With a background in social anthropology and human geography, Dr Calum T. M. Nicholson has conducted original research that reconsiders how we understand the societal implications of climate change, notably in the context of its relationship to human migration and international development.
A former development consultant and Parliamentary researcher, at ICE Dr Nicholson teaches courses on international development, international migration, and the politics of climate change. Dr Nicholson also teaches a well-received course on the political, cultural, and historical significance of social media.
In all his courses, Dr Nicholson is interested in setting the issues at hand in their broadest political, cultural, historical, and philosophical context, in order to challenge our preconceptions and expose our unexamined assumptions. His goal is not simply to add to what students know, but to change how they think about the topics in question. Implied in all his courses is a concern for the relationship between ‘truth’ and power – a question all the more relevant in our so-called ‘post-truth’ age.
His teaching style is designed to encourage interaction and dialogue, with frequent use of works of art to analogically illustrate paradoxes in, and problems with, how we think when we discuss themes such as international development, migration, and the role of social media in society.
