One of the University’s six interdisciplinary research themes has been given a new name: the Citizenship and Democratisation theme has just become Security and Social Justice.

The six themes provide a forum to foster collaborative working, and allow individual academic staff to play a role in tackling complex research challenges that, working alone, they would not be able to address.

Increasingly the advisory group steering the Citizenship and Democratisation theme came to feel that the title did not reflect well the research that Sussex does in this area, or give an accurate picture to the outside world.

Professor Steve Burman, theme leader, explains: “We felt that two concepts - ‘justice’ and ‘security’ - are central to our work, and should be the basis of a new name.

“We live in a fast-changing and insecure world where new challenges to our freedoms arise daily. The theme captures and deploys the work of Sussex researchers to help us to understand these challenges and create responses that will protect our rights.”

He adds: “We recognize that the connection between the parts of the new title is not immediately obvious and may indeed stand in some tension.

“We feel it is in the interaction between these concepts that the most fruitful research questions may emerge, and the new title signals this intriguing potential.

“I look forward to developing new research projects under this banner."

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