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Author: Sven Daniel Wolfe

A rather ridiculous amount of media attention

A rather ridiculous amount of media attention

As I mentioned before, one of the advantages of working on a popular topic like mega-events is that your work periodically attracts outsized media attention. It was no different this year during the run-up to the Tokyo Olympics. Even though I don’t specifically work on Tokyo – and always recommend speaking to experts with direct experience – there are enough similarities between mega-events overall that I got to do a lot of interviews in the past weeks. It’s strange, getting…

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Cancel the summer of super-spreader mega-events

Cancel the summer of super-spreader mega-events

This being a personal academic blog, obviously I tend to share more of my successes rather than setbacks or failures. That said, I think it’s important to share some of the more challenging moments too, so that’s what this one will be about. Back in 2015, I was fortunate enough to have a commentary on mega-events and public health published in The Lancet – certainly a highlight for any early career academic. With a number of high profile mega-events back…

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Olympics, sustainability, Tokyo, and the media

Olympics, sustainability, Tokyo, and the media

Our team at the University of Lausanne has been getting some attention since we published a rather large paper on the sustainability of the Olympic Games from 1992 to 2020. Martin Müller, our team leader, was on Swiss television recently, and as I write, my colleague David Gogishvili is being interviewed by an influential architecture and design magazine (link to follow, when it’s out). Partly this attention is due to the controversial nature of our findings, but I think the…

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Ambizione submission, rejection, and acceptance data: twelve years of great and tough news

Ambizione submission, rejection, and acceptance data: twelve years of great and tough news

I have a year and a half left of funding for my current project, so this means two things: 1) get busy publishing and 2) find a new gig. The Swiss National Science Foundation has a lot of generous offerings, and I’ve got some ideas that I think are important and would like to bring into the world. I’m going to apply for an Ambizione grant, which appears to be the appropriate funding instrument for my level. I’ve heard that…

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The give and take of virtual conferences

The give and take of virtual conferences

I finished a month of rather active conference participation, first at the American Association of Geographer’s annual meeting in virtual Seattle, and then the Dislocating Urban Studies workshop in virtual Malmö. I have mixed feelings about our new virtual world. One obvious benefit is the ability to participate in exciting discussions from around the globe, without paying for transit, dealing with jet-lag, or contributing to the destruction of the climate. Via Zoom, I’m able to be in Seattle on Tuesday…

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New special issue out now: The urban and economic impacts of mega-events

New special issue out now: The urban and economic impacts of mega-events

It’s been a long road, but finally our special issue is complete and out in the (virtual) world at last. Some lessons learned about special issues and collaborative publishing projects: It’s going to take longer than you want or expect. Everyone is busy, overwhelmed, working on a last-minute project. Budget in more time than you think you need. A clear project plan is your best friend. I made an excel file that had every contributor and every contribution, along with…

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A quick example of pernicious Russophobia

A quick example of pernicious Russophobia

I’ve been attacked from all sides for making comments about contemporary Russia and Russian politics. I’ve been told that I’m in the pocket of Putin, or at the very least a naive “useful idiot”. Simultaneously, that same comment led others to tell me that I am Russophobic, a blind westerner who does not understand anything, and that I am contributing to anti-Russian views. One of the biggest challenges I have is to criticize what I think needs to be criticized,…

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The powerful innovation of video abstracts

The powerful innovation of video abstracts

I know I’m not the only one a bit overwhelmed at times by the amount of good, interesting, and important academic work there is coming out. Just about every day I get another content alert from a journal I like, and there’s usually at least one or three that I really want and need to read. This means that I often have to read selectively. I don’t like this, actually. It’s much nicer to sit and be with a paper…

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Blogging the Virtual – new article in print

Blogging the Virtual – new article in print

I’m extremely happy with this one. This came to life from a rough paper I presented at University College London’s Urban Lab, but it really took shape through the peer review process at Antipode. I’m going to be honest here: there was a lot of tough feedback, and it definitely threw me for a loop. It took a bit of time for me to recover composure enough to start thinking about how to address the problems and improve. The reason…

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Translocal teaching and Zoom: perils, problems, and pleasures

Translocal teaching and Zoom: perils, problems, and pleasures

I taught a block course over the last week on urban theory. It was all on Zoom, which is hardly surprising anymore. What was new for me was that I was teaching a group of PhD students in Nigeria. I’ve never been to Nigeria, unfortunately, and I’d love to go. Given the state of world health nowadays, however, it seems I’d have a better chance of traveling to space than getting safely on an airplane. So no luck there. The…

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