Arts and Humanities
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Professor Daniel S Levine | Why Reason Needs Emotion: Uncovering the Science Behind Better Decisions
For centuries, we’ve been told a story about ourselves: that reason is noble and emotion is messy; that to think clearly, you need to keep your feelings firmly under control. It’s a story that has shaped science, politics, economics, and culture. But what if it’s simply wrong? That’s the central argument of psychologist and neuroscientist Daniel Levine from the University of Texas at Arlington in his book: Healing the Reason-Emotion Split.
Jila Ghomeshi | How Canadian Weather Forecasts Are Challenging Grammar Rules
Weather forecasts seem straightforward – temperatures, clouds, maybe a bit of rain. But the language used to describe the weather can reveal surprising quirks about how English works. A recent linguistic study takes a closer look at an unusual pattern heard in Canadian radio forecasts and shows that even familiar phrases like “we are five degrees” can challenge long-held assumptions about grammar.
Project 1444
Before there were borders… before conquest rewrote the maps… there was Africa – the birthplace of humanity. Cradle of civilizations, technologies, philosophies, and sacred traditions that shaped the ancient world. Yet too often, Africa’s story is forced to begin in bondage – with loss, rupture, and the European Slave Trade.
Dr Yevgenia Chvertko | Welding Art: The Ukrainian Researchers Joining Steel and Sculpture
When Ukrainian sculptor Serhii Minakov set out to create ‘Into the Future’ – a towering steel artwork featuring a young man and woman inside a globe – he ran into a problem familiar to anyone who has tried to weld complex sculptures: how do you make a strong, clean joint when you can only reach it from one side?
Dr Ludwig Huber | How Dogs Remember Your Perspective, to Steal Without Getting Caught
What goes through a dog’s mind when your back is turned? According to new research from the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, the answer might surprise you. A study led by cognitive scientist Ludwig Huber suggests that dogs are capable of something remarkably sophisticated: anticipating what a person can see, even when that person is nowhere in sight.
Assistant Professor Ligeia Quackelbeen | How do Judges categorize conduct as a crime in International Criminal Law and what roles does culture play?
How do judges decide what counts as a crime and which crime? Take marriage. In some cultures, it’s defined by family consent or monogamy. In others, by religion or ritual. What if judges must fit these diverse practices into fixed legal categories? Research by Assistant Professor Ligeia Quackelbeen of Tilburg University examines this, focusing on the International Criminal Court’s landmark 2021 Ongwen judgment.
Dr Andrea Haefner | How Civil Society Groups Are Speaking Up for the Mekong River
The Mekong River is one of Southeast Asia’s great lifelines, supporting more than 65 million people and sustaining extraordinary biodiversity. Yet it is also a river under immense pressure, as countries along its banks pursue rapid economic growth and increasingly turn to hydropower to meet rising energy demands. In her research, Dr Andrea Haefner of Griffith University examines how civil society groups are shaping debates about the future of this vital waterway and whether they can influence decisions around controversial dam projects in Laos and the wider Mekong region. Her research offers a rare window into the difficult politics of water governance in an authoritarian-leaning region, where environmental concerns, community voices and national ambitions often collide.
Dr Charlotte Parham – Dr Louis Nadelson | Lessons in Connection: What School Desegregation Meant for Black Students in the American South
Intrauterine adhesion is a common gynecological condition – one of the main diseases of the reproductive system. This uterine disorder is characterized by a partial or complete adhesion between the anterior and posterior walls of the uterine cavity and/or the cervical canal. It has a debilitating impact on the quality of life for women of childbearing age. Intrauterine adhesion can form when the lining of the uterus becomes damaged, leading to scarring or even obliteration of the uterine cavity. It can result from intrauterine infections and from operations such as dilatation and curettage after miscarriage or termination of pregnancy.
Dr Ori Soltes | The War Within: How Our Search for Meaning Can Unite or Divide Us
Religion has long helped people make sense of the world, but as Dr Ori Soltes argues in a recent paper, this guidance comes with deep complications. Even the word religion contains a puzzle. It stems from the Latin religio, meaning ‘to bind back’, which immediately raises the question of what we are trying to reconnect with in the first place. That act of binding back is ultimately tied to a search for meaning – a deep human need to understand our place in the world and how we relate to everything around us. Across history, people have turned to religion to navigate existence, mortality, and uncertainty. But trying to understand that source of meaning, and then expressing it through the limitations of human language, is where the real trouble begins.
Professor Robert Slesinski | Love, Death, and the Unity of All Things: Lev Karsavin’s Philosophy of “Liebestod”
In the chaos of early twentieth-century Russia, philosopher and historian Lev Karsavin (1882–1952) sought to reconcile faith, reason, and the depths of human emotion. Exiled and later imprisoned in the Soviet gulag, he developed a vision of “all-embracing unity,” where even love, suffering, and death reveal the presence of the divine. Professor Robert Slesinski’s book, Liebestod: The Philosophy of Lev Karsavin, explores this striking figure in Russian religious thought.
Dr Alexandra Anna Spalek – Dr Louise McNally | When Verbs Stretch: How Grammar Shapes Figurative Language
Language is full of creativity, but that creativity follows rules we don’t always notice. When we say a politician “swept the election” or that someone is “cut off from their friends,” we’re not talking about literal sweeping or cutting. Yet, somehow, these figurative uses feel natural. But do they follow the same grammatical logic as their literal counterparts? This is the puzzle that linguists Louise McNally, from Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, and Alexandra Anna Spalek, from the University of Oslo, set out to solve. Their research explores whether verbs carry their core grammatical features with them even when they shift into metaphorical territory.
How Chinese Words Transform When They Enter Mongolic Languages
When languages come into contact, they often borrow words from each other. But what happens if the donor-recipient language pairs are similar but set in different sociolinguistic contexts? Do they develop the same strategies, or do they find their own unique paths? Dr Julie Lefort of Ca’ Foscari University of Venice examines how Chinese adjectives are integrated into two Mongolic languages spoken in China: the Dörbed Mongolian Community Language (or ‘DMCL’ for short), spoken in Heilongjiang, and the Dongxiang language, spoken in Gansu.
Professor Daniel S Levine | Why Reason Needs Emotion: Uncovering the Science Behind Better Decisions
For centuries, we’ve been told a story about ourselves: that reason is noble and emotion is messy; that to think clearly, you need to keep your feelings firmly under control. It’s a story that has shaped science, politics, economics, and culture. But what if it’s simply wrong? That’s the central argument of psychologist and neuroscientist Daniel Levine from the University of Texas at Arlington in his book: Healing the Reason-Emotion Split.
Jila Ghomeshi | How Canadian Weather Forecasts Are Challenging Grammar Rules
Weather forecasts seem straightforward – temperatures, clouds, maybe a bit of rain. But the language used to describe the weather can reveal surprising quirks about how English works. A recent linguistic study takes a closer look at an unusual pattern heard in Canadian radio forecasts and shows that even familiar phrases like “we are five degrees” can challenge long-held assumptions about grammar.
Project 1444
Before there were borders… before conquest rewrote the maps… there was Africa – the birthplace of humanity. Cradle of civilizations, technologies, philosophies, and sacred traditions that shaped the ancient world. Yet too often, Africa’s story is forced to begin in bondage – with loss, rupture, and the European Slave Trade.
Dr Yevgenia Chvertko | Welding Art: The Ukrainian Researchers Joining Steel and Sculpture
When Ukrainian sculptor Serhii Minakov set out to create ‘Into the Future’ – a towering steel artwork featuring a young man and woman inside a globe – he ran into a problem familiar to anyone who has tried to weld complex sculptures: how do you make a strong, clean joint when you can only reach it from one side?
Dr Ludwig Huber | How Dogs Remember Your Perspective, to Steal Without Getting Caught
What goes through a dog’s mind when your back is turned? According to new research from the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, the answer might surprise you. A study led by cognitive scientist Ludwig Huber suggests that dogs are capable of something remarkably sophisticated: anticipating what a person can see, even when that person is nowhere in sight.
Assistant Professor Ligeia Quackelbeen | How do Judges categorize conduct as a crime in International Criminal Law and what roles does culture play?
How do judges decide what counts as a crime and which crime? Take marriage. In some cultures, it’s defined by family consent or monogamy. In others, by religion or ritual. What if judges must fit these diverse practices into fixed legal categories? Research by Assistant Professor Ligeia Quackelbeen of Tilburg University examines this, focusing on the International Criminal Court’s landmark 2021 Ongwen judgment.
Dr Andrea Haefner | How Civil Society Groups Are Speaking Up for the Mekong River
The Mekong River is one of Southeast Asia’s great lifelines, supporting more than 65 million people and sustaining extraordinary biodiversity. Yet it is also a river under immense pressure, as countries along its banks pursue rapid economic growth and increasingly turn to hydropower to meet rising energy demands. In her research, Dr Andrea Haefner of Griffith University examines how civil society groups are shaping debates about the future of this vital waterway and whether they can influence decisions around controversial dam projects in Laos and the wider Mekong region. Her research offers a rare window into the difficult politics of water governance in an authoritarian-leaning region, where environmental concerns, community voices and national ambitions often collide.
Dr Charlotte Parham – Dr Louis Nadelson | Lessons in Connection: What School Desegregation Meant for Black Students in the American South
Intrauterine adhesion is a common gynecological condition – one of the main diseases of the reproductive system. This uterine disorder is characterized by a partial or complete adhesion between the anterior and posterior walls of the uterine cavity and/or the cervical canal. It has a debilitating impact on the quality of life for women of childbearing age. Intrauterine adhesion can form when the lining of the uterus becomes damaged, leading to scarring or even obliteration of the uterine cavity. It can result from intrauterine infections and from operations such as dilatation and curettage after miscarriage or termination of pregnancy.
Dr Ori Soltes | The War Within: How Our Search for Meaning Can Unite or Divide Us
Religion has long helped people make sense of the world, but as Dr Ori Soltes argues in a recent paper, this guidance comes with deep complications. Even the word religion contains a puzzle. It stems from the Latin religio, meaning ‘to bind back’, which immediately raises the question of what we are trying to reconnect with in the first place. That act of binding back is ultimately tied to a search for meaning – a deep human need to understand our place in the world and how we relate to everything around us. Across history, people have turned to religion to navigate existence, mortality, and uncertainty. But trying to understand that source of meaning, and then expressing it through the limitations of human language, is where the real trouble begins.
Professor Robert Slesinski | Love, Death, and the Unity of All Things: Lev Karsavin’s Philosophy of “Liebestod”
In the chaos of early twentieth-century Russia, philosopher and historian Lev Karsavin (1882–1952) sought to reconcile faith, reason, and the depths of human emotion. Exiled and later imprisoned in the Soviet gulag, he developed a vision of “all-embracing unity,” where even love, suffering, and death reveal the presence of the divine. Professor Robert Slesinski’s book, Liebestod: The Philosophy of Lev Karsavin, explores this striking figure in Russian religious thought.
Dr Alexandra Anna Spalek – Dr Louise McNally | When Verbs Stretch: How Grammar Shapes Figurative Language
Language is full of creativity, but that creativity follows rules we don’t always notice. When we say a politician “swept the election” or that someone is “cut off from their friends,” we’re not talking about literal sweeping or cutting. Yet, somehow, these figurative uses feel natural. But do they follow the same grammatical logic as their literal counterparts? This is the puzzle that linguists Louise McNally, from Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, and Alexandra Anna Spalek, from the University of Oslo, set out to solve. Their research explores whether verbs carry their core grammatical features with them even when they shift into metaphorical territory.
How Chinese Words Transform When They Enter Mongolic Languages
When languages come into contact, they often borrow words from each other. But what happens if the donor-recipient language pairs are similar but set in different sociolinguistic contexts? Do they develop the same strategies, or do they find their own unique paths? Dr Julie Lefort of Ca’ Foscari University of Venice examines how Chinese adjectives are integrated into two Mongolic languages spoken in China: the Dörbed Mongolian Community Language (or ‘DMCL’ for short), spoken in Heilongjiang, and the Dongxiang language, spoken in Gansu.
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