This is an online event.

Whether fleeing infection or screen time, open spaces promise new worlds. As the conservationist Octavia Hill put it in 1877, by being outdoors we all gain ‘a little pause, a little more room.’ Join us for this Being Human Café to discover how the Victorians campaigned for the right to access the outdoors, to compare their efforts to contemporary activists locally, nationally and internationally, and to be inspired by the award-winning nature poet Isabel Galleymore.

Led by Jonathan Memel, researchers from Bishop Grosseteste University will introduce the topic of Victorian epidemics and outdoor space to outline connections to environmental activism today and share the pursuit of a new “Charter of Open Space”. Isabelle Galleymore will read from her collection Significant Other (John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize Winner, 2020) and will take part in a Q&A as part of the event.