How can attention to sounds and hearing change scholarly and policy understandings of politics in the face of crisis, emergencies, and traumatic events? A pandemic, a burning environment, party polarization, social unrest, diasporas, and a war with nuclear potential: these are some of the recent calamities gripping policymakers and communities. Research on how disasters are governed and how they impact society is crucial in an era of ‘endless crisis’ (Gentili 2021; D'Allonnes 2012). While crisis, emergencies and traumatic events have distinctive and impactful soundtracks, they are rarely taken into consideration. Aurora Ganz aims to contribute to existing literature on crisis governance and collective trauma through an innovative approach that relies on the acoustic as a site for political engagement and knowledge production.

Aurora Ganz is a Maria Zambrano postdoctoral research fellow at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra. However, she is carrying on her research at IBEI collaborating with research groups and clusters. Previously, she lectured in critical security studies at the University of St Andrews and Sciences Po Paris. She holds a PhD from King’s College London Department of War Studies. Her research is situated in international political theory, critical social and political theory, and pays special attention to the politics of security practices. Her latest monograph, "Fuelling Insecurity", was published by Bristol University Press. She is currently working on a new monograph on Sounds and Security.

During the course 2022-23, IBEI has organised a series of research seminars, which normally take place once a week. Check the 2022-23 programme