This chapter explores the bi-directional challenges of autistics in the academy. Many of the challenges experienced by autistic people in academia are similar to those experienced in other aspects of our lives – dealing with sensory challenges, different processing styles, social interaction, and communication. Other challenges that are inherent to academia include the breadth of activity, the performance and competitive aspects of the role, and complicated institutional politics.

This chapter describes challenges of proposing a different understanding of a well-known phenomenon, imitation (and its development in young children). The first challenge was to study imitation as a shared motor activity in a two-person perspective, instead of as a solitary tool for learning or forming mental images. A related challenge was to analyse imitation as a multifaceted phenomenon involving a hierarchy of mechanisms according to what, when, and how you imitate. This led to challenging the assumption that people with autism spectrum disorder cannot imitate and claiming, “Yes, they can!” Finally, hyperscanning two brains during synchronic imitation allows assessment of interbrain synchronization. From this an ultimate challenge emerges: to see imitation in its substitutive role as a multiplier of symbolic creations in a two-person generative mind. More generally, I explain how such a perspective builds on the philosophical framework of Henri Wallon that I encountered early in my career and that stood in opposition to the then-prevailing Piagetian paradigm.

Anaesthetists working in paediatric settings may care for patients ranging in age from preterm neonates to teenagers, some of whom will be undergoing relatively simple procedures for isolated conditions whereas others will have extremely complex needs and will be undergoing complicated, high-risk procedures. What all of these patients will have in common, however, is the need for developmentally appropriate communication from and with the professionals caring for them. Alongside an understanding and knowledge of the anatomical, physiological and pharmacological issues relevant to the care of the paediatric patient, anaesthetists also need an understanding of the developmental, communication, emotional and behavioural issues relevant to their paediatric patient. This chapter summarises some of the key theories of cognitive and psychosocial development, including beliefs about illness, and how these are relevant to the child undergoing anaesthesia. Effective communication with children and their families is central to the delivery of high-quality care, and this is discussed alongside the role of preparation and behavioural and psychological techniques in optimising experiences and outcomes for the child, family and anaesthetist.

This conversation explores how technology changes the way disputes are solved. The focus is on the impact of artificial intelligence. After reporting on a competition, in which lawyers and an artificial intelligence competed to accurately predict the outcome of disputes before the UK Financial Ombudsman, the speaker explains how artificial intelligence is practically used in dispute resolution. Such use cases include the production of information, the creation of focused analyses, the finding of decisions and the generation of communication. The speaker then presents research projects using artificial intelligence to predict dispute outcomes in the courts of different countries. The conversation also addresses the ethical questions arising from different use cases of artificial intelligence in conflict resolution. In conclusion, the potential of artificial intelligence to improve access to justice is identified together with the ethical challenges that need to be addressed.

Global platforms present novel challenges. They serve as powerful conduits of commerce and global community. Yet their power to influence political and consumer behavior is enormous. Their responsibility for the use of this power – for their content – is statutorily limited by national laws such as Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act in the US. National efforts to demand and guide appropriate content moderation, and to avoid private abuse of this power, is in tension with concern in liberal states to avoid excessive government regulation, especially of speech. Diverse and sometimes contradictory national rules responding to these tensions on a national basis threaten to splinter platforms, and reduce their utility to both wealthy and poor countries. This edited volume sets out to respond to the question whether a global approach can be developed to address these tensions while maintaining or even enhancing the social contribution of platforms.

This chapter investigates how Percy Shelley’s poetry of speech draws on a Darwinian materialist understanding of the body and can be read alongside John Thelwall’s theory of rhythmus in its figuring of speech as unstoppable action. Focussing on Shelley’s later works, including A Defence of Poetry, Julian and Maddalo, Prometheus Unbound, and The Mask of Anarchy, this chapter draws out the ways that materialist and embodied models of speech production underpin Shelley’s figuring of poetry as a force of change, and allow him to blur the boundaries between art and science, aesthetics and politics, the internal and the external. It examines how such understandings of the communicative power of voice as a physical and material force that can be felt as action or movement challenge the notion that Shelley’s later poems are indicative of the failure of both poetry as a means of communication and utterance as a means of effecting change.

The chapter examines principles and values of communication and societal relationships from an Islamic perspective. It highlights the significance of communication in Islam, including language, communication theory, and the principles of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). The chapter explores different levels of Islamic communication, cultural influences, and communication within Muslim families across age groups. It addresses the challenges Muslims face in a globalized world and the impact of communication technologies on Islamic culture. The chapter offers health practitioners and educators an insight into effective Islamic-based communication in therapeutic relationships for individuals with regards to addressing mental and physical health issues. This chapter also briefly discusses the contemporary challenges of globalization and communication as it relates to Islamic principles.

Considers communication in dense bacterial suspensions with an emphasis on quorum sensing.

Chapter 6 delves deeply into the subject of communications in groups. We discuss the factors that hamper effective communications. We also explore the effects that gender and more broadly, member diversity can have on the nature of our communications. We include a section on factors and techniques that improve the quality of member communication in a diverse society.

Climate change is the most serious challenge of the Anthropocene, and so climate change communication needs to be taken suitably seriously, enriched with new ways of conceptualising, understanding and imaging the world and its transformations. The lack of understanding and seeing the gravity of the crisis has been increasingly identified as the ‘crisis of the imagination’. Over the centuries, telling stories was used to confront the unknown, encourage thinking about solutions, illuminate opportunities and give hope. Stories and storytelling allow space for interpretation and agency to think critically and, most importantly, act imaginatively. They encourage inter- and transdisciplinarity and thus novel perspectives, stressing the fact that, ultimately, discussions on climate change are discussions about who we are. In this sense, storytelling has a great potential to motivate individuals, communities and policy-makers to act on climate change.

A significant part of our work as conversation analysts is to persuade different disciplinary communities of the insights from CA. Here, conversation analysts working within the broader domains of sociology, linguistics, psychology and communication, education, and health services discuss the ways in which our findings may be shaped for publication in journals particular to our own domains, and thereby engage with our wider disciplinary audiences. In the first instance, we situate CA with respect to its development in each of our disciplines and identify the core issues with which CA is engaging. We then examine some of the challenges in presenting CA to our disciplines. These include addressing the question that CA scholars often face from colleagues in those disciplines: ‘Why should this matter to us?’. We finally offer some practical guidance on writing CA for our particular audiences, including: how to manage the length constraints often imposed by journals, the issue of sampling size, and how to balance the demands of transcriptional detail as required by CA with those of clarity and legibility for those not accustomed to it. Such challenges can be highly creative – and worthwhile in showing how CA can enhance received theory in our own disciplines.