WORLD: we got this – Details, episodes & analysis

A recent assessment found that the area of Earth's landmass that will be too hot for even healthy adults to keep a safe core body temperature will approximately triple - to an area almost the size of the US – if global warming reaches 2°C above the preindustrial average. We've already reached 1.5°C.

This week Esau asks: what does 'too hot' actually mean? What will happen to the people who live in these areas? And what might be done to help combat the impacts?

Joining him are Dr Tom Matthews, lead author of the study and Senior Lecturer in Environmental Geography, and Aditya Pillai, who is a doctoral researcher in King’s India Institute, a Visiting Fellow at the Sustainable Futures Collaborative, New Delhi, and author of a recent report investigating India’s readiness for the extreme heat of a much, much hotter world.

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The proposed Grand Inga dam in the Democratic Republic of Congo would be the largest power station in the world - if its ever built. With twice the output of China's Three Gorges, the dam could potentially bring electricity to those 600 million in sub-Saharan Africa currently without.

But after decades of delay, investors withdrawing, environmental concerns, and its ballooning $80bn price tag, does the dream still hold water?

Joining Esau this time are Barnaby Dye, Lecturer in Development Policy and Practice; Mark Mulligan, Professor of Physical & Environmental Geography; and Clement Sefa-Nyarko, Lecturer in Security, Development and Leadership in Africa.

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What can feminist movements worldwide learn from Argentina? A lot it seems.

In this episode, Lea Happ, PhD student in the Department of Global Health & Social Medicine talks to her supervisor Dominique Béhague about her research on the feminist activist networks in Argentina. She studies how the movement to legalise abortion transformed when that goal was realised in December 2020. Lea shares the insights we can learn from Argentina to inform feminist movements working for reproductive rights in other parts of the world.

Learn more about Lea's research.

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As the war in Ukraine enters its third year, there is also ongoing fighting in Gaza, attacks on cargo ships in the Red Sea and subsequent US and UK air strikes. This has prompted some to warn we are a moving from a post-war to a pre-war world.

In this latest episode, Dr Marina Miron, a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of War Studies at King's College London, explores whether we are in a time of increased conflicts, what lies behind the current wars, the role of NATO and what we need to do differently if we want a more peaceful future.

*Note this episode was recorded prior to the appointment of General O. Syrkyi.

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In this episode, researcher Ol Perkins explores whether land-based carbon dioxide removal schemes such as reforestation can live up to their promises and help us meet global pledges to limit climate change.

Ol outlines some of the challenging implications of this approach and why experts and policymakers also need to consider the socio-cultural, environmental, and institutional factors that seem to have been overlooked to date.

If you’d like to read the full paper mentioned in the episode, you can find it here.

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What strategic role has Nigeria played on issues of peace and security in West Africa? What do Nigeria's past interventions in Liberia and Sierra Leone tell us about its role in the region today?

In this episode, Dr Folahanmi Aina, who recently completed his PhD from the African Leadership Centre at King's, talks to Dr Olawale Ismail, Senior Lecturer at ALC, about the findings of his PhD research and how he navigated the ups and downs of the PhD journey.

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This episode looks at how colourism affects people and their life chances, plus how research is helping to fill the gaps in our knowledge around this pervasive, but perhaps not widely known form of discrimination.

Featuring Dr Aisha Phoenix, a social justice lecturer from the School of Education, Communication & Society at King’s College London, the episode also explores what lies behind colourism and hears about her research that is helping improve understanding around the prevalence and effects of colourism.

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How does a movement for social justice transform into a viable political party? How are the ideas of the movement reshaped in the process?

In this episode, Dr Vignesh Rajahmani, who completed his PhD from the King's India Institute, speaks to Professor Christophe Jaffrelot, Professor of Indian Politics and Sociology, about his thesis on the Dravidian movement in Tamil Nadu in southern India. He shares his insights on the movement's journey from being a grassroots social mobilisation into a political party and its impact on Indian politics. He discusses why studying the Dravidian movement offers unique insights into the potential of identity politics to achieve social justice.

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The international community imposed far-reaching sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine in a bid to weaken its economic base and curtail its ability to wage war. However, the war continues. So, what has happened? Have the sanctions not worked as hoped? And if not, why not?

In this episode, Dr Alexander Kupatadaze, Senior Lecturer at King’s Russia Institute, shares his new research which reveals how Russia is outmanoeuvring Western sanctions thanks to help from neighbouring countries and the “implicit approval” of producers in the West.

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What life skills can one learn from doing a PhD?

In this episode, Dr Maísa Edwards who recently completed a joint PhD from the King’s Brazil Institute and the University of São Paulo talks about her research on Brazil’s diplomatic and defence relations in the South Atlantic region. Speaking to Dr Andreza de Souza Santos, Maísa also shares the challenges she faced in completing her PhD during the Covid-19 pandemic and the research skills and life lessons she learnt from the experience.

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