Call for Papers
3rd Postgraduate Conference of the Social Policy Association (SPA)
New Frontiers? Social Policy in the 21st Century: An International Conference
Thursday 26th June 2008, 9.00-5.30pm, University of Edinburgh
The Social Policy Association (SPA) are pleased to invite papers from postgraduate students for their 3rd Postgraduate Conference. The SPA Postgraduate Conference will take place on Thursday 26th June 2008 at the University of Edinburgh and will provide an opportunity for postgraduate researchers to present and discuss their work with peers, and to receive comments and feedback in a friendly and informal arena. The day will be structured around themed sessions with short presentations in each followed by questions and discussion, and presenters are encouraged to provide full written papers in advance in or stimulate discussion. Postgraduates are of course welcome at the main SPA Conference taking place earlier in the same week.
Themes of the 2008 Postgraduate Conference
Papers are welcome across the range of social policy topics, particularly in relation to the themes of this year’s event: ‘Challenging Boundaries’. Amongst others, papers may address issues relating to: the future of social policy; international and comparative social policy; policy learning and policy transfer; change and consistency in welfare state transitions; education; health; crime; research methodologies; gender and family policy; ethnicity, class and disability perspectives; user perspectives; poverty and social exclusion; demographic change; labour markets; and housing. Session themes will be decided based on the topics of submitted abstracts.
Abstracts and Papers
Postgraduates interested in participating should submit abstracts (max 500 words) by Friday 11th April 2008, including name, postgraduate year of study, and university department to adam.whitworth@socres.ox.ac.uk . Presenters are strongly encouraged to submit written papers in advance of the event (max 5000 words) to support discussion of their presentation. As with all SPA Postgraduate Workshops and Conferences, all written papers received will be eligible to be nominated for consideration for the SPA’s Best Postgraduate Publication Award which will be published in the prestigious Social Policy Review.
Cost
Members of the SPA: £7, including lunch and coffee. Non-members of the SPA: £25, including the year’s membership to the SPA (usually £18 for postgraduates), lunch and coffee. For a list of benefits to SPA membership or to join the SPA see http://www.social-policy.com/membership.aspx. The SPA will provide up to a maximum of £40 per participant for travel and accommodation expenses.