15
INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIONS Strathclyde English academic features in The Paris Review Dr Rodge Glass, Convener of the MLitt in Creative Writing, has authored an article for The Paris Review about the life, death and works of the great Glaswegian polymath Alasdair Gray. The article was published in New York and made available online and has since been made a featured article this week, being widely read and shared worldwide. The Paris Review is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 and articles are now published in New York and made available online. Dr Rodge Glass authored Alasdair Gray’s biography, before his death in December 2019. Photo: Strathclyde English academic
Franco-British Defence Cooperation Royal United Services Institute, London Dr Rogelia Pastor-Castro’s AHRC-funded project The Weight of the Past in Franco-British Relations aims to explore how conceptions of the past have impacted the evolution of FrancoBritish relations since 1815. It asks how French and British policy elites have used history to understand the past and anticipate the future. Additionally, it considers the extent to which subjective interpretations of the past have shaped the conceptual horizons of these policy-makers. In November 2019, a Witness Seminar - UK, France and the Lancaster House Treaties - was the first in a series of project events that will bring academics and policy-makers together to consider these questions. Focusing on the Lancaster House Treaties that foster closer defence and security cooperation, it asked witnesses to consider the treaties through the context of historic Franco-British relations, challenges to sovereignty and visions and expectations for the future. Dr Pastor-Castro and Dr Rachel Utley (Leeds) opened the seminar by discussing the historical framework of the project. They highlighted the complexity of memory as both lived and historic. As a discursive tool, it has been mobilised to both facilitate and impede FrancoBritish cooperation. They also stressed the significance of this topic for contemporary Franco-British relations, which continue to evolve around different conceptions of European cooperation. The seminar witnesses included Sir David Omand, who during his career in British government service held senior posts in security, intelligence, and defence. He was UK Security and Intelligence Coordinator in the Cabinet Office from 2002 to 2005. He was a Permanent Secretary of the Home Office from 1997 to 2000, and before that Director of GCHQ. Also speaking was Dame Mariot Leslie was head of the FCO’s Policy Planning
The HaSS Research & Impact Bulletin [ People & Society - Spring 2020, Issue No.6 ]
