In May 2026, I had a productive and delightful residential fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Studies at Loughborough University. Professionally, I got a lot of useful work done and met some fascinating colleagues. My main project was on the future of decentred theory in collaboration with Professor Justin Waring, the Dean of Social Sciences and the Humanities. We ran a successful workshop on that topic, which was replete with well-researched papers and lively discussions. We are currently looking at publishing those papers in a journal. More generally, IAS managed my time well, spreading my events out over the month. These events included a discussion with graduate students on the impact agenda and working with the UN and a research seminar on my more philosophical work. I also had a wonderful trip to London where I spent time at Loughborough’s terrific campus in the Olympic Park. There I gave a lecture on the genealogy of governance, led a seminar on impact, and participated in a roundtable on the future of policy orientated research. The discussions at all these events were very illuminating and I learned a lot.

The staff at IAS were brilliant. They prepared and managed the trip with minimal fuss. They also involved my wife and I in some social events. During our first week, we made our way down to the Organ Grinder on Woodgate where Bob Alexander, another residential fellow, was easily the best performer at the open-mike night. Later in our stay, we had another IAS night out in Nottingham, with dinner at Skein and drinks at Pogo.

What most surprised us about our stay was how fond we became of the Loughborough campus. We are both from the UK – was I the first ever Brit to get an International Fellowship at IAS? My wife did a one-year master’s degree at Loughborough almost 40 years ago and I visited her regularly during that year. Yet, it took us a while to find our way around campus. Amid many changes, there were things that came back to us: the Pilkington Library; the EHB, which had been a students’ union; the coop stores with the pizza place next to it; and the Falkner Eggington halls, where my wife had lived. We also enjoyed the excellent sports facilities, especially the Holywell Gym. The IAS flat was nicely comfortable and nicely situated in the center of it all. Even with my professional activities, I came away feeling relaxed and as if I had a break, even a holiday.