The Pandemicene Podcast aims to produce knowledge that can help all of us – scholars and scientists, students and activists – imagine and enact just futures both in our home state of California and in our communities worldwide.

Airing on KZSC Santa Cruz 88.1 FM, on Sunday, November 29th, 6:30 – 7 pm PST.

Link to the live stream, or listen below after the episode airs.

Welcome to the Pandemicene podcast where we attempt to create knowledge that orients us towards justice at this critical historical juncture. On May 13th, 2020, we spoke with Dr. Owain Williams, Lecturer in International Relations and Global Security at the University of Leeds, and a former Senior Research Fellow at the University of Queensland. Dr. Williams is a political economist of global health, who focuses on health policy and intellectual property rights and access to medicines. We talked about his COVID Diaries project, privatization of the aged care sector, the pandemic as a crisis of capitalism, and the necessity for universal health coverage policies. Though much time has passed and the pandemic has evolved, we hope to think together with our listeners about which of Dr. Williams’s thoughts and predictions have been accurate and useful, and which parts we all need to think anew.

Guest Bio:

Dr. Owain Williams is a Lecturer in International Relations and Global Security at the University of Leeds, and a former Senior Research Fellow at the University of Queensland. He is an expert on the politics and political economy of health policy, and on intellectual property rights and access to medicines. He worked for the UNDP as a consultant on this area in 2014. He has published on access to medicines and global health governance, and new actors in health. His work includes, with Adrian Kay (eds.) Global Health Governance: Crisis, Institutions and Political Economy (Palgrave 2009); Partnerships and Foundations in Global Health Governance with Simon Rushton (eds.) ((Palgrave 2011), New Political Economy of Pharmaceuticals in the Global South (Palgrave 2013); and The Transformation of Global Health Governance (Palgrave 2014).​ He manages a range of projects on testing with the Queensland Chair in HIV and STIs and works in the broad area of global health governance from a platform of community engagement. He is convener of the Pacific Health Governance workshop and Research Network.

Additional Pandemicene Project Information

Find more information on the COVID-19 Pandemicene’s project page.

The SJRC has a robust network of local and international public health experts, scholars, and practitioners leading the way with collecting resources for teaching about COVID-19, writing open response letters, and calls to action, and organizing and participating in online events.