It is with great regret the Social Policy Association (SPA) conference team must announce that the York 2020 SPA Conference (15-17th July 2020) has been cancelled. As colleagues will appreciate, the situation with Covid-19, also known as the Coronavirus, has progressed rapidly and after carrying out an extensive risk analysis of a variety of options, including delaying a decision, the outcome of the analysis was that the best option was to cancel at this point. We are putting the safety of our members and colleagues first and foremost in our decision making processes.
This decision has been taken in conjunction with the SPA Executive Committee, who also want to extend their support to all members in what is likely to be a difficult time both professionally and personally over the coming months.
Everyone who has registered for the conference already will receive a full refund, and we will be in touch shortly to make arrangements for this.
The SPA conference is a focal point for us to come together as a community each year, and we will be exploring remote options for engagement over the coming months. Also, please put the Swansea 2021 conference (7th-9th July 2021) in your diary for next year. Let’s focus on that as a key moment to share the amazing projects, papers and research that we produce within our discipline.
We will also be in touch with our members shortly to make arrangements for our Annual General Meeting. Please ensure that you have signed up with our new online platform, SPA Online (http://www.social-policy.org.uk/spa-online/). If you are not currently a member, please do consider joining now, and we can support each other remotely in the upcoming months.
Thank you for your continued support and understanding at this very challenging time.