It’s been a rather busy April. Teaching and marking aside, I was able to give two seminars based on on-going work. The first was a seminar for the Centre for Urban and Regional Development (CURDS), Newcastle University, on 15th April 2021. Titled ‘Ecologies of Green Finance in Islamic Financial Centre Development: The Case of Green Sukuk in Malaysia’, this is co-authored with Felicia Liu (Kings College London and National University of Singapore) and combines from our interests in Islamic finance and green finance.
The other seminar happened earlier today (28th April 2021) with the the Department of Geography at University of Hong Kong, as part of their China Development Studies Elite Seminar Series. Titled ‘Emerging Economic Geographies of FinTech’, this seminar draws from some on-going research that I have been conducting on FinTech, and highlights particular observations that I hope will provoke further thinking and research on economic geographies of FinTech.
Both events have been very stimulating and I definitely benefitted from the comments and questions from the attendees. I hope the attendees have also found the seminars interesting and useful for their own intellectual engagement.
While these virtual seminars have been very convenient, in terms of saving time on travel and fitting in around other tasks and commitments, it still feels very strange and I am so looking forward to being able to attend in-person events again. It is very disconcerting to be full of ‘seminar adrenaline’ that has no outlet at the end of these events, when the meeting screen just shuts down and you have nobody to chat with and decompress over a drink or coffee. Someday, we will meet again… someday!
Karen P.Y. Lai 