ISRF Newsletter – June 2026
Featured in this edition of the newsletter is a Director's Note on building alternative futures through research. Also included: upcoming book launches, Dispatches, blogs and news from our Fellows.
Contents
Director’s Note
Research for Alternative Futures
Christopher Newfield
ISRF has just finished its annual board meetings in Amsterdam, and they reminded me of my great luck in this job because I again had no bad news to report. The Fellows, the team, the partnerships, the focused research are all in such good form that I felt a bit foolish laying out the details to our academic and foundation boards.
However, the real world issues that the Fellows engage with are challenging and often getting worse. This is also true of the focused research we are organising internally, which cover British universities, machine v. human learning, political economy and race, and redesigning finance for climate justice (REDFIC). I routinely obsess about turning these issues around – reconstructing British universities, ending AI-driven cognitive loss in universities and society, confronting racial capitalism and getting the accelerated transition back on track.
Book Launch: The Matter of Architecture: Geology, Buildings and Us
3rd June 2026, 6:15 pm - 8:00 pm (BST). In person.
Architectural Association Bookshop, London
In his important new book, The Matter of Architecture (Reaktion, 2026), Paul Dobraszczyk approaches geology as the architecture of our planet, arguing that what we build has always been dependent on what Earth has already made. Yet, what we produce now will also become the geology of the future: billions of tonnes of concrete, plastic, brick, metals and other fabricated materials that are quickly piling up to eventually become new geological strata.
Book Launch: Taming Egg Donors: The Egg Donation Reproductive Market in Spain
17th June 2026, 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm (CEST). In person & online.
Sala de la Caritat, Biblioteca de Catalunya, Barcelona & Online
How do those involved in Spain’s egg donation industry—donors, clinicians, and clinic staff—experience its pressures, medical interventions, and moral codes? In her new book, Dr Anna Molas offers a fresh perspective on Europe’s largest egg donation industry. Drawing on rich ethnographic work and adopting a feminist lens, Molas shifts attention away from donors’ intentions towards the lived experiences of donors and practitioners alike.
Why it’s time to end the marketisation of UK Higher Education
James Brackley
The marketisation of universities in the UK has failed to meet its aims of improving the quality of education while reducing prices. James Brackley examines how the focus on metrics, profits and audits has worsened conditions for academics, university staff and students.
Dispatch From a Middle Manager
Anonymous
At many British universities, issues from low student recruitment to staff demoralisation are met with the same answer - restructure, centralise and de-personalise. This push towards ‘efficiency’ has had the opposite effect - leading universities into further financial and institutional crisis. How do we fight back?
The University: Another Victim of Accelerated Existence?
David Yates
For some, the rapid development of new technologies signals a trajectory towards accerlerationism - an unfettered embrace of capitalism and technological progress. What does that mean for the university? David Yates explains further in this contribution to our Dispatches series.
Pedagogical State Apparatus
Lars Cornelissen
The theory of constructive alignment is a one size fits all template that shapes course curricula across Europe. In this contribution to our Dispatches series, Lars Cornelissen argues that this theory is not a neutral guideline. Rather it is centres a particular philosophy of learning and teaching which forecloses any alternative pedagogies.
The Matter of Architecture: Geology, Buildings and Us
Paul Dobraszczyk
Paul Dobraszczyk’s newest book “The Matter of Architecture” explores the relationship between our built environment and Earth’s minerals. In doing so, Dobraszczyk mines architecture for its geological meaning, demonstrating how our built environment is linked to the material fabric of Earth.
Echoes from Sumatra: A Glimpse of Indonesia’s Political Economy of Disasters
Angelika Fortuna
The damage caused by Cyclone Senyar on the island of Sumatra was not only a catalyst for discussions on how to seriously address the climate crisis. As Angelika Fortuna argues, it also illustrated the impact of political and economic decisions that prioritise foreign investments over people and the environment.
New publication: ‘Special Issue: Raced Finance’ Guest editors: Ilias Alami, Ali Bhagat and Vincent Guermond
While the discipline of international political economy recognises the importance of racial oppression and inequalities, it is often viewed as separate from financial power structures. This special issue explores the intimate, integral and co-constitutive links between the hierarchies of finance and race. In doing so, it engages with the concept of raced finance, examining how it shapes our understanding of race, finance, and capitalism.
New publication: ‘Care, Justice, Protest and the Politics of Creative Work: Towards a Multi-Scale Theory of Cultural Activism’ by Kristina Kolbe
This article brings care politics, creative justice and political protest emerging from creative work in dialogue with inequalities in the sector. Arts and culture can be a catalyst for more equitable futures. In order to truly harness this, the labour conditions and precarity in the cultural industry must be addressed.
Podcast episode: ‘Jeoffrey Sarpong Podcast’ Interview with Anthony Pickles
In this episode, Anthony Pickles and Jeoffrey Sarpong discuss various forms of gambling from prediction markets to sports betting apps. Their conversation examines why gambling rates are rising among young men, its connection to economic mobility and in addition, the gamification of politics.