This event is FREE and is open to QUB staff and students.  Places are offered on a first-come-first served basis.  Light refreshments will be provided. 

The Mitchell Institute is pleased to announce the first in the series of Fireside Chats for 2019-20.  The first Fireside Chat speaker for this year is Master’s degree student Jan King.  Jan will be speaking on Common Ground in Divided Communities. 

The Fireside Chat series is student-led and is organised by Mitchell Institute PhD student Allely Albert.  The “Fireside Chat” is a reference to American history and politics, and also acts as a tribute to Senator George J. Mitchell. 

The Fireside Chats allows both staff and students to casually present their research to the community in a social setting.  One of the key aims is to provide a platform to showcase the interdisciplinary research going on across the Institute and to enable networking for postgraduate students and researchers at a range of career stages.

The Fireside Chats take place on the last Wednesday of each month at the Mitchell Institute.

The first Fireside Chat speaker for this year is the Institute’s Conflict Transformation and Social Justice Master’s degree student Jan King.   Jan’s research focuses on the role of the community sector in creating common ground, arguing that bridging social capital across divided communities must occur before common territory can be established.  Using two organisations as case studies, Jan explores how 'early adopters' can help create space for communities to build trust, forming a foundation for others to follow.