Brexit has been and continues to be the dominant political, economic, business cultural and social issue in the UK for a generation. Its multi-disciplinary nature makes it well-suited to the analytical scope of CHRONOS. This workshop brings together leading figures who have contributed to and shaped the debate to review and discuss some of the issues and challenges Brexit poses.

We're sorry to announce that this event is cancelled, and will be rescheduled for a future date yet to be decided. This is due to travel disruption caused by the current Coronavirus outbreak. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Programme

1pm: Lunch (Moore Building foyer)

1.45pm: Welcome - Professor Paul Layzell, Principal of Royal Holloway

1.50pm: Introduction - Professor Chris Grey, Chair in Organization Studies, Royal Holloway)

2pm: Dr Katy Hayward (Reader in Sociology, Queen’s University Belfast) “The impact of Brexit on the Irish border: a complex research challenge”.

2.45pm: Alex Dean (Commissioning Editor, Prospect Magazine) in conversation with Professor Chris Grey (Chair in Organization Studies, Royal Holloway) “Journalistic challenges in covering Brexit”.

3.30pm: Break

4pm: Georgina Wright (Senior Researcher, Institute for Government) “Future challenges for UK-EU relations”.

4.45: Closing remarks - Professor Elena Giovannoni (Director, CHRONOS)

This event is open to all, but spaces are limited. Please register via this link. For enquiries, including parking space requests, please contact the CHRONOS Director elena.giovannoni@rhul.ac.uk

Speaker profiles

Alex Dean is a commissioning editor and writer at Prospect magazine, a leading current affairs monthly. After graduating in Philosophy at Leeds University he worked for the Guardian and the TES before moving to Prospect where he now works 50/50 across the website and the print edition, commissioning and writing interviews, columns and features. He appears regularly in the UK and US media to discuss breaking political stories. He currently specialises in Brexit and has written on its trade implications as well as on its impact on the judiciary and civil service – in the process interviewing politicians ranging from Jacob Rees-Mogg, Nigel Lawson and Andrea Leadsom on one side of the Brexit debate to Dominic Grieve, Sarah Wollaston and Michael Heseltine on the other. Last year he broke the story in which WTO Director General Roberto Azevêdo debunked the myth of “Gatt 24” and no deal. He has played a major role in shaping the Brexit debate both through his own journalism and in his innovative commissioning of a wide variety of influential writers.

Chris Grey is Professor of Organization Studies at Royal Holloway. He previously held Professorships at Warwick University and Cambridge University, where he was a Fellow of Wolfson College, and a Visiting Professorship at Université Paris-Dauphine. He has published extensively and eclectically in the field of organization studies, with an over-arching focus on organizations, politics and history. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and has held a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship. He also writes a popular and widely-praised blog analysing Brexit, and contributes widely to media discussions of this topic for the BBC, ARD, ABC, Reuters, CNN, FT, The I-paper, Prospect, The National and many others. His work on Brexit features on the House of Commons Library reading list and the Northern Ireland Assembly research hub. He founded the research group that became CHRONOS.

Dr Katy Hayward is Reader in Sociology and a Fellow of the Senator George Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice at Queen’s University Belfast. She is also a Senior Fellow at the ESRC UK in a Changing Europe Centre at King’s College London. She is an internationally recognised expert on Brexit and Northern Ireland/Ireland, particularly with respect to the Irish border. She has published prolifically on Irish politics, Irish nationalism, and on Brexit. The recipient of an Eisenhower Fellowship in 2019 and the Political Studies Association’s ‘Political Communicator of the Year’ award for 2019, Dr Hayward has written and presented widely on the topic of Brexit to media, policy, civic and academic audiences. She was appointed to the technical expert panel of the UK government’s Alternative Arrangements Advisory Group on Brexit (2019) and has given written and oral evidence before several parliamentary committees in the UK, Ireland and EU, as well as to policy audiences in the USA.

Georgina Wright is a Senior Researcher at the Institute for Government where she focuses on UK engagement and influence in the EU after Brexit. Her research interests include the EU27’s views of Brexit, Franco-British relations and the future of the EU. Georgina read Politics at the University of Edinburgh and holds an MA in EU International Relations and Diplomacy Studies from the College of Europe (Bruges). She speaks English, French and Italian. Prior to joining the Institute, she was a researcher at Chatham House and has worked at the European Commission and NATO in Brussels. Georgina has been recognised as one of the leading commentators and analysts on Brexit and has written for The Times, Prospect and Politico. She is also a frequent guest-presenter for BBC 5 Live and BBC World Service. Her work has led to her giving evidence to select committees in the House of Commons and House of Lords.