Decision 2020 – Academic live review
We are delighted to be sponsoring Decision 2020 - 24 hours – 13 universities – 1 election.
Decision 2020 will take the form of a live online broadcast on US election night featuring 13 universities who will present academic analyses and debates on relevant topics while having a chance to respond to live events in the US and around the world. This programme will be a 24-hour live stream broadcast running in parallel to the real-life US election events. The academic content will be interjected with live updates and breaking news to which the students can respond during their debates.
The University of South Wales (USW) will be hosting the 24-hour online show which will give experts and students from across the world the chance to debate and analyse the US Presidential Election. The project is being run in collaboration with 3PH Group Production and media professionals and the other sponsors are City University and the University of South Wales.
The programme will consist of several segments (topical presentations and debates), each of which will be prepared by a university. Decision 2020 – Academic Live Review’ will give renowned experts and students from the institutions the opportunity to provide analysis on aspects of the election, which will decide whether Donald Trump will win a second stint in the White House, or if Joe Biden will take over the reins.
The UK institutions involved in the live show will include University of South Wales, the University of Birmingham, the University of East Anglia, the University of Stirling; City, University of London, Loughborough University, Portsmouth University and SOAS University of London. Their experts will comment on US foreign policy and NATO, the role of religion in elections, the implication of the election result on global security; and power, privilege, race, and ethnicity. We are delighted that the broadcast will not just feature a team led by our current BISA Chair, Professor Mark Webber, but will also include teams led by two past Chairs of the Association, Professor Inderjeet Parmar and Professor Caroline Kennedy-Pipe.
University of Otago in New Zealand will focus on climate change, the environment and the Pacific. Australia’s University of Sydney specialists will look at the mechanics of voting and media coverage of elections, those at Pune University in India will focus on Senator Kamala Harris, who is standing for the position of US Vice-President, University of São Paulo experts will look at the election’s impact on Brazil, and Cameron University of Oklahoma academics will analyse the impact of the outcome on US foreign policy.
Working on the programme from 9pm (GMT) on 3 November – the day the election is being held – until the following day, the broadcast will run in parallel to the real-life US election events. Global Governance and Journalism students from the University of South Wales will be anchoring the broadcast and will connect with the student teams around the world to spotlight their expertise.
Professor Bela Arora from the University of South Wales, is the academic lead on the project, who has brought together the institutional partners. Susanne Weber, who has worked in international broadcasting for the BBC for over 20 years, is taking on the role of Executive Producer and skills development lead. Harrison Castle, of 3PH Group is an events production expert who will take the role of technical production lead.
Please follow #USDecision2020 on Twitter and tune in to the live broadcast on the night of the election https://www.youtube.com/user/UniSouthWales
Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash
