WORLD: we got this

Why aren't mainland Chinese films box office hits in the UK? Do Chinese people watch films produced in the UK? PhD student, Giulia D'Aquila researches an agreement between China and the UK on film production and distribution.In this episode, she reflects on how films from mainland China are received in the UK, what is considered propaganda in each country and why other foreign-language exports are popular with Western audiences. She also shares more about her PhD journey with Professor Kerry Brown, Director of the Lau China Institute.

Is technology really helping people in India to receive their welfare entitlements? Or is digitalisation affecting their agency? And how does it affect local state actors? These are some of the questions PhD student, Vanita Leah Falcao is exploring in her thesis. In this episode, she speaks with Professor Louise Tillin about her time as a policy worker in India, her experiences doing research field work and how her thesis question has shifted over the course of her PhD studies.

As we recently marked a year since Russia invaded Ukraine, we are sharing an episode of The War Studies Podcast produced by our Department of War Studies looking back at what we have learned over the past year of fighting and what it might mean for the future.It features Dr Marina Miron, who uses her knowledge of Russian military strategy, information warfare, and technology to explore what has happened over the past year and why, as well looking at the implications for future global security.Find out more about the Department of War Studies, which sits within the Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy at King's College London. Find out more about the podcast here or search for "The War Studies Podcast" to listen to more episodes.

This new episode looks at recent large-scale public protests in Russia, China and Iran including what has sparked them and what they tell us about the balance of power of these regimes.The episode, featuring academics from the Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy, looks at the effects of the protests, the response of those in power to the public dissent, and asks whether they are a sign that authoritarian regimes are losing their grip or whether they could use them to justify increasing control.It features Ahou Koutchesfahani, a PhD candidate in our War Studies Department, Dr Jane Hayward, a lecturer in China and Global Affairs at King’s Lau China Institute, and Dr Maxim Alyukov, a postdoctoral fellow at King’s Russia Institute.

Master's alumna Linette Lim's focused her dissertation looked at why some Indian states far out-perform others in the Human Development Index (HDI). In this episode, she shares how she came up with this research puzzle and her journey post-master's degree. This includes her life as a foreign correspondent in China and how her experience with censorship led to her PhD thesis.

What can the life of sand dunes on Mars tell us about climate change on Earth? In this episode, PhD student Lucie Delobel shares her love of sand dunes and how she went from studying them on Earth to studying them on Mars.Her master's dissertation became a leading article for Nature Climate Change and is shaping the discussion on using wind patterns to examine climate change. Now doing a PhD at King's, she has taken her knowledge of wind patterns to outer space.Hear Lucie share her academic story with Andreas Baas, Reader in Geomorphology in the Department of Geography.

This episode looks at where we are in the climate crisis, how recent events including war and economic crises have affected the priority of environmental issues and whether we still have time to make a difference.It features two academics from the Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy at King’s College London who explore whether we are at a pivotal moment in the climate crisis.Professor Frans Berkhout, from King’s Department of Geography, outlines some of the impacts of global warming that are we already seeing, discusses whether he thinks we will be able to adapt to our new world and assesses where we are on progress against global commitments.Dr Duraid Jalili, from King’s Defence Studies Department and Co-director of its Environmental Security Research group, highlights ways in which environmental issues have already affected the geopolitical, economic and social order of our world, looks at how the war in Ukraine has affected public focus on climate change and discusses whether we are at a critical moment in public and political understanding of the need to take action.They also share their thoughts for the future, including how hopeful they feel about our ability to take the steps needed to address climate change, and what we can all do to play our part.

What shapes and enables women's rights to be fully enacted in a world where sexual reproductive health is politicised? What exactly is the reproductive justice movement? And how important is it to understand our past when it comes to making informed decisions about women's bodies?In this episode, PhD student Annabel Sowemimo shares how she first got into sexual reproductive health, more about her day job as a Community Sexual Reproductive Health Registrar and why she founded the Reproductive Justice initiative. She also talks about a piece called, 'The secret lives of Britain’s first Black physicians', which she wrote for Wellcome Collection and about her great, great grandfather – one of the first West African graduates of medicine in the UK.Hear Annabel explore her findings with Dr Rishitia Nandagiri, Lecturer in Global Health and Social Medicine (Bioethics & Society).

This podcast episode looks at the huge political consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and how its effects are still being felt at every level around the world today.It explores how the pandemic affected the standing of global leadership organisations, as well as challenging previously held ideas about effective leaders and political systems.It also looks at how the pandemic caused the downfall of the British Prime Minister and is still determining key UK government priorities, plus discusses ways in which the far-right exploited the chaos and confusion surrounding COVID-19 to recruit new followers.It features Professor ‘Funmi Olonisakin, Professor Andrew Blick and Blyth Crawford, who are all based in the Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy at King's College London.