Registration is now open for the 2024 Social Policy Association Conference, taking place 3rd – 5th July at the University of Strathclyde Technology and Innovation Centre, Glasgow.
You can register here and find full information about the conference here including fee rates and early bird rate deadline.
*Special Conference Rate and Events for PG and ECR Attendees*
The SPA is offering a reduced conference rate for postgraduate students and early career researchers (up to two years post-viva). There are a limited number of places for this reduced rate, so we advise booking sooner rather than later to take advantage of this. In addition, for PG and ECR attendees, there will be a free networking and careers event on the morning of the 3rd July (before the SPA conference begins), with an evening social on the 2nd July. Further information will be provided.
Furthermore, the SPA is pleased to offer a new transition membership rate for Early Career Researchers for two years post doctorate (post viva) (subscription – £40). Full details of eligibility to be available on our website soon
Conference Theme: Social Policy Futures
This year, the organisers of the Social Policy Association Annual Conference invite presentations and symposia which engage with the idea of social policy futures. Social policy research has always been concerned with improving our understanding current and past welfare states, to work towards more socially just futures. Automation and new digital technologies in public services and social protection are often associated with the expansion of state surveillance, control of populations and the dehumanising of social support. Predictive tools and AI-based solutions seem to squeeze the possibility for agency. And yet the promise of imagining better futures is also present in new technologies and in the work of activists, communities, and engaged social policy research.
While welcoming social policy research across all topics and contexts, we encourage engagement with how social policy research can contribute to both understanding, and shaping, better futures.