Open Access: What Would it Take to Make Knowledge-Sharing Equitable?

In another special episode on Open Access, Brill’s Head of Open Research Stephanie Veldman speaks with Dr. Anthony Watkinson, author of "Open Access: A publisher's view" by Brill. 

Having worked in publishing for nearly five decades, Dr. Watkinson has been seen the Open Access movement unfold since its infancy. How has the movement developed since he wrote his article in 2006? What more can publishers do? How do publishers in the sciences and the humanities compare when it comes to enabling Open Access?

Listen to find out. 

Liked this podcast? Have thoughts on the topic? Want us to address a specific theme in the future? Write to us at podcast@brill.com.

Host: Stephanie Veldman
Guests: Dr. Anthony Watkinson

It’s open access week. So, this episode, we break down the concept of open access to research. Is it a basic human right? What’s its role in shaping global development? And how are technologies—both new and old—influencing a movement for it.

We speak with Professor John Willinsky, author of “Development and Open Access,” a chapter in Brill’s Critical Perspectives on International Education, and Professor Michael A. Peters, author of “Degrees of Freedom: Open Source, Open Access and Free Science,” a chapter in Knowledge Economy, Development and the Future of Higher Education published by Brill. 

Liked this podcast? Have thoughts on the topic? Want us to address a specific theme in the future? Write to us at podcast@brill.com.


Host: Ramzi Nasir
Guests: John Willinsky and Michael A. Peters

This month on Humanities Matter, we talk about Music! 

We wonder why apocalyptic soundtracks have captivated people since Medieval times, we re-discover the beauty and cultural significance of court music, and we explore the ways in which music brings stories to life in Western radio drama.

All this featuring the co-editors of Brill’s Music in the Apocalyptic Mode and Word, Sound and Music in Radio Drama, and author of Mutʿat al-asmāʿ fīʿilm al-samāʿ, The Ears’ Pleasure and the Science of Listening to Music by Aḥmad b. Yūsuf al-Tīfāshī al-Qafṣī. 

Liked this podcast? Have thoughts on the topic? Want us to address a specific theme in the future? Write to us at podcast@brill.com.

Host: Ramzi Nasir
Guests: Colin McAllister, George Dimitri Sawa, Jarmila Mildorf

This month on Humanities Matter, we talk about the need for space laws to include laws governing cybersecurity, data privacy, and war; role of capitalism in the West’s Covid-19 fatalities; and the precarity of certain types of labour in the Global South.

All this and more with the Volume Editors of Brill’s Space Law in a Networked World and Global Rupture: Neoliberal Capitalism and the Rise of Informal Labour in the Global South, along with the author of F/Ailing Capitalism and the Challenge of Covid-19—which is part of our long-standing series on Studies in Critical Social Sciences.

Liked this podcast? Have thoughts on the topic? Want us to address a specific theme in the future? Write to us at podcast@brill.com.

Host: Ramzi Nasir
Guests: Mahulena Hofmann, P.J. Blount, Noel Chellan, and Anita Hammer

This month, we talk about the ancient world going digital, pedagogy through virtual reality, how open access is changing scholarly publishing, and whether digital tools could make non-Western scholarship more mainstream. Also, is AI the greatest disruption yet to the humanities?

All this and more with editors of Brill’s Journal of Digital Islamicate Research, The Ancient World Goes Digital and Ancient Egypt, New Technology.

Liked this podcast? Have thoughts on the topic? Want us to address a specific theme in the future? Write to us at podcast@brill.com.



Host: Ramzi Nasir
Guests: Eid Ahmed Mohamed, Mai Zaki, Vanessa Bigot Juloux, Alessandro Di Ludovico, Rita Lucarelli, Joshua A. Roberson, and Steve Vinson

Global Health, Human Rights and Social Justice—Brill’s upcoming book series—provides multi-disciplinary perspectives on legal strategies across different fields and movements. The series addresses the gaps in writing about specific domains of law and hopes to foster transformative thinking in addressing global challenges of socio-economic inequality, health governance, restricted access to medicines, the climate crisis, and more. It aims to maintain a unified focus on the effectiveness of international law and global institutions, with respect to population health and social justice. It also focuses on normative development in the post-pandemic world.

In this new episode of Humanities Matter by Brill, Series Editor Alicia Ely Yamin discusses key topics addressed in the book series, focusing on advances and backlash relating to reproductive justice and human rights, ethical implications of biotechnological innovations, and resurgent calls for a ‘right to development.’


Guest: Alicia Ely Yamin
Host: Leigh Giangreco

Wie wurde die bescheidene Tomate zum Symbol der kulinarischen Globalisierung? Die komplexen Interessen und Machtstrukturen, die das Welternährungssystem prägen, sind ein deutlicher Hinweis auf den politischen Charakter von Lebensmitteln. Anhand zahlreicher Fallbeispiele aus Europa, Asien und Afrika stellen die Redakteure Cornelia Reiher und Sarah Ruth Sippel in ihrem Buch "Umkämpftes Essen" fest, dass privatwirtschaftlich finanzierte Unternehmen das globale Ernährungssystem maßgeblich beeinflussen. In dieser Folge der Sonderreihe „Mahlzeit“ des Humanities Matter Podcasts von Brill sprechen die Redakteure über die komplexen Machtverhältnisse in der globalen Lebensmittelindustrie und die Interessen der Hauptakteure. Sie betonen die Bedeutung einer öffentlichen und demokratischen Debatte über die Bedingungen von Produktion, Handel und den Konsum von Lebensmitteln.

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How did the humble tomato become a symbol of culinary globalization? The complex interests and power structures that shape the world food system are clear indications of the political nature of food. Using a number of case studies from Europe, Asia, and Africa, in their book Umkämpftes Essen, editors Cornelia Reiher and Sarah Ruth Sippel determine that privately financed companies are the major influencers of the global food system. In this episode of the special series, Mahlzeit, of the Humanities Matter podcast brought to you by Brill, the editors discuss the complex power relations of the global food industry and the vested interests of the key players. They stress the importance of public and democratic debate around the conditions behind the production, trade, and consumption of food.


Guest: Cornelia Reiher and Sarah Ruth Sippel
Host: Ursula Stalmann

Der Wert der globalen Fleischindustrie beträgt aktuell ungefähr eine Billiarde Dollar. Fleisch ist überall leicht erhältlich und diese permanente Verfügbarkeit als Konsumartikel ist ein einzigartiges Merkmal des modernen Zeitalters. In seinem Buch: Fleisch: Die Geschichte einer Industrialisierung beschreibt Prof. Dr. Christian Kassung kulturelle Techniken industrieller Schweinefleisch-Produktion, von der Zucht, Haltung und Schlachtung bis zum Vertrieb und zur Zubereitung des Fleisches. In dieser Folge von „Mahlzeit“ des Humanities Matter Podcasts von Brill, geht er auf die Ursprünge des Fleischessens im Berlin des 19. Jahrhunderts ein und zeigt die Zusammenhänge zwischen Industrialisierung und Schweinefleischkonsum. Außerdem spricht er darüber, wie kulinarische Systeme und Esskultur durch den Fleischkonsum geprägt wurden.

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The meat industry stands at a value of over one trillion dollars globally. Meat is easily available everywhere, and its availability as a consumer good is a unique feature of the modern age. In his book Fleisch: Die Geschichte einer Industrialisierung, Prof. Dr. Christian Kassung describes the cultural techniques of industrial pork production from breeding, husbandry, and slaughtering pigs to the meat’s distribution and preparation. In this episode of “Mahlzeit” by the Humanities Matter podcast from Brill, he discusses the origins of meat-eating from 19th century Berlin and unpacks the connections between industrialization and the consumption of pork. He also talks about how culinary systems and food culture have been shaped by meat consumption.

Guest: Prof. Dr. Christian Kassung
Host: Ursula Stalmann