Research Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Scholar and film-maker focused on analyzing social inequalities and promoting social justice
12 June 2025 h. 10.00
Aula B, Complesso Belmeloro, Via Andreatta 8, Bologna
There is little need to delve, at length, into the specific shifts we are seeing around the world in 2025, 40 years following founding of the COIMBRA Consortium. Suffice to say, the changes that are being wrought on the planet today are changes which are wildly unexpected, and, perhaps more importantly, are removing many of the gains that had started to shift societies towards greater equality and equity. Universities are now institutions that are central to halting these alarming changes. Not simply to halt these alarming changes, but also to remind us that our role is to constantly push societies forward in the spirit of the 1987 COIMBRA Charter and the 2016 COIMBRA Poitiers Declaration.
It is often students – all students, whether at universities, at schools, at colleges or other educational organisations – who offer societies the possibilities of planetary futures grounded in inclusive excellence. It is students who have often urged societies to realign our/themselves to reflect the world in which we live: in the 12th/13th century it was students at Bologna, Paria, and Lisbon (they ensured the move of their university to the town of Coimbra), and in the 15th century, in South Korea it was students who urged their universities to change. The 20th century saw powerful movements of students and others against colonialism and apartheid, which served as the beacon for the movements for Civil Rights and, later, for women’s rights in Europe, Australia, and North America. It is students who have pushed universities into truly appreciating that universities themselves have a key role to play in the very futures of our societies.
In my talk I will I offer suggestions as to how constituencies within Higher Education can shape inclusive excellence, and, as a result, help create the innovative futures for which we all yearn.
KUM-KUM BHAVNANI is a scholar/film-maker (Mirror and Hammer Films) who adopts a multilayered approach to analyzing inequalities and to building a more just, livable planet. Her film-making, interdisciplinary research, and teaching are shaped by cultural studies, and international development. Through her work, she aspires to draw attention to transformations that resonate with social justice and equity. Her feature length documentaries include We are Galapagos, Lutah: A Passion for Architecture a Life in Design, The Shape of Water, and Nothing Like Chocolate.
At the University of California Santa Barbara she is a Research Professor (Distinguished Professor Emerita July 2024) and the campus Senior International Officer. She earned her doctorate at Kings College, Cambridge following her Honours degree from Bristol University (Psychology, with minors in Sociology, Politics and Philosophy), and her Masters from Nottingham University (Child and Educational Psychology). She joined the UCSB Department of Sociology in July 1991.
She was Chair and Vice Chair of the University of California Systemwide Senate (2018-2020) and Chair of the Academic Senate at the UCSB (2012-2016). At present, she serves on the Chancellor's Advisory Task Force on Childcare at UCSB and on the Systemwide Fossil Free Task Force that is developing plans for electrification of all UC campuses.
Her service includes collaborating with scholars, , policy makers, artists, NGOs and other community activists. She is inspired by those who create the social justice urgently needed for present and future generations and for our planet.