New Centre for Mobilities Research
A new Centre for Mobilities Research (CeMoRe) has just been approved by Senate. Its co-directors are Mimi Sheller, Senior Lecturer in Sociology and John Urry, Prof of Sociology, and its Management Board includes members of the departments of Sociology, Geography, Politics, and the Institute for Women's Studies and the Management School. The centre's website can be found at http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/sociology/CeMoRe/index.htm
The study of 'mobilities' is a new interdisciplinary field in which Lancaster University has particular strengths in innovative social theory, policy-oriented empirical research, and applied commercial and informational systems design. The concept of 'mobilities' encompasses both the large-scale movements of people, objects, capital, and information across the world, as well as the more local processes of daily transportation, movement through public space, and the travel of material things within everyday life. CeMoRe will focus on emergent social and cultural practices of mobility, the complex networks and attachments that make mobility possible, and the environmental and security risks associated with such mobilities, in order to contribute to deciphering the increasingly problematic nature of a mobile world.
Dr Sheller, co-director of the Centre said 'This is an area of exceptional growth, crucial in terms of both academic interest and policy debate. CeMoRe will position Lancaster University as one of the leading research clusters in the country and as an important centre for the study of mobility within Europe and throughout the world.'
CeMoRe will hold a fortnightly Seminar Series, host Visiting Researchers, co-ordinate research projects and research networks, and promote postgraduate studies in this area. It is organising a major international conference on Alternative Mobility Futures, 9-11 January 2004, with sponsorship from the Institute for Advanced Social and Management Studies. For more details, see http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/sociology/altfutconfcall.htm