Humanities and Social Sciences, Cornwall

🌟 Cornwall students! Your creativity could win you the 2026 Tony Hibbert Prize! 🌟 Are you in Years 7–13 and interested in history? The Tony Hibbert Prize invites you to create an original response to this year’s theme: 🕊️ “Cornwall at war” Explore how the history of modern conflict connects to the world we live in today through creative writing, journalism, art, filmmaking, or digital storytelling. The competition celebrates the values that mattered most to Tony Hibbert — courage, resistance, tolerance, and a deep appreciation of history. ✨ Deadline for submissions: 24 April 2026 📍 Open to all pupils attending school in Cornwall in Key Stages 3–5. Winners will be celebrated at Trebah Garden this summer — don’t miss your chance to take part in this inspiring county wide challenge! 🌿 👉 Find out more and start your entry by visiting the link in our bio.

📍 Falmouth Rugby Club | 🗓 Friday 6 March | ⏰ 7–10pm Join us for Afro-Kernow, a vibrant evening of film, art, conversation, and community celebrating African and diaspora voices in Cornwall. This special event is led by students from the HaSS Cornwall UGY3 module Gender and Politics of Africa and sponsored by the Decolonising Knowledges Collective, a research cluster in HaSS Cornwall at the University of Exeter. It showcases student-led public engagement while creating space for dialogue between university and community. Taking place at Falmouth Rugby Club and coinciding with Ghana’s Independence Day, the evening invites reflection on histories of liberation, identity, and belonging across Africa and its global diasporas. The programme features a screening of Small Gods, a powerful film about the displacement of the Batwa people in Uganda, followed by a panel discussion exploring diaspora, African student experiences, and Black presence in Cornwall. The event will also include artwork, poetry, music, and space for informal conversation — fostering connection, reflection, and celebration. Whether you come for the film, the discussion, or the community atmosphere, Afro-Kernow offers a unique opportunity to engage with culture, politics, and creativity in one shared evening. ✨ Everyone is welcome — come to watch, listen, share, and celebrate. 🎟️ Book your place via the link in our bio.

Join us on Tuesday, 03 March at 3pm (Old Chapel lecture theatre, Penryn campus) where Dr Vindhya Buthpitiya (University of St Andrews) will deliver a lecture on 'Carto/Graphic Violence: Primetime Atrocity Amid the Sri Lankan Civil War' hosted by the Exeter South Asia Centre and HaSS Cornwall.

Historians in HaSS Cornwall are excited to announce the launch of a new collaboration with the National Maritime Museum, Cornwall. On 25 April 2026, a new University of Exeter/NMMC Masterclass will run on the topic of ‘World War 2, the Fall of France, and Cornwall’s Covert Special Operations’. It features a day of interactive ‘behind the scenes’ tours of the museum with curators as well as two expert lectures from members of our department, Richard Noakes and Catriona Pennell. For more information, and to book your place, visit the link in our bio.

Great news for Cornwall: real progress on devolution, recognition for Kernewek, and strong research and teamwork driving positive change for our future! Cornwall is not going to be forced into a Devonwall Mayoral Devolution deal! The Institute of Cornwall's research over decades has consistently stressed the need for devolution to Cornwall. Most recently, our researchers Garry Tregidga, Andrew Climo, and Malcolm Williams have led with our Manifesto for Cornwall; and Cornish Devolution Report (you can find both on the ICS website, under the Cornish Democracy Unit). These kinds of things are a collaborative effort though involving many different people and organisations. But it is also important to credit the super hard work of all six of our MP's, both Labour and Liberal Democrat, who have kept raising this issue in Parliament. @perranmoonmp , @andrewgeorge_cornwall , @noahlawmp , @jaynekirkhammp , @ben4nc and @annagelderd , thank you so much for pushing so hard. Also noteworthy, we also learned that Kernewek will now have the same European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages Part 3 status as the other Celtic languages of the UK - Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and Irish. These are important times for Cornwall, and of course, the Institute of Cornish Studies will continue to produce research which helps our policy-makers to make the decisions which will improve our future. Read more on the Cornwall Live website via the link in our bio.

The annual 'Writing from a Position of Anger' lecture, in collaboration with HaSS Cornwall, will be delivered online by writer and activist Dr Banojyotsna Lahiri on Wednesday, Nov 26 at 12 pm. Banojyotsna's lecture titled 'Navigating Through Hopes and Despairs since the anti-CAA Movement' will 'recount the biggest civil disobedience movement against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) that sought to mark the first deliberate step toward institutionalised discrimination and segregation in India.'

The first South Asia Centre event of the year is a lecture delivered by Esmat Elhalaby (University of Toronto), a historian of the transnational Middle East and South Asia, who will be discussing his recent book 'Parting Gifts of Empire: Palestine and India at the Dawn of Decolonisation'. The lecture will be followed by a roundtable discussion on the themes of decolonisation, the global intellectual history of anticolonialism, Asian unity, pan-Islamism, and nonalignment that emerge from the book, featuring scholars associated with the South Asia Centre, Centre for Imperial and Global History, and the European Centre for Palestine Studies. Poster attached. If you'd like to join online, please contact [email protected]

Thanks to our new students who have made Welcome Week so much fun with their enthusiasm and engagement. We will see you next week!

We're delighted that one of our 2025 graduates has been awarded this year’s Hutton Prize for Excellence for her “outstanding” work on Australian Indigenous and Settler governance systems. Daisy Ellis was recognised with the annual prize for her dissertation titled, Governing the Rights of Nature in Australia: Indigenous and Settler Approaches. Her dissertation was selected not only for its academic rigour but also for its compelling policy recommendations, which the judges said had the potential to raise public awareness and influence meaningful policy change. The Hutton Prize for Excellence is awarded annually to undergraduate or postgraduate students in @uofehass and @uofebusiness It aims to reward, encourage, and inspire those who place ethical conduct and transparency at the heart of government, business, and professional practice. Congratulations, Daisy 🎉

Legislation, debates, committees, peers in robes, boos and cheers of Prime Minister’s Questions – all things that come to mind when we think about Parliament. Here in Humanities and Social Sciences Cornwall at @uniexecornwall we study our legislature – in collaboration with Parliament itself. As lecturers, with the help from clerks and parliamentarians, we organise engaging talks, discussions and simulation games, and offer opportunities to contribute to ongoing committee inquiries, bringing the excitement and real-life value of legislative studies to the classroom. As researchers, we dive deep into the intricacies of institutional culture, parliamentary behaviours and procedures. We advise on how to make the workings of Parliament accessible to everyone by contributing to academic research and developing policy recommendations for parliamentary committees. Watch Dr Ekaterina Kolpinskaya's contribution to our “Video Shorts” series, and come and discover more about Parliament with our Politics experts at University of Exeter, Cornwall: /research/ @uniofexeter @uofehass

Our historical narratives are often centred on land, but what happens if we shift our perspective to oceans? How might this shape our environmental and political imaginaries and help us confront global challenges? These are some of the questions we explore in our teaching and research in Environmental Humanities and History in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at University of Exeter, Cornwall. Through a series of short videos we are showcasing the work of our interdisciplinary experts. Our latest video features Dr Emma Kluge on how our research and teaching in Environmental Humanities reorients our historical and political narratives from the perspective of the ocean Watch the full series of videos here: /research/ @uniexecornwall @uniofexeteresi @uniofexeter @uofehass @exetergses

Think gender is just theory or women's issues? Think again. 🌊 Study Gender Studies @hasscornwall @uniexecornwall and explore how the personal is political and how unspoken norms shape our lives. Find out more through the link in our bio.