University of Cambridge

The Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill seeks to circumvent the UK Supreme Court's recent judgment holding the Government's Rwanda policy, concerning the removal of certain asylum-seekers, to Rwanda. The Bill contemplates placing the UK in breach of its international obligations, including under the European Convention on Human Rights and the Refugee Convention, while forming part of a policy that relies upon Rwanda's adherence to its own international obligations. The Bill is thus at once hypocritical and parochial, given that domestic legislation cannot free the UK of its legal obligations on the international plane.

In this short recording Professor Mark Elliott explores the legal and constitutional implications of the Bill.

Mark Elliott is Professor of Public Law and Chair of the Faculty of Law at the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of St Catharine's College, Cambridge. From 2015 to 2019, he served as Legal Adviser to the House of Lords Select Committee on the Constitution, providing advice to the Committee on a range of legislative and other matters. Mark co-founded the international biennial Public Law Conference series and co-convened the first two conferences. He is the recipient of a University of Cambridge Pilkington Prize for excellence in teaching and is the author of a widely read blog http://publiclawforeveryone.com/ that is aimed at public law scholars, current and prospective law students, policy-makers, and others who are interested in the subject.

For more information about Professor Elliott, you can also refer to his profile at: https://www.law.cam.ac.uk/people/academic/mc-elliott/25

Law in Focus is a collection of short recordings featuring academics from the University of Cambridge Faculty of Law, addressing legal issues in current affairs and the news. These issues are examples of the many which challenge researchers and students studying undergraduate and postgraduate law at the Faculty.

This is the first interview with Mrs Charity (Cherry) Hopkins, Life Fellow of Girton College, University of Cambridge. Mrs Hopkins was interviews for the first time on 13 September 2023 in the Squire Law Library.

For more information, see the Squire Law Library website at http://www.squire.law.cam.ac.uk/eminent-scholars-archive

This is the fifteenth interview for the Eminent Scholars Archive with an incumbent of the Arthur Goodhart Visiting Professor of Legal Science. Professor McLachlan is Professor of Law at Victoria University of Wellington.

Professor McLachlan was interviewed on was interviewed on 19 June and 13 September 2023 in the Squire Law Library.

For more information, see the Squire website at https://www.squire.law.cam.ac.uk/cambridge-law-eminent-scholars-archive

Rory Cellan-Jones talks to Angelique Acquatella, Shan Morgan and Jennifer Dixon about the current status of digital technology adoption in healthcare services, why digital adoption is so slow, and the opportunities for medtech, individuals and the wider economy.

In this episode, experts unpack the barriers and facilitators of digital healthcare. Rory, Angelique, Shan and Jennifer explore the impact of med tech on inequalities, and offer solutions to mitigate risks of digital exclusion in healthcare. Provided healthcare systems focus on long-term priorities and agenda, the speakers highlight that technologies could enhance the quality and effectiveness of care.

This episode is hosted by Rory Cellan-Jones (former technology correspondent for the BBC), and features guest experts Angelique Acquatella (TSE), Shan Morgan (Bennett Institute), Jennifer Dixon (Health Foundation).

Listen to this episode on your preferred podcast platform

Season 3 Episode 2 transcript

For more information about the podcast and the work of the institutes, visit our websites at https://www.bennettinstitute.cam.ac.uk/ and https://www.iast.fr/.

Tweet us with your thoughts at @BennettInst and @IASToulouse.

Listen to this episode on your preferred podcast platform - https://podfollow.com/1597966909/episode/ae7574b1f426a63bfc0eccaa49f987e12123f4bd/view

Season 3 Episode 2 transcript - https://www.bennettinstitute.cam.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/CC-S3E3-Transcript.docx.pdf

Our thanks to:

Audio production by Steve Hankey

Associate production by Stella Erker

Visuals by Tiffany Naylor

On the 15 November the UK Supreme Court decided that the United Kingdom's policy of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda was unlawful.

In this short recording Dr Kirsty Hughes explains the Court's reasoning, and considers the Government's response and possible next steps.

Kirsty Hughes is an Associate Professor specialising in Human Rights Law. She is joint General Editor of the European Human Rights Law Review, Director of the Centre for Public Law, University of Cambridge, a member of Blackstone Chambers Academic Panel and Deputy Editor of Public Law. She is a co-convenor of the European Human Rights Law Conference.

For more information about Dr Hughes, please refer to her profile at https://www.law.cam.ac.uk/people/academic/ke-hughes/2113

Law in Focus is a collection of short recordings featuring academics from the University of Cambridge Faculty of Law, addressing legal issues in current affairs and the news. These issues are examples of the many which challenge researchers and students studying undergraduate and postgraduate law at the Faculty.

Rory Cellan-Jones talks to Ingela Alger (IAST) and Flavio Toxvaerd (University of Cambridge) about the drivers of research silos, the merits of conducting interdisciplinary research and how to overcome disciplinary divides.

This episode takes a look at why academic research is trapped in research silos. Ingela Alger (IAST) and Flavio Toxvaerd (University of Cambridge) talk to Rory Cellan-Jones, about the challenges faced in conducting interdisciplinary research. They emphasize the significant benefits that interdisciplinarity can bring and share insight into how to foster an interdisciplinary research culture for better results.

Listen to this episode on your preferred podcast platform

Season 3 Episode 2 transcript

For more information about this podcast series and the work of the institutes, visit our websites at https://www.bennettinstitute.cam.ac.uk/ and https://www.iast.fr/

Tweet us with your thoughts at @BennettInst and @IASToulouse.

With thanks to:

Audio production – Steve Hankey

Associate production – Stella Erker

Visuals – Tiffany Naylor

More about our host and guests:

Rory Cellan-Jones was a technology correspondent for the BBC. His 40 years in journalism have seen him take a particular interest in the impact of the internet and digital technology on society and business. He has also written multiple books, including his latest “Always On” which was published in 2021. @ruskin147

Ingela Alger is a CNRS Senior Scientist (DR) in Economics, and the current Director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse (IAST) as well as the Chair of the Department in Social and Behavioral Sciences. Her research, which has been published in international peer-reviewed journals such as the American Economic Review, Econometrica, and PNAS, focuses on the evolutionary foundations of human preferences, when these are transmitted from generation to generation and are subject to selection. She is particularly interested in the evolutionary foundations of morality and distributional preferences, as well as preferences guiding family-related behaviors. She has been awarded numerous grants, notably ANR Chaire d’Excellence 2012-2017, and ERC Advanced Grant 2019-2023. In 2022 she was awarded the CNRS Silver Medal. @ingelaalger

Flavio Toxvaerd is a Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge, a Fellow of Clare College and an Affiliated Researcher with the Bennett Institute for Public Policy. He serves as UKRI Policy Fellow in Competition and Productivity Economics with the Competition and Markets Authority. His research and teaching interests are in microeconomics and game theory with applications, including industrial organisation, competition policy and economic epidemiology. @toxvaerd1

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Alger, I., Weibull, J. W., & Lehmann, L. (2020). Evolution of preferences in structured populations: genes, guns, and culture. Journal of Economic Theory, 185, 104951.

Alger, I. (2023). Evolutionarily stable preferences. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 378(1876), 20210505.

Alger, I., Dridi, S., Stieglitz, J., & Wilson, M. L. (2023). The evolution of early hominin food production and sharing. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(25), e2218096120.

Toxvaerd, F., & Rowthorn, R. (2022). On the management of population immunity. Journal of Economic Theory, 204, 105501.

Toxvaerd, F. (2020). Herd immunity – crucial yet irrelevant. Bennett Institute for Public Policy, University of Cambridge.

Bromham, L., Dinnage, R., & Hua, X. (2016). Interdisciplinary research has consistently lower funding success. Nature, 534(7609), 684-687.

This is the fifteenth interview for the Eminent Scholars Archive with an incumbent of the Arthur Goodhart Visiting Professor of Legal Science. Professor McLachlan is Professor of Law at Victoria University of Wellington.

Professor McLachlan was interviewed on was interviewed on 19 June and 13 September 2023 in the Squire Law Library.

For more information, see the Squire website at https://www.squire.law.cam.ac.uk/cambridge-law-eminent-scholars-archive

In this first episode of series 3, Rory Cellan-Jones talks to Dr Anne Degrave, Prof Dennis Grube and Halima Khan about the drivers of short-termism in government, the interplay between voter preferences and policy change and the mechanisms needed to embed longer-term decision-making.

This episode unpacks why governments have been trapped in short-term thinking. Leading experts examine the impact of short-term decision-making on policy outcomes and explore the policy tools needed to instill longer-term decision-making.

This episode is hosted by Rory Cellan-Jones (former technology correspondent for the BBC), and features guest experts Dr Anne Degrave (IAST), Prof Dennis Grube (Bennett Institute) and Halima Khan (Bennett Institute).

Mohamed El-Erian is the President of Queen’s College Cambridge, and his new book, Permacrisis: A Plan To Fix A Fractured World, is out now.

Written with former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Nobel Prize-winning economist Michael Spence, the book is an attempt to understand and explain our world has gone wrong, and presents a plan to better manage the future for the benefit of the many and not the few.

This interview was produced by Amy Mollett for the University of Cambridge. Our interviewer was James Helm. Thanks to Mohamed El-Erian and the Queen’s College team, and the University of Cambridge’s Development and Alumni Relations team.

What is the future of religion?

Rory Cellan-Jones talks to Iza Hussin and Paul Seabright about recent trends in world religions, the interplay between politics and religion, and the economics of religion.

This episode unpacks the widespread belief that religion is in decline and explores why this view is mistaken. Leading experts discuss the intersection between religion and politics, the rivalry within and between religions, and how wider socioeconomic trends are both impacted by and impacting religious movements.

This episode is hosted by Rory Cellan-Jones (former technology correspondent for the BBC), and features guest experts Iza Hussin (University of Cambridge) and Paul Seabright (IAST).

Season 2 Episode 10 transcript

For more information about the podcast and the work of the institutes, visit our websites at https://www.bennettinstitute.cam.ac.uk/ and https://www.iast.fr/.

Tweet us with your thoughts at @BennettInst and @IASToulouse

Audio production by Steve Hankey

Associate production by Stella Erker

Visuals by Tiffany Naylor