Editorial

A year ago, I was writing the Editorial for the September 2020 edition of the Journal, looking forward and hoping that there might be progress on vaccines and that globally we would have begun to find a way through the COVID crisis. A year on, the virus has tragically claimed so many lives and, as I write , India is wracked and overwhelmed. Happily, the vaccines seem to be effective, but we are now in the realm of modifying them to address new variants of the virus and trying to make sure that they are available to everyone, globally. There is still a long way to go.

In response to the crisis, the Journal put out a call for papers related to the pandemic as well as to the Black Lives Matter movement. We had an unprecedented response and have just published 24 fascinating papers in our June 2021 edition, addressing the virus, working online, the environmental crisis (which will be explored further in our 2022 Special Edition on the subject) and the cultural crisis around racism. It is hard to say what progress has been made on this latter issue, socially and politically. There is a new President in the White House and the mood music has changed. One of the most memorable and moving events of the year so far for me was the young poet, Amanda Gorman, reading her poem, ‘The Hill We Climb’ at President Biden's inauguration. I am also happy that the Journal is now receiving a steady flow of papers around race and racism; long may this continue as we address this, one of the most pressing issues of our times, more fully.

In April the Journal held our first Latin American conference. Sadly, it was on-line, rather than in person in São Paulo, but the warmth, spirit, enthusiasm, ideas and energy from Latin America still made their presence strongly felt. It was a wonderful success, with 244 participants, more than any other Journal conference. And whilst it was nothing like being in South America, I think there is something to be said for on-line conferences and the use we were