Expert comment
Blog: The challenges of working life in an era of individual of legal rights28 April 2016
Lizzie Barmes is Professor of Labour Law at Queen Mary University of London. She is author of Bullying and Behavioural Conflict at Work, recently published by Oxford University Press.
Blog: Government pro-Europe leaflet didn’t swing voters in 1975 – and probably won’t in 201618 April 2016
It might have cost £9.3 million, but will the government's EU leaflet sway many voters? Lindsay Aqui, Phd Candidate, at Queen Mary University of London, looks back to the 1975 referendum and asks whether the experiences of the Wilson government hold lessons for today's campaigners.
Blog: Solving Europe's energy crisis29 March 2016
Europe imports more than half of the energy that it consumes, and its supply is vulnerable to regional instability and economic shocks. In a major new book, Professor Rafael Leal-Arcas, shows how the creation of a European Energy Union might be an effective and viable solution to the energy security problems that the European Union (EU) is facing.
Blog: Is George Osborne really the Political Chancellor, or just a hard-core Tory?16 March 2016
Political to his fingertips or a hard core Tory Chancellor? Professor Tim Bale considers the evolving and mercurial role of George Osborne.
Blog: How British hostility to the EU contrasts with opposition elsewhere in Europe19 January 2016
The UK’s referendum on EU membership may well be one of the main stories of 2016, with the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, recently suggesting that it could be held as early as the summer. Montserrat Guibernau writes on how we can conceive of Euroscepticism in both the UK and other EU countries.
Blog: Why frills put female dinosaurs in the mood for love14 January 2016
Dr Rob Knell from QMUL's School of Biological and Chemical Sciences writes how large ornamental structures in dinosaurs, such as horns and head crests are likely to have been used in sexual displays and to assert social dominance, according to a new analysis of Protoceratops.
This is the first time scientists have linked the function of anatomy to sexual selection in dinosaurs.
Blog: How to feed and raise a Wikipedia robo-editor11 December 2015
Dr Mehrnoosh Sadrzadeh from QMUL's School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science looks at what it takes to teach an AI how to read natural human languages.
Blog: Bangkok bombing blame game speaks volumes about the state of Thai politics19 August 2015
The Bangkok bomb killed 20 people, injured more than 100, and shook Thai politics, already turbulent, to its core. In this article, Dr Lee Jones, Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, argues: until concrete evidence is produced, we should avoid any rush to judgement, and take both speculation and assignations of blame with a truckload of salt.
Blog: Simple hospitality could be the answer to the European migrant ‘crisis’18 August 2015
The crisis facing migrants on the shores of Europe shows no sign of abating. As EU member states prevaricate on how to manage a human and political crisis, Dr Jessica Jacobs from QMUL's School of Geography says: "The system is paralysed. To make it move again, hospitality is the key".
Blog: Inside Out and the democracy of the modern mind29 July 2015
Dr Thomas Dixon, Director of QMUL's Centre for the History of the Emotions, reviews Disney Pixar's Inside Out.
Blog: The ‘quality’ paradox: Quality in healthcare is crucial but it’s time to rethink it19 June 2015
We all want a quality health service – but what does this really mean? What does quality in healthcare really look like? Dr Deborah Swinglehurst has been exploring this idea for several years, curious to find out what academics, opinion leaders, healthcare professionals and members of the public really understand by the term ‘quality’ in the healthcare context.
Blog: Think you're just a face in the crowd? Not necessarily19 June 2015
In this article, Professor Julia Hörnle, of QMUL's School of Law, considers the impact and rapid development of face recognition techniques on privacy.
Blog: Can the European Parliament save us from TTIP?15 June 2015
In this article, Sam Fowles, researcher in international law and politics at Queen Mary University of London, asks whether the European Parliament will 'save us' from the controversial Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).
Blog: Mini-megalomaniac AI is already all around us, but it won’t get further without our help2 June 2015
Professor Peter McOwan, from the School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, discusses whether artificial intelligences would actually be able to take over the world, whether they’d want to, and how we'd know if they did.
Blog: How we discovered the three revolutions of American pop20 May 2015
Dr Matthias Mauch discusses his recent scientific analysis of the “fossil record” of the Billboard charts prompted widespread attention, particularly the findings about the three musical “revolutions” that shaped the musical landscape of the second half of the 20th century.
Blog: More than just a game: Interactive entertainment and intellectual property law27 April 2015
On 24 April 2015, QMUL's Centre for Commercial Law Studies convened a group of legal experts to consider and examine issues around gaming an intellectual property law. In this article, Dr Gaetano Dimita, Lecturer in International Intellectual Property Law, sets out the many legal challenges that emerge from this growing and dynamic sector.
Blog: Deaths at sea: scant hope for the future from Europe’s history of failure on migrants23 April 2015
Sarah Wolff, Lecturer at QMUL's School of Politics and International Relations, examines the tragic events in the Mediterranean and outlines what she describes as failed EU policy in the area of migration.
Blog: Why Not Nudge?23 April 2015
Dr Magda Osman, Senior Lecturer in Experimental Cognitive Psychology explores the research behind behavioural economics and looks at its relationship with advertising
Blog: On the margins of terror: Daesh and the new geography of hate in Sinai25 March 2015
Jessica Jacobs, Research Fellow at QMUL's School of Geography, argues that the systematic neglect of border regions by military-backed governments in the Middle East has enabled the success of extreme terrorist groups in these marginalised areas, resulting in "geographies of hate".
Blog: Number-crunching Higgs boson: meet the world's largest distributed computer grid24 March 2015
In an article which originally appeared on The Conversation, Dr Tom Whyntie explains how the world's largest distributed computer grid helped find the Higgs boson and what it'll be doing as the Large Hadron Collider is started up again.
Blog: Gender-blind global health institutions ignore misery for women in Ebola-affected regions23 March 2015
On the one year anniversary of the Ebola outbreak, Dr Sophie Harman - Reader in International Relations at QMUL - explores the devastating impact on women in affected regions.
Blog: Tunisia terror attack threatens fledgling democracy19 March 2015
At least 19 people died in a terrorist attack in Tunisia on 18 March 2015. In this article, Dr Sarah Wolff - Lecturer, School of Politics and International Relations - considers the implications for Tunisia "beyond the immediate horror" of the attack, and describes it as "a litmus test for the country’s democratic transition".
Blog: The Statistics of Climate Change26 February 2015
Professor Norman Fenton writes about his role co-presenting a forthcoming BBC Four documentary on climate change and the importance of three key statistics.
Blog: How music listening programs can be easily fooled25 February 2015
In this blog post, QMUL Lecturer in Digital Media Bob L. Sturm discusses how, like 'Clever Hans' the German horse who appeared to be able to do complex mathematics, music listening programs can appear to work until we start to really test them.
Blog: Tobacco Industry's spurious claims on plain packaging must be challenged23 February 2015
In this letter, published in the Law Society Gazette, QMUL's Jonathan Griffiths challenges "undue pessimism" about the UK’s imminent legislation on plain packaging.
Blog: Online courts must not compromise fairness18 February 2015
In this article, Professor Julia Hörnle - one of the UK's leading experts in online dispute resolution - comments on the recent recommendations from Civil Justice Council's report on ODR. The group, of which Julia is a member, calls for a radical shake-up in how the UK handles low value claims.
Blog: Childhood injuries linked to deprivation but better data collection is needed for prevention6 February 2015
In a recent study Dianna Smith and Graham Kirkwood, of QMUL’s Blizard Institute, found there were more childhood injuries in areas of deprivation but, they write, with a thorough recording process better prevention can take place.
Blog: William Hague's plans could be highly contentious, but it's time to address the English question16 December 2014
Professor Michael Kenny, Director of the Mile End Institute, says there is an increasingly compelling, precautionary case for constitutional reform - but William Hague's "hard" plans aren't positive or carefully calibrated enough.
Blog: Syphilis sailed the ocean blue: why a bent femur won’t overturn Columbus theory11 December 2014
Following recent dispute over its origins in Europe, Dr Rob Knell from the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences explains why he is yet to be convinced by any alternative to the theory that Columbus brought syphilis across the Atlantic.
Blog: On immigration, the The Tories should stop following and start leading10 December 2014
Tim Bale, Professor of Politics at Queen Mary University of London, delivers a warning to the Conservative Party about the likely effects of an increasingly reactive policy on immigration.