How should universities respond to a crisis they helped to create? In this episode of Conversations4Citizenship, Dr Kamille Beye and Dr Stella Cheong are joined by Professor Tristan McCowan of UCL, author of Universities and Climate Action, for a wide-ranging conversation on higher education and climate justice. Beginning with the historical complicity of universities in ecological breakdown, the discussion moves through their projective, expressive, and constructive roles, the nature of climate change as a wicked problem, and the uneven burdens borne by communities least responsible for the crisis. From there, the conversation turns to interdisciplinary collaboration, the tension between green workforce demands and higher education as a public good, and the challenge of engaging climate denial in everyday life. It closes with inspiring examples from Fiji, Tanzania, and Brazil, and a call to shape the post-2030 agenda together. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, and join the global conversation.

This episode is hosted by Dr. Kamille Beye. Please subscribe to the podcast through Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music or Audible. You may also follow @c4cpodcast.bsky.social on Bluesky. We look forward to hearing your feedback. If you would like to explore participating in our podcast and submit your blog post to the C4C, do not hesitate to reach out through the online participation form or email us at conversations4citizenship@gmail.com

If you are curious about Climate Crisis and the Role of University check out his new book, 'Universities and Climate Action' and read his works linked below.

• McCowan. T. (2025).Universities and Climate Action. UCL Press.
• Mccowan, T., & Buckner, E. (2025). Critical Perspectives on Universities and the Sustainable Development Goals. Comparative Education Review, 69(4), 697-702.
• Buckner, E., McCowan, T., Faul, M. V., Welply, O., Jiménez, J., & Denton, F. (2025). Charting the path after 2030: what should higher education’s role be in the future of the sustainable development agenda?. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 1-20.
• Centre for Global Higher Education

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This episode of Conversations4Citizenship features Dr. Magdalena Fellner, an educational researcher exploring the systemic barriers to higher education within the German prison system and internationally. Interviewed by Kamille Beye, Stella Micheong Cheong and Adam Peter Lang, Dr. Fellner refutes the idea that the academic capability to study is an inherent trait, arguing instead that it is socially and institutionally constructed. She critique-analyzes how gatekeepers limit incarcerated individuals to basic skills and vocational training rather than transformational higher education, pointing out that female prisoners face even fewer academic opportunities. Dr. Fellner advocates for a relational, lifelong learning approach supported by robust university-prison partnerships, which dramatically lower recidivism rates. However, she stresses that education is a human right, not a cure-all, and must coexist with fundamental structural support. Finally, she previews her new research examining why highly educated individuals commit white-collar crimes.

If you are curious about the Higher Education Institution-Prison Partnerships, check out her works below.

• Fellner, M. (2025). Universities as elite allies. Disclosing global patterns of inequality in tertiary education across time. In Wimmer, C. & Rieder, T. (Eds.), Global Inequalities. Leiden: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004733626_011
• Fellner, M. & Dreisinger, B. (forthcoming). Education Not Incarceration Across Borders: Prison, University and Education Behind Bars. Special Issue, Tertiary Education and Management. https://link.springer.com/collections/afjgeefhde
• This meta-study of the United States shows that individuals who participated in educational programmes were 43% less likely to reoffend than those who did not, and that every dollar spent on correctional education saves taxpayers five dollars in reincarceration costs. See Davis, Lois M., Jennifer L. Steele, Robert Bozick, Malcolm V. Williams, Susan Turner, Jeremy N. V. Miles, Jessica Saunders, and Paul S. Steinberg. How Effective Is Correctional Education, and Where Do We Go From Here? The Results of a Comprehensive Evaluation. RAND Corporation. 2014.

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This episode brings together three Nepali changemakers, public speaker Aadarsha Bikram Singh, lawyer Tanuja Pandey, and peacebuilding researcher, Dr. Nar Bahadur Saud, to unpack the historic September 2025 Gen Z movement that toppled Nepal's government. They explain how decades of corruption, forced out-migration, and a sudden social media ban pushed young people into the streets, fueled by the viral #NepoBaby and #NepoKids hashtags borrowed from Indonesia's earlier uprising. The conversation honors the 76 lives lost on September 9, traces the remarkably swift transition to a peaceful 2026 election, and introduces a parliament now full of young faces including a 36-year-old Prime Minister. But the guests are refreshingly honest about the uncertainty ahead: creeping populism, weak institutional memory, and the temptation to dismantle without rebuilding. Their closing advice for global youth movements is unforgettable — unite before you ignite, collaborate across generations, read history, and let love walk beside the rage.

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Thanks for listening and keeping Conversations4Citizenship podcasting!