From the moment the smartphone alarm wakes us up in the morning, we begin our day relying on the lithium-ion battery. The toothbrush, the e-bike, the laptop, tablet, camera, hearing aid and smartwatch. The weedwhacker. The pacemaker. From the mundane to the lifesaving, lithium-ion powered devices get us through the day.

The demand for lithium batteries has skyrocketed in just a few years. This trend is forecast to accelerate with the global transition to electric vehicles.

Access to minerals such as lithium, cobalt and nickel has emerged as a vital geopolitical, economic and social concern. So where do these minerals come from? And who controls the supply chain?

From the lithium flats of South America, to the cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; from nickel smelters in Indonesia, to battery gigafactories in Northern France, to recycling plants in rural Georgia, this new Bertelsmann Foundation documentary brings the viewer up close and personal with the people and communities impacted by this global transition.

It is a journey to the frontline of energy in the 21st century. And the race is on..

Watch the trailer

The Lau China Institute at King's College London is delighted to present the UK premiere of 'Lithium Rising: The Race for Critical Minerals', a new documentary-film from the Bertelsmann Foundation. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion.  

This event is held in partnership with the Bertelsmann Foundation and Foreign Policy Centre. 

Speakers

• Anna Chernova, Senior Research Fellow, Foreign Policy Centre
• Konstantinos Tsimonis, Senior Lecturer, Lau China Institute, KCL (Chair)
• Sam George, Producer/Director, Bertelsmann Foundation
• Thomas White, Lecturer in China and Sustainable Development, Lau China Institute, KCL
• Igor Rogelja, Associate Professor in Global Politics, UCL

NB Registration is required. The screening will start promptly at 6.30pm. Film run time: 70 minutes

About the speakers

Anna Chernova has a background in human rights, democracy, conflict resolution and humanitarian issues. She served as Programme Director for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, where she led the work of the General Committee for human rights and democracy. Specialising in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Anna directed the work of the OSCE PA on the Human Dimension – including numerous election observation missions, as well as freedom of the media, association and assembly, and INTERPOL reform. She advised on the establishment of the Kyrgyzstan International Inquiry Commission and lead work on democratisation in Belarus and parliamentary diplomacy around the Transdniestrian conflict. 

Igor Rogelja is an Associate Professor in Global Politics, working mostly on international infrastructure and Chinese politics. He was previously based at the Lau China Institute at King’s College London and completed his doctoral studies at SOAS, University of London. He is interested in the politics of space and is involved in several research projects examining the effects of Chinese infrastructural investments in the so-called ‘Belt and Road Initiative’. He is also one of the editors at the The People's Map of Global China, a qualitative mapping project tracking China's global imprints.

Konstantinos Tsimonis is a senior lecturer in Chinese Society. He is a member of the editorial board of the People's Map of Global China, and of the Advisory Editorial Board of the Journal of the European Association for Chinese Studies. Konstantinos is also an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at University College London, and a member of the Institute of International Relations (IIR) in Athens. His books include a monograph titled "The Chinese Communist Youth League: Juniority and Responsiveness in a Party Youth Organization" (Amsterdam: 2021); "Belt and Road: The First Decade" by (Agenda: 2022 - co-authored); and "Corruption and Anti-Corruption Upside Down: New Perspectives from the Global South" (Palgrave, 2024 - co-edited).

Samuel George is a documentary filmmaker for the Bertelsmann Foundation, a non-profit, non-partisan organisation based in Washington, DC. Samuel’s documentaries bring viewers up close and personal to people and communities facing the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century, offering candid perspectives that allows viewers to draw their own conclusions. His films focus on the intersection of politics, economics, social issues, and daily life. Filming on the ground from the Turkish – Syrian border, to the factories of Juarez, Mexico, to elections in West Virginia, the films seek to offer a voice to those impacted by policy and macro trends, but who often are denied a seat at the table where decisions are made. George is currently completing a PhD at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

Thomas White is Lecturer in China and Sustainable Development at the Lau China Institute, King’s College London. He received his PhD from the University of Cambridge in 2016 with a thesis based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Inner Mongolia since 2011. His monograph, China’s Camel Country: Livestock and Nation-Building at a Pastoral Frontier, was published in 2024 with the University of Washington Press.