Dr Lydia Medland

My comments on the post-Brexit UK Seasonal Worker Visa @LandworkersUK @UKSustain @routesandroots @CCRI_UK @FocusOnLabour @WorkerSupportC @mdiasabey

Article on seasonal workers from Central Asia coming to the UK to work. Some unusual access to returnee workers and great insights from journalist Joe Barnes based in Kyrgyzstan. He quotes me on the food system side of it: timesca.com/half-a-world-a…

Call for abstracts for new @routledgebooks publication! Qualitative researchers often seek out lived experiences to answer research questions and shape narratives. But what about our own – as women, and as researchers? To submit or find out more, email: m.khatwa@ucl.ac.uk.

Second reading of the #EmploymentRightsBill is today. The UK needs to address its use of restrictive work visas so the thousands of workers who migrate to the UK to support key sectors can access rights in practice labourexploitation.org/publications/e…

Ayer fue un día muy triste porque Helen se nos fue. Una mujer, fuerte valiente y luchadora, que deja un gran legado para nuestras democracias. También fue una gran amiga y compañera a la que recordaremos siempre 🩷 access-info.org/2024-10-18/hel…

We are profoundly saddened by the loss of Helen Darbishire, Executive Director of @Access_Info. Helen was an inspiring right-to-information activist, co-chair with our colleague Gillian Dell of the @uncaccoalition, and above all, a dear friend of Transparency International and the anti-corruption movement. Our thoughts are with her family and friends.

A profound humanist, a fighter for the common good, a dear friend has left us today. Helen Darbishire was a right to information expert and anti-corruption activist whose achievements expanded across Europe and beyond. Te queremos, te admiramos y te vamos a echar mucho de menos.

@Access_Info So sorry to hear this sad news. Helen made a huge impact on my life, not least as a woman leading in an area that she so fully believed in. All the best to those in Access Into, the FOIAnet and the UNCAC coalition.

It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Executive Director and founder, Helen Darbishire. Helen’s visionary leadership, compassion, and dedication have left a lasting impact on all of us, and her absence will be deeply felt. access-info.org/2024-10-18/hel…

Today Europe has lost a great European, not a stateswoman, but an activist whose impact will remain unmatched by most political leaders. Helen Darbishire has been one of the staunchest, most charismatic, and most effective civil society leaders in Europe, whose actions have been instrumental in making the EU more transparent and accountable to the benefit of the many, not the few. She set up her influential organization - @Access_Info Europe—in Madrid, not Brussels, to keep herself and her organization closer to real Europe than to the bubble. Access_Info was created and de facto acted as the pan-EU movement for civil society organizations working on the Right to Information (RTI). I stumbled upon Helen in 2010, quickly became friends and teamed up on so many battles for greater access to the EU, from setting up the EU Transparency Register in 2012, making the EU join the Open Government Partnership, making the judicial appointments to the CJEU more transparent, setting up and getting access to beneficial ownership registers, improved access to EU document…. my greatest honour was when Helen asked me to be her ‘second’ when she became member of OGP civil society steering committee. Helen will be missed, but her legacy will keep us going.

Huge congratulations to Dr Michael Malay from @UoBrisEnglish on winning the prestigious @wainwrightprize for nature for his book Late Light - a beautifully written story of migration, belonging and extinction. brnw.ch/21wMI6P

Who keeps Europe’s wealthy west going? Underpaid, invisible migrants from its east – and I went undercover to find them theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

Important update on seasonal worker visa scheme

Who are Ohio’s H-2A agricultural workers? Where are they from? How long have they been an H-2A worker? One author drove 10,000 miles in 3 months to find out. @OSU #migrantworkers #guestworkers #H2A #foodjustice Read the @JAFSCD article for free: doi.org/10.5304/jafscd…

The global gender pay gap affects women worldwide. Women earn only ❌73 cents in high-income countries ❌44 cents in low-income countries for every dollar earned by their male counterparts. 👉More from @ilo: unwo.men/KIuk50SPjGJ #EqualPay

We're part of a new Co-Centre for Sustainable Food Systems based @SussexUni, created to drive #FoodSystems transformation across Ireland, Northern Ireland and Great Britain 🇮🇪🇬🇧 We're seeking a researcher to join the team. Applications close 6 Sept jobs.sussex.ac.uk/job/9cfe71d5-b…

@FocusOnLabour @thanetearth I would love to hear what you found!

Last month our team visited Thanet Earth to discuss their experience employing seasonal workers and their views on the scheme. Thank you Pro Force and @thanetearth, it was great to see the food packaging plant and one of the impressive greenhouses. #SWV #SeasonalWorkerScheme