Concerning Vanessa Beeley’s lecture at the summer school "War and Peace Journalism in an Age of Global Instability"

Vanessa Beeley, a controversial British blogger and journalist, held a lecture at the summer school "War and Peace Journalism in an Age of Global Instability" organized by IRES on 10-16 June 2018. During the lecture Beeley expressed unscientific views which upset participating students and staff. IRES was unaware that a speaker with Beeley's controversial background had been invited. IRES was informed of this only after the lecture had taken place. The head of IRES has investigated the incident and held a meeting with the researcher who invited Beeley. IRES considers it completely unacceptable to invite Beeley and apologizes to students, staff, and partner universities.

The course War and Peace Journalism in an Age of Global Instability was organised by IRES at  Uppsala University in collaboration with the CBSS, within the framework of the CBSS Summer University. This is an annual summer school concept, hosted by one or more universities in the Baltic Sea Region. The Summer Universities offer a unique platform to exchange knowledge, build networks and find joint solutions for challenges of the future. The Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) is an intergovernmental forum for regional cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region. CBSS promotes people to people contacts, sharing of knowledge and capacity-building. The CBSS Summer University is one of the formats to reach the goal of building collaboration and trust in the Baltic Sea Region.

The CBSS did not have any influence on the programme of the summer school, expect from a study visit to the CBSS Secretariat.

For further questions please contact IRES Director Claes Levinsson.