government to oblige universities to monitor non-violent subversives on campus and prevent them being drawn into terrorism, along with a raft of other measures. The aim is to increase security and make the UK more resilient to terrorist outrages. But does Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that "everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person" trump all other rights, including the rights, which are so important for universities, of freedom of opinion and expression under Article 19? This is not a new issue, but the framing of the arguments in terms of resilience opens the questions, how to increase resilience and for London, its universities, businesses and government, what does this mean?
To discuss this we have assembled an expert panel including Noemie Bouhana from the UCL Jill Dando Institute of Security and Crime Science, Robert Hall from London First, a non-profit organisation aiming to make London a safe city for business, and experts on international terrorism and on resilience, Bill Durodie and Zehra Zaidi. We have also invited a government minister. A key aim of the IRDR is to engage in public debate on issues in risk and disaster reduction and create a space for academic discourse in the public-policy and political arenas. Our discussion meetings take the format of a short keynote address, followed by a panel discussion and questions from the audience, lasting about 90 minutes in total. We encourage open debate. A drinks reception follows.
This event is free to attend but we kindly ask you to register.
Panellists:
Noemie Bouhana
Lecturer, Security and Crime Science, Jill Dando Institute of Security and Crime Science
Noemie is Lecturer in Security and Crime Science at University College London, where she directs the MSc in Countering Organised Crime and Terrorism and leads the Countering Terrorism research group. Noemie is both a political scientist and a criminologist by training, with a particular interest in the systemic and ecological processes involved in the emergence of radicalising settings, and the role that these settings play in the individual development of a terrorist propensity. Most recently, Noemie conducted research on radicalisation in the UK High Security prison estate. Currently, she leads the 2.9M Euro EU-funded PRIME Project on the prevention, interdiction and mitigation of lone-actor terrorism.
Robert Hall
Director, Security and Resilience Network, London First
Robert is Director of the Security & Resilience Network at London First. Previously, he was Director of Resilience at G4S Risk Management Consulting. Robert has worked in the risk, security and resilience arenas in both the public and private sectors for many years. He has held senior positions in two FTSE-100 companies that specialise in financial services and manufacturing. He has also been Head of Analysis at a national intelligence agency, and Managing Editor of security titles at an international publishing company.
Bill Durodie
Chair of International Relations, University of Bath
Bill is a researcher in risk, resilience, radicalization and the politics of fear and has been professor of International Relations at the University of Bath since 2014. He previously held posts in Canada and in Singapore, as well as at the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom and in the War Studies Group of King's College London. His main research interest is to examine the causes and consequences of contemporary perceptions of risk, as well as how these are framed and communicated across a range of issues relating to security, science and society. He has contributed to a US Joint Chiefs of Staff and Department of Defense White Paper assessing counter-terrorism policies in the light of recent incidents in the US and the U and is a Senior Research Affiliate of the Canadian Network for Research on Terrorism, Security and Society (TSAS).
Zehra Zaidi
Research Associate, UCL Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction
Zehra is a sustainable development expert, with specialisation in disaster risk reduction, and a research associate in the UCL Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction. Her work focuses on institutional risk governance, organizational capacity assessment, and the development of risk management strategies and adaptive capacity to improve resilience at both the institutional and community level. Areas of expertise include national disaster risk management strategies and institutional capacity building; the role of government and social institutions in influencing adaptive behaviour and decision making.
Access is via the Gower Street entrance to the Anatomy Building.